Uptick on credit card scams and scam fone calls?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have been watching scams by fone and internet for over 25 years. Recently, I have been subject to an increase in credit card problems and I wonder if the scammers have become more sophisticated.

In the last 2 years, I have had to cancel 3 credit cards and get new ones from the same supplier. In all cases, the CC company emailed me, saying there was suspicious activity on my account and for me to verify one or more transactions.

In each case, I called the number on the back of the actual CC, checked the transaction(s) they described, verified that I had not made it, and they cancelled and reissued the physical card. Not a major hassle, as I have several cards and can use another while one is being reissued.

But I wonder why this is happening so frequently. I never use any physical card for a merchant or bank, only for online transactions, mostly with Amazon. I use Paypal for as many as I can because it’s most convenient. So losing the physical card or having someone steal or scan it isn’t likely.

Either the data is being stolen thru internet means or it is being generated by random algorithms that just happened on my number. What other possibilities are there?

Secondly, I have been receiving an uptick in the number of scam phone calls, mostly from India (the accent and other giveaways). I got 3 calls on Thanksgiving and 2 the day after. Yet I can’t be on the sucker list, as I have never given anyone access to my computer or given any money by any means, ever.

Is this a trend of the times?

2

What’s a “fone”?

3

Same.

(I think we know, it is pitifully easy to type one more letter or use the :iphone: emoji)

4

If you are answering the phone, you are on the “live one” list.

5

Yes, we get dozens of scam phone calls a month (phone numbers we don’t recognize, and/or local phone numbers but the info on the phone says “out of area”). We don’t answer any more (my husband used to answer and then bring me the phone, but I’ve weaned him off that) for at least a couple of years, but they still call. It’s a nuisance, but I haven’t noticed any uptick in the volume of calls.

6

Just in case you are seriously enquiring, a fone is a phone, i.e., telephone, also known as the groundbreaking Bell invention ca. 1879. Is this news to you?

7

I may be on the “live” list, but that is not the “sucker” list. If scammers were really smart, they would separate those. A live answerer does not automatically equate to a sucker; a sucker is someone who can easily be separated from their money.

Someone on the “live” list but not the “sucker” list should be avoided by scammers, as it is a waste of their time. Apparently this cross-list checking is not done. Their loss,

I usually answer obviously scam calls, because I have the time, like to annoy these criminals and occupy their time, preventing them from getting money from victims; and it helps me keep the pulse on the SOTD (Scam Of The Day). Knowing the SOTD helps me inform friends and neighbors of what to avoid, and I have many innocent, elderly neighbors who may be targets.

8

Well since “fone” is not a word (and you did correctly spell it later in your post) it does make one wonder why you purposely chose to misspell it in the title of the thread.

9

Never seen a thread derailed so quickly.

One of our credit cards was compromised so many times (under different numbers), that we quit using it and just have it in the event of the other card being hacked (which happened a few weeks ago). I’m convinced that someone at the issuing entity was selling numbers, but have no real basis for that. We also had check fraud where someone got into us for over $16K. All of that was made good, of course, but it’s a hassle to get cleared up.

10

It’s been several years since I’ve had to cancel a cc (credit card)due to fraud. I believe the last time was on a road trip when we stopped for gas on I94 near Michigan City and paid at the pump. My CU (credit union) alerted me to dozens of transactions at a HD (Home Depot) near Dearborn. All for burner fones (phones) priced just under $100.

Weekly I get phishing emails on Amazon packages gone awry (hahahahaha) and VM(voice mail) messages urging me to take advantage of expiring small business loans.

Report spam/junk and delete.

11

“Fone” has multiple meanings, including [1.] an informal spelling of the word “phone”…

  • Informal spelling of “phone”

“Fone” is an informal way to spell the word “phone” in both American and British English.

Is fone a real word?

Text speak, such as xlent (excellent) and fone (phone) are part of the lexicon.

– Collins Dictionary

12

Ask Don Martin.

13

Ah, yes. Don Martin’s fonebone comes to mind.

14

But a live answerer could be tired, or drunk, gotten some bad news or otherwise not be on their A game for the day. A live answerer may become a sucker. Your keys or phone don’t belong in the fridge but I bet a lot of Dopers / people in general have ended up putting them there at least once in their life.

15

The scam calls seem to have trends. Right now, most of the calls appear to be from medical sources (a local hospital, med center, etc.), all of which are non-working, disconnected, or obsolete, like old fax numbers. There must be lists of numbers like this (sorted by category?), available to scammers.

Spiderman: In 25 years or so of scam calls, none have resulted in any reward to the caller. If I were trying to maximize my return from a call center, a list of numbers like this would be waaay down on my list to call. This is the opposite of low-hanging fruit; this is fruit on the ground – spoiled, rotten, stinking fruit to be avoided.

16

I am pretty sure that most of those scammers aren’t operating from a list; they are using computers to random-digit-dial every possible phone number. If they do have a list, most are probably simply a list of “numbers where someone picked up.”

I, too, have never actually responded to a scam caller, but it doesn’t matter. It goes in waves, and between the landline phone (yes, we still have one), and my cell phone, there are days when I get a dozen or more spam calls.

17

My home phone still gets one or two junk calls a day (which I don’t answer), but my cell phone filters out almost all of the junk calls and texts. Maybe one call a month from someone who wants to buy my house. So not a scam call, but a nuisance call.

18

I’ve had similar experiences with my credit card, but not nearly so bad as what you’ve been through, mostly due to my having only a couple of cards, aside from my bank card; and also, as I am now retired, my income, never humungous to begin with, to put it modestly (sic :wink:), doesn’t put me in the “let’s harass this dude” club.

It’s been a couple of years since anything “serious” happened, and it’s best not to let these creeps get under one’s skin. I’ve had mostly Indians doing it, and one guy, clearly from the sub-continent due to his accent, had the gall to tell me, helpfully :grinning:in his first few words that his name was (something like) Brian Morris, and that he was calling, from California, to help me (my arse!), which led to just a few seconds of amusement on my part, after which I hung up.

The worst case, somewhat later, was, sad to say, and with malice toward none, also an Indian national, and he, or his bosses, helpfully informed me that if I would do X, Y or Z, costing me about $100, they will clear up all my debt (right) and reward me with three times that. When I demurred he, went on to tell me he could see me, the white wall in my living room and whatever was hanging on my wall, etc.

As I was becoming ever more circumspect, his voice took on a more menacing aspect, as I learned that he and his company could not only ruin all my credit they could shut down my pc, basically forever. I’d heard threats before on-line and on the phone, but this one was the cherry on the cake, and I not only immediately turned off my phone, I shut down my pc, then turned on my Windows Defender and all other malware I had to clear out of my hard drive, then waited about a half-hour, turned on the pc and Internet, and, magically, nothing had happened, and I never heard from anyone like that again.

After this occurred, I called my best computer geek friend and told him what I’d just been through, and he said that I should never even talk to someone like that, nor pay heed to any (so-called) anti-malware or credit fix service, and I have followed his wise counsel ever since. There’s a lot of nasty stuff happening out on the Web, and it’s best to steer clear of people who come across (as first) like they’re your friends, and then, slowly but surely, try to verbally tie, a rope around you.

Con games and con men (and women) abound, and I guess they’ve always been out there. I urge you be careful, don’t them seriously, as they offer some service or another, keep a safe distance from them. It’s good to keep a sense of humor about the vagaries of life in the modern world, but only after you’ve either hung up the phone, closed down your pc or slammed your door in their face.

Best Wishes,

John

19

I got a phone call today from [myself]. Since my cellphone was right here on my desk, the only way that could happen would be if ghosts or poltergeists were active. But the caller ID on the landline gave a name (me) and a number (my cellphone).

I answered, and there was no one there. I wonder where I went? Am I enjoying myself? Does my ghost have a better life than I do?