Scammer had me going for a while...

[Bryan Barnfellow]

This used to work for me...in the old days. As soon as I realized they were scamming me (they were confirming an "order" I had supposedly made for some useless products). This was at my office. I said OK, happy to do that, let me put you on hold for a minute, pushed a few buttons on my phone to make some electronic noise as though I were dialing another extension, then said, "Operator, yes, it's him, please start tracing." Instant hangup. Kind of brightened up my day.

-BB

[TrvlBug]

We attended a Fido event about a year ago where their security VP presented on scammers. What the OP is describing appears to be the highest level of scam where a high net worth person is targeted. These scams can get pretty sophisticated. It scared us enough to start using 2 factor authentication as well as purchase another PC that is used solely for ultra secure financial access and communications. Overkill, but it makes us feel good.

[CoolRich59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras It is the heat of passion. We all like to think we won't bite. Myself included. Yet, you hear of people who admit they knew about scams and still got scammed. Passion and emotion clouded their judgement. I'd like to think I wouldn't fall for it too. I can't imagine I would. But... it is good to discuss this and remind ourselves to be aware. Keep your shields up.

Yep. It’s classic F.U.D. (Fear. Uncertainty. and Doubt.) These people are masters at sowing it and exploiting folks who are normally level-headed and skeptical.

[Koolau]

In the heat of an attack, it's difficult to recall the adage "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear." If someone shows up with a badge and a gun, maybe. If someone calls - fugidaboudit. YMMV

[Lienlord]

I listed a truck for sale on craigslist this weekend. And as usual, the first few days were beating away the scammers that pounce on new ads! It really gets old and tiresome to see them over and over, but I guess that’s just part of it. Even more frustrating now that craigslist charges you $5 to post a vehicle ad!

[Teacher Terry]

Locally CL is not charging for vehicle ads. I am really sick of scammers and people in general since listing our motor home. People make appointments and never show. A few hours ago a man supposedly bought our RV and went to the bank for the money. We will see if he actually shows up.

[Lienlord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry Locally CL is not charging for vehicle ads. I am really sick of scammers and people in general since listing our motor home. People make appointments and never show. A few hours ago a man supposedly bought our RV and went to the bank for the money. We will see if he actually shows up.

Well, I had to pay $5 to list my truck for sale on Sunday night. Are you suggesting I was scammed? Haha

[jled317]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras In summary, someone calls you with a spoofed number of your Insurance/Bank/Etc. and asks for important information. The take away is: if you get a call from any of these, especially the "fraud department," simply hang up and return the call on your own to the known number. It will only cost you 1 more minute. I got a call from my credit card fraud department and told them I need to call back using the number on the back of my card. She said she understood and encouraged me to do so. They won't be belligerent about it. Turns out it was real fraud.

Be careful immediately calling back using the number on the credit card. A couple in my hometown was recently scammed out of $35000 this way. The original scam caller actually suggested to the couple that they hang up and call back to the number on their bank card. This made them feel secure of course. But the scammer had some way to keep the line open after the couple thought they had hung up. The couple then dialled the number on their bank card, or they thought they had. The scammer was still on the line, and pretended then to be a rep from their bank. He helped the couple transfer their money to a “new account” so it would be safe. The sad part is that the bank won’t reimburse the fraudulently-obtained cash because the customers themselves did the transfer!!

[COcheesehead]

My new neighbor just had this happen....

Received wiring instructions on the closing company’s letterhead in an email for her new house. Everything looked official. Money was wired. Someone at Wells Fargo caught it and said the person at the receiving end was not legit. The money was held. It took almost two weeks to get it back, even though it never hit the bad guys account. The closing was delayed, but eventually happened.
Apparently the email at the realtor was hacked. Never, ever put closing instructions in an email. We were told that when we bought our last house. Not everyone knows that.
We did a wire from Fido and we did everything over the phone with multiple security checks, i.e. they only called us at the number they had on file. Codes were texted only to that number as well. I was impressed with Fido’s handling.

[catii]

Quote:

Bottom line, when I called the DEA, I was told that they never call to tell you they're going to arrest you. They'll just come out and do it.

Yup, absolutely correct. As a former federal LEO, we had warrants in-hand when we knocked on doors, & no warnings. We never made threats, either...or, rather, I never made any, to be accurate.

It couldn't be easier to spoof your phone number, these days. Just browse to https://www.spoofcard.com/free-spoof-caller-id & you can try it out, for free. So, seeing a caller-ID number from DEA or the FBI doesn't mean anything, & I just tell the idiots to call my former boss! So far, I haven't heard back from any of them.

[The HalfBreed]

If a Federal Agency wants to talk to you, trust me...
They KNOW where you live and would show up in person.

[AbbA]

I will have to save this thread in my files to read once in a while to refresh my memory on all these various scams.
Once I almost fell for the "We're calling from Windows. Your computer has a virus" scam. They promised to clean out malicious stuff from my PC and maintain it, so it's faster, etc. What tripped them and saved me was when I asked to translate 'DNS' acronym from the list of programs running on the PC because there were so many. I don't recall what they said for D and S, but they said "nuclear" for N. To this day, I don't know what that DNS stand for, but I bet it's not nuclear (to me at least)

Anyway, yesterday I wanted to start a thread after reading this newsletter describing two scam examples. If you're curious, read it. The 2nd described scam is very scary. This is when a scammer has already broken into your bank account but cannot complete the final step w/o a PIN and hence you get a call:
https://wealthyretirement.com/financ...email#comments

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jled317 Be careful immediately calling back using the number on the credit card. A couple in my hometown was recently scammed out of $35000 this way. The original scam caller actually suggested to the couple that they hang up and call back to the number on their bank card. This made them feel secure of course. But the scammer had some way to keep the line open after the couple thought they had hung up. The couple then dialled the number on their bank card, or they thought they had. The scammer was still on the line, and pretended then to be a rep from their bank. He helped the couple transfer their money to a “new account” so it would be safe. The sad part is that the bank won’t reimburse the fraudulently-obtained cash because the customers themselves did the transfer!!

Oh geez! These creeps are getting sneaky. Man, I want to yell and swear right now.

Let's amend that to: hang up, get your other phone, or your spouse's phone, and call the number on the back of the card.

Man, these creeps are really pissing me off.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead My new neighbor just had this happen.... Received wiring instructions on the closing company’s letterhead in an email for her new house. Everything looked official. Money was wired. Someone at Wells Fargo caught it and said the person at the receiving end was not legit. The money was held. It took almost two weeks to get it back, even though it never hit the bad guys account. The closing was delayed, but eventually happened. Apparently the email at the realtor was hacked. Never, ever put closing instructions in an email. We were told that when we bought our last house. Not everyone knows that. We did a wire from Fido and we did everything over the phone with multiple security checks, i.e. they only called us at the number they had on file. Codes were texted only to that number as well. I was impressed with Fido’s handling.

This is no joke. And it is more than theory. It is real. Thanks for bringing this up.

Realtors are under huge attack. The creeps are focusing on them just for this scam. They get in the email, and they have a gold mine of clients and upcoming closings to pose for.

We sold dad's house 6 years ago and did too much of it over unsecured email. Thankfully, it all worked out, and the account numbers and stuff are now all on closed accounts.

Proceed with extreme caution with R.E. deals. Do not use open email.

[fh2000]

I normally do not answer calls. One time I was curious enough so I picked up. It is IRS from India calling me. Or someone who works in US IRS with very heavy Indian accent.

After I said few times IRS never calls. They will just send me a letter. The guy started to yell f**K you.... He must had a bad day.

I now block all calls that is not in my contact list with my OOMA machine.

[JohnML]

Most of these scammers are really unsophisticated. Some are pretty stupid actually. There are a lot of call centers in India staffed with losers who can't get a decent job so they do this. No deep technical skills to speak of. It is kind of sad in a way.

I have Nomorobo on all my phones and I never answer any unknown numbers. And if the caller doesn't leave a message the number goes on the blocked list. I kind of miss getting these calls because they are sometimes quite entertaining.

If you ever want a laugh watch some Kitboga Youtube videos. He makes a living by wasting scammers time and is pretty funny doing it.

[Lvus101]

I can tell you all from experience that law enforcement will not call you on the phone. Just hang up and record the date and time along with any other information.

[Koolau]

IIRC, this subject (scammer calls) came up a year or so ago. A news program interviewed someone official (can't recall if IRS or some other FED agency.) Upshot was "If we are going to threaten you (my words, heh, heh) we'll send you an official letter and tell you how to respond. NO ONE will call you." YMMV

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jled317 Be careful immediately calling back using the number on the credit card. A couple in my hometown was recently scammed out of $35000 this way. The original scam caller actually suggested to the couple that they hang up and call back to the number on their bank card. This made them feel secure of course. But the scammer had some way to keep the line open after the couple thought they had hung up. The couple then dialled the number on their bank card, or they thought they had. The scammer was still on the line, and pretended then to be a rep from their bank. He helped the couple transfer their money to a “new account” so it would be safe. The sad part is that the bank won’t reimburse the fraudulently-obtained cash because the customers themselves did the transfer!!

This sounds like a third-party conference feature some phone systems allow. You hang up, briefly, then dial another number to conference the previous caller into a call with the new party you have called. This can be disabled but I am not sure if the caller can simply do it himself or he needs his phone service provider to do it. I'm also not sure how long the person has to have hung up before conference call feature won't work.

[Maidensong]

My mom, who's 82 and incredibly sharp, recently got a call from someone posing as one of her many grandsons. The conversation went like this:

Scammer (in a sad, pitiful tone): Grandma? I need--
My Mom (who knows full well what all her grandsons sound like): Oh! I'm so glad you called, honey. I've been so sick and I'm broke and you need to come take care of me and--
Click

It made her day!