Were you ever scammed or almost scammed? Share your story.

[2177V]

Traveling from Mexico to the U.S. last week we had to get a Covid test in Mexico for $18 each in order to fly back. The negative results came via email to my phone after I paid the $18 for the test, but before the actual test (nasal swab) occurred

Obviously was scammed for $18!?

My lovely wife asked if anyone tests positive. The medical technician said politely that positive never happens and now I understand why.

I travel quite a bit. This is good to know. Thank you for this revelation so I can be on guard.

For some reason, China does not accept COVID19 vaccine from the USA and require a negative COVID-19 test 2 days prior to the flight to China and upon arrival a 14 to 21 days quarantine at a government sponsored hotel at your expense ($100/day). You can only leave early if your COVID-19 test in China comes back negative. I am waiting for them to lift this requirement because I do not want to be a prisoner.

 

[Sunset]

I travel quite a bit. This is good to know. Thank you for this revelation so I can be on guard.

For some reason, China does not accept COVID19 vaccine from the USA and require a negative COVID-19 test 2 days prior to the flight to China and upon arrival a 14 to 21 days quarantine at a government sponsored hotel at your expense ($100/day). You can only leave early if your COVID-19 test in China comes back negative. I am waiting for them to lift this requirement because I do not want to be a prisoner.

Right now it seems as if we will never get to see China..

A hotel would be fine, but a waste of money.
Nicer than being put in the quarantine camp they have built.
They can hold 5,500 people there.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/29/china/guangzhou-covid-quarantine-center-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

 

[brett]

No.

But DW's cousin and husband bought a boat load of Iraqi Dinars a number of years ago.

On the say so of some 'trusted person' at their church.

Never checked, never even called a local foreign exchange store (we have at least three) to check on the going buy/sell rates OR to find out if they could sell them (which they could not do in our city). Go figure. Not the trust but verify types.

They thought that their ship had finally come it. When it fact it had actually sailed with their cash and they had missed the boat.

It was the usual scam with the most basic pitch. People like us can actually get rich. Our faith has been rewarded. And gee....the more we 'invest'....the more we will make, Next year the dinar will get revalued. Next year never came.

Don't know if they still have them or simply wallpapered a room with them. DW has never asked them.

We are getting more and more phone calls. To the point where now I only answer the ones the I recognize or indicate the callers name, not the phone number. It is getting very annoying to say the least. DW keeps answering hers... do not know but she is more social than me. I got tired of turning down all those free vacations and free cruises.

We make a point of never doing business or invest with friends or relatives. Especially those who are selling all that wonderful MLM scam product that will cure whatever, loose weight instantly, allow us to live longer, make us look 20 years longer, quadruple our respective sex drives, detoxify us, and have us running a marathon next week if we just buy the vitamins that they are flogging.

 

[Amethyst]

Faith, pfaugh. As if Jesus would've wanted anything to do with it. People get drawn into things out of the need to belong. Me, I've always resented peer pressure, as it seems your peers never pressure you to do anything that's good for you.

At age 22, I became persona non grata with a former SIL by turning down the Wonderful Opportunity they were offering me to join The Business (Amway: that is what its proponents called it back then).

They took me to one meeting, where the leader ranted about the money they could make and big cars they could buy, and the audience shouted slogans from their seats. Meanwhile, I couldn't understand what intelligent people, with decent jobs, saw in this extracurricular cr@p.

No.

But DW's cousin and husband bought a boat load of Iraqi Dinars a number of years ago.

On the say so of some 'trusted person' at their church.

We make a point of never doing business or invest with friends or relatives. Especially those who are selling all that wonderful MLM scam product that will cure whatever, loose weight instantly, allow us to live longer, make us look 20 years longer, quadruple our respective sex drives, detoxify us, and have us running a marathon next week if we just buy the vitamins that they are flogging.

 

[jollystomper]

Of one the "benefits" in growing up in a not-so-nice neighborhood of a large city is that one gets acquainted with individuals who perpetuate scams. Hearing them tell of the set up and execution gave me some "street smarts" that have been useful in avoiding scams. By the time I went to college I was familiar enough with various bar "pickup", strip club, three card monte, goods sold in parking lot from back of truck, and ponzi scams that my "spidey sense" became pretty good at detecting things that did not smell right. Add to that an innate distrust of strangers and not making someone a close friend too quickly (which did not serve me well when it came to dating ), and I have managed to avoid or ignore a lot of these. A couple of times I cam close to being physically assaulted for publicly pointing out a scam in progress. Those were the days where I could still run very fast .

DW, who has a far nicer view of humanity than I do , has been susceptible to these and I have done what I can to protect her. The worst I kept her from was a cousin, who she was close, to pushing her to invest in a great opportunity in their native country. It was being managed by another of their cousins whom she did not know very well. When she brought it up to me I immediately recognized it was a ponzi scheme and told her to run away. She really felt it could not be, after all this is family, right? I told her when it comes to money that came tempt family into doing strange things. Well, the scheme collapsed, cousin in the native country disappeared, cousin in America lost tens of thousands, traveled back to native country, tracked down the scam cousin and murdered him .

As with everyone else, I get every type of phone, mail, and email scam. My personal and financial life is simple enough that they are easy to spot and ignore. And I am now too old and ugly to think that the younger beauty approaching me in the street or on the phone has any interest in me other than what they can scam me for .

 

[Amethyst]

As I understand it, this was the same gambit Madoff used. He appealed to members of the Jewish community, who knew and trusted one another. It's a particularly horrible thing about such scams.

O

When she brought it up to me I immediately recognized it was a ponzi scheme and told her to run away. She really felt it could not be, after all this is family, right? I told her when it comes to money that came tempt family into doing strange things. .

 

[brett]

Where we live the big scams are affinity fraud ponzi schemes.

They target those in the 50's and seniors who have retirement nest eggs.

Their prime time to strike seems to be after a market crash or downturn. Some people are in a hurry to recoup their losses.

Many of the victims loose thousands and hundreds of thousands to these crooks. The ponzis usually revolve around FX scams, real estate, and now crypto funds.

One common thread... the victims seldom check with investment regulating authorities to determine even if the seller is registered until AFTER they cannot recoup any of their investment.

 

[Amethyst]

I know a couple of people who love to bait phone scammers, then post their "exploits" on social media.

I recognize this is your hobby - and to me, hobbies are sacred - but in your place, I would just feel my life leaking out over the phone. My instinct, when I answer what I thought was a good phone call that turns out to be a scammer, is to cut and run. "Not interested. Bye!"

One of my hobbies is "scambaiting." It involves engaging with the scammers to basically waste their time although it is fun to get them really angry and frustrated or get them to do things like make signs or paint their bodies with embarrassing sayings.

.

 

[gncntry]

Grandson in jail

A few years ago my mother received a call supposedly from her grandson, Rudy. Rudy was in jail and needed $500 to post bail with her credit card. She came close to falling for it, but told the caller she had to talk to my father about it.
She then called me and I told her it was indeed a scam. She has also fallen for

I used to work in IT and I tell my parents, in-laws, sisters that:

Microsoft isn’t calling
Social Security or other govt isn’t calling
The grandkids aren’t in jail and they’d call their parents if they were
Don’t click on any links in email unless you verify the sender address
Don’t give anyone your credit card via email or phone unless you verify

 

[Souschef]

A few years ago my mother received a call supposedly from her grandson, Rudy. Rudy was in jail and needed $500 to post bail with her credit card. She came close to falling for it, but told the caller she had to talk to my father about it.
She then called me and I told her it was indeed a scam. She has also fallen for
I used to work in IT and I tell my parents, in-laws, sisters that:
Microsoft isn’t calling
Social Security or other govt isn’t calling
The grandkids aren’t in jail and they’d call their parents if they were
Don’t click on any links in email unless you verify the sender address
Don’t give anyone your credit card via email or phone unless you verify

Also the IRS is not coming to your house to arrest you

 

[GalaxyBoy]

One of my hobbies is "scambaiting."

I am careful where I select my targets and never go after someone who has targeted me because then they could know my real information.

I thought about doing this once but then it occurred to me that: (1) These people are criminals, and (2) If they have my phone number they probably know where I live (as you said).

Videos of this on YT, hours of fun!

 

[mcbraemer]

Two or three times per week I get a suspicious text to my cellphone from what at first glance appears to be a legitimate commercial firm or government body, with a message meant to both alarm me, and a link to click on to sign on to my account (or a number to call). 95% of the messages contain either English language grammar mistakes (some are subtle errors but still discernible), or a "tone" of communication that would not be used by a professional institution. That is my tipoff to likely fraud.
Many are from businesses with which I have no account and have never done business with. This fact eliminates most of the remaining 5% from legitimacy. The remaining few are of such devious skill that I typically look up the office phone number myself and call to try to validate the cause for alarm. I cannot think of one message of this type that turned out to be legitimate.
Some arrive in emails, many include very "real" looking artwork and corporate logos. Yet, it is usually the grammar or message tone that is the tipoff of fraud.
We all know the advice from antiscammers on how to act when receiving one of these messages, so I won't bore anybody with that.
It is the proliferation of scam and fraud that amazes and concerns me.

 

[brett]

I simply stopped answering calls where the caller number was not recognized. It works. I ignore them. I have been doing the same on unrecognized emails for years. Don't open them. Don't want to know.

DW does not....so she continues to get two or three per week. Sometimes more.

Now...I am occasionally getting scam text messages.

 

[Sunset]

The text scams really bug me, as I pay 10 cents for each one.
If phone companies charged 1 cent to send a text it would stop the scammers.

When I get a scam text, which for me is any text with a link that I don't have a relationship with, I block it, so I won't pay another 10 cents when they do it again.

 

[ivinsfan]

I simply stopped answering calls where the caller number was not recognized. It works. I ignore them. I have been doing the same on unrecognized emails for years. Don't open them. Don't want to know.

DW does not....so she continues to get two or three per week. Sometimes more.

Now...I am occasionally getting scam text messages.

You know my DH's heart clinic called the other day and his cell did not say X heart clinic just listed the number. That's a real pain when ignoring calls.

 

[brett]

You know my DH's heart clinic called the other day and his cell did not say X heart clinic just listed the number. That's a real pain when ignoring calls.

Not really. If it is a legitimate call the caller will leave a message. If not...there is never a message just dead air.

Besides, some numbers I recognize and will pick them up. If I do not recognize the number I pass on the call and wait to see if the message symbol pops up.

 

[Keim]

I regularly get the extended auto insurance warranty call. Sometimes when I am bored i engage. We talk about my car and trucks problems. After I've had enough, i conclude by adking them if we should re up the 76 Monte Carlo or the 93 F150 first.

They quickly hang up.

 

[kcowan]

I got a text message quoting my mobile number and advising that there was an overcharge of $132 for excess messages and to click on 6040 to resolve. I kept the message until I was talking online to my carrier about another matter and mentioned it. They confirmed it was not them. So then I replied to the text with some colorful language,

 

[scrabbler1]

The text scams really bug me, as I pay 10 cents for each one.
If phone companies charged 1 cent to send a text it would stop the scammers.

When I get a scam text, which for me is any text with a link that I don't have a relationship with, I block it, so I won't pay another 10 cents when they do it again.

The text scams annoy me too because I have to pay for them, around 11 or 12 cents per (for the short ones; double that for the longer ones). My phone is s simple flip phone so I can't click on any links within them. Once in a while, I would enter it into my desktop PC web browser; often I'd get a warning that it's a "bad" website filled with dangerous stuff so the browser would block it. Now, I won't bother doing that unless I trust the sender. I can't clock the incoming texts, either. Some of those texts don't even have a 10-digit phone number because they were emails sent as text, always starting with 410 and not having 10 total digits (410-xxx-xxx). Do you get those?

A frequent text I get has no sender's number and consists of a small file they want me to download. Of course, I don't choose to "Get File". I checked with my cell service provider to see if they are sending them, and they know nothing about them. At least I don't get charged for these texts which sometime arrive in the middle of the night, waking me up, or arrive in bunches, like 3 or 4 back to back.

 

[Amethyst]

Doctors/dentists will always leave a message, sometimes a recorded one.

Some bad scammers do leave messages. Some years ago, we had a rash of messages threatening us with "The IRS is suing you because you have ignored warnings" in a strong foreign accent. Of course I knew it was a scam, but the threatening tone of the message might've shaken up a more gullible person.

The IRS web site had a warning about this scam, and I read somewhere that a gang in India had been arrested in connection with it.

We've also gotten ads - using our phone, how rude - for air duct cleaning and the like.

Not really. If it is a legitimate call the caller will leave a message. If not...there is never a message just dead air.

Besides, some numbers I recognize and will pick them up. If I do not recognize the number I pass on the call and wait to see if the message symbol pops up.

 

[Amethyst]

In another thread, I described texts I've been getting from "real estate agents" (who knows?) asking if I know if so-and-so would be interested in selling their home. The tone of the texts is importunate, implying "I'm not asking much, why can't you respond?" I keep blocking these texts, but they pop up again.

The weird part is that the home in question is five counties away.

The text scams annoy me too because I have to pay for them, around 11 or 12 cents per (for the short ones; double that for the longer ones). My phone is s simple flip phone so I can't click on any links within them. Once in a while, I would enter it into my desktop PC web browser; often I'd get a warning that it's a "bad" website filled with dangerous stuff so the browser would block it. Now, I won't bother doing that unless I trust the sender. I can't clock the incoming texts, either. Some of those texts don't even have a 10-digit phone number because they were emails sent as text, always starting with 410 and not having 10 total digits (410-xxx-xxx). Do you get those?

A frequent text I get has no sender's number and consists of a small file they want me to download. Of course, I don't choose to "Get File". I checked with my cell service provider to see if they are sending them, and they know nothing about them. At least I don't get charged for these texts which sometime arrive in the middle of the night, waking me up, or arrive in bunches, like 3 or 4 back to back.

 

[ivinsfan]

Not really. If it is a legitimate call the caller will leave a message. If not...there is never a message just dead air.

Besides, some numbers I recognize and will pick them up. If I do not recognize the number I pass on the call and wait to see if the message symbol pops up.

True but then you end up playing phone tag with the legit callers. Or voicemail tag. It's easier for me to just answer and know within 2 seconds if it's legit.

 

[dixter]

The scammers call about 10 times every single day... most of the time I just let the phone ring and some times I answer and scam them back.... they get mad and cuss you out and I just laugh and hang up....

 

[Keim]

The nonprofit I run was scammed to the tune of about $60k.

We were recruited by another nonprofit in the field to merge with them. Very long story that took about a year to play out, and ended with lawyers and a financial crimes unit.

Short version: In the end we found their founder/director had a history of financial fraud.

We believe they intentionally recruited us so they could redistribute our funds to their other businesses, and in at least one case their directors pocket. When we called them on the fraud they attempted to get the local police to come and physically close us down while they liquidated what was left in our accounts. Local Police Chief looked at their directors criminal history and refused to comply. On our end, amongst other things, we contacted their local police financial crimes unit and got them investigated-ending in detective finding probable crimes, but not able to charge. Much more went on that I don't have time to relate here.

Nasty, nasty fight.

 

[jollystomper]

The scam I do think I have seen mentioned in this thread, which can be money related: online dating. Maybe there are fewer "scams" now with so much personal information available on the internet so that is is relatively easier to check someone out. But about 15 years ago we supported a good friend of DW's through her online dating efforts. Hoo boy, what an adventure. We ended up becoming "secret spies" at her dating meetups. The situations with men who looked completely different from their online picture as well as different careers were amazing. More than a few times we had to plan "diversionary tactics" to get the friend out of a situation to keep from being followed after a bad date. And then there were ones after a couple of dates who then started taking about sudden money issues and hoping the friend could help out...

She is still grateful for the "screening" we provided (she eventually did meet an honest man through the process and they have been married more than 10 years).