Financial Advice Columnist falls for $50K scam

[Winemaker]

I fell for the $19.95 plus tax upgrade for my Direct TV software. An Asian male called, correctly gave me the last 5 numbers of my account and wanted my credit card number for the charge. He then had me hit a few numbers on the screen in the settings, and then I realized I can update myself without anybody's help. Promptly hung up, called the CC and cancelled the charge and ordered a new card.

 

[MatatuPuncher]

The story is so insanely dumb it has to be made up. That, or..."a fool and their money are soon parted."

 

[jazz4cash]

The story is so insanely dumb it has to be made up. That, or..."a fool and their money are soon parted."

That is exactly my reaction to the scam in the OP. Both things could be true! Third possibility is it happened but NOT the way she describes it. I am surprised it was never validated or exposed.

 

[Car-Guy]

Nothing on the scale of the OP, but I had a pretty convincing scam attack about a year ago. (I may have posted this before). So, I received an email from a well known co-worker/friend, who also retired about 10 years ago. It said he had a friend with a seriously ill daughter that lived here in the states, and that he wanted to send her $$$ in gift cards. The problem was, he said, he couldn't get the gift cards that she wanted in his country. He asked me to get the cards and send them to him and he would reimburse me for them immediately. I told him "okay" where do I send them? Then he came back and said, well to speed things up, I could just scratch off the secret codes on the back of the cards and send those to him. (major warning #1). Additionally, he thanked me in the email using language that was "uncharacteristic" for him. (major warning #2) So, I asked him a question that only someone that worked with us would know the answer too. Never heard back.

Apparently his primary email account had been hacked and the scammer was sending such emails to folks on his contact list. Later on, I called him to let him know what had happened.

 

[rodi]

The gift cards scam is so prevalent. I'm on the board of a local community association. About every 6 months someone on the board gets an email from a spoofed email address (similar to the real one) of the current president (which changes, due to term limits) asking to pick up gift cards. We used to publish board member's email addresses in the community newsletter - we stopped that and it appears to have stopped this scam. We also warn new board members about this. Wish I'd been warned... I bought a gift card as directed, and when I emailed back to the *real* email address to ask if I should bring the card by (he's a neighbor). He told me it was a scam. I blocked the fake/spoofed email.

My kids got the gift cards in their Christmas stockings that year. LOL.

As for the OP's article... the cash in a shoebox, and put in car would have been a huge red flag.

 

[1242Vintage]

I just wasted two hours … mostly on hold … on the phone with Wells Fargo attempting to get some answers on the wire transfer to Bangkok. All I know now that I didn’t two hours ago is the telephone support people are very polite and great at saying, “I’m Sorry”.

Next step … meeting on Monday morning in person at the branch that executed the wire transfer. Goal is to gather as much documentation as possible.

Then I can figure out next steps!!!

My wife says sometimes I can be like a dog with a big bone … just can’t let go. This situation is becoming that way.

Game on!!!

 

[1242Vintage]

Met at the Wells Fargo branch that executed the wire transfer to Bangkok.

A few minutes into the meeting the Wells Fargo manager stopped, excused himself AND like magic in his absence I received an email on my phone from corporate Wells Fargo delaying their internal investigation for two months. No additional documentation, reason or answers obtained.

Meeting concluded and as I drove the 45 minutes back home made a call to wife to vent and discuss next steps. She’s a very good listener.

 

[ERD50]

Met at the Wells Fargo branch that executed the wire transfer to Bangkok.

A few minutes into the meeting the Wells Fargo manager stopped, excused himself AND like magic in his absence I received an email on my phone from corporate Wells Fargo delaying their internal investigation for two months. No additional documentation, reason or answers obtained.

Meeting concluded and as I drove the 45 minutes back home made a call to wife to vent and discuss next steps. She’s a very good listener.

Can you please break this out to a separate thread? I really want to follow your story, but there's a page of posts on the original story mixed in between your posts. Very difficult to follow.

Maybe ask a mod to help, rather than just starting a new one? I think that's something they can do, but I don't know if it's a lot of effort for them or not.

 

[CaptTom]

I received an email on my phone from corporate Wells Fargo delaying their internal investigation for two months.

I don't understand. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

You also left out the part between the manager coming back, and the meeting ending. Did he say anything about what he did, why, or anything at all about the next steps?

 

[ERD50]

I don't understand. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

You also left out the part between the manager coming back, and the meeting ending. Did he say anything about what he did, why, or anything at all about the next steps?

Yes, very confusing.