Companies make it DELIBERATELY hard to speak to a person, or send actual emails to people. Because people cost money.

Hence the phone tree game, "electronic helpers," the use of "FAQ pages" and standard forms instead of email.

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 - 09:30 am: Edit

I got one from Macy's yesterday. Saying that I ordered something from them and paid through PayPal. Unlike Nike (previous fraud incident), the Macy's email actually tells me what I "ordered" and to who and where I had said item(s) shipped. I didn't click on any of the links or download the pictures to make the email more clear. (Thank you Outlook.) So far I do not see any charges through my PayPal account. I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with some poor customer service rep trying to find said order in order to cancel it.

I have had my PayPal account for a number of years to pay for various things from time to time. The latest thing paid through my PayPal account was a shirt that I specifically ordered as it was actually a reorder of an existing shirt, but in a different color.

PayPal's site was not particularly helpful to report fraud issues, nor was the Government Electronic Crimes website any more helpful either. Part of me would love to see the recipient of said purchase charged with receiving stolen goods.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 - 11:28 am: Edit

I had the "joy" of trying to speak to a live person at United Parcel Service the other day. After half an hour of joggling around the automated system, which does everything in its power to deny routing you to a human, I managed to get through by making unintelligible noises in response to every question until it finally gave up and connected me to an assistant...

...which is when I found out that UPS has outsourced its phone support to somewhere in SE Asia, and that said phone support has no access to any information or ability to make a report.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, October 02, 2021 - 03:47 am: Edit

There is a (perfectly nice) company called Docusign.com which does electronic signature verification. They seem to do a ton of business and are totally legit.

But I and others report receiving almost daily emails from "docusign.com" saying to |click here to review and pay the invoice" which (after an hour of hunting down their phone number and waiting through their uncomfortably loud and horrible music) the company told me are not from them at all but from scammers sending viruses.

They asked me to forward all such email to spam@docusign.com for their fraud division to take care of. They warned me to then delete the emails and never, ever, click on them.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Wednesday, October 06, 2021 - 01:16 pm: Edit

I am selling some stuff on FB and almost fell for this. https://www.idtheftcenter.org/google-voice-scam-tries-to-trick-you-while-you-are-selling-items-online/

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, January 31, 2022 - 02:15 pm: Edit

This one is too hilarious to not pass on.

Office of the United States of America President.
The White House, Washington, D.C., United States


Kind Attention,

I , JOE BIDEN JR, Newly elected 46th President of United States of America, I hereby thank everyone for their support in the past election and after my official visual meeting with US, Department of Justice, U.S Department of Treasury, IRS- Internal Revenue Service, USA Secretary Of States, National security council, Saudi Arabia King, German Chancellor , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom concerning the delay in releasing your long out-standing payment.

Today because of COVID19 pandemic that befalls the entire world , I hereby signed and approved immediate release of all long out-standing funds and covid19 compensation funds as promised in my election manifesto.

Be advised to treat as urgent and get back to me today unfailingly if you really want to receive your fund because I have limited time.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, January 31, 2022 - 02:23 pm: Edit

That's a good one! My personal favorite advance money scam is the one asking for money to try to bring the astronauts home from the moon.

--Mike

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 08:27 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 08:14 pm: Edit

USS New Jersey reactivated. https://youtu.be/ZJOOSfmmpDM

---

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Here's the web address to the HMS Belfast above:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/hms-belfast-to-be-reactivated-for-patrol-work/?fbclid=IwAR3J-3ksG58wczRwWTF4hmaU4nFZf81ju-GTCykllyJQTGAjs5kt7ywLHWQ

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 05:22 pm: Edit

I keep getting spam phone calls that go like this.

"Did you get you new social security card [sometimes Medicare card) in the last ten days? No? Well, read me the number from your old card and I'll have the new one sent right away."

At this point, you should HANG UP!

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 09:12 pm: Edit

I get a lot of those kinds of calls. Personally, I like to stretch out the conversation for a while. I act confused (which is pretty easy for me) and ask them to repeat their instructions. It is usually asking me to giving them an SSN, drivers license number, credit card number, or bank account number. Or having me type some commands on my computer to let them hack me. Or asking me to buy some iTunes gift cards and give them the numbers.

I stretch it out for a few minutes, then ask them one question: How many people are dumb enough to fall for this scam? The scammer on the other end of the phone usually gets HOPPING mad. After I hung up one scammer he actually called me back and let loose with a variety of expletives! Oh lord was that fun.

All kidding aside, when my parents had their medical problems and went into assisted living/nursing home a few years back, I did most of the work cleaning out their house. In a drawer by their computer I found 20 or so scratched off iTunes gift cards. I know they did get scammer calls sometimes since my mom would mention them. Neither of my parents used iTunes or an iPod/iPhone or were really even capable of doing so. So, in all likelyhood, they got stung by a scammer and bought some gift cards and gave them the numbers. Probably $1000 in 20x$50 cards. And they never mentioned it. Probably just too embarassed when they realized they were had.

--Mike

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 10:51 pm: Edit

With t-mobile I only ever get blocked calls from "Scam Likely." Most don't even make it to my phone. None get picked up.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 11:44 pm: Edit

I find that on my AT&T/Consumer Cellular mobile phone there are calls that come through as "Scam Likely" that I usually ignore. The biggest source is our Google Voice number. The calls appear to originate from a nearby town, or even within our town. Amazing that it's 2022 and for whatever reason phone technology has not advanced to the point where these fake source number calls are comprehensively identified and blocked.

--Mike

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - 08:07 am: Edit

Phone number spoofing is common because the carriers have no reason to prevent it any more.

Now make ALL calls subject to reverse charges (example, I get spam call and hit *999, then the CALLING number gets charged $10 of which I get $5) and you'd see some of that legendary Bell Labs genius in action.

That would incentivize the phone companies because if they got spoofed I'd still be owed my $5!

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 14, 2022 - 02:13 pm: Edit

Got an interesting fraud email...

Subject line was
[Ticket ID:DGR-803-OPAhz4YXJSK] Read Carefully:starfleetgames.com Action Required: see transcript for details

Text was
We are pleased to inform you that the password to your email account will expire a few hours from now.
As a matter of urgency, you have to visit the self-service URL below to revalidate your login credentials.

I just sounded fishy. When I waved the cursor over the link it came up "hwawei" which is Red Chinese intelligence.

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Monday, November 14, 2022 - 11:50 pm: Edit

Well, the importance of the target is dictated by the magnitude of the enemy. I'd be flattered. The last phishing attempt on me was by Carl over in IT.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, November 24, 2022 - 06:41 pm: Edit

Something is going on. We have received over 40 spam phone calls today, currently about one every five minutes. Most claim to be from Amazon and want to verify that we bought some computer pad for $339. This is the most in any one day.

It finally stopped when I punched "1" to get a human and when he asked me to read him my credit card number and Amazon account number (to confirm them) I told him he was a liar and a criminal. I guess they figured "He knows it's a scam so let's stop wasting time on him."

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, November 28, 2022 - 03:25 pm: Edit

This one is just too precious to not post it.

Hello Sir
Am sorry to hear that your Attorney who is handling your long pending
transaction is Bereaved .please accept my condolence.
However his Co Attorney ARIEL TORRES From Mexico has submitted the
below Account for a your pending payment of $876,000 be wired into
the below Account for
your family.Please Reconfirm.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 - 03:51 am: Edit

ESTABLISHED TITLES: A lot of really good YouTube channels have been advertising this website, which includes some vague statements that for $50 they will sell you one square foot of land and you (being a Scottish landowner) will then have the right (under an "ancient Scottish custom") to call yourself a "Lord" or "Lady". It wasn't as clear as it should have been that this is a gag gift (they clarified it after some criticism). You aren't really a "Lord" of anything (the title comes with a royal peerage charter which cannot be bought) and the Scottish government won't recognize a deed to a plot smaller than a residential house lot (and even such a lot that could be 10,000 square feet you aren't lord of anything). Like I said, it's a gag gift like buying a square mile of the moon or naming a star (or a starship) after your girlfriend. (*)

Established Titles says they give money to two charities that plant trees. Apparently, both sides of that statement are true, but if you want to donate money to plant trees you might as well just do it directly to the tree planters.

Rumor has it that about 20 YouTube channels each accepted big checks (thousands of dollars) to place ads for Established Titles. Many of them are currently posting apology videos.

I might comment that one year (50 years ago) as a gag gift for my dad (who was an Army colonel) my brother and I donated a dollar to the (British) Imperial War Museum. That is the same museum that asked me to leave when I pointed out factual errors in their Field Marshal Montgomery exhibit.

(*) ADB sells "name a starship" certificates, and it's obvious to anyone that as starships haven't been invented yet it's really just a gag.

And yes, as some of you know, I am descended from a couple of dozen British, Scottish, and Irish nobles (my 14th cousin is the Northern Irish Earl of Inniskillin and my 16th cousin is the Dutch Graf Van Valkenburg). For what it's worth, I am also descended from King John Lackland, Empress Maude, Charlemagne, Rurik the Viking, and King Wothan of the Scythians (who is better known as Odin King of the Norse Gods). I'm something like One Millionth in line for the English throne but so are a million or so other Americans. None of which gets me a title. Maybe if I sell ADB and retire I'll spend the money buying a real (defunct and meaningless) European title. Oh, and yes, I'm a member of the Society of the Cincinatti, the only American "title of nobility" recognized in Europe even if it's not recognized in the US.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 - 08:08 am: Edit

Well, I am an ACTUAL Kentucky Colonel and the closest thing Zachary Taylor has to a direct descendent.

1) Too bad that great great great great (I might have missed a great or two in there) uncle Zachary was such a terrible president (great general though) and didn't leave me any money. All I got was the right to be buried in the family plot at Zachary Taylor Natl Cemetery.

2) And since there are no Kentucky Privates, Corporals, Sergeant, Lieutenants, Captains or Majors, being a Kentucky Colonel isn't all that great either. Got a nice certificate with the (then) Governors signature on it though...

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 - 12:29 pm: Edit

Colonel Grafton? Some representatives of the Kzinti government have expressed interest in the Original Recipie with regards to some Paravian troublemakers in their territory...

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, December 01, 2022 - 07:55 am: Edit

Jeff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-06GmP98rk

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Wednesday, December 07, 2022 - 07:22 pm: Edit

I haven't received one of these in a long time:

Greetings
I am Ann Mari Farzara the only daughter of late Fredrick Farzara My father who was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Lome the economic capital of Togo. My late father deposited USD7,000,000.00 in the bank before his death and i need your assistance to receive this fund for investment in your country while i come to your country and continue my education Anticipating to receive your reply immediately for more details to receive my inheritance money into an account of your choice that will be provided to the bank where my late father deposited this money.
Thanks and God bless you for helping an orphan like me.
Best regards,
Ann Mari Farzara

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Wednesday, December 07, 2022 - 08:25 pm: Edit

I have been getting really good fake USPS SMS messages about undeliverable packages of late.

The URL has human readable breadcrumbs enough to look real, but the root domain is wrong for anything offical..

The old tricks are new again, only this time they are using the types of tech that older folks use to stay in touch.

By Steve Stewart (Stevestewart) on Thursday, December 08, 2022 - 07:26 am: Edit

Got a load of those recently from parcel companies I'd never heard of. Blocked and moved on (although they change their email address so frequently you can't stop them all).