There are all sorts of scams I've heard of. From free Disney tickets, to the IRS says you owe taxes, and we'll pay your utilities...just give us your SSN.
Have you ever known anyone to fall victim to a scam? Or, are most people wary enough to avoid them?
No had a close call though. My grandfather got a call that I was in jail for drinking under the influence (quite out of character for me because I don't drink or like driving). The guy apparently sounded like me and claimed that a $1000 gift card to target could get him out (sketchy). That day I felt like visiting him because I had not seen him for a few months, so I did. I went there and my grandfather look so surprised that I was no longer in jail (never was). He had the 1000$ gift card in his hand and was just about read to dial it in, we had conversation about it and ended up saving him his 1000$. At least I know he'd do anything for me, despite this being a scam artist. Praise be to the FSM!
Long time ago, an acquaintance answered a newspaper ad that guaranteed income, and he sent in the $10 or whatever to get the info, which was... put ads in newspapers that guarantee income.
My brothers fall for them all the time and they never learn. I used to try to tell them not to put their money in those things, but they just got mad and said that just because I went to College I think that I know it all. They have lost so much money and they still fall for many of those scams.
My facebook friends posts that drivel all the time. When I point out it's a scam, they reply "Well it may be true" and enters the contests.
My sister has to be the most gullible person out there. Back in 2000 she emailed me saying she got this letter and could not believe her good fortune. Reading the letter I see it's a Nigerian scam and told her to throw it away. Since then she keeps emailing me shit wanting to know if it's true or not (it takes two seconds for me to google the shit).
The last was an employment opportunity to work at home. They wanted to send her a check, deposit it into her account and buy "equipment" (office equipment) with 10 itune cards, which she was supposed to email them the number and PIN codes to prove she purchased them. She got the check (very excited), but got confused about the itune cards. Luckily I explained it enough for her to file fraud charges on them before she deposited the check and got the cards.
I ordered a Beautiful bed from Amazon. The company I purchased from turned out to be a scam. They actually used phony copies of Amazon's own order system to get money sent Around the real billing system. Fortunately I made "copy screen" images of the whole procedure. Amazon quickly reimbursed me and I was able to get my bed through one of their legitimate vendors.
Time shares are horrible from what a coworker says. Not only can he not get out of paying for it, he has to pay maintenance fees for the resorts even if he doesn't go.
Time shares are generally a terrible investment, but since you do get something they arent really a scam... just a bad purchase lol.
A friend of mine has a time share in Maui and uses it all the time and they love it. It was the first new construction in 20 years and they get their moneys worth. But I also know that there are companies that buy up time shares from people that don't want them. It sounded like it was pretty easy to sell them.
Scamming as evil... never sleeps. Is a full time job to a lot of humans. I used to work on reloadable credit cards were the target was the elderly helping out a grandchild from going to jail. Sad when I had to tell the customer it is a "victim assisted crime" with little law enforcement can do since they voluntarily provided the information over the phone. By the way IRS will never call you. Law enforcement never call you to keep one of your loved ones out of jail either.
@silvereyes Yep, they will change tactics but they will push it.
Not the kind of scam you're thinking of probably, but long ago a friend talked me into going to see a "psychic". Well, right away this person knew I wasn't going to be fooled, so she gave me a very short, general reading.
My friend, however, was another matter. I found out a couple of weeks later that she had gone back several times, paying more each time, because the psychic told her that the energy generated from the money transfer helped her see more clearly.
They get more sophisticated every day. I got scammed by people pretending to part of the fed loan forgiveness program. They had an actual addrea in the us. An actual better business bureau number, web site blah blah blah. Turns out it was all a shell company.
They get more sophisticated every day. I got scammed by people pretending to part of the fed loan forgiveness program. They had an actual addrea in the us. An actual better business bureau number, web site blah blah blah. Turns out it was all a shell company.
@silvereyes Nice. I've got a pre-programed joke box with fake answers one of the buttons claims to be N.O.R.A.D
nearly fell foul of the "virus" scam where people claim to "represent" Microsoft and charge you for removing non existent virus , they sounded so plausible, DO NOT GIVE YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS ONLINE !
@silvereyes EXACTLY, people should be aware of this type of scam , seems to be located in India
@silvereyes My mother (age 80) fell for this one as well, even though I try to instill "don't do this" things in her head ... even for this one. But she doesn't do well with technology so that leaves her vulnerable - the logic of it confuses her. In her favor, she called me right after to say "I think I did a really stupid thing" so we salvaged a lot.
I knew one man who was taken in THREE times and the last time he put the law firm he managed out of business. While not a lawyer himself, he was the firm manager and had single signature access to firm funds. When issuing paycheck, he diverted the money meant to be sent for taxes to whomever was scamming him to the tune of about $350K. When his crime was imminent, he attempted suicide, was committed then diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and died. I helped his wife wrap up her life with him and move out of the area.
@SACatWalker Once maybe, but two, three times? He was a bit of a prick and got what he had coming. Neglected his wife a little and generally was not well liked.
@SACatWalker No problem
Just got this in the mail. This time they dint even try ti guess what vehicle I have. They just say, “ your vehicle.” Feel free to call and be belligerent with’em, just don't give thrm your money.
I’ve known people who were attempted victims but caught that shit, funny stories they have to tell for sure...
But the gullible, the lonely, and the easy prey don’t always catch on.
That prince is gonna give me my 25,000 bucks any day now....any day now....I did fall for a VCR scam when I was a lot younger....but this was a lack of communication thing....I thought this guy was a friend of my roommate, and he thought he was a friend of mine, so he took our 25 bucks and ran with it....we had a 25-dollars-lost mourning party which spanned 3 states and many speed limits, so it was totally worth it....
James Veitch has a funny TEDTalk about email scammers that I get a real kick out of (the follow-up one is funny as well):
Yeah, @silvereyes, it's a horrible way to make money ... by which I mean they must be horrible people. But like the Irish Lottery scam, I think people who fall for them must be so hopeless to believe it's true (I mean, why would someone think they won a lottery that they never entered?)
One of my nephews fell for one of those free cruises scam. He paid the "tax" on it or something like that and never heard from them again. He's only like 22 or 23 so he's still a bit naive.
I think people would give up trying if they didn't work on some people
Yes a friend of mine called someone telling her that he was the IRS. She didn't give them money or anything. She called the IRS herself.
Biggest scam I know everyone I have ever known has fallen for it. (Christianity)
It depends on how well they can pull off the scam. The person with a foreign accent who states the the grandson is in a Canadian jail most likely will not be sucessful. I have been targeted a number of times about the free trip I won and that I won a free visa card to Walmarts. It is ashame that people can be so vile as to attack the the old folks.