Scams and such

[Tabs]

I've read some interesting developments in technologies used in scams such as advanced skimmers for example, but out of all the scams, I have to say the old fashioned Grandma scam is by far the one that bothers me the most.

Basically, this involves nothing more than getting in contact with a victim-- usually an elderly person and hence the name of the scam-- usually by phone and, for example, pretends to be the grandson or some parties involved with the victim's family in serious trouble somehow. They need you to transfer a lot of money, and fast!

Technically, there is nothing new or extraordinary in terms of how this con works. The problem is that it still works because the victims tend to be good-hearted people (who are perhaps also a bit gullible or growing senile).

The bad part is that some are conned out of their life's savings; money that they simply can not afford to lose. Recovering these losses also tends to be next to impossible (because the owner legally transferred that money).

I'm just throwing this PSA out there, to be extra careful of listening to anyone you don't know, especially ones who ask for money for any reason... and to make sure your family members don't do the same.

Uh, if I think of anything else, I'll add it here later. Anything like this ever happen to anyone you know?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I don't know anyone who has been scammed that way, but I could totally see my own husband falling for it in his later years. He is already losing his hearing so he might not be able to discern supposedly familiar voices over the phone years from now. Plus he has a heart of gold coupled with a highly active sense of personal responsibility and family loyalty.....So someday maybe someone could pull off a "Grandpa" scam on him.

[GoodSteward]

I recently had something happen with my mom's boss who is a doctor, and should have known better. They got this notification on their computer claiming to be an official Microsoft notice that they have a virus and to call. So they called.....

While on the phone they also call me and I told them not to do anything or give them any money. I only live a few min away so I came over, and when I got there sure enough they were trying to get credit card info from them to fix this issue(no real issue other than the malware that informed them to call). As soon as they said their IT guy was there (me lol) the other guy hung up and tried to reboot the computer. If he was successful he would have loaded up a real virus locking windows out after it rebooted. I unplugged the network cable and ran some scans. Nothing serious was left. I still replaced the drive with an SSD per their request. They are extremely scared of government monitoring (they cover up their webcam when not in use).

I have actually watched several youtube videos just before this on the same scam, and it was amazing just how similar it is. They pull up the system log and show you all these alerts (completely normally and not a real problem), then say their firewall is hacked and ip is stolen or some random garbage a normal user wouldn't know. They are believable because they show them things that appear to be problems. Be careful with this stuff.

FYI never call any number a popup tells you to call, and never believe any phone call you get from Mircosoft. They NEVER call people. The only thing you should be looking for is a legit message from the antivirus software you use, and they do not ask you to call anybody.

[Tabs]

I don't know anyone who has been scammed that way, but I could totally see my own husband falling for it in his later years. He is already losing his hearing so he might not be able to discern supposedly familiar voices over the phone years from now. Plus he has a heart of gold coupled with a highly active sense of personal responsibility and family loyalty.....So someday maybe someone could pull off a "Grandpa" scam on him.

You've got a good man there, Joan. Please don't let anything like that happen to him.

[97guns]

my mom has a friend that got took for 10k and a cousin that they got over 30k from, she was so stupid and gave them her SS number then they opened credit cards

[HundredK]

...they cover up their webcam when not in use).

We do that as well, on all of our computers and our phones. First off all, there are viruses out there than can commandeer your webcam. Second of all, I sit in a lot of skype meetings with people who don't turn off their webcams, and UGH. Let's just say they often forget their webcams are on, and so I see lots of faces made, lots of nosepicking, lots of unsightly things.

And a pack of webcam blocking stickers is really really cheap.

[frugal saver]

This one is horrible!!

Twice--

My friend got a call from her father--he needed a ride to the bank to get the money to "save" his grandson. If his car hadn't needed to be fixed, she never would have known and he would have sent them thousands.

An older (80's) woman in my knitting group got a call from an equally old neighbor that she wanted company "when they came to pick up the money." Thankfully, the woman in my group called the police and there was all kinds of "company" when the guy showed up.

I just heard on the news of a new version--your relative has been kidnapped and they demand money, complete with screaming in the background.

You have to be a person with no soul whatsoever to do that to elderly people.