Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – September 14, 2024 – Unpaid Utility Company Bill Scam Updated With QR Codes
Scams involving utility bills for electric, water or gas services have long been popular with scammers. In the past people would be called on the phone, texted or emailed by scammers posing as the victim’s utility company demanding payment for an unpaid bill. Now in a new variation on this scam, the scammers first call and threaten the targeted victim with cutting off of their services unless an immediate payment is made by using a QR code that the scammer then provides in a text message along with directions to go to the closest Walgreens, CVS or Walmart and use their payment services to have the money sent to the scammer posing as the utility company
TIPS
You can never be sure when you get a text message or a telephone call if it is really from a legitimate source. A scammer can use a technique called “spoofing” to make it appear that the call or text message is from a legitimate caller. Trust me, you can’t trust anyone. In the case of a utility bill, merely call the number on the back of your bill and you will be able to confirm whether or not the communication was legitimate.
Another red flag that this is a scam is that scammers always try to have you pay them in ways that are difficult or impossible to reverse, such as wiring money, gift cards, cryptocurrencies or QR codes. Real utilities never ask for a specific way to make payment and don’t accept payments by gift cards.
Finally, there are companies like Kaspersky that have free QR code scanner apps that will not only scan the QR code, but also let you know if it is legitimate and prevent the downloading of malware from bogus QR codes. Here is a link to Kaspersky’s QR code scanner. https://www.kaspersky.com/qr-scanner
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Scam of the day – September 13, 2024 – Letter from Law Firm About Inheritance Scam
The Federal Trade Commission is warning people about a scam which begins when you get a letter from a law firm informing you that they are probating an estate in which they have not been able to locate an heir, however, they then inform you that you are the heir to the million dollar estate. The letter then offers to split the value of the estate with you, some charities and their law firm. If you respond to the letter, you will be asked to provide personal and financial information including your Social Security number and to pay a fee. If this sounds vaguely familiar it is because it is just a variation of the Nigerian email scam that continues to plague the online community.
Although it may seem that the Nigerian email scam began in the era of the Internet, the origin of the scam actually goes back to 1588 when it was known as the Spanish Prisoner Scam. In those days, a letter was sent to the victim purportedly from someone on behalf of a wealthy aristocrat who was imprisoned in Spain under a false name. The identity of the nobleman was not revealed for security reasons, but the victim was asked to provide money to obtain the release of the aristocrat, who, it was promised, would reward the money-contributing scam victim with a vast reward that included, in some circumstances, the Spanish prisoner’s beautiful daughter in marriage.
In the most common versions of this scam circulating on the Internet today, you are promised great sums of money if you assist a Nigerian or someone elsewhere in his effort to transfer money out of his country. While we refer to this type of scam as the Nigerian Email Scam, not all versions of this scam have a connection to Nigeria as indicated in the email copied below. Common variations of the scam include the movement of embezzled funds by corrupt officials, a dying man who wants to make charitable gifts, a minor bank official trying to move the money of deceased foreigners out of his bank without the government taking it or, as in this case, abandoned funds.
In most variations of this scam, although you are told initially that you do not need to contribute anything financially to the endeavor, you soon learn that it is necessary for you to contribute increasingly large amounts of money for various reasons, such as fees, bribes, insurance or taxes before you can get anything. Of course, the victim ends up paying money to the scammer, but never receives anything in return.
TIPS
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Scam of the day – September 12, 2024 – FTC Shuts Down Business Opportunity Scam
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently settled lawsuits it had brought against Robert William Shafer and Samuel J. Smith who had operated a business opportunity scam called Blueprint To Wealth that targeted people seeking to start their own businesses. The two scammers charged their victims fees of between $3,000 and $21,000 in addition to further administrative fees for membership in the scheme which promised its members turnkey online businesses that were represented to be operated on the members’ behalf, however, there was no business at all other than selling the same scam to other people. According to the terms of the settlement, both defendants are banned from operating business opportunity projects in the future and are required to turn over cash and bank accounts.
TIPS
The sale of business opportunities is regulated by the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule which requires the sellers of business opportunities to provide a one-page disclosure document outlining important facts about the offering including informing you about any legal actions in which the sellers have been involved. The disclosure also has to provide you with details as to any refund policy and provide a list of references. Additionally, as is always the case with these types of scams, if they make claims about how much money you can earn through their scheme, they must provide you with an Earnings Claim Statement that indicates in detail the specifics of those claims and the opportunity to see written proof of the claims.
Before considering any kind of business opportunity, you should have a lawyer review these required disclosures and if the person offering you the business opportunity does not provide these documents, you should consider that a red flag that this is a scam. You also should investigate the people behind the offering as well as the particular type of business opportunity.
You also can do a Google or other search engine search of any company from which you are considering making a purchase in which you type in the company’s name along with the words “scam” or “complaints” and see what you come up with.
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Scam of the day – September 11, 2024 – New Amazon Phishing Email
Recently I received an email informing me that that Amazon Prime Membership was going to be suspended or even cancelled because the credit card tied to the account was no longer able to be used. The email contained a link for me to click on to provide a new credit card. I have removed the link from the copy of the email shown below along with the link for customer service. I also blocked out the salutation which did not indicate my name, but rather my email address. This is a common scam in which the scammers attempt to lure people into providing their credit card information or Amazon user name and password to the scammer posing as an Amazon employee.
This particular phishing email carried the logo of Amazon which is not reproduced below, however, it is a simple matter to counterfeit a logo. So how do you know if you get such an email whether or not the email is legitimate? For starters, the email address of the sender of the email had no relation to Amazon. The best course of action if you receive such an email and you have any thoughts that it might be legitimate you should communicate directly with Amazon through their website or mobile app rather than click on a link in the email that purports to take you to Amazon.
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TIPS
Some of these phishing emails, which in the past had poor grammar and spelling having been sent from scammers in a country where English is not their native language are now, through AI able to appear entirely legitimate. Never click on a link in an email or text message or provide personal information unless you have confirmed that the email or text message is legitimate. The telephone number to call if you suspect Amazon related fraud is 866-216-1075 or you can call their real customer service number 888-280-4331 Never call the numbers that appears in phishing emails.
Also, because any of us can be scammed, it is a good idea to use dual factor authentication whenever possible to protect your various accounts so that even if someone actually had your password they would not be able to access your account. In order to set up dual factor authentication for your Amazon account use this link. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=G3PWZPU52FKN7PW4
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Scam of the day – September 10, 2024 – Paint Your Photo Check Scam
A new scam targeting younger adults in particular is turning up on social media. It starts when the targeted victim is contacted through social media by the scammer who tells the targeted victim that the scammer saw a photograph of the targeted victim on social media and wants to pay the targeted victim thousands of dollars to paint it. After the targeted victim agrees, he or she is sent a very legitimate appearing check with instructions to deposit the check and then wire a portion of the check back to the scammer to pay for the artist’s supplies and keep the rest. Some victims of the scam thinking they are being prudent wait a few days to clear before wiring money to the scammer, but what they don’t realize is that although a check may appear to have been cleared by your bank after a few days, all you are really getting is “provisional credit” and when the counterfeit check eventually bounces, the credit is taken back from your account and you are left having sent your own money to the scammer. The overpayment check is the basis for many scams including mystery shopper scams about which I have written many times
TIPS
This is just another variation on the scam whereby the victim, for whatever purposes receives a check in excess of the amount owed to the victim and asks the victim to send back the difference. There are a number of tell tale signs to look for and steps to take to avoid this type of scam. First, you need to remember that the prudent thing to do when being paid by a check is to wait until the check has fully cleared before you can feel confident that the funds actually are in your account. This may take a few weeks. Most importantly, never accept a check for more than what is owed you and send the difference back. It is always a scam. Asking you to wire money from your account is also something about which you should be skeptical because once money is wired, it is impossible to get it back.
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Scam of the day – September 9, 2024 – Watch Out for VIN Cloning When Buying a Used Car
Every car has a Vehicle Identification Number or VIN that is unique for each car. Scammers are taking photos of the VIN number which can be found just below the windshield on the driver’s side of a car that is the same make, model and year of a car that the scammers have stolen and then make a new metallic VIN plate with the cloned number and swap it out for the VIN number of the car the stolen car. They then offer their stolen car for sale. In December of 2019, Meril Bauter responded to an ad for a 2019 Toyota 4Runner on Facebook Marketplace. The scammer sent the VIN number which Ms. Bauter used to do a VIN search and a Carfax search and everything checked out fine even though the actual car was a stolen car whose real VIN had been removed. She then paid $40,000 in cash to the scammer and registered her car. It wasn’t until three years later that the scam was discovered and the car was seized by law enforcement due to its being a stolen car. Fortunately, Farmers Insurance, Bauter’s automobile insurance company paid her claim.
So how do you protect yourself from being a victim of VIN cloning?
TIPS
The VIN number is found not only on the dashboard by the windshield, but also in the front door. Make sure they both match. Also, run your finger over the VIN plate and look for signs that the VIN plate may have been switched. You also should compare the VIN number to the VIN number that appears on the Title and all other documents that relate to the car. It is also important to get a Carfax or other vehicle history report on the vehicle and review it carefully for any discrepancies. This scam often doesn’t involve cars that are the exact make model and year of the stolen car. Additionally, you should have a mechanic inspect any used car you are considering buying for indications that it is not as represented.
Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.
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Scam of the day – September 8, 2024 – Brushing is Still a Problem
I first told you about “brushing” in August of 2020 after many people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom reported receiving unordered packages of seeds sent from China. A wide variety of conspiracy theories quickly surfaced to explain what was happening, but the truth was that it was an example of a scam called “brushing.” Brushing is the name for using false orders for products to boost the prominence of an online vendor.
Vendors pay brushers to make large orders of their product and ship them to strangers to make the sales appear to be legitimate. The brushers follow up on these purchases by posting glowing reviews of the vendor’s product. This combination of increased sales volume and positive reviews will, in turn, result in the increased prominence of the vendor in online marketplaces and result in increased sales. Brushing is illegal in the United States and China, however, it is quite commonly used by Chinese companies. Now we are seeing a resurgence of this scam with people receiving a wide variety of inexpensive products that they never ordered.
TIPS
The good news is that while “brushing” is a scam, it does not directly threaten you. The bad news is that this incident emphasizes the fact that you cannot truly trust online reviews and sales figures when determining whether you wish to purchase a particular product. People who have contacted Amazon and other online retailers are generally told that they can either keep the products, get rid of them or donate them to a charity. The primary takeaway, however, is that you don’t have to be concerned that you have become a victim of identity theft or some other scam if you receive an unordered item. In order to make sure that someone has not used your credit card to order the item, you should always confirm with the seller that your credit card was not used.
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Scam of the day – September 7, 2024 – You Can’t Trust Alexa
Alexa is tremendously helpful for so many things. If you need to know the score of last night’s baseball game, if you want to know what the weather will be today or even to turn down your thermostat. for you. And it is not just Alexa. Siri or Google Home will do the same tasks for you. However, there is one task that you should not trust Alexa and the other devices to perform. You should never ask it to call a tech support or customer service number for you.
For years I have warned you about phony tech support scams done by scammers who establish bogus tech support websites for your favorite tech companies, such as Facebook and Instagram. By manipulating the algorithms used by Google and other search engines, the scammers manage to get their bogus websites into top positions in Google and other search engine searches. These phony tech support websites are used to scam you out of money or personal information which they use to make you a victim of identity theft. Scammers also use similar tactics to scam people looking for help with the repair of common household appliances, such as refrigerators and washing machines.
People looking through a search engine for a telephone number for customer service or a company’s warranty center are often taken to one of the phony websites and when they call the telephone number found in the phony website they are told that they can set up an appointment for a repair person by merely providing their name and location. Then they are often told that they need to pay a small fee which they can do by credit card or debit card for a speedy next-day expedited service call. Unfortunately, this is all a scam. No service person comes the next day, however, your credit card, or even worse, your debit card is used by the scammer. But it isn’t just people who are taken to these phony search engine listings. Alexa, Siri and Google Home are susceptible to being scammed by merely picking the top position in a search engine search and putting you in touch with a scammer.
TIPS
Don’t bother Alexa with looking up and calling tech support or customer service numbers. The best place to look for a telephone number for tech support, customer service or warranty information is on the company’s official website, on your bill or in the warranty documents that came with your appliance or device. Also, be careful when you call the real number for tech support or customer service. Clever scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists purchase telephone numbers that are a single digit off of the legitimate phone numbers for many companies’ tech support or customer service numbers in order to take advantage of common consumer misdials.
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Scam of the day – September 6, 2024 – High School Sports Streaming Scam
We are starting the Fall high school sports season and more and more people are choosing to watch the games streaming online rather than attend the games in person. Streaming of high school sports increased dramatically during the pandemic and even now that the pandemic has ended, many people still enjoy watching the games streamed. Unfortunately, anything that many people enjoy will always be something that scammers take note of and scammers are going on social media posing as a streaming service and posting links through which people can sign up for streaming of their local high school’s games. People clicking on these links are prompted for personal information including their credit card to sign up for the service that they never receive. Instead all they end up doing is becoming victims of identity theft and credit card fraud.
Last year high school sports organizations in North Carolina, Indiana and New Mexico warned about this scam, but the scam is not just limited to those states. It is going on everywhere.
TIPS
The simplest way to avoid this scam is to ignore any posts on social media or through emails, text messages or phone calls that offer to provide streaming of high school sports because it is pretty much impossible to know if they are legitimate or not. The best way to find out where you can stream your high school’s games is to contact your local high school’s athletic department and ask if they stream their games and if they do, where do you sign up.
Also, as I constantly remind you, never use your debit card for any purchase because you do not get the same protection from fraudulent use of your debit card that you do with your credit card. With your debit card, potentially your entire bank account tied to your debit card is in jeopardy in the event of fraudulent use of it.
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Scam of the day – September 5, 2024 – Unpaid College Tuition Scam
The school year for college has just begun and scammers are taking advantage of this to target college students and their parents with phone calls in which the scammers pose as the school’s financial aid office or bursar’s office. They tell the student or parent of the student that their financial aid package has fallen through and that the student will not be allowed to attend classes unless they pay the full amount of the semester’s tuition immediately. Often the scammers demand payment by cryptocurrencies or gift cards which is always a red flag that it is a scam.
Through a simple technique called “spoofing” the scammers can manipulate your Caller ID so that the call appears to come from the college or university when the truth is that it is coming from a scammer.
TIPS
Trust me, you can’t trust anyone. Whenever you get an email, text message or, such as in the case of this scam, a phone call asking for a payment, you should not make the payment unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate. In this case, most colleges and universities use secure student portals to post bills and enable payments. You can confirm if anything is owed by going to the portal. Alternatively, you can call the financial aid office or billing office for the college or university directly at a phone number that you know is legitimate to see what the truth is.
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