Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – May 12, 2024 – Phantom Debt Collection Scams
Receiving a telephone call from a debt collector is not a pleasant experience. Being hounded by someone attempting to collect a debt you do not owe constitutes fraud. In recent years the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against a number of these Phantom debt collection agencies. These scammers used false claims and threats to compel people to pay debts which were largely either non-existent or which the defendants had no authority to collect. They also violated federal law by illegally failing to provide proper notices and disclaimers also required by federal law.
TIPS
Subject to strict federal laws, legitimate debt collectors are permitted to call debtors, however, the law prohibits them from threatening imprisonment for the failure to pay a debt and attempting to collect a debt that the debt collector knows is bogus. The law also prohibits debt collectors from communicating information about a debt to the consumer’s employer although they can contact the employer merely to obtain contact information about the employee
It can be difficult to know when someone calls attempting to collect a debt if indeed they are legitimate or not, so the best course of action if you receive such a call is to not discuss the debt with the person calling, but instead demand that they send you a written “validation notice” by regular mail which describes the debt they allege you owe and includes a listing of your rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Never give personal information over the phone to anyone who calls you attempting to collect a debt. You can never be sure who they are. If you receive the validation notice and it appears to be legitimate, you may be better off contacting your creditor directly because the person who called you may not be representing the creditor, but may merely have information about the debt.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address in the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
What do Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, and John Malkovich have in common? In addition to being famous entertainers, they are also scam victims. Anyone can be a scam victim. Scammers have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied, and they know how to manipulate us into becoming victims of scams. Phone calls, emails, and text messages are favorite methods scammers use to contact their victims, and it can be all but impossible to know who is really contacting you. Through a technique called “spoofing,” they can make their call or text message appear to come from anyone they wish. So, how can individuals help proactively avoid becoming a scam victim? The answer is ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali. Anytime a ScamAssist customer gets an email, text message, or phone call luring them into providing personal information or making a payment, all they have to do is use ScamAssist to learn whether the communication is likely to be a scam. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as major retailers like Staples – that have offered ScamAssist bundled with other core offerings to help differentiate themselves in the market and provide their customers with a tool they will truly utilize.
Scam of the day – May 11, 2024 – AT&T Sued Over Data Breach
In 2023 I first told you that AT&T notified nine million of its customers that some of their personal information was exposed when a marketing partner of AT&T was hacked. Now names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 73 million AT&T customers is being offered for free to cybercriminals on the Dark Web, that part of the Internet where criminals buy and sell goods and services. The data breach affects customers prior to August of 2021 and like the AT&T data breach I told you about last year, AT&T is telling its customers that its own computers were not hacked although they are not indicating from where the data was stolen
As I have reminded you many times, we are only as safe and secure as the security of the companies, government agencies and websites that have our personal information. Even if you are extremely diligent in protecting your personal information, you can be in danger of identity theft and scams if your personal information falls into the hands of hackers.
As of today multiple class action lawsuits have been filed against AT&T for failure to implement reasonable cybersecurity procedures and protocols necessary to protect customers’ personal information from predictable cyberattacks. As more information becomes available about these class actions, I will inform you here on Scamicide.
Meanwhile, we are left with the question as to what can you do to protect yourself from these data breaches that will be occurring?
TIPS
One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible. For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records.
You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger. If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.
If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
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Phishing, smishing, spear phishing. They may seem like odd terms with which you may barely be familiar, but scammers use these effective techniques to reach out by phone or email to their targeted victims, and the results can be disastrous. Interestingly, according to the FTC, people lose the most money to scams that start on the phone. It can seem almost impossible to determine if a scammer is contacting you. But now there is an easy-to-use new online tool called ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali that allows you to submit suspicious solicitations electronically or by phone. Using Iris’ team of trained experts and rigorous technology, ScamAssist will analyze the messages before sending a detailed assessment of how likely it is to be a scam and recommendations for minimizing potential damage. It is easy to use and dependable. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as major retailers like Staples – that have recognized that providing ScamAssist to its customers helps protect them and generates goodwill.
Scam of the day – May 10, 2024 – Watch Out for Mother’s Day Scams
This upcoming Sunday is Mother’s Day and once again we must be vigilant about not falling prey to scams related to this holiday. Anything popular with the public will always be popular with scammers. Although for many of us Mother’s Day is an opportunity to show our mothers how much we love and appreciate them, for scammers it is yet another opportunity to scam people.
One common Mother’s Day scam involves an email that you get offering Mother’s Day gifts such as flowers, jewelry, shoes or clothing at tremendously discounted prices. All you need to do is to click on a link to order online. The problem is that many of these offers are indeed scams. If you click on the link, one of two things can happen and both are bad. Sometimes the link will take you to an order form where you provide your credit card information, but never get anything in return. Instead, your credit card information is used to make you a victim of identity theft. Even worse is the other possibility which is by clicking on the link, you will unwittingly download a keystroke logging malware program that will steal all of the personal information stored on your computer and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft.
Be careful when making online purchases. Merely because a website offering great prices may be highly listed on Google or other search engines does not mean that it is legitimate. All it means is that the scammers know how to manipulate the positioning of their website in a Google search. Other times the scammers will merely pay for an advertisement for their website to appear at the top of a search engine search.
Even if you are dealing with a legitimate online company, make sure that your communications are encrypted when you send personal information or credit card information. The easy way to do this is to look to see if the the web address of the company changes when you go to the page to input credit card information from “http” to “https” indicating that your data is being encrypted. And of course, don’t use your debit card for retail purchases either online or in a brick and mortar store because you have less protection from fraud with a debit card than a credit card.
TIPS
It is always dangerous to buy anything online from any store or company with which you are not familiar. Check out the company with your state’s Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission or just do a Google search to see if the company is legitimate. Even then, you are better off going directly to the company’s website rather than dealing with a company through an email that may just be a forgery of an email from a legitimate company. As always, if the offer you receive sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
You also can use the Google Safe Browsing Tool to see if a particular website you are considering for a Mother’s Day purchase is legitimate. https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Phone calls, emails, and text messages are among the primary ways that scam artists, the only criminals we call artists, contact their targeted victims. Scammers have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied, and they are adept at luring us to click on malware-infected links, provide personal information that can lead to identity theft, or make a payment. Anyone can be scammed. For years, I have told you, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone,” and that you should be skeptical of emails, phone calls, and text messages prompting you to act. But how can you know if a phone call, email, or text message is legitimate? Fortunately, there is a terrific new product called ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali that you can turn to quickly to let you know if that communication is a scam. It can be a lifesaver. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris at IrisIdentityProtection.com/Scamicide to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as Staples – that have recognized that providing ScamAssist to its customers helps protect them and generates goodwill.
Scam of the day – May 9, 2024 – Skimmers Still Posing Threats at Gas Pumps
Four years ago the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about the dangers presented by skimmers on gas pumps and the threat persists to this day. I have warned you about the dangers of skimmers for many years. Skimmers are small electronic devices that are easily installed by an identity thief on gas pumps, ATMs and other card reading devices. The skimmer steals all of the information from old style magnetic strip credit card or debit cards which then enables the identity thief to use that information to access the victim’s credit card or bank account when the skimmer is used on a debit card. Each skimmer can hold information on as many as 2,400 cards.
MasterCard and Visa announced in December of 2016 that the deadline for the installation of EMV chip card readers on gas pumps was being delayed three years to October 1, 2020. This deadline was further delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic to April 17, 2021 at which time less than half of the gas pumps in the United States complied with the requirement to install EMV chip card readers. And although that deadline has long since passed, due to the cost involved, many gas pumps still are not enabled for your chip credit card.
Wider implementation of the use of EMV chip cards at retail stores where their use has been mandated since 2015 has resulted in a dramatic reduction in data breaches and credit card fraud at retailers using this equipment. EMV chip cards are far safer than the old-style magnetic strip cards. Around the country there has been a dramatic increase in the use of skimmers installed by criminals at gas pumps and while the deadline for gas pumps to install chip readers has passed, many gas pumps still do not use EMV chip card readers and so skimmers at gas pumps continue to be a problem.
In a more recent development, the Aurora, Colorado police department issued a warning that scammers were drilling holes in the contactless payment screens on gas pumps where you can merely scan your credit card with its RFID chip rather than insert it into any card reader. By damaging the contactless payment screen, it becomes inoperable thereby requiring the customer to use the credit card reader on the gas pump where the identity thief had already installed a skimmer to steal your credit card or debit card information.
TIPS
Always look for signs of tampering on any machine you use to swipe your credit card or debit card although the more advanced forms of skimmers are installed in the gas pump’s interior and cannot be detected from an inspection of the outside of the pump. Keys to open the gas pumps to allow the installation of the skimmer are readily available online. If the card inserting mechanism appears loose or in any other way tampered, don’t use it. In regard to the contactless payment screen, if it is not working, there is a high likelihood that it may have been tampered with so in that instance pay for your gas inside the gas station office.
Debit cards, when compromised through a skimmer put the customers at risk of having the bank accounts tied to their cards entirely emptied if the theft is not promptly reported and even if the victim reports the theft immediately, the victim loses access to his or her bank account while the matter is investigated by the bank. Debit cards should not be used for purchases at gas pumps. Instead use your credit card and monitor your account regularly to find out early if you have become a victim of this scam. With a credit card, your liability for fraudulent purchases is limited by law to no more than $50 and I am not aware of any credit card companies that hold their customers responsible for any fraudulent purchases. However, fraudulent debit purchases do not come with the same federal legal protection.
When choosing a particular gas pump, you may wish to pick the pump closest to the building and within the sight line of the attendant. Criminals are less likely to install skimmers in pumps where they could be observed making the illegal installation of a skimmer.
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Technology in general and AI in particular has enabled scammers to make their scams via phone calls, text messages, or emails much more believable. Fortunately, technology can also be used to help individuals avoid becoming scam victims. ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali uses advanced technology coupled with actual human intelligence to recognize and flag scam solicitations – individuals simply need to submit the dubious solicitation online or by phone. Iris’ experts analyze the suspicious messages using rigorous technology, comparing them to known scams and phishing schemes. The team then sends a detailed assessment of the likelihood of the message being a scam and recommended next steps to minimize the damage. ScamAssist is easy to use and can be a lifesaver – for individuals as well as a business in an industry prone to scams. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to offer a standalone scam assistance micro-experience or bundle it with a product package to help provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Create a seamless experience for your customers by offering ScamAssist in your branding. Contact Iris at IrisIdentityProtection.com/Scamicide to learn more.
Scam of the day – May 8, 2024 – Vacation Home Rental Scams
It is only early May, but already people are looking into renting a summer vacation home. Renting vacation homes rather than going to hotels has been increasingly popular in recent years. There are many excellent websites such as VRBO and Homeaway that offer wonderful vacation homes. Many people will also go to Craigslist and other similar sites. These websites can be easy and efficient ways to find a great vacation home.
Unfortunately, they are also a great way for scam artists to steal money from unwary people looking for a vacation home. The scam usually starts with a listing that looks quite legitimate and there is a good reason for that. The listing is often a real on-line listing that has been copied by the scammer who merely puts in his or her name and contact information. The price is usually very low which attracts a lot of potential renters. The potential renters are sometimes told that the owner is out of the country and that there are many people interested in the property so if the tenant wants to be considered for renting it, the tenant has to wire money to the landlord somewhere outside of the country. As I have warned you many times, wiring money is a scammer’s first choice because it is all but impossible to retrieve once you have found out that you have been scammed. Too often, unwary potential tenants wire the money and never hear anything further from the scam landlord. And as for the money, it is gone forever.
TIPS
There are a number of red flags to look for in vacation home rental scams. First, as always, if the price is too good to be true, it usually is just that – not true. Also be wary of landlords who are out of the country.
Never send your payment by a wire transfer, Zelle, Venmo or a cashier’s check. Use a credit card, PayPal or any other payment system with which you can retrieve your funds if the transaction is fraudulent. It is usually best to deal with websites that specialize in vacation homes, but you must remember that they cannot possibly monitor every listing to ensure that it is legitimate.
A great and easy way to determine if the listing is a scam is to check out who really is the owner by going on line to the tax assessor’s office of the city or town where the property is located and look up who the real owner is. If it doesn’t match the name of the person attempting to rent you the home, you should not go through with the rental. Also Google the name of the owner with the word “scam” next to his or her name and see if anything comes up to make you concerned.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/
Phishing, smishing, spear phishing. They may seem like odd terms with which you may barely be familiar, but scammers use these effective techniques to reach out by phone or email to their targeted victims, and the results can be disastrous. Interestingly, according to the FTC, people lose the most money to scams that start on the phone. It can seem almost impossible to determine if a scammer is contacting you. But now there is an easy-to-use new online tool called ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali that allows you to submit suspicious solicitations electronically or by phone. Using Iris’ team of trained experts and rigorous technology, ScamAssist will analyze the messages before sending a detailed assessment of how likely it is to be a scam and recommendations for minimizing potential damage. It is easy to use and dependable. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as major retailers like Staples – that have recognized that providing ScamAssist to its customers helps protect them and generates goodwill.
Scam of the day – May 7, 2024 – Gold to Cash Scammer Arrested
Recently in Maryland Ravinkle Mathon was arraigned in a Maryland court accused of attempting to scam an elderly man out of $200,000 in an elaborate scam that has increased dramatically in the last year. Police say that the scam began with a phone call from Mathon to an elderly man in which Mathon posed as a federal agent telling the targeted victim that his identity had been stolen and that he needed to protect his savings by withdrawing all of his funds, purchasing gold with the funds and then turn the gold over to the alleged scammer for safe keeping. Fortunately, a family member of the targeted victim became aware of the scam and notified police who set up a sting and arrested Mathon when he came to collect the gold..
Scammers posing as government officials also perpetrate this scam by telling their targeted victims that their accounts have been hacked or are in danger of being hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets and purchase gold or some other precious metal in order to protect their assets. The scammers then send a courier to collect the gold, purportedly for safe keeping on behalf of the targeted victim. Once they have the gold, they disappear leaving the victim penniless.
TIPS
The primary thing to keep in mind in order to avoid this scam is to remember that no government agency or legitimate business will ever request that you purchase gold or other precious metals for any purpose and certainly not to protect them from criminals.
This scam increase to total losses last year of 55 million dollars and is getting worse. In March a 64 year old woman lost $700,000 through this scam. According to the FBI, many of the perpetrators of this crime are foreigners who have little difficult leaving the country with gold bars.
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#imposterscam #cashtogoldscam
For years here on Scamicide, I have told you, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” Using modern technology, scammers contact people in vast numbers through computer-generated phone calls, text messages, and emails that lure you into becoming a scam victim. Being a scam victim can be devastating, and it can be very difficult to determine if that call, email, or text message you receive is from a scammer. That is where ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali comes in. Using Iris’ proprietary technology and real human resources, ScamAssist can tell users the likelihood of the communication they received is to be a scam. If Iris believes the solicitation to be fraudulent, their team of identity fraud resolution experts will report the scam to the authorities and help the individual minimize the damage. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Create a seamless experience for your customers by offering ScamAssist in your branding. Contact Iris at IrisIdentityProtection.com/Scamicide to learn more.
Scam of the day – May 6, 2024 – Phony Norton Invoice Scam
The phony invoice scam is a common scam popular with scammers because it is quite effective. It starts when you receive an email that purports to be from a popular company with which many of us do business that indicates that you owe them a significant payment. The scammers count on people being concerned that they are being wrongfully charged for a product they did not order. You are provided a telephone number to call if you dispute the bill. If you call the number, you will be prompted to provide personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
The copied email below, which I personally received, appears to come from Norton Life Lock, a company that provides a wide range of digital security services and identity theft protection services. As always, the purpose of a phishing email is to lure you into clicking on links contained within the email or providing personal information, in this case by phone if you call to dispute the phony bill . If you click on links in phishing emails, you end up downloading malware and if you provide the requested information, it ends up being used to make you a victim of identity theft. This particular phishing email provides a phone number to call if you wish to dispute the obviously phony invoice. If you call the number in the phishing email you will be asked for personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft. The phone number is not one of Norton Life Lock. The real phone number of Norton Life Lock is 800-543-3562.
There are a number of red flags that indicate that this is a scam. Your name does not appear anywhere in the invoice. Only your email address appears in the phony invoice. Also, the email was sent from an email address that has no relation to Norton Life Lock. Finally, the email provides what it says is a toll free number to call if there are any issues with the invoice, but the area code 432 which is indicated in the email is not a toll free number, but rather an area code used in Texas.
Here is a copy of the invoice being circulated.
 |
- Download your NortonLifeLock subscription by clicking on the “Get Started” button or go to your Norton account
- Follow the instructions to install your NortonLifeLock service on one or more devices
You have just joined over 5 million other LifeLock Members.
IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE THIS PURCHASE , CONTACT AT OUR CUSTOMER SUPPORT DESK TOLLFREE NUMBER
DO NOT REPLY ON THIS EMAIL
Your subscription is active and will renew on May 10, 2024 for $ 499.48/ year + applicable tax
Norton™ 360 with LifeLock™ Select
Copyright © 2021 NortonLifeLock Inc. All rights reserved.
NortonLifeLock Inc. 60 E Rio Salado Pkwy STE 1000, Tempe, AZ 85281, United States
TIPS
Once, I received a large invoice from a company with which I do business for goods I did not order, but rather than click on the link provided in the email, I went directly to the company’s website to question the invoice. When the website came up, the first thing I saw was a large announcement that the invoice was a scam and that many people had received these phony invoices. If you ever receive a phony invoice such as this and you think that it may possibly be true, don’t click on links or call phone numbers provided in the email. Rather, contact the real company directly at a phone number or website that you know is legitimate where you can confirm that the phishing invoice was a scam.
Never click on links or download attachments in emails or text messages unless you have absolutely confirmed that they are legitimate and don’t call companies at telephone numbers that appear in the email such as this one. Instead, if the email appears to come from a legitimate company, you can call them at a telephone number you confirm is legitimate . Don’t call the number that appears in the email. One of the indications that this is not legitimate and is a phishing email is the fact that the email address from which it was sent has nothing to do with Norton. Most likely it is the email address of someone whose email account was hacked and made a part of a botnet used to send out these phishing emails. The email does contain good graphics and the Norton Life Lock logo, but these are extremely easy to copy.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/
#invoicescam #nortoninvoicescam
What do Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, and John Malkovich have in common? In addition to being famous entertainers, they are also scam victims. Anyone can be a scam victim. Scammers have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied, and they know how to manipulate us into becoming victims of scams. Phone calls, emails, and text messages are favorite methods scammers use to contact their victims, and it can be all but impossible to know who is really contacting you. Through a technique called “spoofing,” they can make their call or text message appear to come from anyone they wish. So, how can individuals help proactively avoid becoming a scam victim? The answer is ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali. Anytime a ScamAssist customer gets an email, text message, or phone call luring them into providing personal information or making a payment, all they have to do is use ScamAssist to learn whether the communication is likely to be a scam. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as major retailers like Staples – that have offered ScamAssist bundled with other core offerings to help differentiate themselves in the market and provide their customers with a tool they will truly utilize.
Scam of the day – May 5, 2024 – Mavis Wanczyk Scams Continue
She’s back! Actually, she has never left. I have been writing about scams related to Mavis Wanczyk for seven years but recently I have received many emails from Scamicide readers telling me about various new incarnations of a variety of scams that share the same hook which is that Mavis Wanczyk is giving money away to lucky people. Many of you may not remember the name of Mavis Wanczyk, but she was the lucky winner of a 758 million dollar Powerball drawing in 2017. Not long after she claimed her prize, a scam started appearing in which many people received emails with the message line referring to the Mavis Wanczyk Cash Grant. The email indicated that you were chosen to receive a large cash grant from Mavis Wanczyk. All the lucky strangers receiving the emails had to do was provide personal information in order to qualify for the grant. In addition, phony social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were also set up in Ms. Wanczyk’s name through which people were contacted with the same phony offer of free money informing them that in order to qualify for the grant they merely needed to provide personal information.
Recently a Scamicide reader told me that after he had tweeted a message on X (formerly Twitter) he was contacted by a scammer posing as Mavis Wanczyk that she liked his tweet and that she was sharing some of her Powerball winnings with a select amount of people that follow her on social media. Fortunately, the Scamicide reader looked into Mavis Wanczyk and found out about the various scams using her name.
TIPS
It is difficult to win a lottery you have entered. It is impossible to win one that you have never entered and neither lottery winners, nor anyone else is sending out messages through the Internet offering free money to anyone who responds with personal information. Never give out personal information that can make you vulnerable to identity theft unless you have absolutely verified that the party requesting the personal information is legitimate and has a legitimate need for the information.
Finally and most importantly, remember neither Mavis Wanczyk nor any other lottery winner is giving away money to strangers.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and insert your email address where it indicates “Sign up for this blog.”
Phone calls, emails, and text messages are among the primary ways that scam artists, the only criminals we call artists, contact their targeted victims. Scammers have a knowledge of psychology that Freud would have envied, and they are adept at luring us to click on malware-infected links, provide personal information that can lead to identity theft, or make a payment. Anyone can be scammed. For years, I have told you, “Trust me, you can’t trust anyone,” and that you should be skeptical of emails, phone calls, and text messages prompting you to act. But how can you know if a phone call, email, or text message is legitimate? Fortunately, there is a terrific new product called ScamAssist® from Iris® Powered by Generali that you can turn to quickly to let you know if that communication is a scam. It can be a lifesaver. While Iris® Powered by Generali doesn’t offer ScamAssist for direct purchase, if you’re a business professional looking to fill a product gap in your portfolio and want to provide customers a service they’ll truly value, contact Iris at IrisIdentityProtection.com/Scamicide to learn how you can get started. Join a growing list of companies – such as Staples – that have recognized that providing ScamAssist to its customers helps protect them and generates goodwill.
Scam of the day – May 4, 2024 – Grandparent Scammers Indicted
Earlier this week sixteen people who were part of a criminal group operating the infamous grandparent scam from the Dominican Republic were indicted on charges related to perpetrating the grandparent scam on hundreds of elderly people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. I am sure by now all of you are familiar with the grandparent scam where a grandparent receives a telephone call from someone purporting to be their grandchild who has gotten into some trouble, most commonly a traffic accident, legal trouble or medical problems in a far away place. The caller pleads for the grandparent to send money immediately to help resolve the problem. However the caller also begs the grandparent not to tell mom and dad. One would think that no one would be gullible enough to fall for this scam, but don’t be so hard on the victims of this scam. Scam artists have a knowledge of psychology of which Freud would have been envious and are able to use that knowledge to persuade their victims to send money right away. While this scam has been going on for approximately fourteen years, it continues to victimize people.
According to the indictment, along with the usual form of the scam where scammers posing as the grandchild call the targeted victim and plead for money due to an emergency such as a car accident, the scammers in this particular group would also initiate contact with the targeted victims by first calling as a third party informing them of the phony emergency, generally a car accident in which the targeted victims were told the grandchild was involved. Then the targeted victims would receive another call purportedly from a lawyer representing the grandchild asking for money needed to represent the grandchild due to criminal charges being brought related to the phony accident. The scammers would then often send accomplices, called money mules, to the homes of the grandparents to pick up the money which would be sent back to the scammers in the Dominican Republic. This particular criminal organization is alleged to have perpetrated this scam for more than five years in which they scammed their victims out of millions of dollars.
TIPS
Scammers often use the nicknames of the grandchildren when speaking to their intended victims. Sometimes they get this information from social media while in other instances they get this information from reading obituaries which may contain the names of grandchildren so merely because the correct name is used in the call is no reason to believe the call. Don’t respond immediately to such a call without calling the real grandchild on his or her cell phone or call the parents and confirm the whereabouts of the grandchild. If a medical problem is the ruse used, you can call the real hospital. If legal problems are the hook you can call the real police. You can also test the caller with a question that could be answered only by the real grandchild, but make sure that it really is a question that only the real grandchild could answer and not just anyone who might read the real grandchild’ s social media postings. Prudent families can also come up with a code word to use in an emergency which a scammer will never know.
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Scam of the day – May 4, 2024 – Grandparent Scammers Indicted
Earlier this week sixteen people who were part of a criminal group operating the infamous grandparent scam from the Dominican Republic were indicted on charges related to perpetrating the grandparent scam on hundreds of elderly people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. I am sure by now all of you are familiar with the grandparent scam where a grandparent receives a telephone call from someone purporting to be their grandchild who has gotten into some trouble, most commonly a traffic accident, legal trouble or medical problems in a far away place. The caller pleads for the grandparent to send money immediately to help resolve the problem. However the caller also begs the grandparent not to tell mom and dad. One would think that no one would be gullible enough to fall for this scam, but don’t be so hard on the victims of this scam. Scam artists have a knowledge of psychology of which Freud would have been envious and are able to use that knowledge to persuade their victims to send money right away. While this scam has been going on for approximately fourteen years, it continues to victimize people.
According to the indictment, along with the usual form of the scam where scammers posing as the grandchild call the targeted victim and plead for money due to an emergency such as a car accident, the scammers in this particular group would also initiate contact with the targeted victims by first calling as a third party informing them of the phony emergency, generally a car accident in which the targeted victims were told the grandchild was involved. Then the targeted victims would receive another call purportedly from a lawyer representing the grandchild asking for money needed to represent the grandchild due to criminal charges being brought related to the phony accident. The scammers would then often send accomplices, called money mules, to the homes of the grandparents to pick up the money which would be sent back to the scammers in the Dominican Republic. This particular criminal organization is alleged to have perpetrated this scam for more than five years in which they scammed their victims out of millions of dollars.
TIPS
Scammers often use the nicknames of the grandchildren when speaking to their intended victims. Sometimes they get this information from social media while in other instances they get this information from reading obituaries which may contain the names of grandchildren so merely because the correct name is used in the call is no reason to believe the call. Don’t respond immediately to such a call without calling the real grandchild on his or her cell phone or call the parents and confirm the whereabouts of the grandchild. If a medical problem is the ruse used, you can call the real hospital. If legal problems are the hook you can call the real police. You can also test the caller with a question that could be answered only by the real grandchild, but make sure that it really is a question that only the real grandchild could answer and not just anyone who might read the real grandchild’ s social media postings. Prudent families can also come up with a code word to use in an emergency which a scammer will never know.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and insert your email address where it states “Sign up for this blog.”
#grandparentscam