Octopus Overlords

Just a heads up on one that I almost started to almost fall for.

I got a text with a tracking number asking me to confirm my address. I'm always getting texts with tracking numbers from strange companies thanks to Kickstarter. And it just so happens that I'm waiting on a package or two from overseas. I clicked the link, then immediately closed it before it loaded with a "Hang on, wait a sec..."

And yeah, some quick research shows that it's a scam to collect credit card info (probably in the form of a claim for a customs/VAT fee.)

Clicking random links with proper security software is generally safe, and I'm not concerned about having done so (most scam links - as with this one - are to sites that try to trick you into volunteering info), but it's still not a good idea.

I wanted to offer a heads-up given that a lot of people here also get strange tracking numbers from strange companies.

I keep getting calls from the same asshole (always from a different number) who always asks for the same person (let's say that's Fred). If I somehow pick it up because I'm expecting a call, he asks for Fred. If I say it's the wrong number he immediately launches into asking for a donation to some police organization. Fortunately as soon as I hear "Fred" I hang up and block the number.

The other day I got a package from Amazon that I didn't order. Some cheap little plastic bows for little girls hair. I think it's some kind of scam that involves getting a better feedback rating from Amazon. Didn't cost me anything tho.

I like the way Indian scammers have names like Steve, Zack, and Kevin.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:31 pm I keep getting calls from the same asshole (always from a different number) who always asks for the same person (let's say that's Fred). If I somehow pick it up because I'm expecting a call, he asks for Fred. If I say it's the wrong number he immediately launches into asking for a donation to some police organization. Fortunately as soon as I hear "Fred" I hang up and block the number.

I get a variation of that when they say (laugh) "I was just getting ready to hang up."

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:32 pm The other day I got a package from Amazon that I didn't order. Some cheap little plastic bows for little girls hair. I think it's some kind of scam that involves getting a better feedback rating from Amazon. Didn't cost me anything tho.

Sort of. It's yours to keep, but on Amazon's official record, there was a sale. It wasn't a sale to you (or tied to your account), but it still registers as a sale. As such, the person who 'purchased' it (who then gets their money back under the table, minus a fee) can write a 'legitimate' five-star review. It isn't really dangerous. It's a scam from the seller toward Amazon (and thus impacting any future customers with fake ratings.)

If you want to address it, you can go here.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:32 pm The other day I got a package from Amazon that I didn't order. Some cheap little plastic bows for little girls hair. I think it's some kind of scam that involves getting a better feedback rating from Amazon. Didn't cost me anything tho.

Do they look good in your hair?

Yes. Needed more than one tho.

In the last couple months we have been getting the phone calls telling us our non-existent auto warranty is expiring and we need to re-up. We are getting the "your Amazon" credit card has been used blah blah blah, well, we don't have one. And we are getting more calls from questionable charities than I could count.

I think my just hitting 65 has kicked in all the senior citizen scams as well.

We no longer answer our land line (not sure why we even have one) unless we know who it is. If it is legit they will leave a message.

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:39 pm In the last couple months we have been getting the phone calls telling us our non-existent auto warranty is expiring and we need to re-up. We are getting the "your Amazon" credit card has been used blah blah blah, well, we don't have one. And we are getting more calls from questionable charities than I could count.

I think my just hitting 65 has kicked in all the senior citizen scams as well.

We no longer answer our land line (not sure why we even have one) unless we know who it is. If it is legit they will leave a message.

My land line is all crap or scam calls except from my mom. I keep it because my internet/cable/phone package is cheaper than dropping the service plus I can call my cell phone when I lay it down somewhere in the house...

I started getting a call that sounds like a real person by the way they carry on a conversation. "Hey this is Steve, I may have the wrong number, I was looking at a listing for your land and as a real estate agent I'm interested in buying it, give me a call...." Got the same call a week later with exact same wording so it is just a recording. Not sure of the angle of the sales pitch. Maybe an agent just hoping to get lucky with someone wanting to sale.

I'm addicted to the kitboga YouTube channel where he baits scammers. Hearing the scammers yell their heads off and lose their minds is like ASMR to me.

Lassr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 7:15 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:39 pm In the last couple months we have been getting the phone calls telling us our non-existent auto warranty is expiring and we need to re-up. We are getting the "your Amazon" credit card has been used blah blah blah, well, we don't have one. And we are getting more calls from questionable charities than I could count.

I think my just hitting 65 has kicked in all the senior citizen scams as well.

We no longer answer our land line (not sure why we even have one) unless we know who it is. If it is legit they will leave a message.

My land line is all crap or scam calls except from my mom. I keep it because my internet/cable/phone package is cheaper than dropping the service plus I can call my cell phone when I lay it down somewhere in the house...

I started getting a call that sounds like a real person by the way they carry on a conversation. "Hey this is Steve, I may have the wrong number, I was looking at a listing for your land and as a real estate agent I'm interested in buying it, give me a call...." Got the same call a week later with exact same wording so it is just a recording. Not sure of the angle of the sales pitch. Maybe an agent just hoping to get lucky with someone wanting to sale.

I am listed as a contact for a partnership that owns some industrial property. I inherited 8% of the company when my dad died and in putting my name on it somehow I became the contact. Anyway, I recently received a call almost word for word like the one you got. He left the message on our machine.

One of my clients sent me an email a few months ago. She had promised her niece a nice birthday gift but forgot to buy it, and now she was getting on a plane to Aruba, so would I mind buying an Amazon gift card and sending it to the young lady? She'd pay me back right away! It was a little more convoluted than that, and it did come from her legit email address, so I scratched my head over that one for a few minutes.

Yeah, she got hacked. That email must've gone out to all of her contacts.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:31 pm I keep getting calls from the same asshole (always from a different number) who always asks for the same person (let's say that's Fred). If I somehow pick it up because I'm expecting a call, he asks for Fred. If I say it's the wrong number he immediately launches into asking for a donation to some police organization. Fortunately as soon as I hear "Fred" I hang up and block the number.

The police fundraisers are among the worst - only about 5 to 10% of the money raised actually goes to whatever purpose they are supposedly raising money for. Most of it just goes to make more calls.

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:32 pm The other day I got a package from Amazon that I didn't order. Some cheap little plastic bows for little girls hair. I think it's some kind of scam that involves getting a better feedback rating from Amazon. Didn't cost me anything tho.

Yeah, that's likely it. Reminds me that years ago, my Dad received hair products in the mail. Was quite random, since he really has no use for hair products, and it was from a fairly big mail order company. For several months up to a year following the order, the company would hound us to pay up as we acted like we were keeping it rather than return it.

Funny, I just checked my spam folder today (do it about once a month) and included were:

1) You've just won the Publisher's Clearing House! (bogus email address)
2) A consignment worth $100,000 is sitting in a port somewhere waiting for me
3) I can't believe I got another "Nigerian" scam email but there you have it
4) Got an email stating that I was keylogged while visiting a porn site and unless I send them $2500 they would send a copy of what I was watching to all my contacts (their proof was an old password I no longer use on any sites of importance)
5) Someone wants to send me several hundred thousand in crypto for reasons.

I crack up when I get the one where they say they have video of me pleasuring myself while visiting porn sites and they'll release it to my contacts if I don't pay them in Bitcoin.

Be like Sukarno. Ask for extra copies.

Grifman wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:07 pm Funny, I just checked my spam folder today (do it about once a month) and included were:
4) Got an email stating that I was keylogged while visiting a porn site and unless I send them $2500 they would send a copy of what I was watching to all my contacts (their proof was an old password I no longer use on any sites of importance)

Hilariously enough, the first time I saw that one, it didn't even include a password, or even a payment address. Epic FAIL!

Lassr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:15 pm I crack up when I get the one where they say they have video of me pleasuring myself while visiting porn sites and they'll release it to my contacts if I don't pay them in Bitcoin.

Heh, they always say that I have good taste!

Grifman wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:48 am

Lassr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:15 pm I crack up when I get the one where they say they have video of me pleasuring myself while visiting porn sites and they'll release it to my contacts if I don't pay them in Bitcoin.

Heh, they always say that I have good taste!

Yep, I think I recall that line also. I tried to go back and find the emails in my trash but I think I permanently deleted those emails.

For several years, I've been getting calls (and texts) on my cell number from a debt collection agency, FDR Ltd. If you look them up, they claim to be legitimate, but there are also tons of complaints on the BBB, because apparently there are scammers posing as them. It's funny because they're the only number that calls regularly. I don't use my phone all that much, but when I do, I'm almost guaranteed to have a missed call from them regularly. Got a new phone recently, and sure enough within a day of use, they called. I wasn't able to block them with my old phone, but new one labeled it as spam and was able to block it easily. Don't even own a credit card or use the bank they say I owe.

My phone (T-Mobile) has a pretty good blacklist, about 90% of the calls I receive are tagged "Scam Likely" and I do not answer. Only one of those calls proved to be a false positive (they left a legitimate VM).

Good times in 2022. The carrier blacklists may very well be circumvented now. It seems that call scammers have stepped up their game. I noticed I was getting a lot of calls recently from people's names from actual phone numbers. I reported it to my employer's risk management team as a possible threat on Tuesday. I just got confirmation that this is a new car warranty related phone scam. They are stuffing people's real names/numbers into the caller id fields to try to defeat the 'Scam Likely' type warnings that the carriers have started to use.

Edit: One thing to look for is 'Verified Caller' markings. The difference is that the caller won't be verified in this case because the call isn't actually originating from the actual user. This presents an opportunity for the carriers to catch up in short-order.

All unknown callers are considered guilty until proven innocent.

I got this one today:

(Pause - there is always a pause) Hello "customer." We have noticed some suspicious activity on your Amazon account...[click]. Not only was I aware of this scam, it was on a new number I had never given to Amazon. In fact I have never given them any number.

Yeah, we got that one too, twice in one day in fact, and both with different numbers. They're getting more sophisticated though. The one we got said, 'We noticed some suspcious activity on your credit card attached to your Amazon account, then it lists an amount over a $1000 for something called a 'Wifi 11 Pro' whatever that is.

I have been getting text messages that are variations of:

From USPS. We will return your package that arrived on xx/xx/xxxx unless you update your address information by going to: scamaminute.com.

They must have been an early adopter to get such a sweet url!