I really wish sometimes that nobody was gullible enough to fall for robocall scams. Otherwise, they wouldn't exist. Clearly, someone must be taking them seriously if they're still around.
Today's call was from "WCA", talking about health insurance. Looking up their opening line ("Hello, this is WCA calling") shows me that this group, like most of the others, has been active for at least a couple of years and nobody seems to be able to find them and arrest them. Looking at search results, WCA has also tried several of the other pitches other robocall scam rings use, like Home Protection's security systems and Cardholder Services' credit card debt assistance.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that there is not a single legit telemarketer left in the country. Non-criminal money is made on the Internet now... not to say that the Internet doesn't have any crime. Heck, just look at my previous blog entry. Stay smart and ignore robocalls.
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
How to Avoid Advance Fee Fraud
It used to be a frequent thing to see news stories about people who were scammed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars by online fraudsters who promised huge amounts of money. Most often called the "Nigerian banker scam", these dirty tricks affected hundreds of people every year, and undoubtedly even more went unreported due to the victims feeling ashamed that they fell for it. If you can believe it, these scams are still ongoing even today, and people are still taking the bait. Here's what I know about Nigerian banker scams - or, their proper name, "advance fee fraud".
The basic idea behind advance fee fraud is to promise a massive reward in exchange for just a small amount of money up front. Obviously, there is no reward, and the scammer cuts and runs after milking the victim. The scam is called the "Nigerian banker" scam because the most famous version of advance fee fraud is a claim that a rich man in Nigeria has died and his massive wealth is supposed to be split between the writer (scammer) and the helper (victim). The victim is supposedly needed because the scammer needs to move the money from one account to another, or some other nebulous reason. As for the "Nigerian" part being so frequent? The majority of advance fee fraud cases come from Nigeria. The country is a hotbed of crime, online and off.
So how does it work? First the scammer trawls the Internet for email addresses. Comments pages and message boards are common methods of getting emails. He then sends all of the addresses a form letter that lays out the details of how the victim can get a whole lot of money for very little work. If they reply and seem hooked, the scammer will start asking for money. For whatever reason, there are suddenly all sorts of fees that can't be paid with the huge stockpile of cash, or can't wait until after the money is free. Sometimes the scammer claims to be very poor and needs some money to stay safe. Other times the money is locked behind deposit fees or customs charges. The scammer hopes the victim will consider it an easy choice to pay a little money now to get a big pile of money later. But since there's no big pile of money, the scammer just strings the victim along until they catch on or go bankrupt. There are cases of victims borrowing from friends and selling possessions in desperation, constantly thinking that the prize is just around the corner. There are even cases of people actually flying to Nigeria to collect the money, and getting robbed or even murdered once there by the very person they were communicating with via email.
There are other, similar scams, too. Some scammers use fake websites that look like popular online stores to get people to enter their credit card numbers or passwords. Others pretend to be charities, soliciting money from generous people who think they're helping the poor when they're only lining the pockets of a crook.
Fortunately, if you have any idea what you're doing, you can easily avoid advance fee fraud. Here's a simple list of tips on what to look for.
1: Is the email from Nigeria? While not all scams are Nigerian, many are, and it's likely you wouldn't be contacted legitimately by Nigeria.
2: Is the email in ALL-CAPS, or does it use lots and lots of caps for emphasis? Professional people do not use all caps when trying to negotiate major business deals. It looks silly and is hard to read.
3: Are you being promised something for nothing, or a huge reward for very little work? If so, you're basically guaranteed to be looking at a scam.
4: If you reply to such an offer and are asked to give money or personal information, IMMEDIATELY stop contact and do not provide anything.
5: Be wary if the email throws around lots of religious phrases like "Greetings in Christ" and "May God be with you". Scammers will frequently pretend to be deeply religious to try and convince victims that they are legit. A victim may believe that someone so pious must be telling the truth. However, religion is very easily faked over the Internet. These people do not have the values they claim to. Stay away.
6: Scammers can't even send you an email if you don't post your address anywhere. A good piece of advice is to have two email accounts. Give one to only friends, and use the other whenever a website needs it. This will keep your personal address from getting any spam at all, not just scams. The other can use the Junk feature of most email services to keep suspicious mail quarantined.
7: Oh, and by the way: If somebody wants to give somebody else millions of dollars, they're not going to pick email addresses at random. That's stupid.
The basic idea behind advance fee fraud is to promise a massive reward in exchange for just a small amount of money up front. Obviously, there is no reward, and the scammer cuts and runs after milking the victim. The scam is called the "Nigerian banker" scam because the most famous version of advance fee fraud is a claim that a rich man in Nigeria has died and his massive wealth is supposed to be split between the writer (scammer) and the helper (victim). The victim is supposedly needed because the scammer needs to move the money from one account to another, or some other nebulous reason. As for the "Nigerian" part being so frequent? The majority of advance fee fraud cases come from Nigeria. The country is a hotbed of crime, online and off.
So how does it work? First the scammer trawls the Internet for email addresses. Comments pages and message boards are common methods of getting emails. He then sends all of the addresses a form letter that lays out the details of how the victim can get a whole lot of money for very little work. If they reply and seem hooked, the scammer will start asking for money. For whatever reason, there are suddenly all sorts of fees that can't be paid with the huge stockpile of cash, or can't wait until after the money is free. Sometimes the scammer claims to be very poor and needs some money to stay safe. Other times the money is locked behind deposit fees or customs charges. The scammer hopes the victim will consider it an easy choice to pay a little money now to get a big pile of money later. But since there's no big pile of money, the scammer just strings the victim along until they catch on or go bankrupt. There are cases of victims borrowing from friends and selling possessions in desperation, constantly thinking that the prize is just around the corner. There are even cases of people actually flying to Nigeria to collect the money, and getting robbed or even murdered once there by the very person they were communicating with via email.
There are other, similar scams, too. Some scammers use fake websites that look like popular online stores to get people to enter their credit card numbers or passwords. Others pretend to be charities, soliciting money from generous people who think they're helping the poor when they're only lining the pockets of a crook.
Fortunately, if you have any idea what you're doing, you can easily avoid advance fee fraud. Here's a simple list of tips on what to look for.
1: Is the email from Nigeria? While not all scams are Nigerian, many are, and it's likely you wouldn't be contacted legitimately by Nigeria.
2: Is the email in ALL-CAPS, or does it use lots and lots of caps for emphasis? Professional people do not use all caps when trying to negotiate major business deals. It looks silly and is hard to read.
3: Are you being promised something for nothing, or a huge reward for very little work? If so, you're basically guaranteed to be looking at a scam.
4: If you reply to such an offer and are asked to give money or personal information, IMMEDIATELY stop contact and do not provide anything.
5: Be wary if the email throws around lots of religious phrases like "Greetings in Christ" and "May God be with you". Scammers will frequently pretend to be deeply religious to try and convince victims that they are legit. A victim may believe that someone so pious must be telling the truth. However, religion is very easily faked over the Internet. These people do not have the values they claim to. Stay away.
6: Scammers can't even send you an email if you don't post your address anywhere. A good piece of advice is to have two email accounts. Give one to only friends, and use the other whenever a website needs it. This will keep your personal address from getting any spam at all, not just scams. The other can use the Junk feature of most email services to keep suspicious mail quarantined.
7: Oh, and by the way: If somebody wants to give somebody else millions of dollars, they're not going to pick email addresses at random. That's stupid.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Safety Warning: "This is Your Second and Final Notice" Isn't Final
You've met Tom from Home Protection and Rachel from Cardholder Services, but there are even more robocallers running around out there, fleecing people without a care in the world.
I've just received another automated message. This one is a female voice who neglects to introduce herself and instead says "This is your second and final notice" and talks about lowering monthly credit card rates. Like all the other robocallers, these people are breaking the law and you should absolutely not respond to them. They will not help you, they will scam you.
I've also noticed that despite getting this same call many times, it's always my "second and final notice". There was never a first notice, and the "final" notices will keep repeating forevermore.
So, just another important reminder: Do not EVER believe a robocall that is trying to offer a service or product. There are much safer ways to purchase goods and services than over the phone (or through email, for that matter - I suppose I'll write a post about the Nigerian banker at some point).
Here's a newspaper article about a similar robocall dealing with extending warranties on cars:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20090511&id=7nxdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VFwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6296,1912987
I've just received another automated message. This one is a female voice who neglects to introduce herself and instead says "This is your second and final notice" and talks about lowering monthly credit card rates. Like all the other robocallers, these people are breaking the law and you should absolutely not respond to them. They will not help you, they will scam you.
I've also noticed that despite getting this same call many times, it's always my "second and final notice". There was never a first notice, and the "final" notices will keep repeating forevermore.
So, just another important reminder: Do not EVER believe a robocall that is trying to offer a service or product. There are much safer ways to purchase goods and services than over the phone (or through email, for that matter - I suppose I'll write a post about the Nigerian banker at some point).
Here's a newspaper article about a similar robocall dealing with extending warranties on cars:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=20090511&id=7nxdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VFwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6296,1912987
Friday, January 27, 2012
Safety Warning: "Rachel with Cardholder Services" is Dangerous!
You can consider this a sequel to my earlier post about "Tom with Home Protection". For a while now my home has gotten calls from "Rachel with Cardholder Services", and they are similar to Home Protection and just as crooked. I just got another call from Rachel this morning, and was inspired to Google her opening line. When I saw the results, I knew I had to post about it to keep you all informed.
Here's the scoop: Cardholder Services (which starts out by using robocalling - "Rachel" is just as fake as "Tom") claims it can lower your monthly interest rate on your credit card debt. They do this by asking for the phone number on the back of your credit card, whereupon they set up a three-way call between themselves, you, and the credit card company. Cardholder Services then asks for your rate to be lowered.
Do you see the problem?
It's very simple: anyone could do this all by themselves by simply calling the number on the back of their card without getting Cardholder Services involved. Similar to FreeCreditReport.com, Cardholder Services scams the ignorant by charging them for things they can do themselves for free. Cardholder Services will lower your rates, all right - and then you'll be charged as much as 1000 dollars for letting them do something you could've done yourself.
Like Home Protection, Cardholder Services is secretive and nearly impossible to track. And while this sort of scam may technically be legal, robocalling without the consumer's written permission is not, thanks to a law the Obama administration signed in September 2009. The company thought to be responsible, DHC Financial Services Group, was found over two years ago, but they dodged a bullet by settling and making a "promise" not to continue. Of course, they simply dissolved the company and started a new one, and Rachel continued trying to steal people's money.
Do not EVER listen to or believe a robocaller. Because of the 2009 law, all remaining robocallers randomly calling people are working illegally and their products and services cannot be trusted.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/17/hanging-up-on-rachel-robo-calls-have-been-banned-yet-the-phone/
Here's the scoop: Cardholder Services (which starts out by using robocalling - "Rachel" is just as fake as "Tom") claims it can lower your monthly interest rate on your credit card debt. They do this by asking for the phone number on the back of your credit card, whereupon they set up a three-way call between themselves, you, and the credit card company. Cardholder Services then asks for your rate to be lowered.
Do you see the problem?
It's very simple: anyone could do this all by themselves by simply calling the number on the back of their card without getting Cardholder Services involved. Similar to FreeCreditReport.com, Cardholder Services scams the ignorant by charging them for things they can do themselves for free. Cardholder Services will lower your rates, all right - and then you'll be charged as much as 1000 dollars for letting them do something you could've done yourself.
Like Home Protection, Cardholder Services is secretive and nearly impossible to track. And while this sort of scam may technically be legal, robocalling without the consumer's written permission is not, thanks to a law the Obama administration signed in September 2009. The company thought to be responsible, DHC Financial Services Group, was found over two years ago, but they dodged a bullet by settling and making a "promise" not to continue. Of course, they simply dissolved the company and started a new one, and Rachel continued trying to steal people's money.
Do not EVER listen to or believe a robocaller. Because of the 2009 law, all remaining robocallers randomly calling people are working illegally and their products and services cannot be trusted.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/17/hanging-up-on-rachel-robo-calls-have-been-banned-yet-the-phone/
Friday, January 13, 2012
Safety Warning: "Tom With Home Protection" is Dangerous!
If you ever get a phone call that begins like this:
"Hi, this is Tom with Home Protection. How are you today?"
...then you better hang up! "Home Protection" is a dangerous and illegal telemarketing group. "Tom" himself is a pre-recorded message on a computer. The computer is able to detect certain things you say and change "Tom's" responses (for instance, he'll understand you if you answer him with "Good. And you?").
I got my first call from Tom last year. After a few more, he stopped. However, I received another call from Tom last night, prompting me to look him up and see if anything had changed from last time I researched Tom. Sadly, no - he's still at it, and still hasn't been caught.
Here's the details, as I've heard them: What Home Protection likes to do is attempt to sell you a home security system. If you buy into the pitch, they'll ask for your address. If you comply, they'll send someone over to install your new home security system. Such a deal!
Here comes the scary part. All homes with Home Protection's security systems are kept track of. These homes are then targeted for robbery by Home Protection themselves. And they know they'll have a good chance at getting away with your stuff because their security systems are dummies. It's the perfect crime.
I can't confirm for certain that the burglary aspect is true. What I can confirm is that there is a company named "Home Protection" out there, aggressively pushing poor-quality or fake security alarms and cameras. If you call one of Home Protection's many numbers, You'll hear the following message: "Thanks for calling back. If you are not interested in our promotions and would like to be removed from our calling list, press 1." If you press 1, they'll know they called a number with a real person on the other end, and they'll ramp up their efforts, calling you more frequently. They are also breaking federal laws by calling mobile phones. They'll call anything - unlisted numbers, people on the Do Not Call list, anywhere and everywhere all across the country. But they're very slippery and work from a multitude of different phone numbers. They've been at this for years.
If you get a call from "Home Protection", immediately hang up. Do not talk and do not call back. You aren't ruining the day of some poor guy trying to make a living, you're cutting off the robo-caller of a pack of criminals.
Here are some people's experiences with Tom:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-701-625-5444/10
And here is one man's crusade to take down the entire operation once and for all:
http://stoptomwithhomeprotection.wordpress.com/
"Hi, this is Tom with Home Protection. How are you today?"
...then you better hang up! "Home Protection" is a dangerous and illegal telemarketing group. "Tom" himself is a pre-recorded message on a computer. The computer is able to detect certain things you say and change "Tom's" responses (for instance, he'll understand you if you answer him with "Good. And you?").
I got my first call from Tom last year. After a few more, he stopped. However, I received another call from Tom last night, prompting me to look him up and see if anything had changed from last time I researched Tom. Sadly, no - he's still at it, and still hasn't been caught.
Here's the details, as I've heard them: What Home Protection likes to do is attempt to sell you a home security system. If you buy into the pitch, they'll ask for your address. If you comply, they'll send someone over to install your new home security system. Such a deal!
Here comes the scary part. All homes with Home Protection's security systems are kept track of. These homes are then targeted for robbery by Home Protection themselves. And they know they'll have a good chance at getting away with your stuff because their security systems are dummies. It's the perfect crime.
I can't confirm for certain that the burglary aspect is true. What I can confirm is that there is a company named "Home Protection" out there, aggressively pushing poor-quality or fake security alarms and cameras. If you call one of Home Protection's many numbers, You'll hear the following message: "Thanks for calling back. If you are not interested in our promotions and would like to be removed from our calling list, press 1." If you press 1, they'll know they called a number with a real person on the other end, and they'll ramp up their efforts, calling you more frequently. They are also breaking federal laws by calling mobile phones. They'll call anything - unlisted numbers, people on the Do Not Call list, anywhere and everywhere all across the country. But they're very slippery and work from a multitude of different phone numbers. They've been at this for years.
If you get a call from "Home Protection", immediately hang up. Do not talk and do not call back. You aren't ruining the day of some poor guy trying to make a living, you're cutting off the robo-caller of a pack of criminals.
Here are some people's experiences with Tom:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-701-625-5444/10
And here is one man's crusade to take down the entire operation once and for all:
http://stoptomwithhomeprotection.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Much Ado About Gift Cards
Having Asperger's Syndrome tends to infuse a bit of extra thought into situations other people don't think much about. One of those things is the gift card. Why do gift cards exist?
Think about it. You give fifty dollars to a store in exchange for a card that can buy fifty dollars worth of merchandise at only that store. And depending on the store and the state you live in, it may expire. Despite the fact that gift cards are objectively worse than paper money, they are a very popular gift item for kids and adults alike.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that about 41 billion dollars has been wasted on gift cards the recipients never use. They may have lost the card. It may have expired. Or maybe they simply forgot the card existed.
Generally, I prefer money to gift cards. As someone who likes to think practically, an all-purpose, guaranteed-useful gift like money is perfect if the giver isn't certain what I would like that I don't already have. Unfortunately, the popularity of gift cards is due to the fact that people generally don't think giving money as a gift is very socially acceptable. It can seem lazy. Honestly, I'd prefer lazy over potentially worthless, but a lot of people don't agree with me.
However, I have found a use for gift cards recently: Shopping online without Paypal. If you use your credit card to buy online, you'll be in debt to the credit card company and have to pay interest. If you use a gift card, you can buy things interest-free. As someone who finds credit cards distasteful, I appreciate this method of dodging them. If you have an Amazon or eBay purchase to make and you don't have any Paypal funds (or don't wish to deal with them for whatever reason), buying yourself a gift card is a unique way to pay for your stuff. As a bonus, eBay gift cards never expire.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/24/number-of-the-week-billions-in-gift-cards-go-unspent/?mod=google_news_blog
http://gothamist.com/2011/12/27/41_billion_in_lousy_gift_cards_will.php
Think about it. You give fifty dollars to a store in exchange for a card that can buy fifty dollars worth of merchandise at only that store. And depending on the store and the state you live in, it may expire. Despite the fact that gift cards are objectively worse than paper money, they are a very popular gift item for kids and adults alike.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that about 41 billion dollars has been wasted on gift cards the recipients never use. They may have lost the card. It may have expired. Or maybe they simply forgot the card existed.
Generally, I prefer money to gift cards. As someone who likes to think practically, an all-purpose, guaranteed-useful gift like money is perfect if the giver isn't certain what I would like that I don't already have. Unfortunately, the popularity of gift cards is due to the fact that people generally don't think giving money as a gift is very socially acceptable. It can seem lazy. Honestly, I'd prefer lazy over potentially worthless, but a lot of people don't agree with me.
However, I have found a use for gift cards recently: Shopping online without Paypal. If you use your credit card to buy online, you'll be in debt to the credit card company and have to pay interest. If you use a gift card, you can buy things interest-free. As someone who finds credit cards distasteful, I appreciate this method of dodging them. If you have an Amazon or eBay purchase to make and you don't have any Paypal funds (or don't wish to deal with them for whatever reason), buying yourself a gift card is a unique way to pay for your stuff. As a bonus, eBay gift cards never expire.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/24/number-of-the-week-billions-in-gift-cards-go-unspent/?mod=google_news_blog
http://gothamist.com/2011/12/27/41_billion_in_lousy_gift_cards_will.php
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