Scammers

[Marie2020]

i learned the hard way at my last job that if anything questionable happens i should write it down ASAP with all details as you never know when you might need to go back and reference that.

Not on a scam but false information was made against me to a third party recently. I'm not pursuing this, but i have sent the person an email making them aware of their either a misidentifycation or an untrue allegation. That's my way of recording a matter of concern.

This person I've recently found out is corrupt. So I figured that she's has enough rope already and will eventually hang herself, hopefully

 

[Zeedman]

Everybody who asks you for personal information promises that it will be kept private, or used only for certain purposes. News, both recent and past, has proven the fallacy of those promises. Where there is the opportunity for someone to gain money or power from information, it will eventually be compromised.

And returning to the subject of the OP, foreign and criminal elements are becoming increasingly creative in their attacks. I get 2-3 apparent phishing emails a day in my SPAM folder. And at least 3-4 robo-calls to my landline phone... I don't even bother reporting the phone #'s, since they are most likely spoofed numbers.

I've had a couple people call me because someone had spoofed my phone number... so if you dial back to chew someone out, you will probably be (unwittingly) creating another victim.

DW has started getting phishing texts on her cell phone; they appear to be 'wrong number' texts, but are really part of a scam, hoping you will respond.

My friend has had contact with one of these scammers, he's been feeding her all sorts of rubbish. She's letting it go because she has children but he said he like to pay her back somehow. I don't think she'll be handing him her bank details anytime soon.

Sounds like one of the infamous Nigerian scams. If you have any influence over your friend, tell her to look up "Nigerian Romance Scams", and break off that contact NOW. Cold turkey. No final goodbye, those operators are very good at manipulating & exploiting their victims.

 

[flowerbug]

any time there is on-line involved please beware that sometimes people will intentionally scatter false information in an attempt to lure people into providing more information, so if you've never done business with someone and they start talking to you in e-mail you are likely being attempted to be manipulated into giving them more information. never provide information to anyone unless you actually know they are from a company you have given the information to. third parties may get information from a company you have contacted, but if there is something odd going on i would talk to the first contact company and let them work through their third party issue themselves.

a lot of people who don't really understand how computer web sites are set up and how information can get shared around may not really get that often times yet other people learn of just bits of information like an e-mail address or a phone number and a name and they want to fill out that information with a lot more detail so they can sell you more crap or to even try to scam you. so please be careful and double check if you have to.

the other obvious points are to know your laws in your country and area and to read the service agreements and terms of use of websites to make sure you have some idea of what they are up to.

 

[Zeedman]

Oh, and on the topic of personal information that can be potentially harmful. Not to be tin hat here... but consider genetic information. I feel this has the potential for great harm, and is for the most part currently being overlooked.

Private genetic testing for ancestry & health are popular, and heavily marketed ("It makes a great Christmas gift!"). That information too is supposedly private; but recent law enforcement cases have shown that genetic information can be accessed by subpoena (or sometimes without one) to search for matches to crime scene DNA. Current precedent suggests that practice will become much more widespread.

But more importantly IMO, consider the value genetic testing could have to an insurance company - particularly health insurance. If those companies could know your genetic predispositions to serious illness, they could increase your premium, or deny you coverage, probably without even telling you why. And they might reasonably assume your descendants had the same issues, and treat your whole family the same way. There are laws that specifically prohibit such use... but if those decisions were made surreptitiously, who would know? That genie could negatively impact generations, and should never be let out of the bottle... which is the reason that for our children's sake, neither DW nor I will willingly submit to such testing.

See here for the current Federal Genetic Privacy law.
Links to state DNA laws can be found here.
A really good discussion of the issues surrounding personal genetic data is here: The US Urgently Needs New Genetic Privacy Laws

 

[Marie2020]

Everybody who asks you for personal information promises that it will be kept private, or used only for certain purposes. News, both recent and past, has proven the fallacy of those promises. Where there is the opportunity for someone to gain money or power from information, it will eventually be compromised.

And returning to the subject of the OP, foreign and criminal elements are becoming increasingly creative in their attacks. I get 2-3 apparent phishing emails a day in my SPAM folder. And at least 3-4 robo-calls to my landline phone... I don't even bother reporting the phone #'s, since they are most likely spoofed numbers.

I've had a couple people call me because someone had spoofed my phone number... so if you dial back to chew someone out, you will probably be (unwittingly) creating another victim.

DW has started getting phishing texts on her cell phone; they appear to be 'wrong number' texts, but are really part of a scam, hoping you will respond.


Sounds like one of the infamous Nigerian scams. If you have any influence over your friend, tell her to look up "Nigerian Romance Scams", and break off that contact NOW. Cold turkey. No final goodbye, those operators are very good at manipulating & exploiting their victims.

Believe me I'm trying. This lady is very engrossed in her children work and home. She met what she thought was two future business partners and allowed herself to be drawn in. Then she found one had dropped out of sight and her money was gone. Apparently the second guy, being in his early twenties had a sudden change of heart, he said he felt guilty and wanted to return as much of his money as he could because now he has feelings for her.
. She always knows best, it's so frustrating, on certain things she's really alert but blind on this!. For now i'll have to keep on trying to get through to her.

Thanks for that pointer on the Nigerian romantic scam, I will text this to her tomorrow. When I know she's not working.

 

[Marie2020]

any time there is on-line involved please beware that sometimes people will intentionally scatter false information in an attempt to lure people into providing more information, so if you've never done business with someone and they start talking to you in e-mail you are likely being attempted to be manipulated into giving them more information. never provide information to anyone unless you actually know they are from a company you have given the information to. third parties may get information from a company you have contacted, but if there is something odd going on i would talk to the first contact company and let them work through their third party issue themselves.

a lot of people who don't really understand how computer web sites are set up and how information can get shared around may not really get that often times yet other people learn of just bits of information like an e-mail address or a phone number and a name and they want to fill out that information with a lot more detail so they can sell you more crap or to even try to scam you. so please be careful and double check if you have to.

the other obvious points are to know your laws in your country and area and to read the service agreements and terms of use of websites to make sure you have some idea of what they are up to.

One of the sites was Google hang out. They kept moving her to "different platforms. I personally only use two places online, I don't trust the internet.

 

[Zeedman]

They kept moving her to "different platforms.

OK, to me that is a flashing red DANGER light... especially when there are children involved. That your friend was ripped off & is still talking to those people, will be perceived as a weakness to be exploited by the person on the other end. There is no telling what their end goal is, but it could end badly, and perhaps soon. Your friend needs intervention ASAP, preferably by law enforcement. My suggestion, for what it is worth, is to find out who in law enforcement nearest you is responsible for cyber crime, and explain the situation to them without giving your friend's name. They should be able to advise you on the best course of action. I really believe this is a serious matter that demands immediate attention.

 

[Marie2020]

OK, to me that is a flashing red DANGER light... especially when there are children involved. That your friend was ripped off & is still talking to those people, will be perceived as a weakness to be exploited by the person on the other end. There is no telling what their end goal is, but it could end badly, and perhaps soon. Your friend needs intervention ASAP, preferably by law enforcement. My suggestion, for what it is worth, is to find out who in law enforcement nearest you is responsible for cyber crime, and explain the situation to them without giving your friend's name. They should be able to advise you on the best course of action. I really believe this is a serious matter that demands immediate attention.

I absolutely agree!. My heart jumped when she first managed to tell me, she has to much pride, I'm just relieved she told me at all

I'm trying to get more information from her so I have something to offer if I find a cyber unit, because I have no idea who deals with cyber crime. It left me cold that the police did nothing to help . She has seen a photo of one of these guys but that could have been fake, but she's actually saw the other young guy (mr romantic) on Skype on a face to face. But I need the platforms and the names they used .
I'm extremely worried for her safety and her beautiful children. This is very scary.

Thank you very much for imput, you've given me something to go on.

 

[Marie2020]

Woman loses life savings to conman posing as Outlander's Sam Heughan

The woman, from New York, has now hired a private investigator to find out who was responsible for the con after striking up online relationship.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Yet another scammer on the same platform. This Google hangout should be thoroughly investigated.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

This youtube video is 1/4 of a series I enjoyed watching. It is very unique in that the scammers had cctv camerasand got hacked by the victim who proceed to unroll the operation for the viewer to understand.