Greg's Corner

Updates from August, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Geebo 10:18 am on August 3, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: check scam ( 76 ), Facebook ( 173 ), Facebook Marketplace ( 57 ), Scams ( 1,219 )   

  Old craigslist scam turning up on Facebook Marketplace 

  

  One of the oldest scams on craigslist, if not the oldest, is what’s known as the fake check scam. A seller will list an item for sale on the questionable classifieds site then they’ll receive a check for more than the amount they’ve asked for. The scammer will say the overpayment is for shipping costs and will ask the seller to return any money over the asking price to be sent back to them. The seller will deposit the check and usually wire the money back to the scammer. The check then turns out to be a fake which ends up leaving the seller on the hook for the amount of the check with their bank.

  More recently a similar scam has been appearing on Facebook Marketplace. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that this new twist on the old scam has claimed a few victims in Georgia. Instead of sending a phony check for more than the asking price, the scammer is now said to be asking for the seller’s bank account information so the funds can be transferred electronically. Once again, the money transfer turns out to be a phony transaction so not only does the scammer have your money but they have your bank information as well which puts you at risk for future scams like identity theft.

  Any online marketplace worth its salt will tell you that if something appears too good to be true it usually is. If you go to the main page of Facebook Marketplace it gives no such warning. If you try to find any tips or suggestions on how to deal with unscrupulous buyers or sellers on Marketplace you really have to know what you’re looking for in Facebook’s maze-like structure of resources. There’s no link to click on from the Marketplace page. Instead, you have to join a separate community about Marketplace then hope to find the link that you’re looking for. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if scams like this weren’t against Facebook’s vague and arbitrary community guidelines.

   

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  Geebo 9:43 am on August 2, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Dallas ( 3 ), Duglas Ramirez-Mendez, murder ( 8 ), OfferUp ( 23 )   

  Dallas man killed during alleged OfferUp robbery 

  

  Once again, we are saddened to bring you the story of another tragic loss of life. This past Saturday, Duglas Ramirez-Mendez of Dallas, Texas, was shot and killed while trying to sell his car on the classifieds app OfferUp. Mr. Ramirez-Mendez was said to have been trading his Ford Mustang to someone with a Chevy Camaro and would also give the seller of the Camaro $9,000. Tragically, the Camaro never existed and was only used to lure Mr. Ramirez-Mendez into a robbery.

  Instead of meeting a car seller, a teen approached Mr. Ramirez-Mendez and shot him while the victim sat in his car. An accomplice of the alleged gunman claims he had a feeling that the gunman was going to rob Mr. Ramirez-Mendez since the gunman had no car of his own to trade. The gunman and his accomplice have both been charged with capital murder. Sadly, this comes just two months after the Dallas Police and OfferUp announced safe exchange zones at the Dallas Police Department.

  As we’ve said too many times in the past when a senseless loss of life such as Mr. Ramirez-Mendez’s murder occurs, meeting someone in a public place during the day just isn’t enough anymore when it comes to keeping yourself safe. As shown above, criminals have become much to brazen in their attempts to rob potential victims of their money. Always insist on meeting at your local police station especially when a high-dollar transaction like this is set to take place.

  Our condolences go out to Mr. Ramirez-Mendez’s friends and family.

   
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  Geebo 9:08 am on August 1, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Election ( 20 ), Facebook ( 173 )   

  Facebook deletes pages of suspected agitators 

  

  With the mid-term election cycle in full swing, you’d think that Facebook would be on top of possible foreign entities who might try to meddle in the election process like they did in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election. Well, you’d be half right. Yesterday, Facebook announced it had removed 32 pages and accounts that are suspected to have belonged to a campaign to cause political strife in the US.

  Now, when I first read the new articles on the matter I was dismissive of Facebook’s actions considering they only removed 32 accounts. Then I read that some of the pages that were removed had close to 300,000 followers. The allegedly phony pages posed as left-leaning causes. One such page promoted an event called “No Unite the Right 2” which was designed to clash with an alt-right protest on the anniversary of last year’s tragic event in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counter-protester was killed when a member of the alt-right protesters struck the victim with his car.

  As TIME Magazine points out, this is just the beginning. Even with the billions of dollars at its disposal, Facebook still can’t prevent the flood of misinformation that is probably headed its way for the 2018 elections. If you want to be a truly informed voter this election the best thing to do is to ditch Facebook since they neither have the tools nor the resources to try to stop other entities from interfering in our democratic process.