Greg's Corner

Updates from April, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 2, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Cash App ( 42 ), cash flipping ( 8 ), Scams ( 1,362 )   

  Cash App scams are on the rise 

  

  If you’ve never heard of Cash App, it’s a payment app in the vein of other apps like PayPal and Venmo. It’s generally supposed to be used between friends and family to easily send them money. In order to better market their business, Cash App has giveaways that they call ‘Cash App Friday’ that use the hashtag #CashAppFridays on social media. The giveaways from Cash App and their parent company Square have been reported as being from around $100-$500. Many Cash App users have been bailed out of some serious financial situations from Cash App’s giveaways but whenever someone does good there are always those looking to take advantage of the situation.

  With the current ongoing crisis, many people are finding themselves in dire straits financially. Some are willing to grasp at any glimpse of hope for a way out of their circumstance. That’s where the Cash App scammers come in. On social media, they’ll post that they’ll give you money through Cash App if you just pay them a lesser amount. For example, a scammer may promise to pay you $500 if you give them $50 through Cash App. As you might expect, once the scammer has your money the victim receives nothing in return. This practice is known as ‘cash flipping’ but in reality, nothing is flipped. The scammers will use the #CashAppFridays hashtag to find victims for their scam. To make matters worse, the Cash App scammers are now using hashtags related to the coronavirus pandemic to try to lure in even more victims.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8nqp7Eq7O4%5D

  As we have said before, this scam is akin to handing your money to a stranger on the street who promised you $50 for $5. You wouldn’t do it then so why give your money to strangers on the internet? As much as we’d like to believe that there are wealthy good samaritans online looking to help the little guy, the reality is there aren’t. While the amounts lost by victims may seem small, that might have been their next meal for their family or gas in their car. These apps should only be used for exchanging money between friends and family and not random people online promising you money.

  (H/T Quartz)

   

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  Geebo 7:19 am on April 1, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Nextdoor, romance scam ( 70 ), Scams ( 1,362 )   

  Romance scams are not just for dating sites 

  

  With everyone social distancing more people are turning to online methods of communication to stay in touch with each other. Some are even going online to make new friends that could assist them during the current crisis. Once again, the scammers are there looking to take advantage of people’s emotions during this trying time. They’re also using new avenues to achieve this.

  When we talk about romance scams, they usually start on dating sites or social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. It seems that some romance scammers are taking to unconventional platforms to find victims. For example, the New York Times is reporting about an attempted romance scam that started on Nextdoor.com. If you’re unfamiliar with Nextdoor, it’s a platform that helps people stay informed with what’s going on in their own neighborhood. Local residents can post questions or concerns about what’s happening in their neck of the woods. In many cases, cities also use Nextdoor to get important news out to citizens.

  In at least one woman’s case, a scammer used Nextdoor to try to ensnare his victim in a romance scam. The scammer told the woman that he lived on a specific street in her neighborhood and started pouring on the charm. It wasn’t too long that the scammer asked if they could communicate outside of Nextdoor. Soon after, the scammer started making excuses for why he couldn’t meet the woman in person. Then the pitch finally came.

  At first, the scammer started small asking the woman for a $100 Netflix gift card. The scammer claimed that he was on assignment in Europe. Then the scam ramped up rather quickly with the scammer asking for $2600 for tools that he had supposedly lost for his job. It was at this point that the woman realized she was being scammed and blocked the scammer. She was only out $100 but others have not been so lucky usually losing thousands of dollars.

  Anybody can pretend to be somebody else online. In most romance scams, the picture the scammers use will have been taken from someone else. If you suspect a scammer, try doing a reverse image search to see if the picture is being used elsewhere. If someone claims to be working overseas, they probably live there. And if they ask for money without meeting then it’s definitely a scam.