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  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 27, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Recent news has increased this one scam 

    Recent news has increased this scam

    By Greg Collier

    We have no doubt that you know about the recent story of the four Americans who were mistakenly kidnapped in Mexico, with two of the victims dying in the attack. Since scammers always seem to have their fingers on the pulse of the news, this story has led to a resurgence in the virtual kidnapping scam.

    Virtual kidnapping is a phone scam where scammers pretend to have kidnapped a loved one and demand a ransom. They use high-pressure tactics and psychological manipulation to make the victim believe their loved one is in danger.

    One of the more common versions of the virtual kidnapping scam is when the scammers claim to be from a drug cartel. The scammers will say that the victim’s loved one came across something they weren’t supposed to see, and now they’re being held for ransom.

    Typically, the scammers will demand that the victim wires money or pays via cryptocurrency to secure the safe release of their loved one.

    Kidnapping scammers employ a number of tricks to make their claims seem more legitimate. They often spoof the phone number of the victim’s loved one to make the call look like it’s coming from the loved one’s phone. They may use background noise or even play pre-recorded sounds of someone screaming or crying to make the victim believe that their loved one is in danger. More recently, some scammers have even used AI-generated clones of the loved one’s voice.

    It’s important to note that in most cases, the victim’s loved one is not actually in danger and is not being held captive. However, the scammers can use psychological manipulation to convince the victim otherwise and extort money from them.

    If you receive a call from someone claiming to have kidnapped a loved one, it’s important to remain calm and verify the situation before taking any action. Try to get in touch with the supposed victim directly, or reach out to other family members to confirm their safety. You should also report the incident to the police immediately.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 24, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Forged deed costs man his home 

    Forged deed costs man his home

    By Greg Collier

    Almost two weeks ago, we brought you the story of a man who was conned into signing over to someone who sold the home out from under him. But what if we told you your house could be sold without you even signing anything? That’s precisely what happened to a man in New Orleans.

    Much like the man from our previous story, this man lived in the home with his mother. After she passed away, he started renovating his home. While he was putting money into home improvements, someone forged the deed to his home and sold the man’s house.

    This wasn’t just a simple case of forging one signature to get possession of the home, either. Not only did the scammer forge the homeowners name, but the names of a notary and several witnesses were also forged. Additionally, the notary’s stamp was forged as well.

    One might assume that since both the homeowner and notary attest their signatures were forged, the man would be getting the deed to his home returned. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The homeowner is in the middle of legal proceedings to have the ownership of his home returned to him, and the legal costs to do so are not cheap.

    This kind of title scam could happen anywhere. We wish we could say there was an ironclad way to protect yourself from such a scam, but it depends on where you live. Some of the Parishes in Louisiana have a program where if the Parish receives any documentation bearing the homeowner’s name appears in their offices about their property, the homeowner will receive an email alert about it. Several counties across the U.S. have this service also, but not every county does.

    If you’re concerned about being scammed like this, check to see if your county has a program like this. If they don’t, consider getting in touch with your county and recommend it to them.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 23, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Are retailers responsible for gift card scams? 

    Are retailers responsible for gift card scams?

    By Greg Collier

    We can’t hear the term ‘git card’ without almost immediately thinking of scams. They’ve become synonymous with scams, since they’re often used as a form of untraceable payment in a vast number of scams. Gift cards can also be the scam itself.

    One common gift card scam is when scammers visit stores to capture the information from the back of gift cards. They patiently wait until someone loads money onto the cards, and then use the funds for their own purposes, leaving the cardholders at a loss.

    Another version of that scam is when gift card scammers frequently visit different stores and scratch off the security strip from the card. They then take note of the card number and replace the security strip with a sticker.

    What both scams have in common is that the scammers need to go into the stores themselves. Because of this, some believe the retailers that sell the cards are partially responsible for when the funds are stolen from the cards. 21 states have filed a class action lawsuit against the Target retail chain, accusing Target of knowingly selling compromised cards. Does the lawsuit have merit? Possibly.

    Retail stores almost always have gift card kiosks out in the open, where potentially anyone could interfere with the cards’ validity. Some advocates have called for the cards to be kept behind counters or in vending machines.

    However, until that day comes, there are ways to protect yourself from buying a faulty gift card.

    To avoid falling victim to gift card fraud, there are a few precautions you can take. Firstly, always inspect the back of the card to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. Check a handful of cards from the rack to make sure they are similarly marked on the back, as scammers often place tampered cards up front to get the money quicker. When purchasing a card, consider buying one from the middle of the pack instead.

    It’s also advisable to pay for gift cards with a credit card whenever possible. Credit cards offer better protection against loss than cash or debit cards.

    If you do happen to receive an empty card, you can try contacting the customer service number on the back of the card. However, be aware that it is unlikely they can recover the lost funds or offer a refund.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 22, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Home used in rental scam wasn’t even listed 

    By Greg Collier

    Typically, when we discuss a home that’s been used in a rental scam, that home is listed for sale or rent in a legitimate listing before it’s copied by scammers. That gives potential renters an opportunity to see if the home has multiple listings. That’s one of the best indicators that one of the listings is a scam. But what if the property isn’t listed anywhere first?

    That’s what happened to a couple from Tennessee who were getting ready to sell their home. The couple had already moved out, but were putting the finishing touches on their old home before selling it. One day, when they went to some work on the house, they found the locks had been changed and people were living there. The people living in the home thought they had rented the home from someone on Facebook Marketplace.

    The homeowners placed a sign on the property letting people know that the home wasn’t for rent. Even after getting the listing removed from Marketplace, it continued showing up in their listings.

    So, how did the scammer know to target this particular house? The report we read doesn’t say, but it could have been a number of things. It could have been anything from the scammer could have seen the homeowners moving out to the homeowners possibly mentioning their move on social media. Scammers are anything if not resourceful.

    For renters to avoid this scam, there are several steps you can take. Always check with the county’s tax office to find who the true owner of the home is. If the landlord is asking for payment through apps like Venmo or Cash App, they’re probably a scammer.

    As far as homeowners go, if you want to avoid people from being scammed and moving into your property, do what these homeowners did. Put a sign either on the property or in a window inside the home that says the property is not for rent. Also, consider installing some security cameras that you can view through your phone or computer at any time. This way, you can see who is approaching your property and why.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 21, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    When buying a home, double-check that email 

    When buying a home, double check that email

    By Greg Collier

    The business email compromise scam has become popular with scammers over the past few years because it is extremely profitable for them. It only takes one victim to fall for the scam for the scammers to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    There are typically two versions of the BEC scam. The first one targets corporate interests. Scammers send emails to employees or executives in a company, pretending to be a high-ranking official, such as the CEO or CFO. The email will often instruct the recipient to transfer funds or provide sensitive information such as bank account numbers, passwords, or other personal data.

    The other version of the BEC scam is the one we’re interested in today, and it’s where scammers will try to intercept the wire transfer of funds from the home buyer to the seller or the escrow company.

    For example, a man from Stamford, Connecticut, almost lost $426,000 to BEC scammers. The scammers had infiltrated the man’s email exchanges with his realtor, and told him to wire the money to a fraudulent bank account. Luckily, his bank was able to freeze the transfer before the scammers could make off with his money. Unfortunately, not every BEC scam victim can recover their money.

    A similar thing happened to a retired teacher from Colorado. She lost almost $200,000 to BEC scammers while trying to buy a home. At some point, while exchanging emails with the title company, the conversation was hijacked by scammers. The victim was pressured into wiring the closing costs to a scam account. When she went to the title company to close on the home, she was devastated when they told her they never received any payment. The $200,000 was all the money the woman had. Even with the involvement of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, it’s not certain she’ll recover her money.

    BEC Scams can happen one of two ways. Sometimes the scammer will use an email address that’s similar to the authentic email address. So, when dealing with realtors, banks, and escrow companies, double-check the spelling of the email address before replying. The other way the BEC scam happens is when a company has had their business emails compromised by hackers or malware. In this instance, if the email appears to be legitimate, always double check with a phone call to the party that’s supposedly requesting the payment.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Elderly couple helps bust scammers 

    Elderly couple helps bust scammers

    By Greg Collier

    Recently, the grandparent scam made its way through a part of Western Michigan along the shore of Lake Michigan. The grandparent scam is a type of fraud where scammers target elderly victims by impersonating their grandchild over the phone. The scammer will claim to be in legal trouble and ask for money to cover bail or other legal fees. To make the scam more convincing, the scammer may transfer the call to another individual pretending to be an attorney, police officer, or bail bondsman. This tactic has been used in numerous instances to trick victims into handing over their money.

    At least three sets of victims from Muskegon County in Michigan reported being approached by grandparent scammers. The first was an elderly woman who has difficulty hearing. As a result, she believed she was actually talking to her grandson. The phony grandson said he needed $9000 for bail money after getting into a car accident.

    The woman received another call from someone claiming to be her grandson’s attorney. That caller said he would meet with the woman, so he could collect the money that would bail out her grandson.

    The next day, the woman received another call from someone claiming to be the judge presiding over her grandson’s case. They said that the person her grandson was in an accident with died and the insurance company was requesting $25,000 to settle the matter out of court. The ‘judge’ was quick to settle on $19,000 since that was all the woman had.

    She was instructed to send cash through UPS to an address in Atlanta. After she dropped off the package, she had second thoughts and called the police. They were able top intercept the package before it reached its destination, but the initial $9000 was still lost. However, this is a great example of how scammers will almost always try to get more money out of a victim once the victim has made an initial payment to them.

    The next day, an elderly couple was called and someone posing as their grandson said they needed $25,000 for bail after getting into an accident with a politician. The call was then handed over to someone posing as the defense attorney. They told the grandparents that since a politician was involved in the crash, there was a gag order on the case. This supposedly meant that the grandparents couldn’t talk to anyone about the call. When asked why their grandson sounded so different, the caller responded that the grandson had come down with strep throat. As the grandfather was going to the bank, he started having second thoughts as well. He called his grandson, who was not in jail and did not have strep throat.

    The couple called the police, who had the couple arrange for the money to be picked up. When the scammers showed up to collect the money, they were arrested. The suspects from Florida are believed to be involved with a number of grandparent scams in the area. There was a third family in the area who were allegedly approached by the scammers, but they did not take the bait.

    The second scam attempt shows that scammers typically have an answer for every question you give them. Previously, we’ve heard of scammers saying the grandchild had a broken nose or missing teeth from the accident as why they sounded different. Scammers also love using the threat of a gag order to try to prevent the scam victim from speaking with anyone who might be familiar with the scam. Again, that’s not how gag orders work. No one can legally stop you from talking. Thankfully, the grandfather did the right thing by calling his grandson to make sure he wasn’t in jail. That should always be your first step when approached with a situation like this. And no matter what the caller says, you can talk to your family about it.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 17, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Text message scam targets food stamp recipients in multiple states 

    Text message scam targets food stamp recipients in multiple states

    By Greg Collier

    If you or someone you know receives any kind of benefit assistance from your state, you may want to be on the lookout for suspicious text messages regarding your benefits. Just this week, we’ve come across three states where those receiving benefits through EBT cards have been warned about text messages that appear to come from the state.

    In all three states, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, the scams are the same. Recipients have received text messages stating that their benefits would be cut off if they didn’t call the number in the text to confirm their account number and their PIN. Once the scammers have this information, they’re able to drain the recipient’s account.

    For many recipients, if they miss even a month of benefits, that could mean their children go hungry, or they could be evicted from their homes. With this kind of risk hanging over their heads, you can see why some may respond to these text messages out of fear. This fear is precisely what the scammers are counting on.

    The scammers don’t know who specifically is receiving benefits, so they’re sending out text messages en masse in hopes of finding a few victims. You may receive a text message even if you’re not receiving any state benefits.

    Most states do send out texts to benefit recipients, such as reminders when it’s time for renewal. However, these states will never send text messages asking for personal information like your PIN, Social Security number, or date of birth, just to name a few.

    Since this scam has already happened in multiple states, there’s a good chance it could be happening in yours. If you receive a text message like this, do not respond and delete the message. If you fall victim to this scam, contact your state immediately, as it could take another month before the benefits can be replaced.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 16, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    AI voice used in kidnapping scam 

    By Greg Collier

    Just over a week ago, we posted about scammers using AI technology to clone a victim’s loved one’s voice for a grandparent scam. It seems that this technique of scammers cloning voices isn’t going away anytime soon. Just recently, AI voice cloning was used in a virtual kidnapping scam in Oklahoma, where the victim lost $3000 to a scammer.

    Virtual kidnapping is a type of scam where a person receives a call or message claiming that their loved one has been kidnapped and demanding a ransom payment for their release. However, in most cases, the supposed victim is actually safe and not in any danger.

    Previously, in most virtual kidnapping scams, the scammers would do almost all of the talking, but they would have someone else in the background crying and screaming, who they claimed was the kidnap victim.

    In this most recent scam, the scam victim thought she was talking to her son and even said that the person on the phone sounded just like her son.

    It started like most virtual kidnapping scams do. The victim received a phone call from an unknown caller who told the woman they had kidnapped her adult son. The caller insinuated that the woman’s son interrupted a drug deal that cost the caller a lot of money. So, if the woman didn’t pay the money that was supposedly lost, they were going to harm her son. Typically, when the victim asks to speak to their loved one, the scammers will make excuses. However, this time, the victim spoke with someone who sounded just like her son.

    Panicked, the woman went to Walmart to wire $3000 to someone in Mexico. The scammer kept her on the phone the entire time. After making the payment, the impostor got back on the phone to say that the kidnappers were letting him go. The scammer’s told her they would drop her son off at that Walmart, but he never appeared. Finally, she was able to get a hold of her son on the phone, who had been at work the entire time.

    The virtual kidnapping scam has been using fear to get victims to pay a phony ransom for years. But now, with the voice cloning technology, the scammers have stepped up the fear to another level. The scammers only need about a minute of your loved one’s voice to be able to clone it. They usually take the voice from recordings that can be found on social media.

    But even if it sounds like a loved one on the phone, the same old precautions should be used. If you receive a call like this, try to have someone contact the person who’s supposedly been kidnapped. When they put your loved one on the phone, ask them a question that only they would know the answer to. Or have a family code word set up in advance that’s only to be used if the loved one is in danger.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 15, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Bank tells scam victims they gave ‘consent’ to scammers 

    Bank tells scam victims they gave 'consent' to scammers

    By Greg Collier

    Bank customers are being scammed on an almost daily basis. At least the ones who report the scam anyway, It’s more likely that the majority of recent bank scams aren’t reported to the police or media out of embarrassment. It seems that reports of banks not helping their customers who have been scammed has emboldened the bank scammers to fins more victims since they know the bank won’t do anything about it.

    For example, CBS 2 out of Chicago has done a follow-up story on five local bank customers who lost a total of $100,000 to bank impersonation scams.

    Scammers often follow a typical approach where they contact their targets through calls or messages, asking about their recent transactions. They then use coercive tactics to convince victims that transferring their funds to a different account is the only way to protect their bank accounts. Unfortunately, the account to which the money is transferred is usually controlled by the scammer. These accounts are usually regular checking accounts available through major banks and not offshore accounts.

    Out of the five Chicago victims who CBS 2 spoke with, all five were customers of Chase Bank, and only one of them has been reimbursed. The rest of the victims were told by the bank that since they gave personal information to the scammers, the bank considers that the consent of the customer.

    It also doesn’t help that the legislation designed to protect bank customers doesn’t protect victims from wire fraud. If someone uses the victim’s credit or debit card to commit fraud, customers can be reimbursed for that, but victims of wire fraud are out of luck due to a gap in the regulations. We might also add that these regulations were written in the 1970s. Electronic banking has changed a lot in the past 50 years, but the regulators haven’t kept up with the times. We knew that lawmakers are slow when it comes to updating the law to reflect current technology, but we didn’t realizer they were this slow.

    Some consumer advocates recommend that the banks should require some kind of digital ID before a wire transfer could be made. Others suggest the banks should institute a 24-48 hour delay for wire transfers. While these may sound like good ideas, practical application of them could be a headache for customers.

    What these banks really need to do is to prevent scammers from opening the accounts where the victims’ funds are being wired to. They could even institute a delay when an account tries to close out suddenly.

    At least for now, it’s up to the consumer to protect themselves from these scams.

    In case you receive a text message that appears to be from your bank inquiring about fraudulent activity, avoid using the callback feature provided in the message. Similarly, if someone calls you claiming to be from your bank and asks about fraudulent transactions, it’s best to end the call and directly contact your bank through the phone number provided on the back of your debit card.

    If you’ve been the victim of this scam, don’t hesitate to file a police report. While it’s not a guarantee of getting your money back, it does go a long way in helping.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 14, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Scammers send fake check to police department 

    Scammers send fake check to police department

    By Greg Collier

    When we came across this story, not only did we find it amusing, but it also shows a key part of most scams.

    A police captain in Appleton, Wisconsin, received a strange piece of mail at his office. It was a priority envelope that contained a letter and a check. The letter offered its recipient a position as a mystery shopper. The mystery shopper or secret shopper scam is one that’s been around a long time. It even predates the internet but has adapted well to the online world.

    For those who may not know, many of the bigger chain stores employ mystery shoppers. These are store employees who go around to each store posing as a customer. Their job is to rate the store’s performance through things like appearance, customer service, and selection. However, the job isn’t as commonplace as the scammers would have you believe.

    In the mystery shopper scam, scammers send their victims a fake or stolen check. The victim is told to deposit the check in their bank account and use the funds to purchase store gift cards. Big box stores like Walmart and Target often have their names used in this scam. Once the victim buys the gift cards, they’re supposed to give the gift card numbers to the scammer, who tells the victim to keep some of the money from the check as payment.

    By the time the victim’s bank realizes the check is fake, the scammer has already made off with the gift cards, leaving the victim responsible for the amount of the fake check to their bank.

    So, did scammers intentionally try to recruit a police captain? Probably not. Scammers like to cast as wide a net as possible. The scammers most likely bought a bunch of mailing lists, and sent fake checks to as many people as possible. Most modern scams can be profitable to scammers if they only get a handful of victims to take the bait out of the thousands they try to fool.

    As far as this particular scam goes, real companies are not just going to send out checks to random people telling them they now have a job with them. And any job that asks you to deposit a check into your personal bank account to use for business purposes is a scammer.

     

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