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  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 10, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Scam victim gets hit with multiple scams at once 

    Scam victim gets hit with multiple scams at once

    By Greg Collier

    We’ve said in the past that if you’ve been scammed once, the odds are pretty good that you’ll be targeted by scammers again. Except, it doesn’t typically happen in one day. That’s what happened to one Texas senior who not only lost $75,000 to scammers, but they continued to plague her afterwards.

    It all started when she received a call from someone offering to install an antivirus program on her computer. The victim says she needed this for her computer, but in order to do so, the caller needed remote access to her computer. Right off the bat, the scammers are starting with the tech support scam. If the scammers aren’t saying they’re installing software, they’re telling you that you have a virus on your computer. Once scammers have access to a victim’s device, there’s an untold amount of havoc that can be wreaked using the victim’s personal information.

    But getting back to the story, the woman then received a message on her computer that said her Amazon account had been hacked, and she needed to call the listed phone number. Now, the scammers are following up with the Amazon scam. This is where scammers claim to be from Amazon and that there is something wrong with your account. This is done to either get your payment information, or the scammers will try to convince you that you need to ‘move your money’ to avoid being hacked.

    While on the phone with the fake Amazon representative, the victim was then told she was being transferred to the Federal Trade Commission. Not only did the scammers pretend to be with the FTC, but they pretended to be the current FTC chairwoman. This is what’s known as the government impersonation scam. Scammers will pose as anyone from local police to the chairs of federal commissions if they think they can intimidate their victims. Unfortunately, this is not the first instance we’ve seen of scammers posing as high-ranking government officials.

    The phony FTC chairwoman threatened the victim with arrest if she didn’t comply with her demands. The victim was told that someone was selling drugs and laundering money through her bank account. To ‘clean’ her money, the victim would need to wire it to the scammers posing as FBI agents.

    Again, when someone who is not familiar with how online activity works, it can be quite easy to fall for such a scam. However, there are tips to keep you or a relative safe. The first is not to allow anyone you don’t know personally to install software on your device, or give them remote access. Anyone calling to offer software is more than likely a scammer. Also, if your computer runs Windows 10 or 11, they have built-in security software already.

    If Amazon is calling or your device says you need to call them, it’s a scam. Amazon, or any other company, does not know the status of your device, nor do they know your banking activity. If any company besides your bank says there’s a problem with your bank account, they’re probably trying to scam you.

    Lastly, no legitimate government agency or law enforcement branch is going to threaten you with arrest over the phone. Neither will they ever ask you to move your money to ‘clean’ it, whatever that means.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 7, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Dangerous scam continues to target seniors 

    Dangerous scam continues to target seniors

    By Greg Collier

    If recent news reports are anything to go by, more and more scammers are resorting to the grandparent scam. It seems like every day, there is a news report from a police department or sheriff’s office warning their residents about this scam. Usually, after someone has already fallen victim to the scam. It’s becoming such a common occurrence that the scammers have almost perfected the scam and have any answer the victim might have about the scam.

    For example, an elderly woman from New Jersey was having trouble getting in touch with her grandson. Before she could get a hold of him, scammers called her, posing as her grandson. The phony grandson said he was in trouble and had a broken nose and split lip. Scammers will say their face is injured to explain why they don’t sound like the actual grandchild.

    The phony grandson told the woman that he was in jail because he was involved in a car accident with a woman who was eight-months pregnant. This is often told to victims to make the situation appear more serious and appeals to the victim’s emotions, hoping that the victim thinks less clearly.

    The woman offered to call the grandson’s father, but the scammer begged her not to, with the only explanation being “I’ll explain later”. Scammers do this to isolate the victim from contacting anyone else, which would potentially tip the victim off to this being a scam.

    The woman was instructed to call a phone number which was supposed to be a public defender’s office. This was just another part of the scam. She was told she needed to pay $8000 in cash to bail out her grandson. She offered to pay with a credit card, but was instructed it had to be cash. Grandparent scammers usually ask for cash, since there will be no paper trail once the money has been handed over.

    She was also told that these proceedings were under a gag order, and she could not tell anyone about them. Again, this is done to isolate the victim. Gag orders do not work in this way and are usually given to the participants of a trial.

    She went to her bank and got the $8000 and was told to put it in a shoebox full of magazines. We imagine this is done in an attempt to hide the money from police in case the scammer is pulled over, but any cop worth their salt would find the money fairly quickly.

    Then someone posing as a courier came to her house, claimed the box and drove off. Local police are now searching for the supposed courier.

    Two hours after this all happened, her actual grandson called her and told her he had not been in jail.

    One of the best ways to protect yourself from this scam is to ask the ‘grandchild’ only something they would know. When confronted with questions like this, scammers tend to hang up. You can also hang up from the phone call and try to call the person who has been supposedly arrested. No one ever got more jail time from being hung up on. Lastly, you can also call the police department that supposedly arrested them. They’ll be more than happy to assist you and will let you know if you’re being scammed.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 6, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Romance scammer defrauds victim of $82,000 

    Romance scammer defrauds victim of $82,000

    By Greg Collier

    Romance scammers are some of the cruelest scammers out there. They take advantage of someone’s loneliness while stringing them along for weeks or months before leaving them with an empty bank account or worse.

    This is what happened to a woman from the Chicago area after meeting a man online. The 37-year-old woman met her scammer on the dating app Hinge. The scammer claimed to be an architectural engineer from Greece, who was currently working in America. The scammer also claimed that he had a five-year-old daughter who was living with his sister in Utah.

    The conversations moved off the Hinge platform and on to various other methods, including phone calls. The scammer acted like a man in love, while the victim thought she was in an authentic relationship.

    Six weeks into the phony relationship, the scammer started sowing the seeds of their master plan. He claimed he needed to get $500 to his sister to help pay for his daughter’s care. The victim sent the $500 to the sister through PayPal. To lull the victim into a false sense of security, the scammer actually paid back $500 to the victim. As we’ll see, $500 was a small price for the scammer to pay to get their ultimate payoff.

    The scammer sent the victim a check for $85,000. He claimed the money needed to go to his daughter, but he couldn’t get to his own bank. He asked her to deposit the check in her account before wiring $82,000 to the supposed man’s sister. The scammer even advised her to deposit the check through an ATM, probably so it wouldn’t draw any attention from bank employee’s. The check turned out to be fraudulent, leaving the victim with a negative balance of $82,000.

    When the victim messaged the scammer about the check, the scammer went dark. However, she did receive a Facebook message claiming to be from the FBI telling her that she had been scammed. This message was more than likely from the scammer as well.

    Anybody who asks you to deposit a check into your account to pay someone else is almost assuredly trying to scam you. Banks do not wait for the check to clear before making the funds available. There is a several day window where the scammers can strike. If the money is taken out of the victim’s bank account before the check clears, then the victim will be responsible for paying that money back to the bank.

    Dating apps typically do not do any kind of background check on their users. If you meet someone online, the first thing you should do is a reverse image search to make sure they’re not using pictures stolen from elsewhere on the internet.

    Lastly, if the person you meet claims to have a job that makes it difficult to meet in person, this is a good indicator of a potential scam. These jobs can include a military member stationed overseas, oil rig workers, and international business workers.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 5, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Lottery winners are not giving away money 

    Lottery winners are not giving away money

    By Greg Collier

    The lottery winner scam is reportedly making the rounds again. If you’re unfamiliar with this scam, scammers will claim to be someone who won one of the major lottery prizes in the country. The scammers will use the names of real lottery winners to make the scam seem more legitimate.

    The scammers will then text, email, or send a private message to their potential victims telling them that they’re giving away part of their winnings. Typically, the offer is for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The messages also include articles that show the news of the actual lottery winner.

    The scammers are usually after one of two things. The first is personal and financial information. They may ask for your banking information in the guise of sending you the money. They may also ask for identifying information, such as a copy of your driver’s license. This leads to either the victim’s identity being stolen or their bank account being hijacked.

    The other thing these scammers are usually after is your money. After promising victims all this money, the scammers will try to get money out of the victim by saying that some form of taxes or processing fees need to be paid first. This is known as the advance fee scam and is quite common when it comes to lottery and sweepstakes scams.

    While there are legitimate lottery winners who have been generous with their winnings, they do not hand out hundreds of thousands of dollars to random people. The logistics and legal wranglings of doing so would be a procedural nightmare to say the least.

    As with most giveaway scams, it’s good to keep two sayings in mine. ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’, and ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is’.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 4, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    College students still vulnerable to job scams 

    College students still vulnerable to job scams

    By Greg Collier

    College students and other young adults tend to be more technologically inclined than previous generations. Unfortunately, being more comfortable with modern tech can lead young people into a false sense of security. When it comes to finding a job, many of the analog ways of older generations are still in effect. Scammers will take advantage of the convenience of tech while using the anonymity it can sometimes afford them. This chicanery has become very prevalent in the job market. With many young people striking out on their own for possibly the first time, they could easily fall victim to job scammers.

    This recently happened to a college student in Texas. She was searching for a job online and more than likely had posted her resume on employment platforms. She received a text message that claimed to be from a textile company in Chicago, offering her a job. The position was a remote data entry position that offered close to $40/hr along with benefits and a 401K. All interviews and follow-ups were done through text or messaging app. The student never saw the face of anyone at the supposed company.

    She was hired almost on the spot. She was then told she would need equipment for the position. The student was then sent two checks that added up to $10,000. The company instructed her to deposit the checks and use the money to buy the equipment she needed. She was told to use specific vendors and that she could pay them through Venmo or Cash App. When payment wouldn’t go through on either of those apps, she was told to wire the money. The checks turned out to be fraudulent, which not only wiped out her savings but left her in debt to her bank.

    Those that are inexperienced in the job market may not be aware that businesses do not use apps like Zelle and Venmo to pay for business expenses. Even those who have years of job experience may not know that legitimate businesses, even those offering remote positions, do not send checks that the employee is supposed to deposit in their own bank account to use for business expenses. The fake check scam is one that has been duping job applicants for years now.

    If colleges and universities are not doing do already, scam awareness should be part of the orientation process. If you know a young person who is attending college, you may want to let them know about the scams that specifically target them, like this one.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 3, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Scammers promise to restore power in wake of hurricane 

    Scammers promise to restore power in wake of hurricane

    By Greg Collier

    Hurricane Ian was one of the most devastating storms to ever make landfall in the US. In Florida alone, roughly 2 million residents are still without power. They may not see their power restored until later this week or possibly next week. And that’s with over 20,000 electrical workers working around the clock. Leave it to scammers though to make the worst out of an already bad situation.

    With so many Florida residents being without power, the scammers saw this as an opportunity. The scammers are posing as one of Florida’s major power providers and promising victims they can get their power restored faster if they make a payment. Victims are being sent barcodes or QR codes that appear to mimic the power company’s online payment system. Except, the payments are going to scammers rather than the power company.

    Power companies do not prioritize certain customers after an extreme outage like this. Typically, power is first restored to critical services like hospitals and emergency services. Then power is restored to customers in the quickest way possible. There is no way they can prioritize one customer over another on a house by house basis.

    While it may sound tempting in the moments after a natural disaster, if someone claims they can turn your power on sooner for money, they are trying to scam you.

    This is just one of many scams that can plague the victims of natural disasters. Typically, scammers may try to file a FEMA claim in your name before you can. If a FEMA representative shows up at your home before you’ve contacted them, a scammer may have filed a claim in your name. Then there are the phony contractors that chase storms like this looking for victims. The Cape Coral police have several tips on how to avoid these con artists.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 30, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    The hurricane hostage scam 

    The hurricane hostage scam

    By Greg Collier

    Whenever there is a hurricane or other natural disaster in the country, we typically warn our readers about the usual scams. For example, we warn our readers that if they ever experience damage to your home from a natural disaster, be wary of contractors who drive up to your home offering to make repairs. Often these contractors are unlicensed and are looking to make a quick buck with shoddy work. We also tell our readers to be wary of unsolicited calls from FEMA or insurance companies. They could be scammers looking to get your financial or personal information. Our readers from outside the disaster area also get warned to be aware of fake charities claiming to be collecting for the victims, as they could be scams as well. For the first time, we now have to warn our readers about scammers who claim to have found a family member in the storms.

    A retiree from Florida did not evacuate her home in the days leading up to Hurricane Ian making landfall. She had survived many previous hurricanes in her home, and the hurricane was predicted to miss her area. The predictions were incorrect. The retiree was on the phone with her daughter during the hurricane while showing her daughter video of the flooding taking place in the home.

    The call then went silent. The daughter, who also lives in Florida, called everyone she could think of to try to assist her mother. She called 911, the Coast Guard, and people she knew in the area her mom lived in. As a last resort, she took to social media, hoping someone could help her find her mother. She received a text from someone who claimed to have found her mother. However, the text sender said that the daughter needed to send close to $600 first to cover the cost of a hotel. The daughter knew something was suspect about the text and asked the person for her mother’s middle name. The person didn’t know it and stopped communication.

    Thankfully, some of the people in the area were able to find the retiree, who was relatively unharmed.

    If this scam sounds familiar to you, that’s because it’s the same scam that targets the owner’s of lost pets. It’s disturbing to think that there are people out there who are just waiting for someone to ask about a missing loved one in a hurricane, so they can try to scam them.

    The daughter handled the scammer about as perfectly as anyone could. She asked a question that only her mother would know. When confronted with that kind of questioning, scammers usually disappear.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 29, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Scam Round Up: A trio of tricky check scams 

    By Greg Collier

    Checks have always been prone to a number of scams. Even before most people switched to electronic banking, there was always a way to manipulate checks to someone’s advantage. Now, that most consumers use debit cards and get paid through direct deposit, it’s not surprising there are people who are unaware of how checks can be used in a scam. Here are three check scams from recent news reports you should be aware of.

    ***

    Of course, there’s the fake check scam. This is where scammers will send you a check for any number of reasons. They want you to deposit the check into your own bank account and send some of the money back before your bank finds out the check is fake. While the fake check scam is mostly seen with job scams and online selling scams, it can affect businesses as well.

    For example, a home supply store in Ohio recently received a cashier’s check that was supposed to cover supplies for a home renovation. The check was written for $5000 more than the store was asking. The person who sent the check also included instructions that the difference should be sent to the home’s previous owner for some reason. Thankfully, the store owner felt like he was being scammed and contacted the police.

    If someone you don’t know personally sends you a check and wants you to send part of the money back to them or to a third party, that is almost assuredly a scam.

    ***

    Another check scam that has become more common lately is the check washing scam. This is when checks are stolen from outgoing mail that are usually designed to pay bills. The checks are then soaked in a chemical solution that removes the handwritten portion of the check. This allows the scammers to rewrite the check to themselves and cash the check without the account holder’s knowledge.

    If you pay your bills by check, the best way to protect yourself is to take any outgoing mail that contains checks and drop them off inside the post office. Mail has even been known to be stolen from the mailboxes that are outside the post office. There are also pens you can order that are resistant to check washing.

    ***

    Lastly, the NYPD is warning residents of Staten Island about a different type of fake check scam. One precinct there has received numerous complaints about scammers approaching people on the street asking for help cashing a check. The victim is asked if they could deposit the check at their ATM while withdrawing money for the scammer. Again, the bank won’t find out for a few days that the check is fraudulent, and the victim is responsible for paying that money back to the bank.

    It is recommended if you come into contact with someone asking you to help them cash a check to call 911.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 28, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Online sellers have to deal with this phone scam, again. 

    Online sellers have to deal with this phone scam, again.

    By Greg Collier

    Scams that involve online selling are a top priority for us, since Geebo.com is an online marketplace. Previously, we’ve taken the role of an anti-Craigslist, since we actually take steps to try to protect our userbase. One of those steps is educating our users in the ways scammers might try to take advantage of them. One of those scams has resurfaced in multiple news outlets lately, so we thought it’s a good time to remind our readers of this scam.

    If you’re not familiar with Google Voice, it’s a service provided free from Google that allows you to have a secondary phone number. For example, you can use Google Voice to have separate business and personal numbers while still only using one phone. Users are only allowed one Google Voice number per hone number. This prevents bad actors from having multiple phone numbers they can operate from. However, this does not stop them from trying, and the bad actors like to target online sellers in this scam.

    The scam starts when someone tries to sell an item online, regardless of the platform. While talking or texting with the seller, the buyer will claim that they need to verify that the seller isn’t a scammer themselves. The buyer will then claim that they’re sending a seller an authorization code to verify the seller’s integrity. The buyer will then ask the seller to repeat the code back to them.

    What’s actually happening is the buyer is setting up a Google Voice number under the seller’s phone number. The authorization code is sent by Google to make sure that a bad actor isn’t trying to use someone else’s number to sign up for Google Voice. If the seller gives out that authorization code, the scammer can hijack that Google Voice number and use it in additional scams. That way, if law enforcement attempts to trace the Google Voice number used in a scam, it will trace back to the seller.

    Thankfully, there is a surefire way to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of this scam, and that’s to sign up for your own Google Voice number. While we are in no way trying to promote Google Voice, signing up for a Google Voice number can prevent you from having a Google Voice number signed up under your phone number without your permission. If someone has already signed up for a Google Voice number that’s linked to your phone number, you can follow the instructions from Google on how to reclaim it.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 27, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Loneliness leads to crypto scam 

    Loneliness leads to crypto scam

    By Greg Collier

    Loneliness is one of the greatest vulnerabilities someone can have. It can cause us to make rash decisions or ignore warning signs if we think it will help us be any less alone. Some of the more detrimental decisions people can make are made during bouts of extreme loneliness. Unfortunately, scammers are aware of this too. Lonely people, especially senior citizens who may have lost a partner, are a favorite target of scammers. This is especially true of romance scammers.

    Traditionally, romance scammers find a target online and foster a phony relationship with them. Once the scammer gains the target’s trust, the scammer will start asking for money for some emergency. Romance scammers often pose as military members serving overseas, oil rig workers who are constantly working offshore, or international business people. They use these occupations as excuses as to why they can never meet in public.

    However, there is a new type of romance scam that works a lot quicker than the typical one, as one man from Indiana recently found out. The man is a senior citizen who is on a fixed income. He met a woman going by the name of Elizabeth on a dating site. It wasn’t long before Elizabeth mentioned she worked for an investment company and could make the man some money. The man was told that if he gave her $500 in Bitcoin, he’d make a profit in 5 days. He sent ‘Elizabeth’ the $500 in Bitcoin.

    When it came time for the man to claim his profits, he contacted the supposed investment company. He was told that his initial investment had multiplied more than ten times its amount. When the man tried to cash out, he was told he would need to send an additional $2000 through Cash App to claim his windfall. The man refused and was then asked for his bank account information. It was at this point the man realized he had been scammed. This man probably got off easy, relatively speaking. While we’re sure $500 was a lot of money to this man, other victims to this scam have paid the additional fees the scammers have asked for and never see a penny of it in return.

    No investment is ever guaranteed to return a profit, and especially not cryptocurrency, as that market can wildly fluctuate. If someone you don’t know or barely know promises to invest in cryptocurrency for you, there’s a good chance that they’re trying to scam you. Also, no legitimate investment company will ask you to make any payment through apps like Cash App.

    If you’re lonely and looking for companionship online, please be very careful as there are any number of pitfalls out there that could leave you with a broken heart and an empty wallet.

     

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