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  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 27, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , physical therapist,   

    Healthcare professional loses life savings in licensing scam 

    Healthcare professional loses life savings in licensing scam

    By Greg Collier

    The scam we’re talking about today doesn’t affect every day consumers all that much. It’s geared more toward medical professionals. By medical professionals we mean any healthcare worker who requires a license to do their job. This not only includes doctors but also nurses and many other healthcare workers. However, this particular scam is a great example of how far con artists are willing to go to steal money from their victims.

    The licensing scam is not new. It’s been targeting medical professionals for a while now. Typically, a scammer will contact a licensed healthcare worker while posing as someone from their state government. The scammers will tell the healthcare worker that their license has been suspended due to a drug trafficking investigation. Sometimes the scammers will even go as far as to confuse the victim with official looking paperwork. The scammers will then try to pressure the victim into making some kind of payment so the healthcare worker can preserve their license.

    This recently happened to a physical therapist in Michigan. Scammers told her that her license was in jeopardy because it had been used in a drug trafficking scheme that had also laundered $2.4 million. They told her to go to the nearest UPS Store to receive notification in writing. The letter she received appeared to be on official letterhead from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The scammers even posed as agents from the LARA and the FBI. They convinced the physical therapist that she could spend six months in jail if she did not sign a federal bond agreement with the Department of Justice. This bond agreement was then paid by money transfer. The amount she paid to the scammers was not disclosed but was said to be her family’s life savings.

    The lengths these scammers went to has to be marveled at. The thing is with scams like this is they don’t have to fool many people. They only need to fool a few who are willing to pay large sums of money.

    And again, if anyone was under investigation for drug trafficking, you would be visited by law enforcement personally and wouldn’t just receive a phone call. Also, law enforcement agencies whether local, statewide, or federal will never ask for any kind of payment over the phone while simultaneously threatening arrest. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up and call whatever agency the caller is claiming to be from.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 26, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Cheap plane tickets could end up costing you a lot 

    By Greg Collier

    With many of the pandemic restrictions starting to be loosened, many people are looking to start traveling again. When people travel for whatever reason, they try to find the best bargain for their airfare. While this could lead you to getting a great deal, it could also lead to you being ripped off for airline tickets that may not even exist.

    If you’re looking to book a flight you might find various third-party websites and services that promise you a steep discount for airline tickets. However, the Better Business Bureau is warning consumers that they could be nothing more than scams. One version of the scam happens when you do a web search for an airline customer service number. Scammers often take out ads on the more popular search engines to try to get you to call them instead of the actual airline. They’ll take your money and send you a confirmation email but what they never send you are your tickets.

    In another variation of this scam, you’ll pay for tickets through a scam website or phony customer service number. The scammers will then contact you telling you that there’s been a price increase or an additional service charge is required. And you still never get any tickets. Legitimate airlines would never do this.

    If you’re planning to travel by air anytime soon, your best bet to protect yourself from these scams is to stick with the airline websites or well-known travel sites. You can still find some really good deals that also include lodging and car rentals. If you come across a deal that you think is just too good to pass up, research the service or website offering the deal before you give them any money. One of the best ways to do this is to put the name of the service or website in a search engine along with some additional search terms like ‘scam’ or ‘complaints’.

    As with most online purchases, a few minutes of research could save you from a lot of financial headaches.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 23, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Scammers make fake GoFundMe for teen who died from scam 

    Scammers make fake GoFundMe for teen who died from scam

    By Greg Collier

    Tragedy recently struck a town in Upstate New York. A teenage boy fell victim to an extortion scam on social media. He had thought he met a girl who was interested in him on social media. The supposed girl convinced the boy to send compromising photos of himself. Instead, the girl was a blackmailer who threatened to make the pictures public if the boy didn’t pay the scammer $3500. When the teen refused to pay, the scammer kept sending threats. Under the pressure of the photos possibly being made public, the teen tragically took his own life.

    The teen’s parents started a GoFundMe after the teen’s passing. The money from the GoFundMe will be going to fund a scholarship to help kids with practical skills they can use later in life. However, it wasn’t bad enough that scammers essentially talked the teen into taking his own life. On top of that, there were scammers who started another GoFundMe using the teen’s name. Odds are it’s not the same scammer, but a family being victimized twice by scammers in such a matter is infuriating.

    If you have children who are avid social media users, you may want to warn them about this extortion scam. No family should ever have to lose a child to online scammers. You should also be careful what GoFundMe you donate to. While GoFundMe has good intentions, it can be a con artist’s playground. You should only donate to a GoFundMe if it comes from a reliable source like your local news or a trusted friend.

    And while we might sound like a broken record about this, it does show that are no depths that scammers won’t sink to. They only see tragedy as an opportunity to steal money.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 22, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    The delivery text message scam returns 

    The delivery text message scam returns

    By Greg Collier

    Last year, we discussed the delivery text messaging scam both pre- and post-pandemic. How the scam worked in the past was you’d receive a text message informing you that something you ordered online couldn’t be delivered, and you need to update your preferred delivery method. A link would be provided for you to confirm your delivery.

    If you clicked the link, you’d have been taken to a phony Amazon page where you’d be asked for your login information. The fake Amazon page will then ask you to fill out a customer service survey in order to claim a prize. After you win the prize, you’ll be asked to pay for shipping by providing your financial information. In essence, scammers just stole your Amazon login along with your credit or debit card info. Put those two things together and victims of the scam could be looking at some expensive purchases on their Amazon account with their own payment information with the actual items being sent to some scammer. In other cases, victims were signed up for a subscription service that charged their card $100 every month.

    Now, the scam seems to have returned with a twist. Previously, the texts would appear like they’re coming from UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Amazon. More recently, the text messages appear like they’re coming from the United States Postal Service. This new version of the scam has been popping up all over the country as we have seen reports from New York, Texas, and South Dakota just to name a few.

    Please keep in mind that no delivery service nor the USPS will ever text you out of the blue. These companies cannot text you unless you sign up for their text service first. Plus if these services did text you, the texts would not include a scammy looking link.

    If you receive a text that looks like the image above or something similar, just delete it. The best way to handle scammers is to not engage with them whatsoever.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 21, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Was a death certificate stolen for a FEMA scam? 

    Was a death certificate stolen for a FEMA scam?

    By Greg Collier

    Back in February, we discussed how scammers stopped a federal assistance program from being rolled out. As of the time of our previous post, FEMA had not started their funeral assistance program for people who passed away from COVID-19 in 2020. Due to the amount of fraud that was affecting state unemployment systems during the pandemic, FEMA decided to hold back while they came up with a potential solution. Earlier this month, FEMA announced that they would begin processing applications for funeral assistance, and it looks like the scammers may have already started to try to take advantage of the system.

    A woman in Tennessee lost her husband late last year to COVID-19. He was working the frontline as a nurse when he contracted the virus. Even though it’s been a number of months, his widow is still dealing with the loss of her husband. She recently received a call asking if she had sent her husband’s death certificate to Texas. She had not and believes that someone was using her husband’s death certificate to try to apply for FEMA benefits in his name. When this potential scam was first announced we wondered if all it would take to scam FEMA would be a forged or stolen death certificate.

    Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that you can do to protect yourself from this scam. If you ever had the unfortunate experience of arranging a funeral for a loved one and handling their estate, you know that you have to provide a copy of the deceased’s death certificate to a number of different people. The only thing that FEMA seems to be recommending at this point is that if you’ve been scammed you can call FEMA at 800-621-3362.

    Sadly, this again shows that scammers will try to take advantage of any situation no matter how devastating it may be to the victim. When scammers reach a new low like this, we’re both surprised and yet not surprised. Scammers know no bounds of human decency and will try to take advantage of anyone as long as it can make them some money.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 20, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , ,   

    Stolen mail leads to stolen checks 

    Stolen mail leads to stolen checks

    By Greg Collier

    I’m sure we’ve all been there. You go the post office and pull up to the outside collection box. It turns out that the mailbox is filled to the brim with mail. You think to yourself that anyone could reach in and take a handful of mail. Then you still place your item to be mailed in the overflowing mailbox. If you’re still paying your bills by mail, you might want to reconsider that stance.

    A collection box outside a post office in Virginia Beach, Virginia has been targeted multiple times for mail theft in the past few months. After the mail was stolen from the box, checks that were supposed to be for bills were washed and cashed for much larger amounts. Check washing is when someone dips an already written or even canceled check in chemicals and removes the handwritten ink from the check. They then put in whatever information on the check that they need. As long as there is enough money in the account the check can be cashed. Some of the checks were rewritten for thousands of dollars more than they were intended for. If that transaction is ignored long enough, you could miss the window you have to dispute the falsified check.

    While this scam may not be as prevalent as others, you still don’t want to be the victim of this scam. It’s recommended that in order to protect yourself that you switch from checks to electronic payments. They can’t steal a check if there’s no check to be stolen. However, if you’re dead set on still mailing checks, there are a few precautions you can take. There are special pens that you can buy that are resistant to check washing. If you’re taking the bills to the post office, have them mailed from inside the post office where they’re less likely to be stolen. Lastly, never leave your outgoing mail in your home mailbox. More mail is stolen from home mailboxes than USPS mailboxes.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 19, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , monkey, parrot, , ,   

    Why you should never buy a monkey or parrot online 

    By Greg Collier

    Whenever we talk about pet scams, we’re usually talking about the puppy scams that happen online. The puppy scam usually happens in one of two ways. Either you’re being charged for fees and expenses for a puppy that doesn’t exist, or you’re being sold a terminally ill animal from a backyard breeder. For these reasons and more, Geebo.com stopped accepting ‘pets for sale’ ads years ago. However, it’s not just puppies that can be part of these scams.

    Recently, the Better Business Bureau of Michigan warned consumers about a website that claimed to be selling small monkeys and parrots for $1,000 to $1,500. The website claimed that they had a physical address in Michigan which actually turned out to be a home belonging to someone who had no idea their address was being used in this way. The scammers were collecting money by Western Union, MoneyGram, and Bitcoin. Just like the puppy scam, the scammers kept asking victims for additional payments for things like insurance and shipping costs. The primates and parrots didn’t actually exist and victims have complained about losing thousands of dollars in the scam.

    There’s another more important reason why you shouldn’t be buying these animals online and that reason is cruelty. If someone is legitimately selling a monkey or parrot online, there’s a good chance that they’re part of the illegal exotic animal trade. Parrots are often smuggled into the country in cruel ways where more parrots are dying than ones that survive the trip. Baby monkeys that are put up for sale are often taken from their mothers and kept in squalid conditions before any sale.

    Pets like dogs and cats have been bred over the millennia to be domestic companions for humans. Parrots and monkeys are both wild animals that really shouldn’t be kept in a captivity as a pet. That’s not even taking into consideration that both animals require constant care and attention. If you’re thinking about purchasing one of these animals either online or in a store, please do some research on the drawbacks of owning such an animal.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 16, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , nurse practitioner,   

    Medical professional charged in grandparent scam 

    Medical professional charged in grandparent scam

    By Greg Collier

    In South Florida, the demand for cosmetic procedures like Botox injections can command a substantial price tag. We’re pretty certain that the medical professionals who provide these services are paid handsomely. That’s why it was somewhat surprising to hear this story about a cosmetic medial professional who was arrested for allegedly participating in a grandparent scam ring.

    The person arrested was a 31-year-old Nurse Practitioner who practices at a premier medical spa that specializes in cosmetic procedures. She is said to have taken close to $50,000 from only two victims of the scam. In both cases the alleged scammer is believed to have called both victims and claimed that a relative of the victims had been involved in an accident. We haven’t read what pitch the Nurse Practitioner used in her scam, but usually the scammers either ask for bail money or money for medical expenses that have resulted from the fictitious accident.

    In one of the instances, the Nurse Practitioner is said to have had $20,000 wired from a victim directly into her bank account. The victim reported the scam to their bank and an investigation began. When a bank investigator confronted the Nurse Practitioner about it, the NP claimed that the money was from a friend who paid the money for a Super Bowl party. When the bank investigator told her that the transfer may have been fraudulent, the NP reportedly replied with “How is that my problem?”

    When we think of scammers like this, we tend to think of scammers from overseas who participate in a complete scamming industry. However, this story shows that scammers can be from just about anywhere and have any type of economic status. Not only that, but this story also shows to just what lengths scammers will go to, so they can keep their ill-gotten gains.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 15, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , ,   

    Bank promotion leads to identity theft 

    Charlotte, North Carolina is one of the major banking capitals of the US. While the primary banking center of the country is New York City, Charlotte has traded the #2 spot with San Francisco for many years. Many national banks either have their corporate headquarters in Charlotte or have a large corporate presence there. Unfortunately, this large banking presence has not stopped bank scams from happening as the local police recently found out.

    The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department have said they recently encountered dozens of residents who have had bank accounts opened in their name. The residents have said that they’ve received letters in the mail thanking them for opening accounts with PNC Bank. Some of the letters even have debit cards included with them. PNC seems to be the target of this scam since they’re running a promotion where a customer can receive $300 for opening an account.

    It’s believed that the residents targeted in this scam must have had their private information leaked in a previous data breach. While reports have not stated it, in similar scams, scammers have had debit and credit cards sent to the victims home address where the scammer is watching the mail so they can intercept the card.

    If you receive a letter like this from PNC or any other bank, you need to act immediately. Call the bank at the customer service number that’s provided with the letter to tell them you did not open that account. It’s also recommended that you contact your local police department as well. Then it’s strongly recommended that you put a freeze on your credit. You can also get a credit alert that will notify you if anyone tries to open credit using your information.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 14, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , phone takeover, ,   

    Scammers stopping cell service can steal your money 

    Scammers stopping cell service can steal your money

    By Greg Collier

    We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s still hard to imagine life these days without your smartphone. It’s been one of those necessities that you don’t leave the house without. If you’re anything like us, we’re sure you’re checking for your keys, identification, and phone before you go out the front door. Now, imagine that you’re out running errands or what have you, and all of a sudden, your phone no longer has any service. No calls, no apps, no texts or anything. If this were to happen to you, it would be more of a problem than not being able to contact anyone. It could have disastrous results for your finances too.

    Recently, in Memphis, Tennessee, two alleged scammers were arrested for reportedly stealing close to $500,000 from AT&T customers. The pair would call into AT&T call centers posing as AT&T employees. They would then be able to get access to customer accounts. With the customer account information, they would call AT&T back and switch the customer’s service to another cellular provider. The scammers then had access to the various apps that the customer may have used. The scammers are then said to have taken money out of apps like PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App.

    While this scam is far from new, we’ve never seen it used on such a grand scale before. Even though AT&T was singled out in this post, it has happened to other providers, again, just not on this scale. This scam usually doesn’t target as many individuals as this one has. Unfortunately, the onus on protecting you from this scam is on the cellular providers. On top of this, customer service representatives for some providers are often under-trained and are asked to handle multiple customers at the same time. This can lead to a lot of fraud slipping through the cracks.

    In some instances, you can set up a PIN or password with your provider that will identify yourself in case someone tries to take over your account. Other than that, the only thing we can recommend is getting in touch with your cellular provider as soon as your service goes out.

     

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