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  • Geebo 8:01 am on June 26, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Elderly man loses $800K to in a week to scammers 

    By Greg Collier

    This story is as heartbreaking as it is infuriating. An elderly man from Washington sold his home for $800,000 and planned to use the money for his retirement. Within a week, he was essentially homeless.

    When the movers showed up at his home, he couldn’t afford to pay them. He called his daughter, who lives in Minneapolis. The man kept telling his daughter everything will be fine soon, but wouldn’t elaborate. Eventually, she was able to coax out of her father he thought he had won a sweepstakes.

    The man had fallen victim to the advance fee scam. This is when scammers will tell the victim they’ve won something, but they need to make a payment in order to claim their prize. Typically, the scammers will say the money the victim is paying is for taxes or processing fees.

    In this man’s case, the scammers kept asking for cashier’s checks in the amount of $50,000 each before they took all of his savings. They called and texted him every day for a week before they completely drained him of all his money.

    Once again, the bank is being called into question for not allegedly seeing the red flags of a man who withdrew $200,000 in one day from two separate branches of the same bank. Scammers of all types will often instruct their victims to use separate bank branches to try to throw off suspicion from the banks.

    There could be a light at the end of the tunnel for the victim of this story. Both the media and the FBI are looking into the man’s case and seem to have some promising leads. However, in the majority of cases, victims never see their money again.

    For those of us with elderly relatives, we want to try to protect them from cruel scams like this, but we can’t be there 24-7 for them. The best way to help them is to remind them of scams like this. You can let them know it’s illegal for anyone to ask for money for a sweepstakes prize. You can also show them this blog post or any number of news articles that detail this scam.

    No one’s parents or grandparents should have to endure this kind of financial torment.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 23, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Like we need another bank scam 

    By Greg Collier

    We’re pretty sure it goes without saying that bank customers are one of the largest targets of scammers. If we’re not being assailed by text messages telling us to protect hacked accounts through Zelle, our debit card information is being stolen through skimmers, or people are trying to get us to deposit phony checks. Now, bank scammers are pulling an old scheme which seems almost antiquated by today’s standards.

    According to a report out of Florida, several residents have received robocalls from scammers posing as banks. And we say banks, we mean a few different banks. At one point, a potential victim could receive a robocall that says it’s from Bank of America, while getting one shortly later that says they’re from Wells Fargo. However, both robocalls say the same thing.

    The robocalls will tell you a purchase you made with your debit card has been declined, and your card has been blocked. The message also provides a customer service number for the recipient to call. The customer service number leads to a scam call center, where the scammers will attempt to obtain not only your financial information but, possibly, your money as well.

    If you were to get one of these robocalls, and it says it’s from Bank of America, and you actually bank at Bank of America, that’s a coincidence. That also goes for most of the major banks. Scammers will set out the widest net possible in order to catch as many potential victims as they can.

    If you receive one of these robocalls, do not call the number they leave. Instead, call your bank’s customer service number from the back of your debit card. If you were to call the scammers’ number, they would only need a little bit of information or a touch of misdirection before they could empty your account and disappear into the wind.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 22, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: casting call, , fitness tracker, ,   

    Scam Round Up: Fitness Tracker Scam and More 

    By Greg Collier

    If you tend to shop online, you may want to keep an eye out for a recurring delivery scam. A woman from Kansas was expecting a delivery of medical equipment in the mail when she received a text message. The message claimed to be from the US Postal Service, stating her delivery was $0.30 short on postage that she would need to pay. The text message contained a link which took her to a website that appeared to be the official USPS website. Since she thought the website was official, she gave them her debit card information. Luckily, her bank caught the charge and notified her she had been scammed. She did have to cancel her debit card and get a new one, which can be an inconvenience if you tend not to carry cash.

    There’s also a similar scam to look out for where the text messages say your delivery will be late or couldn’t be delivered. These text messages claim to come from services like UPS and FedEx, along with USPS. These messages should be ignored and deleted. Instead, check the tracking number of your delivery to see if there are any actual issues.

    If you’re the theatrical type or looking to get into the entertainment industry, you may want to be aware of fake casting calls. For example, South Carolina is where the show Outer Banks is filmed. Fake casting calls for extras were posted to social media. The scam listings were said to be a ploy to ask potential extras for money to be in the production. The official casting agency says that’s not how it works, and they would never ask for money.

    Like any other job offer, research the company you would be dealing with to make sure you’re dealing with the actual company and not some impostor company.

    Lastly, if you’re into fitness and use a fitness tracker, you may want to be wary of the online communities which some of the trackers can connect you to. The groups themselves can actually be beneficial, especially to those who may be struggling with their fitness goals. But just like most online communities, scammers lurk among the members.

    According to reports, scammers will approach a victim about their fitness goals. After a while, the scammer will get more friendly before asking for money with some story designed to manipulate your emotions behind it. It almost seems like a low-key version of the romance scam. The scammers will also insist on communicating with them outside the community page or app.

    To better protect yourself, try not to use a photo of yourself as your profile picture. Also, don’t share any personal information with people you don’t know in regular life.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 21, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    New missing pet scam terrorizes owners 

    By Greg Collier

    The panic you feel when a beloved family pet goes missing is almost palpable. Owners of missing pets can’t help but wonder what their pet is possibly going through. In those situations, our thoughts often turn to the worst possible outcome. Then there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Someone has come forward claiming to have found your pet. But they’re not a good Samaritan. Instead, they’re a scammer looking to make some money off your anxiety.

    Unfortunately, this is a common scam anymore. If you were to lose a pet and put up flyers or ask for help on social media, there’s a good chance the first person to contact you will be a scammer. Scammers will say they have your pet before asking for some kind of reward. Some scammers will even make it sound like they’re holding your pet for ransom.

    More recently, scammers have increased the emotional manipulation used in the scam. Now, scammers are not only claiming to have found your pet, but they’re also claiming they had to take the pet in for emergency surgery. The scammers then try to get the amount of the ‘surgery’ out of the pet owners. Some scammers even pose as the local shelter while trying to get money from the owner. Sadly, some pet owners have fallen victim to the scam and lost large amounts of money to the scammers.

    It used to be when something like this happened, you would ask the caller to send you a picture of them with your pet. Some experts have warned this may not be viable anymore with the advancement of AI photo apps that could make it appear as if they have your dog.

    If you receive a call like this and the person says they took your dog into emergency surgery, ask them where the surgery took place. Then call the veterinarian’s office or animal shelter to verify their story before handing over any money.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Mother convinced daughter arrested in AI scam 

    Mother convinced daughter arrested in AI scam

    By Greg Collier

    If anyone could recognize their daughter’s voice with just a few short words, it would be their mother. At least, that’s what scammers are hoping as AI-generated voice spoofing scams continue to plague families.

    Within the past few months, we have seen an increased uptick of phone scams that use AI-generated voices. As we’ve previously discussed, there are two scams where an AI-generated voice of the victim’s loved one makes the scams seem more believable.

    One of those scams is the virtual kidnapping scam. That’s when scammers will call their victim to tell them that they’ve kidnapped one of the victim’s loved ones, while demanding a ransom. In actuality, the supposed kidnap victim is unaware they’re being used in a scam.

    The other scam is the grandparent scam. It’s called the grandparent scam because in it, the majority of scammers target elderly victims and claim to be one of their grandchildren. Calling it the grandparent scam can be a misnomer, as scammers will also target parents and spouses.

    One mother from Upstate New York was shopping for her daughter’s wedding when she received a call from scammers. She immediately heard her daughter’s voice saying she got into a car accident. But it wasn’t her daughter’s voice. Scammers had spoofed it using AI.

    Scammers only need a few seconds of someone’s voice before they can make an authentic sounding AI model, along with the speaker’s cadence. They get their voice samples either from someone’s social media or making phone calls to their target. Since the daughter was preparing for her wedding, there may have been a wide variety of voice samples to choose from.

    But getting back to the scam, after the mother heard her daughter’s voice, a scammer got on the line posing as local police. They said the daughter caused a wreck while texting and driving, and needed $15,000 for bail.

    Thankfully, even though the woman was convinced that was her daughter’s voice, she did not fall victim to the scam. Instead, she called her daughter, who was in no danger at all.

    If you receive a phone call like this, try to contact the person who was supposedly arrested. Even if you held a conversation on that call and the person sounded exactly like your loved one. Scammers will try to keep you on the phone, but no one ever had their bail raised while someone verified their story.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 19, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Even doctors can be scammed 

    Even doctors can be scammed

    By Greg Collier

    Doctors are some of the most educated specialists in our country. Not only do they have to deal with college, med school, and residency, but as the science and technology advances, they have to keep educating themselves. So, some may find it surprising that doctors are just as vulnerable as the average consumer is to scams. We’re not even talking about medically specific scams like insurance fraud or doctor shopping for narcotics. We’re talking about one of the most common scams out there today, the jury duty scam.

    For those who may not know, the jury duty scam is where scammers impersonate officials or law enforcement representatives to target individuals and extract money or personal information from them. Typically, the scammers will call their victims and threaten them with arrest for not showing up to jury duty unless the victim makes a payment then and there. The scammers will often ask for payment in untraceable ways, like cryptocurrency, gift cards, or prepaid debit cards, to name a few.

    However, when doctors are targeted, the scammers don’t tell them they’ve missed jury duty. Instead, the scammers tell the doctors they failed to appear as an expert witness. Doctors may testify as expert witnesses in legal proceedings to provide their professional opinion and expertise on medical matters.

    Recently in the Cleveland, Ohio area, several doctors were approached by scammers and threatened with arrest if they did not make a payment of $4000. The scammers even had personal information on each doctor. One doctor even paid $2000 to the scammers before the doctor’s bank realized the doctor was being scammed.

    This is yet another example of how anyone can be scammed. Some people have lulled themselves into a false sense of security and have convinced themselves they can’t be scammed. Please take it from us that there is a scam out there for everybody. It’s just a matter if the right scammer can find you or not.

    We realize not all of our readers are doctors. However, this scam does show that actual police departments will not contact you by phone if you miss a court date or jury duty. Any communication in these matters will be done through the mail, and if a payment does need to be made, that’s usually done at the courthouse.

    If you receive a call like this, hang up and contact your local police at their non-emergency number.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 16, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: credit check, , , ,   

    New type of rental scam changes the game 

    By Greg Collier

    We’re pretty sure when Craigslist first started allowing real estate listings, the rental scam was born. For any new readers, the rental scam is when a scammer will list a property online for rent which they don’t actually own. Scammers will copy a legitimate listing from a realtor of a property which is for sale, then post it for rent on unregulated marketplaces like Craigslist. The listing will have a below-market rent in order to lure in victims. Typically, these scammers will ask for either a security deposit or first month’d rent before disappearing with the victim’s money. These scams have cost victims thousands of dollars and have left many of them homeless.

    However, there is a new rental scam that’s occurring across the country, according to the Better Business Bureau. The BBB says these new scammers aren’t after renters’ money, but their personal information instead.

    The scammers are still using the same tricks to find a potential victim, but instead of trying to take their money, the scammers are having victims fill out phony credit checks. Victims are being led to a website that appears to be professional and legitimate, but once renters give their personal information, the scammers disappear with the victim’s identity.

    Now, it’s not unusual for landlords to perform credit checks before renting to a new tenant. However, there are ways to protect yourself from this scam, and many of them are the same ways to protect yourself from the typical rental scam.

    The first thing you should do is Google the address of the rental property. If there are duplicate listings and the landlord details don’t match, there’s a good chance you’ve discovered a scam listing. If the listing from a realtor’s website says the home is for sale, or the rent is more expensive, then the other listing is the phony one. And as always, you can always check with the county’s tax office or website to find out who the true landlord is.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 15, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Police impersonators don’t miss a beat 

    By Greg Collier

    Typically, when we discuss police impersonation scams, we mostly talk about the jury duty scam. That’s when scammers pose as your local police and threaten victims with arrest for supposedly missing jury duty. In that case, the scammers are hoping to get a quick payment out of the victim disguised as a fine. However, police impersonation scams come in many forms, and they all use fear and intimidation to try to take your money from you.

    For example, a Pittsburgh woman recently got a phone call from scammers posing as the Pittsburgh Police Department. The caller told the woman that her daughter had been in a car accident that injured a pregnant woman. Police impersonators often use the concept of an injured pregnant woman to make a minor accident appear more severe.

    The caller told the woman that her daughter was in custody at the courthouse. On the call, there was even a woman crying in the background, asking for ‘mom’. The woman was even instructed by the caller not to call her daughter because her phone had been confiscated. This is done in order to try to prevent the woman from calling her daughter because if she did, she would find out that her daughter was not under arrest.

    The woman decided to make her way to the courthouse, but on the way there, she received another phone call from another scammer posing as a lawyer. This scammer told the woman that $15,000 bail was required. The woman asked the caller how can there be bail when she hasn’t even been before a judge yet. The caller was quick to respond that the daughter had already been before a judge three hours ago.

    Thankfully, the woman had spoken to her daughter within the past three hours and realized she was being scammed. She called her daughter, who had not been arrested and was in no danger.

    Scammers have an answer for almost any question you throw at them. A lot of the answers don’t make sense if you stop to think about it, though. The fact that the scammers told the woman not to call her daughter should have been a red flag, but telling her that her daughter had already been before a judge was obviously too convenient for it not to be a scam.

    As always, if you receive a call like this stating a loved one is in custody, but you haven’t spoken to that loved one, end the call and contact the loved one. More often than not, you’ll find that they have no idea they’re being used in a scam. Also, keep in mind that the police will only call you if the arrested person is medically incapacitated; otherwise the suspect would be able to call you themselves.

     

  • Geebo 8:01 am on June 14, 2023 Permalink | Reply
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    Don’t pay for a rental car with Zelle 

    Don't pay for a rental car with Zelle

    By Greg Collier

    With many people planning vacations for the warmer weather, there are a number of scams to look out for. We recently highlighted some of them here. Another scam vacationers may want to be aware of involves rental cars.

    When looking to rent a vehicle, make sure you’re speaking to an actual rental car agency. If you do a web search for a phone number to a rental car agency, you may not be given the results you’re actually looking for. Scammers can and have paid web search companies to have their listings show higher than the actual rental agencies in some search results.

    The listing and possibly the website itself will appear like it belongs to one of the brand name agencies like Budget or Enterprise to name a few. However, when you call the number in the listing, you’ll actually be directed to a scam call center.

    This recently happened to an elderly woman from Texas. Her son came to visit, and she decided to rent a car. She thought she was talking to Budget, but was actually talking to scammers. They gave her a great price, but then the scammers asked for a $400 security deposit to be paid through Zelle. Unfortunately, the victim sent the $400 to the scammers and no car was ever delivered.

    To steer clear of this scam while renting a car, it is advisable to utilize the customer service hotline provided on the rental agency’s official website. Nearly all agencies offer a location finder tool on their website, which guides you to the closest branch in your area and provides their respective contact number.

    And when paying for your rental, legitimate agencies will never ask for payment through apps like Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App. Neither will they ask for payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency. If they do, they’re trying to scam you.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: collection agency, , , , , ,   

    Beware phony medical bills 

    By Greg Collier

    The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning stating people have been receiving phony medical bills in the mail. Scammers are hoping that recipients of the phony bills will be so panicked about it, they’ll make an immediate payment to the scammers. When someone demands an immediate payment in full for a medical bill, that may be a tip off that the bill is part of a scam.

    Whether it’s a medical practice or a medical collection agency, most facilities will be willing to work with you on paying the balance. The first thing you would want to do is research the charge itself. If you didn’t have a doctor or hospital visit on or around the date of service, the bill may be fraudulent. If you did have a visit around that time, contact the medical facility used and ask if this was a service they performed or requested.

    You can also check with your health insurance company to see if any bill from the questionable practice was submitted to them. This also a good reason to keep the explanation of benefits (EOBs) that your insurance company sends you after a claim is completed.

    Legitimate medical practices, facilities, and collection agencies will be more than willing to help set up some kind of payment plan if someone is unable to pay the full balance of their bill. Some practices will even offer a significant discount if you can pay the balance in one payment if it’s a substantial balance.

    If you’re unsure whether the bill is legitimate or not, ask the biller for a debt verification letter. If they refuse to provide this, they could be scammers, as only legitimate facilities will be able to provide this.

    Never give any financial or personal information to anyone claiming you have a medical bill balance without first verifying the charges. This includes your health insurance information. While most of these scammers are looking for a quick payday, others may be looking to commit insurance fraud with your insurance information.

     

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