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  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 20, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Scam Round Up: New scam targets veterans and more 

    Scam Round Up: New scam targets veterans and more

    By Greg Collier

    This week in the Round Up, we’re bringing you three scams that might not be affecting you now, but you should be aware of.

    ***

    Our first scam has to be more than distressing to its victims. Scammers are targeting the families of inmates who are incarcerated in a county jail in Alabama. The scammers are posing as jail employees, telling the families that their family member has died in custody, when it isn’t true.

    From what we’ve researched, this is not a common scam, but has happened before. However, we couldn’t find any information on what the scam is hoping to achieve, since the scammers have not asked for any kind of payment. If we had to hazard a guess, we’d say this might be some kind of identity theft ploy.

    According to the local sheriff’s department, if an inmate were to die in custody, the family would be informed by the coroner’s office. If you have a family member who is incarcerated, you may want to find out what the procedure is for that jurisdiction.

    Sadly, this is not the only scam the family’s of inmates have to worry about. They are often targeted by scammers who promise their family member better privileges or an early release. These scams often ask for money. Someone receiving these offers should always check with the institution first to see if these programs are actually available, and should never give anyone their personal information over the phone.

    ***

    It always seems like social media has a never-ending stream of scams to deal with. It also seems that the short-form video platform TikTok is no exception. Lately, they’ve been dealing with a string of videos where scammers claim they can help you make a profit investing in cryptocurrency.

    The videos usually have someone flaunting stacks of cash or other signs of wealth while promising to make the viewer money. However, this is just a variation of the money flipping scam that has plagued Instagram. The scammers will promise they can get viewers thousands of dollars if they just send the scammer a few hundred.

    The scammers end up keeping the money sent to them and often ask victims for more money using promises of returning even more profit to the victim.

    Cryptocurrency on its own is already flush with scammers. Unless you know the cryptocurrency market intimately and can afford to lose an investment, you shouldn’t let other people invest in it for you, especially people you don’t know personally.

    ***

    Recently, an act was passed into law that allows U.S. veterans and their family to sue the government if they were exposed to toxic burn pits at military bases. The Better Business Bureau is reporting that scammers are using this new law to their advantage by promising veterans and their families they can sue the government for them. Once they get the veteran’s money and information, the scammers disappear.

    Another scam targeting veterans is one where the scammers are posing as Veterans Affairs. Again, the scammers are after the veteran’s personal information for identity theft purposes.

    The VA recommends that if you received unsolicited communication from someone claiming to be from the VA, you should contact the VA through their website. You can also find if you’re eligible under the new law here.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 20, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping, , ,   

    FBI warns of social media cash scam 

    FBI warns of social media cash scam

    By Greg Collier

    The advent of personal payment apps like Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle has given rise to a new generation of scams. One of the most egregious scams is the cash flipping scam. This is mostly associated with Cash App, although it has appeared on other platforms. Cash flipping is when scammers try to convince their victims that they’ll give the victims a lot of money in exchange for a little money.

    For example, a scammer may promise victims $500 if the victims send the scammers $50 through Cash App. Once the victim sends the money through Cash App, the scammer blocks the victim and keeps their money. The scam is given legitimacy since Cash App itself holds giveaways called #CashAppFridays. Cash App policies give little recourse to victims in scams like this. Payments can often only be refunded if the person who receives the payment cancels the transaction.

    Recently, the Las Vegas office of the FBI has issued a warning about cash flipping scams. They say that scammers are using hijacked social media accounts to approach victims through private messages. Often these hijacked accounts show pictures of people with large amounts of cash to try and make the scam seem on the up and up.

    If the scammers don’t break off contact immediately, they’ll claim Cash app is holding up the transaction. The victim will then be instructed to use a certain email address on their Cash app account to make the transaction go through. This then allows the scammers to hijack the Cash App account itself.

    To avoid this scam, the FBI recommends using two-factor authentication on your payment and social media apps. While this can be an inconvenience to some, it goes a long way in keeping online accounts secure. If the scammers ever request any kind of verification code number, they’re trying to circumvent your two-factor authentication, and that code should never be given out to anyone.

    Lastly, people don’t get rich by giving away money for free. As with most scams, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 22, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping, , , ,   

    Cash flipping scam not confined to one app 

    Cash flipping scam not confined to one app

    By Greg Collier

    We’ve discussed cash flipping scams in the past. They are mostly associated with the payment app Cash App. Cash App has giveaways on Fridays that they call #CashAppFridays. If you follow that hashtag on Twitter or Instagram, you could be eligible for a cash prize from Cash App. This has led to a number of scammers who have hijacked the hashtag to commit the cash, or money, flipping scam.

    The scammers try to convince their victims that they’ll give the victims a lot of money in exchange for a little money. For example, a scammer may promise victims $500 if the victims send the scammers $50 through Cash App. Once the victim sends the money through Cash App, the scammer blocks the victim and keeps their money. Cash App policies have been said to give little recourse to victims in scams like this. Payments can often only be refunded if the person who receives the payment cancels the transaction.

    More recently, the cash flipping scam has migrated from Cash App and onto other payment apps such as Venmo and Zelle. A Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina has recently warned residents there that the scam was finding victims. The Sheriff even said that it’s almost impossible to recover your money once it’s sent to a scammer, since transfers are made instantly, making it incredibly difficult to find the scammer.

    As we always say, cash flipping is not a real thing. You wouldn’t give money to a stranger on the street who promised to invest it. So, why would you give it to a stranger on social media? It’s understandable that people in dire financial straits may be desperate enough to do anything to keep their heads above water. However, there is no true way to get rich quick, and if someone tries, they could find themselves in deeper financial trouble than before.

    https://youtu.be/owhLdGXeNWg
     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 26, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , cash flipping, , ,   

    Gift card scam targets Cash App users 

    By Greg Collier

    To be blunt, Cash App has a scam problem. Out of all the payment and wallet apps, Cash App seems to have an inordinate number of scammers on its platform. The scam they’re most famous for is known as cash flipping. This is where scammers post on social media that they’ll give a large amount of money to someone’s Cash App account if the person pays a small amount first. For example, scammers will promise $1500 if someone pays them $150. Cash App hasn’t helped itself in discouraging this scam, since they have a giveaway every Friday on social media. However, the difference between a legitimate Cash App giveaway and a scam is that Cash App doesn’t ask for any money in advance.

    Now, another Cash App flipping scam is circulating on social media, and it bypasses Cash App altogether while targeting its users. Scammers are offering large amounts of money on Cash App, but first the user has to buy a gift card to give to the scammer. The higher amount the gift card is, the larger amount of money the Cash App user is supposed to get back. It starts at $1500 for a $100 gift card and goes all the way up to $10,600 for a $1000 git card. Anyone who falls victim to this scam isn’t going to see any money enter their Cash App account. Instead, they’ll be out the money they paid for the gift card.

    The age-old adage of ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’ really applies here. If someone is offering you something that seems too good to be true, they either want something from you or it’s an outright scam. Keep in mind that Cash App’s legitimate giveaways are considered sweepstakes and no purchase is necessary. Anyone who asks for money in advance for a giveaway is a scammer. Gift cards are also a huge signifier that this is a scam. Gift cards might even be used more in scams than as actual gifts. No legitimate agency or business will ever ask for payment in gift cards. If you’ve been a victim to any one of the Cash App scams, you can contact Cash App customer service through their app.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 2, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping,   

    There’s a new twist on the cash flipping scam 

    There's a new twist on the cash flipping scam

    We’ve discussed cash flipping scams in the past. They are mostly associated with the payment app Cash App. Cash App has giveaways on Fridays that they call #CashAppFridays. If you follow that hashtag on Twitter or Instagram you could be eligible for a cash prize from Cash App. This has led to a number of scammers who have hijacked the hashtag to commit the cash, or money, flipping scam.

    The scammers try to convince their victims that they’ll give the victims a lot of money in exchange for a little money. For example, a scammer may promise victims $500 if the victims send the scammers $50 through Cash App. Once the victim sends the money through Cash App the scammer blocks the victim and keeps their money. Cash App policies have been said to give little recourse to victims in scams like this. Payments can often only be refunded if the person who receives the payment cancels the transaction.

    Now, the Better Business Bureau is reporting that the Cash App scammers are trying a new tactic in their cash flipping scams. According to the BBB, scammers are now offering to ‘invest’ the money you give them through Cash App. The scammers will ‘guarantee’ that your investment will multiply. They are said to be asking for anywhere from $300 to $800.

    As with most money scams. if you pay a scammer once, they’ll try to get you to pay more. This scam is no different, if you try to contact the scammer about your investment, they might tell you that Cash App has a fee that you need to pay to the scammer to get your money. Or they might tell you there’s a tax fee that you need to pay to them first. The point is, once you pay money to a Cash App scammer you’ll never see it again.

    As we always say, cash flipping is not a real thing. You wouldn’t give money to a stranger on the street who promised to invest it. So why would you give it to a stranger on social media? It’s understandable that people in dire financial straits may be desperate enough to do anything to keep their heads above water. However, there is no true way to get rich quick, and if someone tries they could find themselves in deeper financial trouble than before.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 16, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , cash flipping, , , ,   

    Twitter hacked in major cryptocurrency scam 

    Twitter hacked in major cryptocurrency scam

    Yesterday, the accounts of some very high profile individuals were compromised in a cryptocurrency scam. Some of the names who had their Twitter accounts hacked include Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Apple Computers just to name a few. As of the time of writing this post, it’s unknown how so many Twitter accounts belonging to so many celebrities and business magnates were hijacked.

    The phony tweets from the hijacked accounts promised that people could double their Bitcoin value if they just send it to a designated Bitcoin wallet. Many of the Tweets said that the poster was feeling generous and wanted to double people’s Bitcoin in support of COVID-19 efforts. By the time the bogus tweets were caught, scammers were able to collect at least $100,000 in cryptocurrency.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYk4HM_LUw%5D

    While the level of complexity of this scam in unprecedented, the scam itself is not a new one. Crypto-scammers will often post links on social media promising to increase the value of someone’s cryptocurrency if they just send it to the person making the post. In reality, the scammer just takes the person’s cryptocurrency and disappears into the ether.

    You don’t even have to be a cryptocurrency speculator to fall for a very similar scam. If you’ve ever seen the hashtag #CashAppFridays you may know what we’re talking about.

    When the Cash App has one of its weekly giveaways, a number of scammers will use the hashtag with promises of giving people $500 if they give them $50 through Cash App. This is what’s called cash flipping and the Cash App users often find themselves out of the money they gave the scammer.

    These scams are akin to handing your money to a stranger on the street who promised you $50 for $5. Even if they claim to be financial giants like Elon Musk and Bill Gates, no one is giving away free money to random people on the internet. While many of the people hacked in this scam may be philanthropists, their donations generally go to charities and non-profits and not to random Twitter followers.

    (H/T: TechCrunch)

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 2, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping,   

    Cash App scams are on the rise 

    Cash App scams are on the rise

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

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

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

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

    (H/T Quartz)

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 25, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , cash flipping, ,   

    Cash flipping isn’t a real thing 

    Cash flipping isn't a real thing

    If you’ve never heard of the company Square, they are innovators in the mobile payment space. Before Square, if a merchant wanted to be able to accept debit and credit card payments they needed an expensive and complicated system to do so. Now, thanks to Square, all a merchant may need is a tablet with Square’s dongle attached to it to process debit and credit card payments. Square also has a service for consumers called the Cash App. It’s a mobile payment system that is in the same vein as Venmo. And of course, when there’s a tool for money to change hands there are people looking to get their hands on that money.

    The Cash App has giveaways on Fridays that they call #CashAppFridays. If you follow that hashtag on Twitter or Instagram you could be eligible for a cash prize from Cash. This has spawned several Cash App imitators hijacking the hashtag claiming that they can give you money if you just pay them a little bit of money in a practice known as cash flipping. For example, these imitators will say they work for Cash App and can get you $500 if you give them $50. Other Cash App imitators will try to direct you to a phony website that looks like it’s run by Cash App but in reality, they’re just trying to get your Cash App login credentials in a phishing attempt.

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

    This brings two adages to mind, ‘if it’s too good to be true it probably is’ and ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’. No one is going to give you more money if you pay them money for this scam. They’re simply going to bait their victims into sending a large amount of money before disappearing. You wouldn’t hand money to a stranger on the street who said they’ll give you $500 if you give them $50, so why give it to some stranger on the internet? These apps should only be used for exchanging money between friends and family. If a random stranger online is asking you for money through these apps, it’s almost guaranteed to be a scam.

     

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