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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 28, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank scam ( 72 ), crowd funding, crowdfunding ( 3 ), fund raising ( 2 ), gift cards ( 102 ), phone scam ( 46 ), Scams ( 1,389 ), social security ( 29 ), walmart ( 24 )   

  Scammers took advantage of late teen’s fundraiser 

  

  Here are some more scams happening to various communities from around the country. Always keep in mind that if they’re happening in one place, they could be happening somewhere near you.

  In Arkansas, a 15-year-old boy passed away after a freak accident that happened at his home. His grandparents took to social media in order to raise funds for the boy’s funeral expenses. While the family was able to raise the money needed, scammers set up fake social media accounts also posing as the boy’s family. The scam targeted people who already donated asking for phony donations in Amazon gift cards. Thankfully, many of the victims were able to get their money back. However, it shows what depths scammers will stoop to just to make a few hundred bucks.

  In Central Texas, a local police department is warning residents about a phone scam that has been worrying local residents. In it, the scammers pose as agents from the Social Security Administration claiming that there have been bank accounts opened using your Social Security number and that they’re tied to criminal activity. They threaten to freeze all of your bank accounts unless a payment is made over the phone. These calls are reportedly coming from overseas while appearing to be from local phone numbers.

  The last scam may seem like it’s an urban legend passed around on Facebook but according to police in Indiana, it has happened to a number of victims. Police there say a man has been going to WalMart and using the self-checkout to scam victims. The scammer has been allegedly using the self-checkout to scan gift cards but not paying for them. Then, the next person who uses the self-checkout inadvertently ends up paying for the gift card that the scammer scanned. While this sounds like a simple scam to foil, anyone could fall for this if they’re not paying attention. Always make sure that there are no already scanned items on the self-checkout screen. If there are, go to another scanner or contact a store employee.

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    Nk 9:36 pm on November 5, 2019 Permalink

    I spoke yesterday to a young man who was in India who originally claimed to be from social security. I admonished him for lying and stealing from people. He was very serious and proud of himself and his team because they don’t wipe out anyone’s money. They only take half. He said that if they have $1000 in their account, they only take $500. He said that’s because they show compassion.

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  Geebo 10:30 am on December 14, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: crowd funding, honesty, Patreon   

  Patreon’s admission of error is refreshing 

  

  For those of you who may not know, Patreon is a crowd-funding platform that many content creators use so they can be funded by their fans. It’s used by everyone from bloggers, to YouTubers, to musicians and artists. Creators are able to ask for pledges by month or per episode, depending on the type of content they create. Patreon takes a small percentage of the pledges as their fee. Recently, Patreon announced a new payment procedure where patrons would be charged a processing fee of 2.9% along with $0.35 per pledge.

  The problem with the new payment procedures is that the majority of Patreon pledges were made up of $1 pledges. A number of people make multiple $1 pledges to several different creators. So if someone pledges ten $1 pledges to ten separate creators, the patron would be charged $3.50 extra altogether for their pledges. This caused many $1 patrons to withdraw their pledges causing content creators to lose a lot of money. Many content creators complained about the new payment structure and Patreon listened. Patreon CEO Jack Conte, reversed the previous decision in a blog post titled “We Messed Up”.

  While content creators may still be out of money and Patreon’s reputation may still be damaged, it’s refreshing to a tech company listen to its uses and admit they made a mistake. While companies like Facebook and Backpage are appearing before Congress using legalese to try to avoid any admission of wrongdoing, Patreon stepped up and said they were wrong and are trying to move on to repair their relationship with their users. If only more platforms were this honest with their users.