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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam ( 42 ), Facebook Marketplace ( 58 ), gas pumps, jury duty scam ( 26 ), laptops ( 4 ), pump switching, Scams ( 1,224 ), subpoena   

  Scam Round Up: The gas pump switching scam and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  There’s a new version of the advance fee scam circulating on Facebook Marketplace. An advance fee scam is when a scammer promises something valuable for free then asks for some type of payment for things like taxes or shipping.

  In this case, scammers are offering a free laptop, but it comes with a sob story. The ad claims the seller bought their spouse a new ‘laptop pro’, but they caught their spouse cheating and want to give the laptop away as a form of punishment.

  The ad almost tips itself off as being a scam, since the gender of the spouse switches back and forth in the description.

  “I am giving out this laptop Pro that I bought to surprise my husband for her birthday but then caught her cheating on me,” the scammer wrote. “I know I could sell it and get my money back, but I want to show her I gave it away for nothing like her is to me.”

  The catch is, once someone responds to the ad, the seller asks for a $70 shipping fee, and the laptop is never delivered. Scammers are also using hijacked Facebook accounts. So if you see a friend listing this for sale, you may want to let them know.

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  A new version of the jury duty scam has popped up in Florida, and its targets are more vulnerable than the typical jury duty scam victim. Instead of just calling people at random and threatening them with arrest for supposedly missing jury duty, scammers are now targeting people who have actually been subpoenaed.

  Subpoenas are a matter of public record, and scammers are using these records to target their victims. Like the jury duty scam, the scammers are posing as the local police or court system and demanding cash from victims to avoid arrest. The scammers are asking their victims to meet them in person.

  However, also like the jury duty scam, no law enforcement agency or court will ever call you and threaten you with arrest if you don’t make an immediate payment. If any kind of legal fine ever needs to paid, a person would be notified by mail.

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  Police in the Philadelphia area are warning consumers about a gas pump scam. They call it the pump switching scam, and it starts when someone approaches a victim at the gas pumps and insists on pumping their gas for them. According to the police, the scammers are quite insistent about it.

  If a victim agrees to this, the scammer won’t return the nozzle to the pump and will continue to fill the tanks of people who drive up for $20 cash. This will continue until the victim’s card hits its limit or the police arrive.

  To protect yourself from this scam, always return the nozzle to the pump and end the transaction. You can also prepay inside the gas station. If you do pay at the pump, also make sure you print out a receipt.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 11, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: gas card, gas pumps, gas relief ( 2 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), skimmers ( 2 )   

  Record high gas prices bring out the scammers 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Scammers probably pay attention to the news more than most. If there’s a crisis they can take advantage of, they will. In this case, it’s the prices at the pump that we’ve all been having to deal with. Leave it to the scammers to make matters worse for people who are just trying to commute to work, take their kids to school, or both. So, here are three scams that could make paying at the pump even more expensive.

  The first gas scam we need to discuss are the promise of gas cards that are spreading on social media. The what this scam works is the scammers will pose as a well-known gas station brand. They’ll then reach out to people on social media to their victims they just won a $500 gas card. The victim will then be instructed to give their payment information because there is a small payment like $1.95 for shipping. Once the scammers have a victim’s payment information, they’ve been charging close to $90 a piece to each victim. Remember, you can’t win anything if you’ve never entered a giveaway.

  The second scam takes the form of a text message scam. In the state of New York, the Department of Motor Vehicles is warning drivers there about a scam that has become prevalent in the Empire State. Scammers have been sending out text messages posing as the DMV, promising recipients a $1500 rebate due to high gas prices. The text contains a link that scammers are hoping you’ll click on. The link takes you to a website that is a clone of the DMV’s website, where you’re asked to enter your personal information. If you were to surrender your personal information, it would open you up to identity theft.

  Currently, no state is offering any kind of gas relief outside of a handful of states that have temporarily repealed gas taxes.

  Lastly, we’re going to talk about a gas pump scam that happens even when gas prices are reasonable. If you pay at the pump with a credit or debit card, you have to be careful of card skimmers that scammers have placed inside of the gas pump’s card scanner. It used to be you could just tug on the pump’s card slot and the skimmer would dislodge. Now, there are skimmers small enough to fit inside the card scanning mechanism. To avoid having your card skimmed, look for any evidence of tampering, like scraped paint, exposed wires, or some kind of tape or sticker. The best way to avoid skimmers is to pay inside the gas station.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on March 31, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: card shimmers, florida ( 30 ), gas pumps, Homeland Security ( 4 ), Houston ( 9 ), mail fraud ( 21 ), Nebraska ( 4 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), texas ( 22 ), text messaging ( 32 ), text scam ( 19 ), traffic tickets ( 3 ), urban legend, Verizon ( 10 )   

  Scam Round Up: Red light tickets, Homeland Security texts, and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  This week, we’re bringing you a plethora of scams from around the country that you may want to be aware of. You never know when they might come to your area.

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  Some residents of Lauderhill, Florida, have reported receiving phony red light tickets in the mail. Typically, if a motorist runs a red light equipped with a camera, they will receive a ticket in the mail. However, these phony tickets have a few red flags attached to them. In one instance, the date listed on the ticket was February 30th. The tickets also had the insignia of the Fort Lauderdale police for an infraction that supposedly happened in Lauderhill. That’s not to say these phony tickets are harmless. Pictures of the recipient’s license plate appear on the ticket. Police believe the scammers are stalking their victims. If you receive a ticket like this, do not make any kind of payment requested. Instead, contact the police department the ticket is supposedly from to make sure the charge is not legitimate.

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  Residents of the Houston, Texas area have said they’ve received an alarming text message. The text message claims that phones in the area have been hacked, and you’ll receive a call asking about your vaccination status. Supposedly, if you reply to the phone call, your banking information will be stolen from your phone. It doesn’t end there, though. The text message also claims the Department of Homeland Security is advising citizens to top off the gas in their vehicles and keep cash on hand because of the situation in Ukraine. So what’s the scam here? Well, we don’t think there is one. Instead, we believe that this is an instance of an urban legend. This incident hearkens back to the early days of the internet, when people would forward emails about untrue things like Bill Gates giving away a million dollars, or why you shouldn’t flash your high beams at a car that flashes you first. If you receive a text like this, check with legitimate sources first before proclaiming it as fact.

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  Speaking of gas for your car. If you pay at the pump, you may often check the gas pump for card skimmers. These are devices that are attached to the card slot of the gas pump that steals your card information. Most people who do check do so by pulling on the card slot to make sure nothing comes free. However, according to the Better Business of Bureau of Nebraska, there is a new threat at the gas pump to worry about. These devices are called shimmers, and are virtually undetectable. They are paper thin devices that go in the card slot and can also steal your card information. To avoid this scam, you can pay inside the gas station or use a credit card, which has more protection than a debit card.

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  Lastly, if you’re a customer of Verizon, you may have received a text message that looks like it came from your number. The text messages claim to be from Verizon and state that your bill is paid and to click a link to receive a gift. In some instances, customers were taken to a website that asked them for personal and financial information. In other instances, customers were taken to a Russian state media network. As always, you should never click on strange links from people you don’t know personally, and even then, you should still be suspicious. If you receive one of these texts, you should delete it immediately.

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  We hope we’ve armed you with enough knowledge to protect you from these scams in the future.