Tagged: violence scam Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 8, 2021 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , death threat, , , violence scam   

    Victim loses $1000 to cartel scam 

    By Greg Collier

    While it’s been a while, we’ve discussed the cartel scam before. Previously with this scam, scammers text their victims claiming to be part of a crime cartel from Mexico. They threaten their victims and the victims’ families with violence if they don’t pay money to the scammers. This is often followed up with violent images texted to the victims, with the scammers claiming this was the last person who didn’t pay. While many of us would deduce that this was a scam, what if we had family that lived on the border?

    A Dallas, Texas man recently received a text from someone claiming to be part of a cartel. The text said that the man owed them money and if he didn’t pay them, they were going to hurt him and his family. The man texted them back saying that he had no idea what they were talking about. The scammers called the man and listed the names of the man’s family members they were going to harm. The man’s family happened to live in El Paso, Texas, which is right across the border from Juarez, Mexico. Juarez is where many of the infamous crime cartels operate out of. The man paid the scammers $1000 before contacting Dallas police, who told him it was a scam. We can’t say we blame the man for falling victim to this scam.

    This is part of the reason why we say that anyone can fall for a scam. There is a set of circumstances where anyone could fall prey to a scammer.

    As far as this scam goes, if you receive text like this, do not respond to it. Instead, you should contact your local police department. Then contact your family members to make sure they’re ok. You should also limit what you share on social media, as that’s how scammers are able to obtain such in-depth information about their victims and their families.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 10, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , violence scam   

    Texting scam threatens victims with violence 

    Texting scam threatens victims with violence

    While not a new scam, there seems to be a resurgence in a disturbing text messaging scam. In this scam, the scammers will text their victims claiming to be from an organized crime cartel. The scammers will try to intimidate their victims into sending them money by threatening the victim with violence and sending the victim graphic pictures of people who have been violently murdered. This is usually followed up with the threat of this is what they’ll do to you if you don’t pay them. In reality, the victim is rarely ever in any real danger. Now, it seems, the scammers are increasing their intimidation tactics.

    A man in North Carolina recently received one of these text messages. The messages he received said that he owed the cartel $1500 and followed up with the graphic images and threats. However, what made this instance particularly disturbing was that the scammers knew the man’s name and address. They also had the names and addresses of some of his family members. They even claimed that they had men outside of his home in case he didn’t pay them. The man ended up blocking the number and contacting police.

    These types of scammers are hoping that by using threats of violence they can put their victims in such an emotional state that the victims will give in to the scammer’s demands. More often than not, the scammers are calling or messaging from overseas and have no real way of carrying out these threats.

    If you receive one of these threatening texts it is recommended that you do not respond to the scammers. Instead, you should contact law enforcement.

    Victims who have fallen for the scam have were instructed to make payment through gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or money transfers. These are hallmarks of the majority of scams as once the payment is sent it’s almost impossible to get back and is even more difficult to trace.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 25, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , violence scam,   

    Don’t be intimidated by scammers’ threats of violence 

    Don't be intimidated by scammers' threats of violence

    In Illinois, a woman received a message on social media that appeared to be from a relative. The woman noticed that the account used to send the message wasn’t her relative’s actual account but one made to look like her relative’s. When the woman responded to the scammer asking them to leave her family alone the scammer started threatening her. The scammer said that if they weren’t paid money that they were going to hurt the family even going as far as to threaten a shooting.

    The hacker responded saying “Tell her to pay me $300 dollars for her to get her page back. I’m going to do bad stuff to her soon.” That’s when she called the police. But the scammer threatened more. “Police can’t stop snipers,” they messaged. “You getting killed first.”

    Unfortunately, these threats of violence have become just another tool in a scammer’s bag of tricks. This isn’t the first time where we discussed someone having their family threatened with violence from scammers. Last year, a man in Brooklyn, New York had his family threatened if he didn’t give scammers money. The scammers then sent him violent and graphic pictures while claiming to be from a criminal cartel. There’s also the virtual kidnapping scam where scammers will either claim to have kidnapped a loved one or pose as the kidnap victim to try to get money for a kidnapping that didn’t happen.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9bwYa1mN9U%5D

    Scammers are hoping that by using threats of violence they can put their victims in such an emotional state that the victims will give in to the scammer’s demands. More often than not, the scammers are calling or messaging from overseas and have no way of carrying out these threats. If you receive a call or message from a scammer, your best option is to not engage with them. Even telling them to stop contacting you gives them information they can potentially use for future scams. If a scammer threatens you, don’t hesitate to contact police. If police can’t apprehend the scammer they can at least warn others in your community of the scam.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on August 15, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , violence scam   

    New scam threatens your family with violence! 

    New scam threatens your family with violence!

    This scam we just recently heard of is so disturbing we don’t even have a clever name for it yet. In it, some scammers called a man from Brooklyn, New York, threatening to kill the man and his family if he didn’t pay them money. The scammers claimed to be from a criminal cartel and then sent the man explicitly violent pictures with claims of this is what would happen to his family if he didn’t pay. The man was hesitant to go to the police, however, he did contact a local community leader who was able to contact authorities. Police say that they have received other reports of this scam and that the scammers are casting wide nets trying to find victims. If you receive one of these calls you should hang up and contact police.

    Social security scams are still on the rise due to the fact that a number of senior citizens aren’t aware of the many scams that specifically target them. The Washington Post is reporting on a scam where the scammers posed as the Social Security Administration (SSA) and threatened to cut off the benefits of a woman in the early stage of Alzheimer’s. She was instructed to buy over $3,000 in gift cards from various merchants to have her benefits restored. One store even tried to warn her that this sounded like a scam. The Post article has a great checklist of things you can do to help senior relatives avoid this scam including sharing these stories every time they come up in the news. They also provide a link to the Federal Trade Commission’s website that has information about all types of impostor scams.

    The last scam for today is a reminder that most scams just don’t go away. We’ve talked about the secret shopper scam many times now. In this scam, ads will be posted hiring for secret shoppers which is a legitimate position with many retail companies. However, the con artists placing these ads online are trying to swindle you by sending you phony checks to use in your new position. They’ll tell you to deposit the checks to use in your secret shopping and send a portion of the check back. Once the bank finds out that the check is a fraud the victim who deposited the check into their bank account is responsible for the entire amount. This recently happened to a college student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If you’re considering a secret shopping position always consult with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association’s website before giving out your personal information.

     

c
Compose new post
j
Next post/Next comment
k
Previous post/Previous comment
r
Reply
e
Edit
o
Show/Hide comments
t
Go to top
l
Go to login
h
Show/Hide help
shift + esc
Cancel