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Scam Alert - my mom got scammed (1 Viewer)

FreeBaGeL said:
I was targeted by scam the other day that was actually really good, and almost got me.

They called claiming to be from coinbase, alleging an unrecognized withdrawal from my account. Right off the bat coinbase's interface makes it extremely difficult to track USD deposits/withdrawals so it wasn't quick and easy to log in and see that nothing had been withdrawn unless I remembered offhand exactly how much was in my account yesterday. But here is where things got really good.

Firstly, they said the withdrawal was triggered from a computer in Salt Lake City, which is about 45 minutes from where I live. So just close enough for me to consider that it could have been me and the locator not specific enough, but also far enough that I would be suspicious about it.

Then they started confirming my account details, which they must have gotten from one of those big data breaches. They wanted to confirm that my email was still XXXX and my phone number XXXX and my last 4 of SSN XXXX and they had all the info right. So far no reason to suspect this wasn't actually Coinbase calling, they hadn't asked me to provide any compromising details on my end, etc. It was a regular sounding American dude on the other end.

Then they gave me a case number of something like 17779283, and asked me to click a URL they were texting me to log in and view the withdrawal request so I could confirm if it was me or not. This is where I caught them, as the URL they sent me was www.17779283-coinbase.com. Of course I recognized that the URL isn't actually coinbase.com, which I mentioned to them and they relatively plausibly explained that it was coinbase.com, just a custom generated URL with the case number that they had previously given embedded in the URL. Again, regular friendly sounding American dude that was relatively charismatic.

I wasn't convinced, but I'd imagine a lot of people would be. The link went to a page that looked just like the coinbase login page, but I'm assuming once you enter your username and password it was just data entry fields submitting your username/password to them, which they could then use to log in to your account on the real coinbase.com and do whatever they want with your account.
Click to expand...
Hopefully clicking on the link didn't infect your phone/computer with a virus/malware
 
Zow said:
Sand said:

Zow said:
I know of several very major, reputable law firms that have had their internal files hacked and ransomed for high six figures. I imagine that scammers will target any business with highly sensitive and confidential information (e.g. law firms, doctors offices, etc.). My office recently spent a good amount of money on heightened cybersecurity and we all went through some pretty rigorous trainings and must adhere to some pretty strict, annoying protocols (e.g. connecting to public wifis) to avoid this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
One would think that law firms encrypt and backup everything so that even if a hacker gets in and steals data it's all gibberish. In this day and age that would be my baseline expectation as a client.
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We do (my office uses a very nice but expensive case management software that does all of this). But, like anything, its not full-proof as scammers seem to keep finding new ways.
Click to expand...
Usually the problem exists between chair and keyboard in these cases.
 
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
 
Steeler said:
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
Click to expand...
We didn't have any legal risks that I am aware of. What risks did the bank see?

You would need financial POA for your sister.
 
Steeler said:
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
Click to expand...
I do not have power of attorney nor am I on the accounts. I do however have the passwords to all my parents accounts.

I set all the alerts for credit cards, bank accounts etc to go to my email and my texts.

Once you have online access to the accounts, you have full control. If you ever need to speak on behalf of your parents to a bank or what ever, one of your parents can give permission on the phone even if you are not an account holder.
 
NewlyRetired said:
Steeler said:
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
Click to expand...
I do not have power of attorney nor am I on the accounts. I do however have the passwords to all my parents accounts.

I set all the alerts for credit cards, bank accounts etc to go to my email and my texts.

Once you have online access to the accounts, you have full control. If you ever need to speak on behalf of your parents to a bank or what ever, one of your parents can give permission on the phone even if you are not an account holder.
Click to expand...
Not to sound morbid, but that only works up to a point.
 
Mrs. Rannous said:
Steeler said:
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
Click to expand...
We didn't have any legal risks that I am aware of. What risks did the bank see?

You would need financial POA for your sister.
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If my sister was added to the account, it would become a joint account (I guess) and then my mom/sister would be liable for the others debts. I'm not sure if I am using the correct legal/banking terms. So if my sister defaults on a car loan (for example), the creditor would be able to take money from my mom/sisters joint account to cover the loan.
 
Mrs. Rannous said:
NewlyRetired said:
Steeler said:
How do you guys monitor your parents accounts? I live in FL but my mom lives in PA near my sister. They went to my mom's bank to "get my sister on the accounts" but then decided against it. Apparently they were going to add my sister to the account(s) which adds some legal risks (after 5 minutes of google-foo that all makes sense).

So my sister (or me I guess) would need to get power of attorney to act on behalf of my mom? Is that how you guys do it?
Click to expand...
I do not have power of attorney nor am I on the accounts. I do however have the passwords to all my parents accounts.

I set all the alerts for credit cards, bank accounts etc to go to my email and my texts.

Once you have online access to the accounts, you have full control. If you ever need to speak on behalf of your parents to a bank or what ever, one of your parents can give permission on the phone even if you are not an account holder.
Click to expand...
Not to sound morbid, but that only works up to a point.
Click to expand...


When 1 parent passes, the remaining parent (almost certainly my mom) will just put me on the accounts so that when she passes, we can handle things easier when dealing with her estate.

I guess the only issue that could arise is if both parents become incapacitated at the exact same time AND I need to use the phone to talk about an account. That seems like an extremely unlikely occurrence (I can't even remember the last time I could not handle any issue online instead of using the phone) but I will mention it to my mom though in case she wants to add me early.
 
Godsbrother said:
Caveman33 said:
www.youtube.com

I Lost the Majority of my Life Savings in an Online Dating Scam

To learn more about my romance scam story called the pig butchering scam and next steps I am taking, subscribe to my blog: Massage, Love & Health https://sha...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

This guy fell victim to such an embarrassing scam. It's called pig butchering.
Click to expand...
It is a sad story but WTF was he thinking taking advice and giving money to a "girlfriend" he never met in person?
Click to expand...
I honestly don’t even find it that sad and think it’s pathetic he’s set up a gofundme for it. He got greedy, tried to get rich quick and gave his money away.
 
Keerock said:
I constantly get random texts from numbers I don't know pretending like they know me.

Here are some recent ones:
"Kelly, it's Lynn. The perfume you gave Linda last time, I love the smell, can you order a bottle for me?"
"Have you forgotten your cup?"
"Do you have an update for me?"

What the heck are they trying to get from me... how does this "scam" work?

I usually respond with something like:
"Just send me your VIN and I'll get you the quote for your extended vehicle warranty"

That usually stops the thread.

I did respond to the one above "Have you forgotten your cup" with: "yes, and the two girls that came with it" :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
I’ve started a new response. Example from today:

Them: Hi!
Me: Hello
Them: Hello, I'm Irina. Are you coach Anna?
Me: I’m really busy… Can we just get on with the scam?
 
massraider said:
The Z Machine said:
My MIL got a seemingly legit SMS from Wells Fargo asking if she made a purchase at a Kroger. It asked to call the 1-888 number in the text message. She flagged it for me, and we called the 1-888 number, which then sounded like a legit Wells Fargo computerized phone system. I thought that there's no way these scammers have a legit 1-888 number and set up a computerized phone system. But she was still concerned, so we hung up and called the 1-800 number on the back of her debit card.

She was right. It was a scam and that 1-888 number lead to the scammers. I was blown away that they are setting up legit phone numbers in the US to enable these smishing scams. Thankfully, no charges on her debit card or credit card. I'm happy she is cautious enough not to engage without checking in with me and my wife first. She's 80 and definitely slowing down cognitively, but still with it.
Click to expand...
Really good point here.

Security types would tell you not to call that 888 number. Just call the number on the back of your card. If you call, they know it's an active number, and that they called it once, so the scammer might think you are a live one., and the calls/text messages will increase.

Google the number at most. Don't call it.

And don't get on the phone, and eff with them, or reply to the text messages. It will just flag you as a live number, and the spam will increase.

The only way to win, is to not play the game. #JOSHUA
Click to expand...
Good pull
 
FreeBaGeL said:
I was targeted by scam the other day that was actually really good, and almost got me.

They called claiming to be from coinbase, alleging an unrecognized withdrawal from my account. Right off the bat coinbase's interface makes it extremely difficult to track USD deposits/withdrawals so it wasn't quick and easy to log in and see that nothing had been withdrawn unless I remembered offhand exactly how much was in my account yesterday. But here is where things got really good.

Firstly, they said the withdrawal was triggered from a computer in Salt Lake City, which is about 45 minutes from where I live. So just close enough for me to consider that it could have been me and the locator not specific enough, but also far enough that I would be suspicious about it.

Then they started confirming my account details, which they must have gotten from one of those big data breaches. They wanted to confirm that my email was still XXXX and my phone number XXXX and my last 4 of SSN XXXX and they had all the info right. So far no reason to suspect this wasn't actually Coinbase calling, they hadn't asked me to provide any compromising details on my end, etc. It was a regular sounding American dude on the other end.

Then they gave me a case number of something like 17779283, and asked me to click a URL they were texting me to log in and view the withdrawal request so I could confirm if it was me or not. This is where I caught them, as the URL they sent me was www.17779283-coinbase.com. Of course I recognized that the URL isn't actually coinbase.com, which I mentioned to them and they relatively plausibly explained that it was coinbase.com, just a custom generated URL with the case number that they had previously given embedded in the URL. Again, regular friendly sounding American dude that was relatively charismatic.

I wasn't convinced, but I'd imagine a lot of people would be. The link went to a page that looked just like the coinbase login page, but I'm assuming once you enter your username and password it was just data entry fields submitting your username/password to them, which they could then use to log in to your account on the real coinbase.com and do whatever they want with your account.
Click to expand...

I posted earlier in the year in the bitcoin thread that I got scammed. Still feel like a dumbass. Basically my Coinbase and email both hacked and transfer initiated. Could see via email that a transfer was initiated and security called me, in order to block it they needed yo verify info
There were definitely red flags but it was convincing enough that they got me
 
Zow said:
Sand said:

Zow said:
I know of several very major, reputable law firms that have had their internal files hacked and ransomed for high six figures. I imagine that scammers will target any business with highly sensitive and confidential information (e.g. law firms, doctors offices, etc.). My office recently spent a good amount of money on heightened cybersecurity and we all went through some pretty rigorous trainings and must adhere to some pretty strict, annoying protocols (e.g. connecting to public wifis) to avoid this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
One would think that law firms encrypt and backup everything so that even if a hacker gets in and steals data it's all gibberish. In this day and age that would be my baseline expectation as a client.
Click to expand...
We do (my office uses a very nice but expensive case management software that does all of this). But, like anything, its not full-proof as scammers seem to keep finding new ways.
Click to expand...

Worked for a company that had a successful hack. On our end, the backups ran every night. But, the hack went into effect at 5 PM. A full work day wiped out. At a mid-size firm, that could be six figures of work easy. Add in the reputation hit from having to go back to clients to explain what happened...easily worth paying the ransom.

FreeBaGeL said:
I see someone mentioned Kitboga already, who messes with these scammers on youtube. I remember him doing one for this exact scam. The scary thing is how much pain these scammers are willing to inflict on a person.

In the video, Kitboga was impersonating an old woman that the scammer was trying to take advantage of. He gave the scammer every chance to have a heart. Stuff like "the only money I have right now is my food money for the month" and the scammer tried to convince her to use that and that she would get it back right away. Dude was literally willing to convince an old woman to starve herself to get his payday.

And then, of course, when the scammer finally figures out that he's being scammed back, he launches into a tirade about how Kitboga "wasted his time" and how he had just spent an hour on this and blah blah blah. Just the absolute worst human being. Hard not to be angry when watching.

I know many of them are overseas anyway so nothing we can do on this front, but in general I think these digital scammers are way under-punished when caught. People that get caught doing this stuff don't get punished nearly as harshly as someone that holds an old lady up and steals her money or breaks into her house, but they should. At best they cause the entire world massive inconvenience and cause us all to have to spend money on security and protection we shouldn't have to spend on. At worst they are harming or even killing people by showing no remorse in scamming them out of the few dollars they have to support themselves. Just the absolute worst human beings.
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I'm reading How to Make Friends and Influence People to a couple of my kids. Even 90 years after it was written, the statement that even the worst of us will find a way to justify our actions is as true as ever.
 
Been getting a new one the past week or so, nearly every day. I get an email thanking me for my order with a long number in the subject line. There’s a pdf attached that is supposed to be the receipt (of course I have never opened one.) But the body of the message is a new one for me. Example from just now:

“Hi, In tough times, we've leaned on each other's strength, A pillar of support, going to any length, To offer a shoulder, lend an empathetic ear, In those moments, our connection becomes clear. But it's not just during the storms we weather, Even in calm moments, when we're together, We cherish the simple joys and find delight, In each other's presence, shining so bright. ID: 8a7da91e-beb6-4d69-a16f-45c8c8f7ed9d Regards, Lindsy Dacus”

🤷‍♂️

ETA: Somehow my spam isn’t catching these yet.
 

Thanks for your confirmation InvoiceKH12507​

The renewal's success makes us happy. To find out more kindly find the file attached as soon as possible.

:ROFLMAO:
 
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
 
Last edited:
Keerock said:
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
Click to expand...
If you have her name, and she's local, I would imagine that's enough for the cops. I doubt they would be interested in helping though. Venmo may be able to get the funds back as long the recipient has moved the funds out of their venmo.
 
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
Click to expand...
If you have her name, and she's local, I would imagine that's enough for the cops. I doubt they would be interested in helping though. Venmo may be able to get the funds back as long the recipient has moved the funds out of their venmo.
Click to expand...
Venmo has been less than helpful via automated means... she still needs to get on the phone with them.

Unfortunately, the guy has a pretty common name, so a bit of a needle in a haystack.
 
Keerock said:
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
Click to expand...
If you have her name, and she's local, I would imagine that's enough for the cops. I doubt they would be interested in helping though. Venmo may be able to get the funds back as long the recipient has moved the funds out of their venmo.
Click to expand...
Venmo has been less than helpful via automated means... she still needs to get on the phone with them.

Unfortunately, the guy has a pretty common name, so a bit of a needle in a haystack.
Click to expand...
That sucks. Hopefully, it was for a small amount. How did she get scammed? My guess is it's not a local person that appeared to be local?
 
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
Click to expand...
If you have her name, and she's local, I would imagine that's enough for the cops. I doubt they would be interested in helping though. Venmo may be able to get the funds back as long the recipient has moved the funds out of their venmo.
Click to expand...
Venmo has been less than helpful via automated means... she still needs to get on the phone with them.

Unfortunately, the guy has a pretty common name, so a bit of a needle in a haystack.
Click to expand...
That sucks. Hopefully, it was for a small amount. How did she get scammed? My guess is it's not a local person that appeared to be local?
Click to expand...
Based on the little digging I have done, he appears to be local. He listed some items she wanted, she agreed to pay for shipping and then when he shared the shipping label, she would pay for the item. Paid for shipping, got image of label via FB message, paid for items, got ghosted. Blocked her on FB, (but I can still see him). Deleted all of his FB Marketplace items.
 
Keerock said:
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Hawks64 said:
Keerock said:
Well... my SIL got scammed on FB Marketplace. What's the best way to find out someone's address? She wants to file a police report but only has a name, a Venmo account and general location. Facebook sleuthing is not yielding any results.

ETA: We are not indenting any kind of vigilante justice or anything... just want info to file a police report.
Click to expand...
If you have her name, and she's local, I would imagine that's enough for the cops. I doubt they would be interested in helping though. Venmo may be able to get the funds back as long the recipient has moved the funds out of their venmo.
Click to expand...
Venmo has been less than helpful via automated means... she still needs to get on the phone with them.

Unfortunately, the guy has a pretty common name, so a bit of a needle in a haystack.
Click to expand...
That sucks. Hopefully, it was for a small amount. How did she get scammed? My guess is it's not a local person that appeared to be local?
Click to expand...
Based on the little digging I have done, he appears to be local. He listed some items she wanted, she agreed to pay for shipping and then when he shared the shipping label, she would pay for the item. Paid for shipping, got image of label via FB message, paid for items, got ghosted. Blocked her on FB, (but I can still see him). Deleted all of his FB Marketplace items.
Click to expand...
That sucks. Hopefully, the police can help out here.
 
Just experienced a significant scam attempt. They called me out of the blue, identified themselves as our local county police dept., knew where I lived, my cell, and my name details. Called to say I had a bench warrant for failure to appear at a federal jury duty summons. Definitely American folks. They knew real names of my county's Sherriff's staff and district judge - I was verifying these things as they talked. They talked about me turning myself in, which was kind of a freaky thought. It wasn't until they wanted 6k in cash to be deposited in a machine inside a local grocery that I knew it was not legit. As soon as they mentioned cash the BS meter went to lighthouse intensity. Everything until then was very believable. Now, there is no way I'd ever have gone to the bank for 6k in cash, so this wasn't going to happen - next call was to an attorney.

Watch out, folks. These guys were informed, knew lots of details (i.e. studied) as I kept them on the line asking about every acronym they threw out. Way, way more insidious than a Nigerian Prince calling.
 
Sand said:
Just experienced a significant scam attempt. They called me out of the blue, identified themselves as our local county police dept., knew where I lived, my cell, and my name details. Called to say I had a bench warrant for failure to appear at a federal jury duty summons. Definitely American folks. They knew real names of my county's Sherriff's staff and district judge - I was verifying these things as they talked. They talked about me turning myself in, which was kind of a freaky thought. It wasn't until they wanted 6k in cash to be deposited in a machine inside a local grocery that I knew it was not legit. As soon as they mentioned cash the BS meter went to lighthouse intensity. Everything until then was very believable. Now, there is no way I'd ever have gone to the bank for 6k in cash, so this wasn't going to happen - next call was to an attorney.

Watch out, folks. These guys were informed, knew lots of details (i.e. studied) as I kept them on the line asking about every acronym they threw out. Way, way more insidious than a Nigerian Prince calling.
Click to expand...
I think I have at least six bench warts still out in my name from these guys.

They leave it on my answering machine all the time lol
 
Two really recent stories in my life:

1. 20 year old I know was on his way to CVS to buy a gift card. He ordered some headphones online, they 'accidentally' sent an empty box. He calls some number from the seller's page, and he's on his way to buy a $250 gift card, so they can load that amount on it, or some nonsense. He would have been out $500. I intercept, he goes thru the site, and original money returned. It is hard to believe how many people will still get gift scammed.

2. My partner, an attorney, gets a client thru his website, a wrongful termination case. Guy has an open and shut case, but wants to do the deal on contingency, not flat fee. My buddy tells him, hey, it's a lot lot less money going hourly. Guy says he doesn't care, my buddy sees a really easy 5 figures, and gets an easy settlement check from the company. Money goes to his trust account, he's about to wire the guy 6 figures from his trust account, and the bank catches the bad check. The entire thing was a scam. Crazy. The bank caught it, but the bank also messed up clearing the check in the first place. They know it's a trust account, they know the money in there is client funds. You gotta wait like 6 business days when you get a check, and start wiring that money anywhere.
 
massraider said:
Two really recent stories in my life:

1. 20 year old I know was on his way to CVS to buy a gift card. He ordered some headphones online, they 'accidentally' sent an empty box. He calls some number from the seller's page, and he's on his way to buy a $250 gift card, so they can load that amount on it, or some nonsense. He would have been out $500. I intercept, he goes thru the site, and original money returned. It is hard to believe how many people will still get gift scammed.

2. My partner, an attorney, gets a client thru his website, a wrongful termination case. Guy has an open and shut case, but wants to do the deal on contingency, not flat fee. My buddy tells him, hey, it's a lot lot less money going hourly. Guy says he doesn't care, my buddy sees a really easy 5 figures, and gets an easy settlement check from the company. Money goes to his trust account, he's about to wire the guy 6 figures from his trust account, and the bank catches the bad check. The entire thing was a scam. Crazy. The bank caught it, but the bank also messed up clearing the check in the first place. They know it's a trust account, they know the money in there is client funds. You gotta wait like 6 business days when you get a check, and start wiring that money anywhere.
Click to expand...
How do you scam a wrongful termination case? There was a settlement out of court or something and the people that agreed to pay were in on it too?
 
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