I got an email from the United Nations! They wanted me to update my account info. Searching through your junk mail folder looking for a legit email is never dull!
We won the Publishers’ Clearinghouse Sweepstakes! My husband went along with it until the caller figured out he was kidding.
I got a text message saying
Citi: You tried to add a new service on your account. Your requested OTP is: 217059. Do not share this number with anyone. if this was NOT you, Cancel immediately at: (link)
So now they’re sending out spam texts that piggyback on familiarity with 2-factor authentication. We’ve gotten used to getting OTP codes when signing on to many accounts and so getting one unexpectedly might easily lead to clicking on the link to “fix” the issue.
Side note: a hint this is from an non-native speaker is the grammar of the last sentence. Notice how they did not capitalize the “if” at the start of a sentence, and then capitalized the word “cancel” following a comma?
I think they misunderstood, and think your name is “Cancel” - thus the capitalization.
I hate that one. My dad almost got sucked into it. Fortunately it was just on his answering machine and he waited for me to hear it. My answer–“Dad, think about it. You never entered the contest so there’s no way you could win one. And besides PCH NEVER calls on the phone.” They sure sounded convincing though.
The other day my mother was on the phone with someone trying to convince her she’d won the Clearing house jackpot IF ONLY she’d buy some magazines. I was in the room but had to leave, and my daughter was walking in so I said “Don’t let Nana order anything, and don’t let her give any info.” Daughter walks over to Nana, shouts “She’s old, leave her alone” and hangs up the phone.
I thought I got a scam email supposedly from Amazon just now. It stated that my package had been delivered and included a photograph of a front door that was definitely not mine. It finally dawned on me that it was my sister’s front door - I ordered a book for her! We don’t get photographs of our delivered packages up here, interesting.
Oh, my gosh, my husband just got scammed. He got an email, supposedly from Home Depot, about a promotion where he could get a tool for $1.95. He entered his credit card number. WTH?!? At least Capital One sent me a notice right away so I came in the office and told him it’s a scam. The charge was declined. So he’ll have to get a new credit card number. I’m shocked he fell for this.
Oh my goodness! I’ve recently received at least two emails from Home Depot offering a great deal on a tool. Wonder if it was the same one? I have bought online from Home Depot, and used their delivery service, and the email address looked legit. Still, I was uncomfortable and reported them to my email provider as spam. The scammers are definitely getting cleverer, especially with mimicking legit emails.
So glad you caught it in time, but what a PITA.
I get stuff all the time, mostly to SPAM, but sometimes to my regular email. If I’m on my computer, I can see that the email is NOT from Home Depot, Macy’s, Chase credit card etc but from @mqup22ggf4YY (etc.) I can’t see it that well on my phone so I do not open those on the phone.
I can’t even tell you how many times this week my Chase credit card has been frozen ‘until I enter my numbers.’
There has been a spike in spam texts and calls recently here after about 2 weeks of zero spam.
I had a string of emails from “Wells Fargo” warning me about my debit card being compromised and finally telling me it was being put on hold. Um…sorry, no debit card or any cards with them. I forwarded one to the Wells Fargo spam email.
My GF received a new social security card in the mail, with a different number. She called Medicare, than social security office. No one knew anything. She was told someone had requested a new card.
She will continue to use original card, but will see what happens when that card is used for billing.
Are you sure it wasn’t a new Medicare card, not a SS card? See this thread from Bogleheads –
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=378609
This would never happen. Not that your friend didn’t get such a card in the mail, just that the SSA wouldn’t issue a new card with a new number. It is really really (I mean really) hard to change a number. Some children who are adopted out of foster care sometimes get a new number, but that’s because their old number has been plastered all over everything and they are easy prey for fraud. But it is still hard to do.
Now I did have a great aunt who had 4 numbers (discovered when she died). It seems that every time she thought she was getting too old, she just applied for a new number and changed her age.
Just received a phone call from ‘Michelle’…who is following up for the attorneys. The attorneys that ‘sent information to me a few weeks ago’.
She understands that I have probably been receiving a lot of debt collection calls and might not want to answer my phone. But I should rest assured that I don’t owe the total outstanding debt and she can work with me.
Funny thing, when you return ‘Michelle’s’ call from your own - blocked- number. The ‘call can not be completed as dialed’.
Nice try Michelle. I’m sure your parents are proud.
Oh, gosh, as careful as I am, I almost got scammed just now. I got a notice that my QuickBook support through GeekSquad was being auto renewed and if I wanted to cancel I needed to call away. I know I’ve looked at the GeekSquad site in the past, so I was afraid they had my info from a previous request. I called and said I wanted to cancel and the guy, who had an Indian accent and was literally chewing food as he talked, said he needed me to go to a site so I could connect to the person who could help cancel the auto-renew. Sure enough, the next step was to have me agree for them to connect to my computer!! Uh, no. I will just keep an eye on my credit card statement for unauthorized charges. Ugh, it gets so tiring. Here’s a link I found:
Too funny! (but hoping you didn’t get scammed) I got the same one from the Geek Squad on Monday and actually called the number (hiding my own number) to have fun. My fellow was “John Wilson”, and I let him have it, actually mentioning the cities in India where they were likely operating their call center from. “John Wilson” started talking to his co-scammers in either Hindi or Bengali and then finally hung up.
For kicks, I called the same number with my D in the car for some driving entertainment, but I guess they spotted my hidden number when “Steve Wilson” picked up the phone. After a minute or two, he ended the call with the curse phrase that is censored to “forget you” in censored movies.
I love watching the anti-scammer videos on YouTube. Kitboga (Kitboga (streamer) - Wikipedia ) is ABSOLUTELY a genius, and it is almost like watching performance art/high comedy when he scams the scammers. My other favorite is Scammer Payback/Pierogi, who has actually learned Hindi and yells at them when he reveals who is, after deleting their files using a virtual machine. If I had life to live over again, I would love to be one of these folks!
Not technically a scam but…I’m temping in my old office and the owner switched her phone plan. Suddenly a bunch of equipment showed up at the office. A tech was there doing other work and told us it wasn’t anything he needed and that we should send it back. I called the 800 number with the equipment, got someone overseas, who insisted that we needed this high tech backup and that it was part of a “promotion.” One of those one month free, and then $20/month charge tacked on to the bill. He argued with me for way too long and finally agreed to cancel the promotion and send us a return label so we could get the stuff back to them. So annoying! If the tech hadn’t come, we would have had no idea that it was something extra. Our only tip off that there was something off was that it didn’t come addressed to our owner/bill payer, but an office manager that hasn’t worked there in years and years.
My dad was sucked into countless things that would keep sending him bills and shoddy products. He felt he had to pay for all of them and they were impossible to cancel. Finally, when he moved to CCRC, we started writing refused, return to sender. No one at this address. It was for tens of thousands of $$$ of junk—Franklin mint, beauty products, cheap junk baubles. It was awful and dad thought all the invoices were legit and wanted to pay them all.
I tried repeatedly yo cancel them but it was very hard and they would keep sending more and more junk worth a tiny tiny fraction of the price on the many invoices.