How Community Members Are Protecting Themselves Against Scams
Today, there are more and more scams due to using social media, the internet, online banking, and other digital tools in the Digital Age. At the same time, there is a growing movement of people on the social media and community forums, like Next Door, who are taking steps to protect each other. For example, they send out warnings about the latest scams to avoid, often when they have encountered, become suspicious, recognized, and avoided the scam. And often community members warn others after they have been taken themselves, sometimes for substantial amounts of money. Additionally, banks, utilities, shipping companies, large retailers, and others have been sending out warning emails about scams to avoid. So as the scammers find new ways to scam victims, individuals, companies, and organizations are identifying the latest scams and how to avoid them.
I have been especially interested in following these developments, since I have a Facebook group “Scammed” with 6500 members where I have been posting the latest articles about scams, though most of the individuals now joining the group are scammers offering scam recovery methods to group members. The recovery offer is a classic scam of getting payments and personal information from individuals who have already been scammed. The scammers take their money with claims they might recover much larger losses, but then they don’t recover anything. Or they use the identity information of victims to access their computers or financial accounts to scam them again. Even though I have an announcement on the front page of the group stating that I will block anyone offering to recover funds themselves or recommending a “recovery expert,” they keep posting their offers and I keep blocking them, perhaps 2 to 5 a day, over 1000 at this point, an example of how relentless and persistent these scammers can be.
At least, a growing cadre of individuals, organizations, and companies are posting warnings about the latest scams. Here are a few examples of such postings which I have gotten through my NextDoor account or from my social media links.
Here’s an example of a warning about a new postal scam, and a series of replies which offer support and advice. As the posting and comments indicate, the scammers are using the latest technology to create very realistic websites or Facebook pages that seem to belong to the real organization. Then, that helps to give them the credibility to get credit card and other financial information, so they can subsequently steal from you. I have taken out any identifying information about the person posting and those replying with their comments.
Initial warning to community members:
Fake US Post Office text scam. This one is very clever. I got a text supposedly from the US Postal Service saying that a package is delayed because of an incomplete address. The link took me to a very realistic USPS-like web site to enter the correct address (now they have all that data). After that the site says that you need to pay $0.18 for the processing fee and asks for a credit card. Now they have everything they need to use your card.”
Commenter 1:
Got it too. Blocked and reported.
Commenter 2:
I did as well
Commenter 3:
I always laugh when I get these. I never order anything online, so I know it’s a scam.
Commenter 4:
Clicking on any link from someone you’re not familiar with is generally not a good idea. Scammers prey on greedy and curious people. I too get various emails and texts about package deliveries, PayPal payments…. Not one has my name in the heading….and my name IS NOT Customer. The email address IS NOT from or even close to the company they attempt to represent.
…Unless you know you have a package coming in where it’s coming from just delete
Don’t ever click on any links. Even if I get a link in my email, I’ll call the company and ask them if they sent me a link before I click on it.
Commenter 7
I’ve gotten that several times. I block the sender then delete the text.
Commenter 8
I get text and email with the same info. I just delete them and never click on the link.
As you can see, in responding to the poster’s initial warning, the comments are from individuals who turned away the real scam, realistic observations about legitimate ways to avoid the scam, such as by not responding and blocking future communications.
Here’s a community warning about a phone scam using customer information from the Xfinity phone service. Again, the commenters offer specific warnings and general practices to avoid being scammed. Plus some community members express gratitude for the warning.
Xfinity Customers Beware! Yesterday I was the target of a sophisticated phone scam attempt by persons posing as Xfinity representatives. What made this scam almost successful was the fact that the scammers had my account information that I would only think Xfinity would know, including my account number, street address, email address, auto-billing info, current services provided by Xfinity, and accurate previous/current billing charges. The scammers offer a 24-month promotional discount, but they say they have to process the first months payment immediately in order for the discount to take effect. The scammers even send a “proposal” email that looks amazingly legitimate. They then ask for payment information to process the first month’s payment. I was halfway through communicating my card number when something they said triggered my suspicion…that I would see a charge from “game.com.” My wife did a quick google search and discovered that this is a known scammer’s website. Also, we called the number on the bogus email proposal, and it wasn’t a bonafide Xfinity telephone number. SO BEWARE XFINITY CUSTOMERS! I spent several hours taking actions to ensure that no negative outcomes occurred. PS. I contacted Xfinity’s security department and forwarded the bogus email to them. I have no idea what actions they are taking to address this problem. Stay safe!
Commenter 1:
Don’t give anyone anything over the phone. I had a citibank alert today that my account was suspended. They want you to open the attachment. One, I don’t use that email for citicard and 2, I called citicard to find out. Nothing wrong with my account.
Commenter2:
My advice when calling any company today is to use only the telephone number that is listed on the bill.
Commenter 3:
Xfinity had a data breach last October (via a third party) that exposed a lot of information, so it sounds like people are putting that to good use. 😡
Commenter 4:
Yes, the data breach from Xfinity is now being used by scammers. Beware everyone 😢
Commenter 4:
Thanks for the heads up.
Commenter 5:
Thanks for letting us know!
Commenter 6:
Thanks for sharing this version of the hideous scams.
Commenter 7:
A friend of mine is an internet security expert. We all get TONS of emails to the point that all of my important stuff is on one email and my shopping on another. If you right click on the sender’s email address, you’ll see their EXACT EMAIL ADDRESS. Often it’s a scam. I saw one from a department store looking like this: Srifssgjjug78vyxuer4d.net Doesn’t look like NeimanMarcus, huh?
Commenter 8:
First tipoff is Xfinity will NEVER call you! Microsoft will NEVER call you! McAfee will NEVER call you! Norton LifeLock will NEVER call you! Geek Squad will NEVER call you! Citibank will NEVER call you! Wells Fargo will NEVER call you! Bank of America will NEVER call you! The Better Business Bureau will NEVER call you! The IRS will NEVER call you! The FTC will NEVER call you! Homeland Security will NEVER call you! The FBI will NEVER call you! The only people who will call you are SCAMMERS posing as a business or government agency! If they send you an email or produce a browser pop up to call them, THEY ARE SCAMMERS!
Commenter 9
Excellent point — bonafide companies seldom make solicitation calls. Even if you think it’s legit, hang up and call the company on its published contact number to confirm whether any offer is, in fact, real.
Commenter 10
Be careful where you obtain these “published contact numbers” from! Do not use the ones found on ANY search engine. Often, the scammers purchase advertising, appearing as genuine customer service numbers for legitimate services. Then, they pay the search engine a premium to elevate their “customer service contact information” to the top of the search engine results. When they answer the telephone, in reality, you are being connected to a thief! They use this deception to fool you & social engineering to separate you from your life savings or a substantial amount of your bank account! In short, DO NOT USE A SEARCH ENGINE TO FIND A CUSTOMER SERVICE TELEPHONE NUMBER! Get it directly from the vendor’s website you wish to engage in a transaction. Even then, be wary & look for requests for you to disclose something which they should already have. (Credit card information, passwords or password phases, birth dates, social security account information, bank account information, driver license information, security question responses, etc.) When using the telephone to resolve billing information or purchases, be very “street” aware! Do not blindly trust everything you are told! It may be a deception! As said by the police, “Be aware of your surroundings!”
Thus, as these neighborhood postings show, be aware of these scams by scammers targeting individuals all over the U.S. and internationally, so you can avoid becoming a victim. You can find other information I have written about scams and avoiding them in my books and films about scams. My most recent book is Scams in the Digital Age published by American Leadership Books, which also published The Big Con, which was turned into the documentaries, “Conned: A True Story” and I Was Scammed, which was turned into “Con Artists Unveiled,” distributed by Gravitas Ventures. The books are on Amazon and the films can be seen on Amazon, too, or on Apple TV as Conned: A True Story — Apple TV and Con Artists Unveiled — Apple TV.
For more information about different scams and to schedule interviews, email or call:
Karen Andrews
Executive Assistant
Changemakers Publishing and Writing
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 804–6333
www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com
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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include Ghost Story and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Scams in the Digital Age, and Love and Sex in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.