You all can play games with them, I just don’t answer. If I mistakenly answer, I hangup.
Six Reasons Not To Engage With Scammers, No Matter What Your Facebook Friends Tell You (forbes.com)
Why You Should Never, Ever Respond to a ‘Wrong Number’ Text (lifehacker.com)
Edit - 2 minutes after posting this I got a spam call on my cell…
Watching re-run of the 1960’s era George Burns TV Show last night. Sort of a daily-goings-on-around-the-home theme. Scene begins. Phone rings, wife answers it straight-away, says “Well Hello Madge! Glad you called! Are you and hubby coming over for dinner tonight?” …
Someone picks up the phone just b/c it rings? Really? Maybe in 1960’s America, but not gonna happen in 2022 America …
I often run into people who think they are going to call scammers back and give them a taste of their own medicine, only to get scammed once again! Many people do not understand their tricks and just fall right into their traps again.
Then there are people just giving away all their security questions to social media scammers via meme phishing/data mining. I have posted a screen shot of one. OF course “first car” is one of the most common security questions and you can see a scammer bot quickly responded to the warning about this being fraud. It just gets me how many people participate in these schemes, all while scammers have automated AI’s guessing password reset question answers by the millions. It is like people line up for these things.
Yep, people think of ‘scammers’ the same way they think of ‘spammers’. No, a scammer is a criminal dedicated to stealing your money and/or identity. They’re good at it, better than we are at protecting them. DO NOT ENGAGE!
When I call the credit union I have to tell them what my first car was, and of course the girl, not being from the uk, has no idea. So she goes on to the next question.
It amazes me how many people fall for these social engineering questions. It should be obvious they are password reset questions. Basically these people compile a database automatically and once you answer enough of the “What is the make and model of your first car?” type questions, they strike. Basically they guess it in many ways with uppercase, lowercase, numbers for letters, etc. So if you said your first car was a Geo Metro, they would guess “geo metro”, “G3o M3tr0”, and all the other variations. People who play these games have no clue until they get hit and their accounts cleaned out.
They don’t always ask it directly either. “What car did you learn to drive on?” might not be your first car but the odds are good they might match. Instead of “What is your favorite movie?” it might be “What is a movie you can watch over and over again and never be tired of”? or “what movie have you watched 5 or more times and still enjoy?” People unfortunately fall for these all the time, the crooks build a database which is sold to anyone with a bank account, and then they get hit.
I now draw a pretty hard line on unsolicited phone calls. Most are crap and that makes me wary of all, plus I don’t have the time to vet every one. If you have someone asking for a “YES” answer, I just say “speaking” or “This is he.”
I suppose they could get into my accounts some way and change my address, but there is no mechanism to transfer funds out electronically. And there is a daily limit on debit card use. Changes to checks have to be made through the bank as well as new cards etc. sure I’m careful, just not sure what damage anyone could do besides looking at my balances and transferring from checking to savings etc. I suppose they could print a bogus check but that would be fraud that the bank would have to cover, and anything suspicious they call to verify.
I dunno, in 50 years my wife had a bogus 9 cent charge which was caught. Maybe it was a test, I dunno or just a mistake. Of course they could open credit accounts that I would not be responsible for and that would be on my credit report. Sell my house? Title insurance. I’m more worried about the blood sucking irs.
That’s exactly what it was, according to the folks at Chase, to whom I spoke when I had a similar situation. The scammers assume that you won’t notice, or won’t contest a charge for a few cents, When it “goes through” they know that they have a valid cc number, and then they start the BIG bogus charges.
After getting new cards and changing passwords a few times, what I noticed with the Master card bank cards, the first 12 account number digits appears to be the same but the last four digits are the only ones that change from one person or card to another. Just like phone numbers that we used to issue from Bell, they are all in sequence. So all I would have to do is select another one or 50 or 100 of the numbers in sequence and then concentrate on getting the pins. Like a VIN, other parts of the number are also significant and don’t change with a particular customer. Well I’m happy with the chip anyway.
That is something have been wondering about with all the new tech wouldn’t it be possible for some one with a chip or card reader in their pocket to get close enough to you to get your information?
yes, they can. they can read your cards just by walking by you. get yourself some RFID Blocking Sleeves. you slip your card inside to block them from reading your card.
Helps protect you from electronic pick-pocketing of personal information by blocking radio waves. Weather and tear resistant. Each package includes 5 sleeves.
Thank you for that information now the question is where do you get them?
I got them at harland clark a while ago when I had ordered checks. but you can get then anywhere. just search for RFID blocking sleeves. and buy through a reliable site.
That is what I was curious about.
That is what I had heard also, but when I “tap” the card on the terminal, it doesn’t work unless the card is… literally… just a couple of millimeters away from the card reader.
I use a metal business card holder for my credit cards.
USNews doesn’t think it’s a major problem. Anyone know of a case where theft has occurred?
Should You Be Worried About Tap-and-Go Credit Cards? (usnews.com)
I just had a robocall. It asked me “Are you there?” in an obviously recorded voice. I answered NO! and they promptly hung up.
EDIT: I typed the number into Google and it appears to be a number associated with IRS scam calls.
Been saved 2 times this year from possible fraud. American express cancelled my old card and sent out a new one. I first figured it out when my card was denied. I was out of town for 5 weeks and had mail on hold.US Bank called last week while wife was setting up lyft. She must have hit the wrong button and there was a $1 charge. They cancelled our cards and sent out new ones.
The never say YES to spammers questions I learned many years ago.
Hear they can also steal passport information.
Pipe dream would be to cancel all cards and go back to cash, but that is not practical.
Agree to a point it would put a lot of scammers out of work [but who cares] as they can be thousands of miles away but that would put the local crooks back to work and they would have to be face to face to you and that could cause any thing from bodily harm to death.
