… may have been hacked by online scammers. I’m pretty sure that none of the regulars in this forum would fall for the scams that are likely to result from this massive data breach, but it’s worthwhile to remain very vigilant.
While various scams could be the result, I think that the most likely one is something along the lines of… You have unpaid traffic tickets, and your license will be suspended today unless you click on this link in order to pay it with your credit card. Or, they might ask you to buy gift cards, and call a phone number that they provide, in order to read the serial numbers of those cards to them.
Last year i had some e mails saying i owed toll fees so i just ignored them and they went away. Not many tolls in minnesota. With all the people that have access to bits of your information, i think leaks are inevitable. We even got a letter that a lawyer we use got hacked. So i think the responsibility should be on people loaning money to make sure they know who they are dealing with.
Seriously though, I was getting those stupid “Toll” fees (as bing mentioned) ones, however the last I saw a toll booth was probably 25 years ago, maybe more, and that one’s I saw (all 3 on same road) were all closed and removed back in 2003… Last time I went through it you still had to throw the correct change in the big basket, if you only had paper money, then the booth operator made change for you and they threw the change in the same big basket…
9Meaning I have never even seen an electronic toll booth in my life, so absolutely NO way I could have a missed ticket from one (to date)…
I swear though, if these scammers put as much thought and time into some of these scams, they would be making 6 figures easily, having a legit job…
Unfortunately, because some people don’t watch/read any legitimate sources of information, those same people are easy to scam… for BIG bucks. A couple of months ago, a woman in a town near me got a scam text or a scam email telling her that her bank account had been compromised. She followed the scammers’ instructions precisely by doing the following:
She withdrew $10k from her account, put the cash into a shoebox, and handed it to a guy who she was directed to rendezvous with, in a parking lot. Obviously the scammers were very pleased with her ignorance/naivete, so they actually got her to do the same thing time and time again. When it got to the point where she had handed something north of $400k to them, in increasing increments, she finally started to wonder if she did the wrong thing, and at that point she finally contacted the cops. Clearly, it was too late for her to have any chance of recovering anything. Even if she was the only person who that guy scammed this year, he definitely wound-up with six figures–tax free.
In my town’s Police Blotter, a couple of weeks ago, they reported this incident: The victim was contacted (supposedly) by The US Treasury Department, and he was informed that ALL of his credit cards had been compromised. He was told that “the only way to protect your credit is to have us destroy those cards”, so he rendezvoused with a stranger, to whom he handed ALL of his credit cards. Of course, the BIG bogus charges began appearing w/in a few minutes.
Clearly, we do have some very gullible people out there.
I never would have thought but about a year ago a friend was caught in a scam. Her teacher husband had died and she had some internet work or something done. Been kinda hushed up to avoid embarrassment so the details are sketchy to me. The guy demanded $20K. She had gotten 10 from her local bank and was heading out to another bank for the rest. Her union leader neigbor stopped by and questioned what she was doing and put a stop to it. A reasonably intelligent widow just caught up.
We got an interesting scam email a few days ago. It invited us to a gala dinner. To get the details like when and where I was directed to click on the link. I asked Mrs JT if she knew the woman that signed the email, and she didnt. Another scam bites the dust.
BTW, I also clicked on the sender and the email didn’t match the signer. Another indication of a scam. I find that checking the sender’s email address is one of the surest ways to separate scam from legit. .
After a vacation trip in the spring, where we went through numerous tolls along the way, I started getting those scam toll emails. Funny part, it is pay by plate and the notices come via USPS mail. However, the big giveaway was these were emails. My email is not on record and the legitimate charge notices came in the mail. I will say, they really upped their game, they looked very real and legitimate compared to the past attempts.
Yep, there’s a whole class of ‘government’ scams, be it jury duty, parking tickets, toll fees, whatever. Basic rule is the same for all: trash them. If someone is concerned about it, contact the agency involved directly, using no links or numbers provided in the email or text.
+1 Or, check your account online, if the call/text/email has to do with a credit card.
A couple of months ago, I got a phone call that was supposedly questioning the legitimacy of certain big charges on one of my credit cards. The caller said, “this is the card beginning with the numbers 5424” and asked me to confirm that this was one of my cards. After I said that I did have a card beginning with those numbers, he said that he needed the full card number in order to delete the bogus charges.
5424 is a prefix for hundreds of thousands of cards issued by Citi, so I told him that if he was really calling from Citi, he would know the entire number. He kept trying, and while he was babbling I went online to check that credit card account, and–of course–the charges that he mentioned were nowhere to be found.
After I informed him that his mother performs unmentionable acts with mongrel dogs, I hung up on the scammer.
I got several calls from my prescription provider, robocall, had my name then asked for my birthdate, well they already have that on file. I hung up. Googled the phone # and it listed it as a scam trying to get personal info. Reported the number as spam and blocked it.
I almost fell for an online scam for a very good price on Lodge cast iron cookware. The check out started normally then got sketchy. I got a text asking me to authorize a $499 charge. I was able to block the credit card before the charge hit, my bank called with a fraud alert a few minutes later. The charge never hit, card cancelled, new card issued. Then trying to remember all the places I had auto pay tied to the card. I missed one, but a friendly reminder from them and I updated it.
Cuz it expired in 2024
He could not speak English.
He could not read English road signs.
I equate cause for concern with suspicious activity. But, that’s just me.
There’s an apparently expired driver’s license on top of a car title. I say apparently expired because there is no context. When was the photo taken? Did you take it? Was he trying to buy a car from you? I used to work with a woman from El Salvador and she’s been here for over 30 years.
English requirement: There is no strict English language test or proficiency requirement for driving a personal, non-commercial vehicle as a short-term visitor. States primarily recognize valid foreign licenses for tourism or temporary stays. [1]
Commercial (Truck) Drivers
Not allowed: Commercial motor vehicle drivers must be able to read and speak english
you can cause accidents due to inability to read if you are in personal car. Nice
Reminds me of those daily briefings during the Gulf War, the day the French General conducted the briefing a reporter asked if there were any language problems. The French General replied, not with us but there was some between the British and Americans,
