By Elaine Viets
For nearly a year I’ve been fighting a series of computer scams. Let me tell you what I learned. The hard way.
The problem started last spring when I found an extra $120 from Instacart in my bank account. I contacted Insta and was told I needed to call a special number for seniors.
I did. The person on the phone assured me the extra money would be taken back. I left for a trip to St. Louis.
A day later, about four in the afternoon, I got a frantic call from a young man with a cornpone accent who said he was in California. The poor country boy said he’d made a terrible mistake and “accidentally” put $1,200 in my account. Now he was going to be fired. Could I please go to the nearest Western Union and wire him the money? Please, please, please?
No. I had to give a speech.
I hung up. Cornpone called back. He begged. He pleaded. He did everything but break down in tears. “Please ma’am, I’ll lose my job. This money will come out of my paycheck. I’ll go broke. Please wire me the money.”
No. I hung up again.
This time Cornpone called back and said, “OK, if you can’t wire the money, could you write a check and mail it?” He gave me the name of a woman in South Carolina, all the way across the country from California.
Wait a minute? I said. Why do you want this mailed to a woman in South Carolina? Why not send it to Instacart?
“She’s my supervisor,” he said.
Nope. Something didn’t smell right. I closed my bank card and the account.
When I got home, the money in my compromised account was transferred to my new account. Including the $1,200. I also filed a police report. I didn’t expect the police to haul Cornpone and his pals off in handcuffs.
I’ve had at least three suspicious incidents since then, for purchases I couldn’t possibly have made. Each time I’ve closed my bank card. The most recent attack this Saturday was more serious. I got this text in all caps: DID YOU ATTEMPT PURCHASE TARGET $789.88 ORLANDO. Y(YES) N (NO). CASE #818992 TO OPT OUT REPLY.
Orlando? I live 220 miles away in south Florida.
Before I could reply, I got a phone call from a young man with an instantly forgettable name. I think his last name was Johnson. He asked if I’d made the Target purchase.
“On my BigBucks bank card? No,” I said.
He said he would instantly close the card. Fine. He then asked me to call up my account and confirm my recent purchases, which I did. The latest was from a gas station. I also told him the amount in my checking and savings accounts.
He said this was “a very serious case of fraud” and he needed the physical card. He gave me an address that was the headquarters of BigBucks Bank and asked me to take the card to FedEx. I said no.
He said he’d send a Lyft driver in a red Prius to pick up the card and take it to FedEx. The helpful Mr. Johnson stayed on the line while I waited outside my condo building and handed the card to the Lyft driver.
I thanked Mr. Johnson for alerting me to the fraud. He warned me not to buy gas from a pump. “That’s probably how they got your bank card number.” He hung up.
In the elevator on the way upstairs, I wondered why BigBucks needed the physical card. Didn’t it have all that information in the computer?
At about the 12th floor, I realized I’d been had. I ran to my condo, locked my bank card and all my accounts. I ignored the latest text from Mr. Johnson, which said, “Alert. Your new Temporary User name is BigBucks41946. Reply with old Username to deactivate.”
No, thanks. I called my bank’s fraud division. They confirmed what I suspected. Fraud.
What were the clues?
Check out that text again: DID YOU ATTEMPT PURCHASE TARGET $789.88 ORLANDO. Y(YES) N (NO). CASE #818992 TO OPT OUT REPLY.
Notice what’s missing? The bank’s name. Which I helpfully provided.
It took two days to get a new bank card and bank account. I also made a police report and alerted condo security. That so-called “Lyft” driver was in on it, too. He didn’t have a sign on his car. Thanks to security, we now have video of that red Prius.
Again, I don’t expect the scammers to get caught.
But all they got was my time. No money.
And scammers don’t always win. After all, I got to keep that $1,200.
Where did the scammers get that kind of cash? The bank said they have a sort of revolving scam fund – when they get the money from one scam, they use part of it for the next scam.
I’m not the only one who nicked them. One banker said a Latino woman went through the same thing. She found an unexpected windfall in her account from a company. The scammers wanted their money back. Something didn’t seem right to her. The woman got scared and went to her bank.
The bank closed her account ASAP. The scammers cruelly threatened the woman, telling her they’d report her to immigration.
The bank said, “Sorry, the account’s closed.”
She kept the money.
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Elaine, glad you got suspicious before they sucked your account dry. We regularly receive emails and texts from fraudsters trying to gain access to bank and credit car info. That’s one reason we never use a debit card, only credit cards, b/c your liability is limited to $50 with credit cards. Debit cards don’t offer that protection.
With fraud increasing exponentially, one good source to follow is Scamicide by attorney Steve Weisman. He sends daily updates to subscribers about the latest scams and new twists on older scams. Some are incredibly complicated and sophisticated. Here’s the link: https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/
Thanks for the info, Debbie. It takes a village to stop these idiots.
I am the IT Guy. I see them every day. One of the newer ones is a text alerting you to pay a road toll or a warrant will be issued.
Sorry guys. Toll fob tied to child’s account not mine. We haven’t been to New York either.
I’ve gotten the one about the road toll. (I believe they threatened I could lose my license if I didn’t pay. Instead, I lost my temper. 🙂
Glad that’s all you lost.
They are warning about the road toll scam in Florida, Alan. Bet you see some real winners in your IT job.
One of my favorites. A user calls me. There is a warning on their screen that the FBI is going to arrest them for child porn. I start cleaning their computer. They are swearing they don’t do that kind of stuff.
“I know.”
“How” they asked.
They say they turned on your camera and recorded you. This computer doesn’t have a camera.
If the FBI thought you were in child porn, they would send agents and warrants, not change your computer wallpaper.
I am pretty sure the FBI would have spelled peadofile correctly.
Good grief, Alan. That’s a new one.
Wow, Elaine! I’m glad you didn’t lose more than your time. We used to say, “wish these folks would go out and get a real job”…but maybe what they’re doing is a “real job” to them.
My email spam folder is full almost every morning. I don’t even open them to look at them. Delete. Some of the subject lines are hilarious, though, like, “Deb G. Gorman, this is blah blah blah from Qatar with an opportunity you won’t want to miss! Your tractor will be sent to you within 5 days of receipt of the funds…”
Really?
Have a scam-free day, all!
Good grief, Alan. That’s a new one.
A tractor, huh? From Qatar. Most of my scammers want to enhance a body part I don’t have.
Haha!!
🥳
I’ve been trying to think of a punishment that fits the crime of people who would prey on the good will of others. Maybe we could invent a computer game called “Sisyphys” which the player has to pay to play, but the game can never be won. Then we imprison these scammers and force them to play the game until they learn their lesson.
That’s pretty good, Kay, but I’d like to see them spending their days on the phone, disputing insurance charges. The crooks would have to do this for their victims, and they could only get a break if they successfully won a dispute.
Someone hacked into a major fitness chain’s bank accounts and stole many of their clients’ financial info. My best friend had to change her credit card, then, after the chain switched to checks only because they were “safe” her bank accounts had to be changed because they were hacked, too. All this took months of aggravation and being on hold. She switched to a local gym.
Definitely feel your friend’s pain, Marilynn.
I almost got caught by the “Norton” scam where they say you owe, $xx for Norton security. Then there is the Microsoft scam, the Google scam, etc. I’ve seen most of them. And don’t get me started on the phone scams. I should be in jail by now from the SS scam x 5. Then there are the multitude of writing scammers. Movies, promotion, publicity, etc.
I’d like to get through ONE day without some scammer contacting me. I report the emails and block the phone numbers, but they just keep coming. Some days I feel like I have a target on my back. How did I get there? One dealing with Author Solutions through Xlibris as a new author who fell for their promises and learned quickly that they were taking me for a ride–an expensive one that I kept to $3000. (I had the money at that time.) I swear that my name and phone number has been making the rounds of all those who worked there for the past 12 years.
Glad you didn’t lose anything but time.
Oh, yeah, the many pitfalls that await unsuspecting writers: the fake agents, the “Hollywood” offers, the social media scammers who promise to bring you 10,000 new readers. It’s endless.