Sounding Posted March 29 Posted March 29 On 8/2/2024 at 10:55 AM, GSW said: It is a shame that there seems to be so many scammers everywhere these days. I am starting to understand why we have to be so vigilant. Indeed. I have some stuff for sale in a few places, and one of those platforms led to this communication. There are a lot of red flags in this email. Couldn’t tell me who he was; Claimed no phone access yet email advises he was already talking to his courier to arrange collection the next day; Broken English (not always, but a piece in the puzzle in this example); Asking for the price again, yet the ad has a price, my first email listed the price, my second email made that price bold (maybe I played along for longer than I should have but I like to find out how these scams work); Claims where he works, but the font is different, proving that info was copy and pasted; “PayPal instant bank wire transfer service” really?; Paying i to my bank account from his PayPal - then goods are collected, then PayPal dispute gets logged, I lose goods and money…; In talks with his courier on Good Friday when nothing is open; Claims he can arrange collection Easter Saturday… Did I miss anything? 2 3
Mrkropotkin Posted March 30 Posted March 30 I had one similar to this but on oil rig off the coast of NZ. The rig was genuine but she wanted me to pay courier fees to Hong Kong which she obviously would repay etc... Couldn't use phone etc for some silly reason. On it went... Eventually I suggested that being a scammer was sad and if she gave me her details I would give her 10$ for food. No reply after that. I guess she had enough food. 3
Kaynin Posted March 30 Posted March 30 Unfortunately online scamming has been going on for a couple of decades, but the banks and law enforcement have no interest in catching the offenders. There are numerous reasons for this, but one main one is that banks profits far out weigh the financial loss for reimbursement. However, more recently, due to the prolific increase in offending, it's costing so much more to the banks that they're paying attention. This behaviour could have been curtailed a very long time ago. Despite the public campaigns that organisations such as banks roll out saying how hard they're working to protect their customers, it's just a facade. For example, they could start by freezing accounts where the unlawfully obtained money is received in to, and the holder of the account has to present to their local branch with ID to sort it out. Heck, they make me do that if I forget my online password...and yet they won't. Anyway, it all falls back on to us, the public. Yes this email is a scam. The moment someone asks me to move to email to communicate, I sever ties. I don't accept Paypal as payment anymore - a whole raft of limitations I've had to employ because this offending is rife. 3
purpleninja Posted March 31 Posted March 31 (edited) I must admit I did really enjoy the Beekeeper - especially the parts where the scammers got their just desserts. Scammers ... it's worse than it's ever been and I see it getting progressively worse until the institutions are held at least partially accountable at which point they will roll out all sorts of protections for us I'm all for personal responsibility - and the honey in so many scams is the "bargain" or "get rich quick" temptation, but they are getting more and more sophisticated in their scumbaggery! Edited March 31 by purpleninja
audiofeline Posted June 30 Posted June 30 I enjoy some of the videos by IT scam-busters who hack into the scammer's place of work and freak-out the scammer, while reversing lots of their scamming transactions. I recall a year or so ago India had a big natural disaster and Australia donated $millions in aide. I have nothing against them helping India in their time of crisis, but I think there could have been a condition attached to India accepting the aid on condition they do a concerted effort to shut down scammers targeting Australia. I wouldn't be surprised if scamming was one of the top income-generating industries for the country.
Kaynin Posted Monday at 08:47 PM Posted Monday at 08:47 PM Just to highlight my previous post, bank's do not take scams/frauds seriously. They'll advertise that they're doing everything to protect your money, but it's a token effort. There's so much more they could be doing. Here's an example where unfortunately a victim found out the hard way - https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/aussies-hunt-for-scammers-who-stole-14k/news-story/f62ce1892f513a90005f1f3c148861cc 1
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