S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[Otterpop]

Can someone tell me if this sounds like a scam?  I'm legitamately asking.

I posted an ad on craig's list as part of my quest to find some babysitting jobs to supplement my income.  I've been emailing a family that moving to my area next month and everything seemed okay until now.

The father mentioned that he wants to send me certified check to pay for some furniture he has ordered and to compensate me for my time running the errand.  I would have to cash the check at my bank.

My hinky-meter just went off big time.  Does this sound like I'm about to get scammed?

It's a scam.

Yes, the certified check will turn out to be fake, and you will be on the hook for any money paid out of your account. 

I was recently e-mailed by an overseas "doctor" who is relocating and wants to rent our vacant, advertised condo.  He said he'd send a certified check for several months rent + deposit and also an overage for some furniture to be delivered.  I looked up "rental scams" on Google and it said several people have been cheated out of money when the "doctor" backs out of the deal.  It takes 21 days for the bank to clear the check or find out it is fake.  If you spend anything, you have to give the bank back that amount.  Meanwhile the contact and the refund disappears into the wind.  (I told the "doctor" I only deal in cash with people I can meet, and I'd need a credit check)

Don't fall for it.

[athersgeo]

I remember the first time I saw a phishing email (which was probably before the term phishing had actually been coined). The whole office (five or six of us) all crowded round my screen to look at this email. All of us going "Does anyone here actually bank with SomeBankName? No? Why are they sending us an email?" We came the conclusion it was a scam and I deleted it, but for the rest of the afternoon we were all a bit perplexed.

Then a few more of the darn things turned up and phishing was coined and things suddenly started making sense again!

I've never had the Windows scam, but my mother's copped for the phone call a few times. The last time of which, the caller was saying "I'm looking at your computer and you have a virus" to which my mother's response was "That's impressive; my computer's unplugged at the moment..."

Lastly, here's a new one for the thread: "I'm ringing you about your car accident."
I've had two or three of these, where someone opens the conversation with those words. My immediate response is generally, "What car accident?" So far, I've yet to have anyone argue the point with me so I'm still not entirely sure what the scam is, but it's all rather strange...

[Twik]

Our company once got tangentially involved in a VERY poorly done scam.

We started getting phone calls from Australia, from people who had been sent letters they had won a house, and just needed to make "arrangements" to get the title. The number given to call had a Canadian area code, but it didn't exist. Based on the name of the company supposedly running the giveaway, Information would send the people to us. Some of them were very disappointed to learn that no, no house available.

What idiots come up with a scam like that, and can't even remember to put down the right telephone number? At least, we saved some people a lot of money, I'm sure.

[squashedfrog]

I've had the ringing about your car accident call quite a few times. And one time the guy did argue with me for some time about whether or not I'd been in a car accident as "his records clearly showed I had been and was entitled to compensation". I realised his company must have bought my details from my insurance firm, after id backed out of a car park space at two miles an hour and accidently dented the wheel arch of the empty car in the next booth. For some reason he was trying to tell me I could sue the other driver (?) for my injuries (?). Wow. 

[nutraxfornerves]

The "your car accident" reminds me of this one.

My driveway is very narrow. One day I wasn't paying enough attention and I hit a fence post and wound up with a dented & scraped front fender. About a week later, I found a note on my windshield.

It said something like this:
My grandmother's car was parked in your neighborhood and was seriously damaged by a hit and un driver. I've been looking all over and I saw your car. The damage on your car is obviously from hitting my grandmother's car. I took a paint scraping from grandmother's car to a car dealer who said it's from [my make,model, and color.]

[Rant and rabble about how only a low life would do a hit & run]. If you don't call me by such & such a date, I'm going to notify the police.

I called my insurance agent right away, who told me that it was a pure scam. Maybe I did hit another car and maybe it was a hit & run. Naturally, I'll pay "grandma" rather than have the police brought in.

I decided to explore it, just for the heck of it. I called the number and got a very sleepy guy. When I told him that he needed to call my insurance agent and put in a claim, he made some scrabble-ish suggestions and hung up.

[Shalamar]

I've gotten phone calls, supposedly from a bank, "because we are very concerned about the amount of interest you have on your credit card balance."  Good trick, considering that we don't pay interest and haven't done so in years.  (We USED to - oh, did we - but that's another story.)  I'm guessing that scam usually works - kind of like calling ten random people and saying "All has been discovered; you must flee the country!"  At least one of them will have a guilty conscience and start packing his/her bags. 

[gramma dishes]

I've gotten phone calls, supposedly from a bank, "because we are very concerned about the amount of interest you have on your credit card balance."  ...

LOL!  Maybe that's the problem!  You don't have ANY interest on your credit card balance and gosh darn it!!  They want you to have some  -- not just "some", but LOTS.  They're not making any money off of you!   

[Thipu1]

I've gotten phone calls, supposedly from a bank, "because we are very concerned about the amount of interest you have on your credit card balance."  ...

LOL!  Maybe that's the problem!  You don't have ANY interest on your credit card balance and gosh darn it!!  They want you to have some  -- not just "some", but LOTS.  They're not making any money off of you!   

I've had an attempted scam from my credit card company based on that. 

I've never carried a balance and never had to pay interest or late fees.  Credit card companies consider people like me 'dead-beats' because the few charges I make are paid when due and paid in full.

I changed my card when I received a phone call from someone who seemed very concerned.  The company feared that my identity had been stolen.  There were 'suspicious' charges on my card.  The suspicious charges were :

1) A $250 contribution to a public television station.
2) A $14 bottle of wine from a neighborhood store.
3) $8 for a used book bought on-line. 

I said that those purchases were ones I had made and paid for in full when the statement arrived.  After all, if someone is going to steal your identity, they'll be having a bit more fun with it than a charitable contribution, a bottle of wine and a used book. 

Regardless,   I was informed that, for 'for my safety', my card would be voided and a new card issued. The new card had a higher interest rate and a lower credit limit. That's when I went shopping for a new credit card company.



       

[Luci45]

Our nephew had his credit card number stolen 5 years ago.

The thieves tested it by making a small credit - in this case to the opposite political party.

He said that made him angrier than the theft and the subsequent large purchases.

[VorFemme]

I used to work at an insurance company, setting up claims from the internet during the day.  Someone else took care of them at night - I kept a paper log of all attempts to file a claim as they were just getting this function set up and the programmers wanted details.

Someone abandoned an attempt to file a water damage claim where they were parked in a low lying area in "Famous City" (that is below sea level in the USA).  I logged it the next morning and then found a second report on the same policy, vehicle, and damages - but with the addition of four passengers who got hurt getting out of the vehicle when it slid into a drainage ditch....

Night person hadn't seen the earlier "incomplete" report.  I was the only person who "saw" both due to that paper log.  The company had lawyers in that state who shut down the attempt at fraud (medical claims) and I'm pretty sure denied the claim for the water damage, due to the attempted fraud (legal phrasing in contract made that the penalty for attempting to defraud the insurance company). 

In training, we heard stories of attempts to do worse....such as trying to file a claim for something that burned up in a house fire that the person never owned (high end computer) or the whole house (inventory records had some incriminating information included). 

The old commercial phrased it as "it's not nice to fool Mother Nature" - but your insurance company can not only get you into legal trouble - you'll be in financial trouble due to not being PAID for the damages, under those circumstances.

[Shalamar]

LOL!  Maybe that's the problem! 

Hee hee!  That reminds me of that bit in Friends:

Monica:  Rachel, your bank called.  There's been some suspicious activity on your credit card.
Rachel:  What?!?  There can't be!  I haven't used it in months!
Monica:  THAT'S the suspicious activity.

[snowflake]

Many, many years ago, I participated in an online community for fibromyalgics.  I no longer do so because of people like the one in this story.
<snip>

I confess I was banned from an infertility forum for calling out a scammer.  It was set up with different sections for different types of infertility.  Because my husband and I have very FUN reproductive systems, our problems actually overlapped many different causes.

That was why I discovered one screen name posting a different story in different areas.  On on section she had unexplained ovarian issues and ovulated twice a year.  On another, she had horrible endometriosis and had monthly surgeries for it.  On yet another, her husband had a zero sperm count.  At first I just let it go and figured she was some attention-seeker.  Besides, wasn't I looking like some fake poster with every infertility diagnosis under the sun?  But then on every single section, she had a "miracle" pregnancy and claimed it was due to one over-priced device that you could buy on a shady website.  Keep in mind, that with fertility treatments running easily in the tens of thousands of dollars, a $500 miracle treatment looks pretty dandy.

So she posted on one of my threads, I responded with links to all her other threads and said, "I know what you are doing, please don't insult my intelligence."  I'll admit to being angry and hormonal from fertility drugs.  While many private messages told me that I was being pretty reasonable, I'm pretty sure my tone was on the crabby side.

I got banned for "not keeping in the supportive tone of our boards."    I figured that with moderators like those, who needed trolls? 

[athersgeo]

I've had the ringing about your car accident call quite a few times. And one time the guy did argue with me for some time about whether or not I'd been in a car accident as "his records clearly showed I had been and was entitled to compensation". I realised his company must have bought my details from my insurance firm, after id backed out of a car park space at two miles an hour and accidently dented the wheel arch of the empty car in the next booth. For some reason he was trying to tell me I could sue the other driver (?) for my injuries (?). Wow.

which would explain it, except for one minor detail: I haven't made an insurance claim because I've not had an accident with anything other than my own gatepost... (yes; I have just touched wood)

[Elfmama]

Lastly, here's a new one for the thread: "I'm ringing you about your car accident."
I've had two or three of these, where someone opens the conversation with those words. My immediate response is generally, "What car accident?" So far, I've yet to have anyone argue the point with me so I'm still not entirely sure what the scam is, but it's all rather strange...

We had a rather weird one the other day, and the best that we can come up with is that the insurance agent thought that we were part of a scam.

DH witnessed a minor traffic accident; someone in a pickup truck cut off another driver, so close that the other driver hit him.  Pickup didn't even slow down, but took off at a dangerously high speed. We stopped to give the other driver our contact information; while we were there, a cop pulled up, took the driver's statement, took DH's information, then told us that someone else had witnessed the accident and got a plate number from the pickup.

Some days later a person who said that she was from an insurance company called. 
Insurance Lady: "I'm asking about the accident that you witnessed on December 31st on X road."
DH: "I did witness an accident on that date, but it was on Y Highway."
IL: "Oh.  Is that in Smalltown, Maryland?"
DH: "No, it's in Major Suburb."
IL: "I see.  And it was a single lane in each direction?"
DH (by now very confused): "No, it's two lanes in each direction, plus left turn lanes."
IL: "Okay, I think I have all I need.  Thank you!" And she hung up.

 

[asb8]

To me that sound like she was checking your husband's statement and seeing if he told the same story (as in narrative, I'm not accusing him of lying) when asked again.  When I supervised a large fleet of vehicles, I used a similar tactic whenever I had to (in-house) investigate an accident.  You'd be amazed how many drivers would nod and smile when I asked then to verify completely different details in an attempt to evade being written up.