S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[Miss Tickle]

A few years ago I got a call from a girl wanting to open a bank account.  Not something I do, but before I could transfer her she told me WHY she needed the account.

Seems she was advertising on Craigslist for nanny/babysitting jobs, and a "Dr. Oz" from England wanted to hire her! He'd pay her 2000 per month for picking up the kids from school and looking after them until his sister got off work two hours later. The rest of the time she was free to go to school or whatever. But she needed an account from our bank for him to deposit her pay.

I asked all sorts of questions (pretty sure it was a scam) and she kept repeating "But if it's true…, But if it's not a scam…" I asked if she'd done the math?  No, but it seems like a great deal." (Yeah 35+ dollars an hour for babysitting sounds AWESOME. Duh.)

I asked if she'd trust someone with her kids she'd never met and hired off the net?

Well, I don't know, but if it's true….?

I suggested she verify her information from this doctor before she did anything. And not send any money anywhere for him.

She called back. I couldn't believe it! She called again and again. More rounds of "But, if it's true...", and "he seems so sincere, and it's a lot of money".

I explained exactly what I thought would happen. He'd send her a check for payment, and ask that she forward some money to his "sister" or similar.  I asked if he'd suggested that yet, but she demurred.  She made a couple more comments about how "real" he was, he even told her where he works (a clinic with no directory) and finally mentioned his name again.

Except this time it wasn't the same name she gave me the first time. The first call she called him "Dr. Oz", this time he was "Dr. Phil". I pointed out that most legitimate doctors can remember their own names for more than a couple weeks at a time.

She said "Oh." and hung up. 

I don't know if she was trying to scam me, or he was trying to scam her, but I learned something.

[shadowfox79]

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.

I had similar feelings when someone stole my credit card and used it to fly Ryanair.

[otterwoman]

This would be listed under Scammer Fail:

Right before Christmas, a package was delivered to me at home. From Apple. My DH was there and asked if I had ordered anything. Nope. So, I opened it up. It was a Mac Book Pro laptop. I was confused, DH wondered aloud if it was a gift from my stepmom (she gave DD an iPad last Christams). I said I wasn't that good this year, besides all our computers are Windows. The packing slip didn't indicate who paid for it.

So, I called Apple, and asked them. They said MyName ordered it. Umm, no I didn't. How was it paid for? With this credit card, and he read off my credit card number! Ack! He had my name and address, but a different email address. The Apple CSR and I discussed the situation. He recommended that I call my credit card company, then the police, then back to Apple.

I called the CC company, they cancelled the transaction and my card. They sent a new card the next business day. The police came and took a report. I gave the trooper a copy of the pack list and the print out showing the cost of the item. He told me not to hold my breath on him finding the person.

Then back to Apple to return the laptop. They emailed me a return shipping label.

What kind of idiot steals a credit card, goes shopping, and then has the stuff shipped to the real CC holder's house?

[magicdomino]

This would be listed under Scammer Fail:

Right before Christmas, a package was delivered to me at home. From Apple. My DH was there and asked if I had ordered anything. Nope. So, I opened it up. It was a Mac Book Pro laptop. I was confused, DH wondered aloud if it was a gift from my stepmom (she gave DD an iPad last Christams). I said I wasn't that good this year, besides all our computers are Windows. The packing slip didn't indicate who paid for it.

So, I called Apple, and asked them. They said MyName ordered it. Umm, no I didn't. How was it paid for? With this credit card, and he read off my credit card number! Ack! He had my name and address, but a different email address. The Apple CSR and I discussed the situation. He recommended that I call my credit card company, then the police, then back to Apple.

I called the CC company, they cancelled the transaction and my card. They sent a new card the next business day. The police came and took a report. I gave the trooper a copy of the pack list and the print out showing the cost of the item. He told me not to hold my breath on him finding the person.

Then back to Apple to return the laptop. They emailed me a return shipping label.

What kind of idiot steals a credit card, goes shopping, and then has the stuff shipped to the real CC holder's house?

An idiot who didn't notice that the billing address had automatically filled in the sending address.  The question is, how did he get your address in the first place?

[Slartibartfast]

My guess is that he got into your Amazon.com account, but didn't have your credit card number.  Amazon makes you re-enter the number if you ship anywhere you haven't shipped before, but it stores your card number (without displaying it) and lets you ship to your home without needing to put anything in again.  It's still helpful from a scammer standpoint, but my guess is that the scammer had intentions of getting free stuff from your card and didn't realize until checkout that he couldn't make it ship anywhere he could get it.

[otterwoman]

This would be listed under Scammer Fail:

Right before Christmas, a package was delivered to me at home. From Apple. My DH was there and asked if I had ordered anything. Nope. So, I opened it up. It was a Mac Book Pro laptop. I was confused, DH wondered aloud if it was a gift from my stepmom (she gave DD an iPad last Christams). I said I wasn't that good this year, besides all our computers are Windows. The packing slip didn't indicate who paid for it.

So, I called Apple, and asked them. They said MyName ordered it. Umm, no I didn't. How was it paid for? With this credit card, and he read off my credit card number! Ack! He had my name and address, but a different email address. The Apple CSR and I discussed the situation. He recommended that I call my credit card company, then the police, then back to Apple.

I called the CC company, they cancelled the transaction and my card. They sent a new card the next business day. The police came and took a report. I gave the trooper a copy of the pack list and the print out showing the cost of the item. He told me not to hold my breath on him finding the person.

Then back to Apple to return the laptop. They emailed me a return shipping label.

What kind of idiot steals a credit card, goes shopping, and then has the stuff shipped to the real CC holder's house?

An idiot who didn't notice that the billing address had automatically filled in the sending address.  The question is, how did he get your address in the first place?

The best guess I have is an employee at an online store swiped the info when I ordered something. I don't get mailings from that CC company, everything is online with them.

[otterwoman]

My guess is that he got into your Amazon.com account, but didn't have your credit card number.  Amazon makes you re-enter the number if you ship anywhere you haven't shipped before, but it stores your card number (without displaying it) and lets you ship to your home without needing to put anything in again.  It's still helpful from a scammer standpoint, but my guess is that the scammer had intentions of getting free stuff from your card and didn't realize until checkout that he couldn't make it ship anywhere he could get it.

But, I've never ordered from Apple.com.

[MommyPenguin]

It's possible that the scammer sent it to your home address to avoid setting off any credit alerts, and planned to stop by your house and grab the package off your porch.  But then you picked it up before he could get there.

[Slartibartfast]

My guess is that he got into your Amazon.com account, but didn't have your credit card number.  Amazon makes you re-enter the number if you ship anywhere you haven't shipped before, but it stores your card number (without displaying it) and lets you ship to your home without needing to put anything in again.  It's still helpful from a scammer standpoint, but my guess is that the scammer had intentions of getting free stuff from your card and didn't realize until checkout that he couldn't make it ship anywhere he could get it.

But, I've never ordered from Apple.com.

Bah, I read Apple as Amazon.  Never mind!

[Acadianna]

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. 

I had a similar reaction when my own bank froze my debit card AND my credit card, for "suspicious activity" -- which consisted of $50 worth of t-shirts purchased at Death Valley.

Because, of course, the first thing one does after stealing a card number is run to Death Valley and buy t-shirts!

[Julian]

I've had my bank call me when I've been overseas due to the cards being used there.  Yeah, by me!   

These days I call them before I go away.

[Iris]

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. 

I had a similar reaction when my own bank froze my debit card AND my credit card, for "suspicious activity" -- which consisted of $50 worth of t-shirts purchased at Death Valley.

Because, of course, the first thing one does after stealing a card number is run to Death Valley and buy t-shirts!

Our CC company picked up a scam based on a round of drinks -in another country. According to the nice lady who stopped the nasty thieves, scammers often make a small test purchase with the card before they go for the big stuff.

[athersgeo]

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. 

I had a similar reaction when my own bank froze my debit card AND my credit card, for "suspicious activity" -- which consisted of $50 worth of t-shirts purchased at Death Valley.

Because, of course, the first thing one does after stealing a card number is run to Death Valley and buy t-shirts!

I can actually beat both of those. My CC number got ripped off by someone in (I think) New Hampshire (or it might have been Vermont...somewhere up there, anyway). My bank didn't catch it, I did - when I (apparently) bought $20 worth of...

*drumroll please*

...toothpaste.

Yup.

My credit card was stolen to buy toothpaste.

(I am aware that what they were doing was doing a small transaction to test the card before launching into something bigger, but still, toothpaste?!)

I will say that it gave the girl in my bank's fraud department a good giggle to start her week with, though!

[o_gal]

I've had my bank call me when I've been overseas due to the cards being used there.  Yeah, by me!   

These days I call them before I go away.

I posted this in the brain hurt thread - sometimes it doesn't help to call them before hand.

We went to France for vacation in 2010. Before going, I called my credit card companies and told them I would be in France between A and B dates and would be using the credit cards. Then I reserved hotel rooms in Paris for dates A through X, and then we would be out in the countryside, then again for date B. No problems reserving.

We go on vacation, have an awesome time, fly back to US, then 2 days later I try to use 1 of the credit cards and it's denied. I call them up and have this conversation.

Me: Hi, my credit card was denied, can you tell me why?
Rep: We show that you used the card out of the country.
Me: Yes, that's why I called you before to let you know and note it in my file.
Rep: We attempted to contact you to confirm the transaction (note: they flagged the second hotel stay as suspicious)
Me: But you called my home number.
Rep: Yes, that's what we have on file.
Me: So let me get this straight. I call you to tell you I will be in France on these dates, and I will be using the credit card - in France. You supposedly note this in my file. Then when I do use the card in France, you don't look at the notes and instead call me at home, in the US, to confirm a transaction, when I am *in France*, as I told you I would be.
Rep: Oh.

[MommyPenguin]

The time our credit card number was stolen, it was used to buy a $1k airplane ticket on United Emirates Airline, or something like that.  Usually mine is really good about calling us for stuff that *does* sound weird... buying thousands of dollars of LEGOs, for instance.  (We're collectors.)  We've also had *them* lose our number a few times, when they had a security breech, so we've gotten new numbers a bunch of times.  It's always annoying to have to memorize a new number.  I also triggered it once by buying a baby pool.  I went to a grocery store that is sort of like a super Walmart, sells tons of other stuff besides groceries.  I wanted to buy the kids a plastic baby pool, which was under $10.  I didn't want to have to carry it around the store, or try to manage it plus a full cart of groceries, so I bought it first, took it out to the car, then bought the groceries.  But the small charge of $7 and then the big $200 charge of groceries at the same store set off the trigger.   Bah.