S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[alkira6]

I got a rather well-done Paypal scam email the other day. The email address looked believably and it said that my account was frozen due to suspected fraud, and I should log in to un-freeze it. The grammar was good and it looked pretty legit.

It was still a scam, though, and with scam emails that good, no wonder people fall for it.

Even with the most legit looking emails I never click on the link in the email, but go to the page in another tab myself. So far all of these "emergencies" have been fake.

[Wulfie]

I had a fun 3 page letter from a person who wanted to live at the complex I manage.

He wrote that he was getting out of prison soon for a “bogus” kidnapping charge. He has not gotten in trouble for the last 10 years (gee, wonder if the sentence was at least 10 years). He wants to live in my building because it is in a wonderful area with lots of promise for jobs. Hmm this is a high crime area and in the news at least once a week for some sort of murder/drive-by/major crime and he considers that a wonderful area?  Jobs here like everywhere else in the country are hard to find, and in this community unless you speak one of the African languages, forget it.

He went on to tell me how he was planning on writing fiction books to pay his rent , I am sure many of our writers on here wish they could manage that feat!  But, if that doesn’t’ work, he has a backup plan, writing, directing and producing p0rn movies. Yea, not happening in my building! We have a daycare across the parking lot from us, boys and girls club across the street and a tutoring center in the building not to mention lots of kids in the building.

My last name is a common one for the African American community. He proceeded to go on about how he would be a great star for the above job as well…. In detail. He thinks from my name that I would be very interesting to “get to know” and maybe work with on some films. – I am a fat, white woman and “NO” .

It went on along that vein for about another page and a half.  I had to give him credit for trying but we are unable to help him due to all sorts of reasons. The major one is that our screening criteria does not allow us to house people with convictions less than 5 years old or major crimes (i.e. murder, gang violence, drug trafficking, ect) due to the number of contracts we have with local agencies to house vulnerable adults . All of this is readily available on the same document that he got my name off of.   

[ladyknight1]

Wow, I don't think I want to be in residence management!

[MommyPenguin]

I had a fun 3 page letter from a person who wanted to live at the complex I manage.

He wrote that he was getting out of prison soon for a “bogus” kidnapping charge. He has not gotten in trouble for the last 10 years (gee, wonder if the sentence was at least 10 years). He wants to live in my building because it is in a wonderful area with lots of promise for jobs. Hmm this is a high crime area and in the news at least once a week for some sort of murder/drive-by/major crime and he considers that a wonderful area?  Jobs here like everywhere else in the country are hard to find, and in this community unless you speak one of the African languages, forget it.

He went on to tell me how he was planning on writing fiction books to pay his rent , I am sure many of our writers on here wish they could manage that feat!  But, if that doesn’t’ work, he has a backup plan, writing, directing and producing p0rn movies. Yea, not happening in my building! We have a daycare across the parking lot from us, boys and girls club across the street and a tutoring center in the building not to mention lots of kids in the building.

My last name is a common one for the African American community. He proceeded to go on about how he would be a great star for the above job as well…. In detail. He thinks from my name that I would be very interesting to “get to know” and maybe work with on some films. – I am a fat, white woman and “NO” .

It went on along that vein for about another page and a half.  I had to give him credit for trying but we are unable to help him due to all sorts of reasons. The major one is that our screening criteria does not allow us to house people with convictions less than 5 years old or major crimes (i.e. murder, gang violence, drug trafficking, ect) due to the number of contracts we have with local agencies to house vulnerable adults . All of this is readily available on the same document that he got my name off of.

Any possibility that it's somebody playing a joke?  It sounds a little over the top for the guy to think that any of these things would really be pluses in his favor (not doubting you, doubting him).  I'm wondering if somebody thought it would be funny.

[Wulfie]

The letter was stamped with the notice from the prison that the writer is an inmate and that the contents had not been screened by the prison.  It was also addressed with the return address of prison in Walla Walla where they send the really bad guys like Ridgeway (the Green River Murderer). 

Granted, the prisoner could be playing a joke but the whole tone of the letter was that he felt these were good honest plans and that he would be a great addition to our property.

[Amara]

We have recently determined that different computers have logged into your account, and spends a lot of failures were present before the connection.

There just have to be some situations at work where I can use that line.

[siamesecat2965]

We have recently determined that different computers have logged into your account, and spends a lot of failures were present before the connection.

There just have to be some situations at work where I can use that line.

I know! and Im betting somewhere, someone, is quite proud of their command of the English language.

[LadyClaire]

The letter was stamped with the notice from the prison that the writer is an inmate and that the contents had not been screened by the prison.  It was also addressed with the return address of prison in Walla Walla where they send the really bad guys like Ridgeway (the Green River Murderer). 

Granted, the prisoner could be playing a joke but the whole tone of the letter was that he felt these were good honest plans and that he would be a great addition to our property.

We got a 4 page, front-and-back letter from a prisoner once who wanted to attend our university. A good 75% of the letter was complete and utter gibberish/made zero sense. It was seriously weird and creepy. The letter made the rounds of the various university offices because it was just so completely crazy.

[Hillia]

My DH got a phishing email the other day. They did a good job- it looked pretty legit. It was supposedly a receipt from PayPal, showing his recent purchase of a watch. They were banking on him hitting the "Report problem" link at the bottom in a panic, to say he didn't buy that watch, and having him input his correct PayPal information to verify his account.

I got that one the other day!

My personal hotmail email account is my first name, plus the rest of my initials--for example, midgecdf@blahblah.com. When I looked at the "to" field on that email, it had been sent to midgecdf@blahblah.com, midgemmm@blahblah.com, midgeabc@blahblah.com, etc. They just typed in a first name, a bunch of letters after, and hit send, hoping for the best!

I just got this one today!  I had just used  my PayPal account for the first time in several months, and a few days after the legitimate transaction, I got this one.  I went to the PayPal site (in a separate browser window, not via any links) to verify that no such transaction had been processed.

[Reader]

My friend J just posted on Facebook, that a man came to her door yesterday.  Here is her conversation with him - "Weird thing just happened to me. A man came to my door and had cleaning supplies in his hand. This was our conversation:
Me: what's up?
 Man: I'm not selling anything. We're in the neighborhood giving out cleaning supplies to the ladies".
 Me: I don't live here, and we don't need them.
 I unfortunately did not catch the license plate. I did report it, though.
 Anyone have anything like this ever happen? Weird that he wasn't selling anything, but was giving away products to "ladies". What's the catch???"

People chiming in have all said it's a scam to gain entrance to the home for assault, to be robbed or even raped  , said she was smart to say she didn't live there, and was giving advice to have her change her routine, and get a dog etc.  She later checked with other houses and neighbors and no one else was approached and said a call to ADT was on the horizon, as she lives alone with her daughter.

[Luci]

My DH got a phishing email the other day. They did a good job- it looked pretty legit. It was supposedly a receipt from PayPal, showing his recent purchase of a watch. They were banking on him hitting the "Report problem" link at the bottom in a panic, to say he didn't buy that watch, and having him input his correct PayPal information to verify his account.

I got that one the other day!

My personal hotmail email account is my first name, plus the rest of my initials--for example, midgecdf@blahblah.com. When I looked at the "to" field on that email, it had been sent to midgecdf@blahblah.com, midgemmm@blahblah.com, midgeabc@blahblah.com, etc. They just typed in a first name, a bunch of letters after, and hit send, hoping for the best!

I just got this one today!  I had just used  my PayPal account for the first time in several months, and a few days after the legitimate transaction, I got this one.  I went to the PayPal site (in a separate browser window, not via any links) to verify that no such transaction had been processed.

I got a fraud alert from Discover and phoned. The customer service person informed that I could use the link and not have to call. I was too shocked to try to explain it to her.

[bloo]

I just posted an ad to Craigslist to sell my bicycle.

When I opened my email a little bit ago and read this response I about fell out my chair laughing:

Hello i am interested in your bike i was wondering if you would be willing to waive the money if it went to a young couple starting out in our first apartment and bring it to us as we dont drive if so thank you your a lifesaver if not i understand and god bless

Certainly not a scam, but definitely beggy with a little bit of moochy!

[bloo]

Having a weird day.

Just checked my email again (to see if there are any other nuts that want me to take my nice things and deliver them to them) and got a receipt from Walmart.com.

Apparently I decided to buy a $200 e-gift card with my credit card that is maintained on that account. Only of course it's not delivered to my home address (being an E-gift card an all) but it's also not being delivered to the email on the account. It's one I've never heard of.

Because I'm nice like that. Just sending $200 to random strangers.

Called credit card company - cancelled card.
Went into Walmart.com's website and cancelled the order and deleted the two credit cards stored in there.
CSR at Walmart.com agreed that cancelling my Walmart.com account is a good idea and, if I want to set up a new one, said I'd need to use a new email address as using the old one will send up a red flag about fraud.

[ladymaureen]

I get a LOT of spam. So the emails from Paypal about my account, notices my direct deposit has been rejected -- click here to update my software, lonesome Nigerians, etc. are par for the course.

I'm noticing a new spam type -- usually a subject line that has to do with a news item and a link to click. Just yesterday and today I got emails offering links to video of the Boston bomb and the video in West, Texas.

Ugh. And I know a lot of unsophisticated people will click on these.

[Carotte]

Went into Walmart.com's website and cancelled the order and deleted the two credit cards stored in there.

I try to never keep any card on file, it does take me one more minute to order something but at least I'm protected against that.
What bothers me is that for amazon I have to actually register the card to use it, then I have to go and delete it.
I ordered shoes today from a site I've used once before and was pertubed to not having to put my card info, turns out they had registered it and I had to go delete it.

Plus I'm pretty sure not having my card already in hold me up from doing some impulse* shopping.

* Impulse meaning that I've already thought about it for a few weeks, wondering if I need it and all that..