S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[Katana_Geldar]

But that's normal, they can put might in but not take it out without a PIN.

I wish my work paid rowctronicallt rather than by cheque.

[magicdomino]

That reminds me of when my 16-year-old daughter recently applied to be one of those folks who hand out samples of food in grocery stores.  She was told that she had to buy all of the ingredients herself up front, and she'd be reimbursed.  Okay - a little shady, but not really raising the red flags.  Then she was told that she'd be expected to buy top-quality equipment in which to prepare the food, and she WOULDN'T be reimbursed for that. 

Maybe this isn't a scam, but I really don't think a 16-year-old is interested in buying, say, an expensive toaster oven.

Oh, it's a scam.  That's not at all how those 'free sample' things are done!!!  Glad she just told them "No, thanks" and left.

The next step is probably "Provide us with your bank account number for your reimbursement and paychecks."

Or she has to buy the expensive equipment from the sample company when equipment of similiar quality would be a fraction of the cost.  Mysteriously, there wouldn't be any events available for her after buying the overpriced equipment.

[Elfmama]

My mother has been getting some sort of robocalls that are really worrying her.  No one there when she answers, then after about 3 or 4 repetitions of "Hello? Hello?" a sexy (?) female voice says "Goodbye..." and then a hangup.  Any ideas?

[blue2000]

That reminds me of when my 16-year-old daughter recently applied to be one of those folks who hand out samples of food in grocery stores.  She was told that she had to buy all of the ingredients herself up front, and she'd be reimbursed.  Okay - a little shady, but not really raising the red flags.  Then she was told that she'd be expected to buy top-quality equipment in which to prepare the food, and she WOULDN'T be reimbursed for that. 

Maybe this isn't a scam, but I really don't think a 16-year-old is interested in buying, say, an expensive toaster oven.

Scam. Definitely.

The people that do ours have all their equipment supplied to them by their employer, and samples usually supplied by the manufacturer. We get leftover samples and free gifts sometimes when they are done with the promotion. The only thing that might cost money is damaged/missing equipment - I think the sample people are held responsible for that.

[Julian]

My mother has been getting some sort of robocalls that are really worrying her.  No one there when she answers, then after about 3 or 4 repetitions of "Hello? Hello?" a sexy (?) female voice says "Goodbye..." and then a hangup.  Any ideas?

That's exactly how our 'pre-emptive' calls go.  I suspect the robocalls are to see if anyone is at home at a particular time, because the followup Microsoft scam calls have been coming through at the same time the following night.

[jedikaiti]

Adriana is dying to get ahold of me too.  4 emails since last weekend.  I just wish I could remember who she was...

I also got a few emails from "Facebook" from a guy who saw my profile pictures, thinks I'm s*xy and wants me to contact him so we can do inappropriate things together.

My profile picture is a cartoon and my banner is a drawing my kid made.  Apparently, it just screams "I'm ready and willing!!!"

I decided against responding.   

I've been getting them, too - to an old email addy that has never been used with FB, and which I revived only to plan my wedding.

[Sirius]

I keep getting phone calls claiming to be from the U.S. Census bureau and asking me to call back.  Here's the interesting part:  It's all been voice mails.  The phone has never rung from these folks.  Like yesterday:  I was right here working from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., and the phone didn't ring once.  Yet, this morning when I had to make a call the signal that we had a voice mail was sounding, so after I made my call I checked, and it was another from the "Census Bureau" asking us to call them back.  But the phone had never rung.  I don't know how they're leaving phone messages without the phone ringing.  I looked the number that the message says to call up on line, and it's a scam.  According to the Census Bureau website, they'd send us a letter if the wanted information from us, and not call unless we hadn't responded to their letter.  I got suspicious because of the fact that it's 2013 and not time yet for a census.

[Katana_Geldar]

I've ears about that scam. They get your money when you call back.

[RingTailedLemur]

I've been getting a lot of emails about the "problem" with my bank account, click this link to fix it!

I enjoyed the one signed by the bank's "Bussiness" Manager.

[Margo]

I get a lot of e-mails like that. Most of them claiming to come from banks I don't bank with.

I always forward them to the relevant bank (most here have an e-mail address specifically for that purpose)

[Amava]

The bank ones have become a real plague here too, all banks already warn against it on their websites.
It was on the news a few days ago, too.

[RingTailedLemur]

I get a lot of e-mails like that. Most of them claiming to come from banks I don't bank with.

I always forward them to the relevant bank (most here have an e-mail address specifically for that purpose)

I used to do that, then Yahoo! blocked me from sending emails because I was "sending spam" so now I don't bother.

[CakeBeret]

I had a typical scam email last night. My payment of $1.5 million is ready to be disbursed to me. Blah, blah...and then it says that Reverend Eze will be handling my payment. DH and I both lost it at that point. Reverend Eze.

[Twik]

Oooh, just got one today, a classic. Here's an excerpt:

If you are receiving this notification for the first ($US10,500,000) which is on your name, can only be paid upon our receipt of your beneficiary identification security transfer CODE which is GN6720XN for clearance of the fund. Send it immediately to us for instant accreditation of your proceeds into your account as listed below.
 
1) Your full name
2) Phone, fax and mobile#
3) Address :
4) Profession:
5) Age:
6) Marital status:
7) Copy of your any valid ID card.ATTACHED !!
 
Ensure you contact Mr. (redacted) with all your Full contact details regarding of your Fund and get back to us for more information.

NB. THIS TRANSACTION IS BEING MONITORED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IN ORDER TO GUARDS US FOR INTERNET IMPOSTORS.

The poor English, the claim that it comes from a major bank, the demand for copies of "any valid ID" are only topped by the last line, warning that the government is "guards us for internet imposters". Thanks, I feel much more secure.

[Shalamar]

Yeah, my daughter definitely didn't feel right about that food demo job.  She'd applied for two, actually - the first was handing out sushi samples, and that was definitely not a scam.  She would have received the samples from an actual sushi chef on the premises, handed them out, and directed any questions to him.    This "buy all our stuff, make the food yourself, and we'll reimburse you later" sounded very hinky.  Plus, the lady doing the "interviewing" really rushed her into making a committment, which is always a bad sign.  My daughter signed some papers, not knowing any better, and she was frantic thinking that she'd signed her life away.  I called the woman myself later and said "My daughter's not interested."