S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[ladyknight1]

Not sure if this was an honest to goodness scam but definitely a misrepresentation of the facts.

Dh recently got a letter in the mail with the warning that he hasn't paid his life insurance and if he doesn't pony up ASAP, he's going to be dropped.  He showed it to me very confused and a little concerned.

His insurance is through my work and the premium is deducted directly through my paycheck.

And he's never, ever had insurance with this company.

I googled the name and it is (apparently) a legit company.  After reading the fine print, it was more like one of those things where if you send in money, you are automatically signed up and you'll get monthly charges on your credit card.   

And I didn't like the implication that we're deadbeat losers who don't pay our bills.   

Could a relative have taken a policy out on him?

DH's parents took one out on him, then stopped paying for it and we got a bill. He didn't know they had taken the policy out, never signed authorization either. 

[LazyDaisy]

Not sure if this was an honest to goodness scam but definitely a misrepresentation of the facts.

Dh recently got a letter in the mail with the warning that he hasn't paid his life insurance and if he doesn't pony up ASAP, he's going to be dropped.  He showed it to me very confused and a little concerned.

His insurance is through my work and the premium is deducted directly through my paycheck.

And he's never, ever had insurance with this company.

I googled the name and it is (apparently) a legit company.  After reading the fine print, it was more like one of those things where if you send in money, you are automatically signed up and you'll get monthly charges on your credit card.   

And I didn't like the implication that we're deadbeat losers who don't pay our bills.   

Could a relative have taken a policy out on him?

DH's parents took one out on him, then stopped paying for it and we got a bill. He didn't know they had taken the policy out, never signed authorization either. 

I don't think a parent needs their own child's permission (guessing), or spouses need permission either. My parents have always had a small life insurance policy for each of their kids since we were little. They still pay the premiums (their choice) but since I became an adult (a billion years ago), I have had the ability to change the beneficiary anytime I want: my sister changed the beneficiary to her husband when she married; I'm single so I'm OK with leaving it as my parents, since they are the most likely to be burdened with funeral expenses (until they pass); and I have no idea what my bother has done (not a typo -- he's an idiot). The point wasn't to get rich but to ensure that we each had life insurance while we were young and healthy and wouldn't be denied later in life due to illness or injury. It I have to fill out a family medical history, I practically check all the boxes -- cancer, heart disease, diabetes...

Once a year I get notices from the insurance company that sound somewhat like I'm falling behind in payments until I really read them carefully -- they indicate that if I stop paying, my coverage will last until something like 2025 and if I decide to cancel the policy and take a cash payment, I have $X amount of cash-surrender value.

I wonder if your DH could contact the insurance co and change the beneficiary to you (provided you wanted to take over the payments) or cash it out completely.

[ladyknight1]

This policy was taken out after DH met me, so he was 23 at the time. He is going through the channels of getting the policy transferred and making myself and DS the beneficiaries. More insurance is great, but we were surprised to get the bills.

[Midge]

File under "good try, buddy - or maybe not":

IT-Help Service.

Your mailbox has exceeded the storage limit which is 20GB as set by your administrator,you are currently running on 20.9GB, you may not be able to send or receive new mail until you re-validate your mailbox.
To re-validate your mailbox please CLICK HERE.
Thanks
System Administrator.

Gee, if I can't receive new mail, how did I get one from you, him?

I get these about every other month at work. The scammers don't even have the sense to try and hide their email address -- which would have to be [firstinitiallastname]@[university].edu to even be close to legitimate and nothing around here is signed "System Administrator," there is always a name. The crazy thing is that there are people that fall for this.

We get these at my university as well, with the same obviously bogus email addresses. My favorite one started out "I am telling you your mailbox has exceeded the storage limit ..."

And I am telling you our IT department does not write emails like this, Scammy McScamerson.

[Twik]

This reminds me of an incident with my alma mater (maybe strike out the "alma", since that means "dear", and this was not endearing).

I got a letter near the end of the year, reminding me that I had made a pledge to the alumni fund, and would I please honour it? The letter said that they realized it was easy to procrastinate, but that I needed to make good on my promises, etc.

So, I was about to write a check, when I noticed that I *had* sent in the pledge when I made it six months ago.

Now, if it were just $20 or something, I wouldn't have been *too* bothered, but it had actually been a rather sizeable donation for my financial situation, and I was being conned into paying it twice! Plus, I'd gotten the load of guilt for procrastinating, when I hadn't. I contacted the university, and gave them a lecture of my own, about why I was not going to support any institution that tried to shame me while simultaneously manipulating me into giving twice my intended donation.

The first response I got was sort of a shrug, "So? Just don't send the second check." Then, I guess they must have looked at what I'd originally sent. I got a personal call back from the alumni department, apologizing. They also mentioned that this had been a form letter campaign, which they'd sent out to all their donors as a "reminder"; it had gotten very negative feedback, they admitted. I wonder why.

[TootsNYC]

. . .
So in the car the other day, DD8 (who has obviously been mulling this over) said, "Mom, I know how you can get past the gates!"

Me:  Oh?  How?

DD8: Well, you just buy something.  Then you go back later and steal the same thing but bring your receipt.  Then when the gates go off, you just say, "Oh, it's okay, I have a receipt right here!" and then you have two things!

 . . .


She's a really good kid and I doubt she ever would steal anything.  She likes a good puzzle and went about solving the problem of security gates. But her logic scared me a little, LOL.

We used to sit around the dinner table and plan how we'd rob and bank, and where we'd hide  out (under the greenhouse) in town to wait for the dragnet to drop. Could we hide food there, would it keep, when would we go out for air, etc.

[2littlemonkeys]

Not sure if this was an honest to goodness scam but definitely a misrepresentation of the facts.

Dh recently got a letter in the mail with the warning that he hasn't paid his life insurance and if he doesn't pony up ASAP, he's going to be dropped.  He showed it to me very confused and a little concerned.

His insurance is through my work and the premium is deducted directly through my paycheck.

And he's never, ever had insurance with this company.

I googled the name and it is (apparently) a legit company.  After reading the fine print, it was more like one of those things where if you send in money, you are automatically signed up and you'll get monthly charges on your credit card.   

And I didn't like the implication that we're deadbeat losers who don't pay our bills.   

Could a relative have taken a policy out on him?

DH's parents took one out on him, then stopped paying for it and we got a bill. He didn't know they had taken the policy out, never signed authorization either. 

No, his parents live with us and didn't know anything about it.  He USED to have a private policy but it was with a completely different company and we cashed that out when he hopped onto my work policy a few years ago.  He asked his mom because he couldn't remember the name of the original company.  I was looking at it more closely and it was one of those alarmist letters where they make you think there's a problem but it's really just a ploy to get you to sign up for their service. 

LOL Toots!  That sounds like a game she could get into.  I just hope she uses her noodle for good and not evil.

[ladyknight1]

Stores in my area have taken to keeping baby formula in locking cages because of theft.

This is why : http://www.wesh.com/news/central-florida/seminole-county/men-accused-of-stealing-baby-formula-from-target/-/17597106/22022190/-/nxlxlz/-/index.html

The article says the men stole formula in the $$$ value range to sell on Craigslist. I have also seen multiple reports of it being sold at flea markets and exported to other countries after being stolen.

[Free Range Hippy Chick]

We used to sit around the dinner table and plan how we'd rob and bank, and where we'd hide  out (under the greenhouse) in town to wait for the dragnet to drop. Could we hide food there, would it keep, when would we go out for air, etc.

Several years ago, while I was on holiday on a cruise, I was trying to put together a detective story (family challenge: everybody was going to write a story over the course of the holiday. Mr Chick and the Younger Chick completed theirs; the Elder Chick and I bombed out). Nowadays when you get off or on a cruise ship, you go through security and present your photo-ID card, which is also your room key. The card is scanned, and if people are late, the crew members know precisely who they're looking for.

I reckoned that I had worked out a way to bypass security (on a one off basis suitable for a detective novel, I hasten to add; any of you involved in national security needn't come looking...) but I wanted to know what actually happens on a cruise if somebody disembarks on a port visit and doesn't come back. I'd been thinking about my plot on and off all day, so when the Entertainments Manager came round to chat with everybody, my mouth ran slightly ahead of my brain. As he shook my hand, I said brightly, 'now you're just the person I need to talk to: I'm going to do a murder and I need your help.'

The poor Entertainments Manager was so completely flummoxed that he actually forgot to let go of my hand and his expression was priceless. Apparently he'd never had a passenger ask him that before, and he developed a tendency to walk away hurriedly and hide behind doors when he saw me again, possibly in case I landed him with disposing of the body.

I still think my plot device would have worked, though.

[blue2000]

Stores in my area have taken to keeping baby formula in locking cages because of theft.

This is why : http://www.wesh.com/news/central-florida/seminole-county/men-accused-of-stealing-baby-formula-from-target/-/17597106/22022190/-/nxlxlz/-/index.html

The article says the men stole formula in the $$$ value range to sell on Craigslist. I have also seen multiple reports of it being sold at flea markets and exported to other countries after being stolen.

Formula is also used in the drug trade. We have security tags on ours because of that.

[Katana_Geldar]

It also can be sold to china.

[gramma dishes]

Formula is also used in the drug trade. We have security tags on ours because of that.

    Can you expand on that a little?  Do you mean the formula itself is used in the making of some drugs, or do you mean the formula is emptied out and drugs are hidden in the innocent looking containers?

[nuit93]

Formula is also used in the drug trade. We have security tags on ours because of that.

    Can you expand on that a little?  Do you mean the formula itself is used in the making of some drugs, or do you mean the formula is emptied out and drugs are hidden in the innocent looking containers?

It's used to doctor other drugs that look similar.

[Mel the Redcap]

Formula is also used in the drug trade. We have security tags on ours because of that.

    Can you expand on that a little?  Do you mean the formula itself is used in the making of some drugs, or do you mean the formula is emptied out and drugs are hidden in the innocent looking containers?

A lot of drugs are 'cut' (bulked out, padded, diluted etc) with other substances to make them go further - basically an inert ingredient. Sometimes it's so the dealers can get more money for the same amount of drug, sometimes it's because the 'standard dose' of a drug would be so tiny that it would be impossible to measure out and the extra bulk makes it easier (and safer) for the users to handle. Baby formula is ideal because it's a fine powder, it dissolves easily in water, and it's harmless. (Unfortunately 'harmless' is not always the main consideration for the dealer! Some incredibly dangerous poisons have been used to cut drugs in the past.)

...After reading this over, I think I should mention that my knowledge of drug manufacture and trade is minimal and gained through reading news articles etcetera, not through personal experience...

[jaxsue]

Stores in my area have taken to keeping baby formula in locking cages because of theft.

This is why : http://www.wesh.com/news/central-florida/seminole-county/men-accused-of-stealing-baby-formula-from-target/-/17597106/22022190/-/nxlxlz/-/index.html

The article says the men stole formula in the $$$ value range to sell on Craigslist. I have also seen multiple reports of it being sold at flea markets and exported to other countries after being stolen.

I've seen this in several Walmart stores in NJ. Theft of baby formula is a huge problem.