S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[pierrotlunaire0]

Years ago, I received a call at the DMV.  Customer was asking if she had left her wallet behind when she had been in earlier, and yes, we had found it.

She comes in the next day, and I verify that the license in the wallet was hers.  She is all smiles until she opens the wallet.  Where is her $500 in cash?  (There was maybe a dollar in it). 

Ma'am, I'm sorry but the only thing we really looked for was your ID.  We didn't take anything out of it.

"I had $500 in cash which I was going to use for Christmas shopping!"

I looked at her for a second, and then calmly said, "Then you need to contact the police and file a report."  She crumpled and left without a further word.  I don't know if she had planned a scam all along, or was just taking advantage of a situation, but we never heard from her or the police.

[Sirius]

Not a scam, but amusing nonetheless:  A couple of days ago we got a letter from the IRS saying that we owed them 1 cent, but they waived it because it was such a small amount.  How this happened:  I wrote a check for our estimated taxes for (say) $400 instead of $401, and I did this in early 2013.  Because our $1 was two months late we were penalized 1 cent.  It cost more than that to mail us the letter. 

[alkira6]

Not a scam, but amusing nonetheless:  A couple of days ago we got a letter from the IRS saying that we owed them 1 cent, but they waived it because it was such a small amount.  How this happened:  I wrote a check for our estimated taxes for (say) $400 instead of $401, and I did this in early 2013.  Because our $1 was two months late we were penalized 1 cent.  It cost more than that to mail us the letter.

After being audited in college (  crackdown on student loan fraud)  I was owed .23.  I made them write me a check.

[staceym]

If I get someone on the phone that I'm not quite sure what they are really looking for (scammer or just slow to get to the point) I use an alias.

One time had someone call and get my alias name then two hours later someone showed up for an appointment they had with Alias.  No such person here.  Hmmm.... it was an insurance salesman

this might be bad; but a coworker and I set up a fake voice mail.  The coworker is male and we used him to set up the voice mail.  So all calls asking who handles..blah blah blah go straight to this voice mail.

It's amusing some of the responses I get when I tell them he is unavailable (whether gone, not in, in a meeting, didn't answer his page, etc.).  Some tell me oh, that's okay I'll just send him an email - alrighty then  .  The one that I cracked up on was when the person told me they had is cell phone number and will just call him there 

[Redwing]

I'm now getting scam emails in italian.  I'm international people!

I've been getting them in French for weeks.  On my work email.  At the police department.

[doodlemor]

I'm now getting scam emails in italian.  I'm international people!

I've been getting them in French for weeks.  On my work email.  At the police department.

You could copy and paste them into google translate.  I doubt that the Montreal police would send emails in French, but it might be interesting to find out what these emails say.

[Twik]

I'm pretty sure the Montreal PD would send emails in French. It's an official provincial language, and the preferred one of the government.

[doodlemor]

I'm pretty sure the Montreal PD would send emails in French. It's an official provincial language, and the preferred one of the government.

Thanks, Twik.  I didn't realize that. 

Since that is the case, Redwing, unless there is something about the emails that appears salacious I stand by my advice to google translate them and find out if they could be important.

[pierrotlunaire0]

I'm now getting scam emails in italian.  I'm international people!

I've been getting them in French for weeks.  On my work email.  At the police department.

I took this to mean that Redwing's work email was at the police department, not that the email was coming from a police department.  It would be funny if a phishing email was hitting a police email.

[Redwing]

The French emails are coming to my work email and I do work for the police.  They are not from any police agency.  My rudimentary knowledge of French from high school has enabled to me to determine that.  I'm sure I'll get another.  I've gotten three so far.  I believe I posted one several pages back.

Also, you'd be astonished at how many of these phishing emails I do get on my work email.

[Bexx27]

Years ago, I received a call at the DMV.  Customer was asking if she had left her wallet behind when she had been in earlier, and yes, we had found it.

She comes in the next day, and I verify that the license in the wallet was hers.  She is all smiles until she opens the wallet.  Where is her $500 in cash?  (There was maybe a dollar in it). 

Ma'am, I'm sorry but the only thing we really looked for was your ID.  We didn't take anything out of it.

"I had $500 in cash which I was going to use for Christmas shopping!"

I looked at her for a second, and then calmly said, "Then you need to contact the police and file a report."  She crumpled and left without a further word.  I don't know if she had planned a scam all along, or was just taking advantage of a situation, but we never heard from her or the police.

  What did she think was going to happen? You'd just hand over $500 out of your pocket/register on her say-so without getting the police involved? I would love to know what some of these people are thinking (not much, I suspect).

[wolfie]

If I get someone on the phone that I'm not quite sure what they are really looking for (scammer or just slow to get to the point) I use an alias.

One time had someone call and get my alias name then two hours later someone showed up for an appointment they had with Alias.  No such person here.  Hmmm.... it was an insurance salesman

this might be bad; but a coworker and I set up a fake voice mail.  The coworker is male and we used him to set up the voice mail.  So all calls asking who handles..blah blah blah go straight to this voice mail.

It's amusing some of the responses I get when I tell them he is unavailable (whether gone, not in, in a meeting, didn't answer his page, etc.).  Some tell me oh, that's okay I'll just send him an email - alrighty then  .  The one that I cracked up on was when the person told me they had is cell phone number and will just call him there 

So to get out of having to do work you set up a fake account and just send people to that? I would be so mad if I was a customer and found out that instead of handling my issue you just sent me to the equivalent of the dead letter office.

[Wulfie]

If I get someone on the phone that I'm not quite sure what they are really looking for (scammer or just slow to get to the point) I use an alias.

One time had someone call and get my alias name then two hours later someone showed up for an appointment they had with Alias.  No such person here.  Hmmm.... it was an insurance salesman

this might be bad; but a coworker and I set up a fake voice mail.  The coworker is male and we used him to set up the voice mail.  So all calls asking who handles..blah blah blah go straight to this voice mail.

It's amusing some of the responses I get when I tell them he is unavailable (whether gone, not in, in a meeting, didn't answer his page, etc.).  Some tell me oh, that's okay I'll just send him an email - alrighty then  .  The one that I cracked up on was when the person told me they had is cell phone number and will just call him there 

So to get out of having to do work you set up a fake account and just send people to that? I would be so mad if I was a customer and found out that instead of handling my issue you just sent me to the equivalent of the dead letter office.

At my job that would be a termination offense.

[athersgeo]

If I get someone on the phone that I'm not quite sure what they are really looking for (scammer or just slow to get to the point) I use an alias.

One time had someone call and get my alias name then two hours later someone showed up for an appointment they had with Alias.  No such person here.  Hmmm.... it was an insurance salesman

this might be bad; but a coworker and I set up a fake voice mail.  The coworker is male and we used him to set up the voice mail.  So all calls asking who handles..blah blah blah go straight to this voice mail.

It's amusing some of the responses I get when I tell them he is unavailable (whether gone, not in, in a meeting, didn't answer his page, etc.).  Some tell me oh, that's okay I'll just send him an email - alrighty then  .  The one that I cracked up on was when the person told me they had is cell phone number and will just call him there 

So to get out of having to do work you set up a fake account and just send people to that? I would be so mad if I was a customer and found out that instead of handling my issue you just sent me to the equivalent of the dead letter office.

I would tend to agree, except it sounds very much like the dead letter office is being used to route the scammers to - given that the responses include "Well I've got his cell phone number; I'll try that" for a person who doesn't exist. A real customer wouldn't say that, but someone trying to pull you into a scammy toner purchase just might.

[MommyPenguin]

I agree, it sounds to me like scammers/salespeople are being sent there, who have nothing to do with the work.  I used to work at a library and we'd get the toner scam.  They'd ask for the person responsible for toner purchases.  That is done from a central office, not a branch library, and any sales person we had a relationship with would know that.  There's no way that one of my duties is to deal with them.  It wouldn't hurt my job if I did the voicemail thing, although it wouldn't have been possible for me.