Falling for the scams

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So I got this text a little bit ago and figured it was a scam. But what sort of scam I wondered. Went online to search and sure enough… it’s a scam.
[See the full post at: Falling for the scams]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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GreatAndPowerfulTech, klang

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Why does the U.S. still use checks ? Everyone else moved on long ago to electronic payments.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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The old ways and/or low tech ways are not always inferior to newer and/or high tech ways. I have never had any issue of any kind with a check. I can’t say the same for electronic payments.

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Myst, SueW, GreatAndPowerfulTech, Charlie, OscarCP, wavy, CADesertRat, lanceboil

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If they HAD been paying by check the scam would not have gone down, at least not that way.

The whole idea of being able to “transfer money” is a very scary idea to me.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I find this comment interesting. Maybe a few of examples of advanced industrial nations where checks are not used would be good to know.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

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Not everyone — I still use cheques which are much safer than banking through your computer.

mbhelwig

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wavy

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Then again, the city where I live, the local government fell for a scam so clearly we’re got getting any smarter at all.

We’re also not getting smarter if we tend to believe the mayor that it was somehow necessary to keep the city’s gullibility secret for more than two years in order to not “hinder the investigation”.

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2359 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

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klang, RockE

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In many cases your criticism of us is right. However, at the end of life, many people lose a bit of contact with reality. My mother in law, at end of life, was like that and kept writing cheques to claim lottery wins, even though she was told they were scams. She had mild dementia. Luckily her carers did not post the letters. The message is – take care of your older family members, if they become vulnerable.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Myst

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I fell for a scam recently on my Outlook account. The “Microsoft Account Team” told me that someone had tried to access my account and gave the name of the person.  They asked me if I recognized the person, which of course I didn’t, and if not to click on the link that was the person’s name.  I did so, and immediately my browser froze, and some boasting dialog came up.  At the same time, I realized that the “Microsoft Account Team” would not place a message in junk email.  They then asked me to “help” them by clicking on another link that came up.  I never found out what they wanted help for as I was too angry.

I immediately aborted the browser, reset it, and ran a virus check.  Then I had to put my browser setup back together.  I informed Microsoft about the incident, and was made to jump through a number of hoops.  They did not come to any conclusion that I was made aware of.

The same email was delivered to my junk mail several times afterward, with some variation.

I kept reporting the malware to Microsoft as phishing and finally the messages stopped.

I check my junk email daily in case genuine messages end up there; it does happen.  I felt foolish at the time, but this won’t happen again.

 

 

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I don’t know about other carriers but AT&T isn’t much help either. I get those kind of texts all the time and if it’s from a phone # you can forward it to get AT&T to “Supposedly” block it although it doesn’t seem to matter. The real problem is when you get a text from an email address because when you try to forward to AT&T to block it, they won’t accept email address’s, only phone numbers (even though the instructions include forwarding email address’s LOL).

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
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Ultimately, on the “why” I think the underlying reason why many fall for scams is simple personal greed.  Too many of us want something for nothing, and where it’s too easy to not look at stuff like this critically.  We’re conditioned to look for “free”, without asking the question of what is in it for the entity that is providing something of apparent value.  Why are they giving something away?

Although the message that Susan is referring to is perhaps a little trickier than many that I’ve seen, a close reading has plenty of fingerprints that are common to scam content.  These include in all caps (the text scammers love all caps), and odd wording — “COLGATE TOOTHPASTE”, as well as word order and selection that is overly casual that would never be used in something officially produced.  Note also repeated and identical use of “Car/Truck/Van/Suv” (and capitalization pattern), run-on sentence, reference to money without a currency symbol, and toward the end, sloppiness of punctuation, spacing and capitalization.  For a US recipient, this message has not been composed by somebody whose first language is American English.

For text messages (at least in the US), I’ve found it rare that a legitimate message from a corporate sender (even an expected message) comes from an email address or a phone number (both of which are easily forged).  Although I occasionally see exceptions, the vast majority of legitimate messages show SMS short codes as the sender, and a message with any other sender ID is high-probability to be scam traffic.

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IMO another reason “we” keep falling for it is that there are 1000’s of people everyday that are new to these things. It’s the first time they have been exposed to them. Even though they may have read or heard about the scams, until they are confronted, it just didn’t register, just useless trivia. Sensory overload, that’s what we’ve been warned of for many years, and it’s not getting any less. Just my 2 cents…

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sensory overload. yes, since TV first appeared, producers have been learning how to numb our senses, stop independent thinking, get upset/involved over the fantasy (TV show), and buy their products, so they can get money and do it more. This is extremely sophisticated. But look at it – they need unthinking/unquestioning folks to buy their products and get further psychologically involved/cathected to their fantasy. hypnosis, etc. Just good business practice from their perspective. Movies, streaming, etc – you are exposed to it from every angle. remember when everyone on the street was discussing the latest episode of GOT the day later. They’ve got you!!! (MEd Psy)

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No, we are not getting any smarter. Very intelligent people simply lack common sense. It continues, simply, because it works. PT Barnum. It seems, that, people, simply don’t want to learn. it is the way of this world. Sad, but true.

Simply 🙂

We are (usually) inborn with the need to eat, breathe, and sleep.There is some fear of being physically hurt, but clicking on a link just doesn’t fit in there. No fear.

For most people, unless it has happened to them, a computer can’t leap up and bite them. (note to self – add random bite/attack app to future builds for others.)

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RockE

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mbhelwig wrote:

Not everyone — I still use cheques which are much safer than banking through your computer.

I don’t use checks for years.
I use online transactions, smartphone transactions, Apple Pay and rarely Credit Cards or cash.

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Similar. My smart phone app gives a message whenever cash come in or goes out so I can pick up anything suspicious early. It also offers dynamic CVC for the occasions I choose to use the credit card online. The message in that people need to check what is available and possibly even switch banks if they find their bank does not offer reasonable online security.

It cannot be perfectly safe but it is a step away from low hanging fruit.

 

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I set alerts so I would get an email every time there is a credit transaction over $2. Easy.

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Michael432

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I avoid use of checks or anything which gives my checking account number away. My checking account appears to be at the bottom of everything. If a credit card takes a hit, big deal. If my checking account takes a hit, that could spell disaster – can’t easily just change the number since everything is built on it.

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Also, check the 3 credit bureaus and freeze your accounts if you don’t need them open for credit checks when applying for credit cards, loans, etc. If they are open, people are constantly going against them.

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About scams: Some three months ago I had a surge of suspicious emails from allegedly legit companies and supposed charities, which has not abated, but a drastic decrease in telephone-call ones. Have others been experiencing something like this?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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I have gmail so that stuff almost always winds up in google mail spam folder which I view daily online in FF. Lately I’ve been getting a lot of order confirmations with a jpg that I’m supposed to click on to see what it was. In the past they had a link that I was supposed to click on. They keep trying to see what makes people get curious and click on it. Orders for McAfee or the like, or stuff from amazon. $1000 orders that are supposed to get me so upset and afraid that i will click on it just to get them to stop. I can easily check amazon and see that there are no orders. I just ignore them and delete them. I assume that if I clicked on one of those jpgs I would lose my system – to ransomware or something else. It’s just not something that you do. No brainer. There is no way to easily see where it is coming from – I would have to sandbox it and then whois it, though I doubt that would give me anything useful. Could be the local 10 year old or somebody from Nigeria or wherever. Don’t click on it. Just delete it.

As to my phone I might get one a week but traffic there is very low BECAUSE I have an app that sends it to voicemail if it’s not in my contact list. I get VERY few actual messages of the junk. IF YOU ANSWER ONE OF THESE CALLS YOU WILL BE PLACED ON A LIST THAT IS PASSED TO EVERYONE SO YOU WILL GET LOTS OF CALLS. do not call list does nothing – they use machines that dial from 0001-000-0000 to valid area and local codes. Easy. Brainless. Auto.

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OscarCP wrote:

Maybe a few of examples of advanced industrial nations where checks are not used would be good to know.

1. According to the UK Financial Times, cheques now account for less than 1 per cent of retail bank payments, totalling 185m transactions last year, compared with 272m in 2019. Cash too is on the decline — accounting for only 6 per cent of UK transactions last year, down from 23 per cent in 2019.
2. I’ve been in Australia for years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cheque here. According to the biggest bank, “Similar to the UK, cheques remain in use in Australia, but their use has declined significantly over the past decade. They now represent just 0.2% of all payments.”

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OscarCP

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samak: Thanks for the clarification. So it is not that checks in those countries are extinct, they are just not used that much.

As to using credit cards for everything, as also mentioned somewhere here: That might be OK in countries that are egalitarian enough that everyone can afford to have a bank account and, if so desired, a credit card account.

Or are not that egalitarian, but those who are not too poor to have such accounts do not really care.

Besides, it is a known fact that many people are not very good at managing their expenses and tend to build big credit card debts without any pressing need, while using cash is a deterrent to drifting into such a situation.

Personally, I use credit cards for expenses above US$ 200 (this may go up with inflation) and for online purchases, everything else I pay with paper bills and coins — or with checks, mostly when I am paying by mail. And have my regular invoices paid directly to my checking account.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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I use my cards (NOT debit card based on checking account) because in the rare chance that something bogus appears, I tell them and they immediately take it off. No muss, no fuss. Years back I foolishly used my debit card on something and it wound up in eastern Europe and someone put 4 Steam charges on my checking account before I caught it and changed the number. Fortunately Steam was on top of things and caught it and refunded me VERY quickly but it could have been bad. Change card number immediately of course. It’s not being paranoid. The reality is that there are many folks out there who will get everyone they can. Simple “business”.

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My new Unitek sata adapters arrived so it was “off-site” day and made a bunch of copies to put in various places. Might have taken me all of 20 minutes. It takes so little effort to stay safe.

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I haven’t fallen for any type of scam since about 14. That was a very long time before anyone had any sort of personal computer. The scam was in the newspaper. I haven’t fallen for many practical jokes either. I  have a non-trusting nature. That’s not a social advantage.

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There are a handful of legitimate vehicle wrapping companies. I remember when they were popular in the 1980s. People got paid to advertise with their cars smothered in ads for this and that. Of course this Colgate scam falls into the latest of what will these crooks think of next scenario. It’s always somethin. Be careful out there. I see a scam pop up in text and just delete it. Don’t even touch it. Obvious by the email address associated with the text it needs to go bye bye.

MacOS, iOS, iPadOS, and SOS at times.

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samak wrote:

Why does the U.S. still use checks ? Everyone else moved on long ago to electronic payments.

Some places do not take electronic payments unless you wish to incur THIRD PARTIES to handle the electronic payment and turn it into a “check” that the business will accept. The third parties charge a fee to do this and the monthly fee (for recurring payments like housing rentals) is MUCH greater than the cost of a stamp each month.

There are many rural areas in this country (even in Hawaii) where the internet is not available or available only by erratic, unreliable cell phone rather than a nice desktop computer, modem and widescreen monitor. I live in the second largest city in Hawaii yet we only have internet via the monopolist that holds the state wide franchise for cable TV and internet. No competition and no choices for our carrier. I cannot get internet via the local phone company (although it is available in some areas of my town and only swanky areas of Honolulu get decent speeds via the phone company) but only via the state wide cable provider.

Things have improved over the past ten years so that local grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, etc don’t demand cash or check only. They all have equipment now at checkout that allows for android or iPhone/Apple watch to purchase things but this was not the case earlier. Even now, using iPhone and Walmart Pay app is a nightmare. It doesn’t work some of the time at all and other times the purchase goes through but Walmart does not give receipts and many times the purchase does not show up in their app on my iPhone…so no record if I want to return an item….although there is convoluted way at Walmart Customer Service desk (where long lines are expected) for them to retrieve a record but it takes a long time.

I got upset about this absurd policy more than once and complained. It happened again the other day and the CSR in charge of the Help desk told me to ask the cashier for a “reprint” which would provide a paper receipt when using an iPhone’s Walmart app to charge the purchase. The cashiers have not been told this so they look at you blankly when you ask. You’d think that Walmart and Apple could get along but evidently not. Plus, Walmart is the ONLY store I have encountered that will not let me use a credit card set up on my Apple Watch for purchases. That’s astounding, sad and infuriating. I have to drag the phone with me (rather than just using the watch and leaving the heavy iPhone XR at home) and use the Walmart app on it to purchase via Apple Pay.

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samak, Charlie

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Very interesting.  I venture to say that most people in the contiguous 48 are not aware of this.  The problem for most people (like me) paying bills with a personal check is that it has to be mailed through our crippled U.S. Postal System since 2019!

Being 20 something in the 70's was much more fun than being 70 something in the 20's.

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I have explained further up why I am not keen on paying everything with a credit card (and I must add: certainly nothing with a debit card).

True fact: I have “only” three credit cards.

One of the benefits of paying with checks is when doing so recurrently, say monthly to the ISP, instead with direct pay from one’s checking account or credit card, is that one does not have the amounts deducted directly from one’s account: It can be easier to put a hold on a check than to stop direct recurrent credit card payments, because is not always an easy process and the company you are trying not to pay anymore may use tricks to keep themselves getting paid out of your account for as long as it takes. It is a bad, bad world, out there.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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OscarCP wrote:

True fact:

You have other types?

cheers, Paul

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wavy

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Oh that doesn’t mean I don’t use checks to pay my bills, but since 2019 I’ve had to make sure I get those bills mailed out the next day if possible.  It’s slowly getting better but there for awhile you had to allow three weeks minimum for mail to get to its destination, and sometimes even then it wouldn’t make it in time.  And then, some bills only give you two weeks to get them in their into their hands.

Being 20 something in the 70's was much more fun than being 70 something in the 20's.

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Charlie: I think you are right and the mail delivery is improving. I sent a check last week and it got to its destination and it wast cashed some five days afterwards.

When it was bad, it was bad. I subscribe to a few magazines and was not uncommon to get two consecutive  issues together of each of them.

I hope the improvement one can see now is solid and will last.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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Scams like this are why I created my defensivecomputingchecklist.com website. Perhaps the three most important things to keep in mind, at all times, are

–> When you get a text message, you have no idea who sent it
–> When you get an email message, you have no idea who sent it
–> When you get a phone call, you have no idea who the caller is

Even the techie readers of this site might learn something from the domain name topic.

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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wavy

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