Scam

[Patrick]

Be  careful. There is a visa gift card scam going  on. A friend will text you asking u for a favor wanting several $100 visa cards. Then apparently they'll ask for the numbers if get them. Your friend of course knows nothing about this.

[six2go #152]

Do idiots actually fall for this stuff? 

I don't do business with anybody who calls me on the phone or knocks on my door.

[old2soon]

      In my own case NOT difficult to check back with :"friend"!  RIDE SAFE.

[Patrick]

Apparently people really do fall for these things. I almost did. Then I decided to call the friend since the text number and his phone number were different.

[Jersey mike]

Last week I heard through the neighborhood grapevine that a senior lady in the next neighborhood got scammed out of several thousand dollars (wife said $12k) on the “your grandson is in trouble/jail and needs money” scam.

[Patrick]

Yep, people do get scammed. Its a shame.

[..]

A couple of years ago an older friend got a phone call from his "grandson" telling him he was in trouble and needed money.

The real grandson was on vacation with family so Ian told the caller to F off.

Ian told me the caller sounded like his grandson and used phrases like his grandson would.

[Patrick]

A couple of years ago an older friend got a phone call from his "grandson" telling him he was in trouble and needed money.

The real grandson was on vacation with family so Ian told the caller to F off.

Ian told me the caller sounded like his grandson and used phrases like his grandson would.

Maybe the caller knew the grandson.

[Serk]

My aunt had a call from my "sister" claiming her and her family were vacationing in NYC, had been arrested on bogus charges and needed $20k FedEx'ed in cash immediately for bail... Told her not to call her cell phone because the corrupt cops have it and blah blah blah...

My aunt fell for it.

Luckily, when she went to her bank to withdraw the cash the teller got suspicious and asked the right questions and helped her realize she was being scammed before it was too late. Since she was afraid to call my sister, she called my mom, and had HER call my sister to verify that no, they were not in jail in New York City, but were safely at home in Texas...

[carolinarider09]

These people exist.   I believe they should not.   But, it is not within my power to ...... do what I would like.

There is commercial on TV for some insurance that protects your home from "title theft".   As it is explained, all the thief has to do is fill in the one page form, get it notarized and take it to the County Clerk for registration. 

Now this part I see can happen (assuming it really is that simple) if you have a notary that will "help".  But the County Clerk in the commercial says, that by law, he must accept a properly filled out form even if he knows it is fake. 

While that might be true, the fact that the person is stating that he has to do "X" by law is not the same as saying he has to do "X" by law but would surely notify the other affected party of the event.  Even it that is illegal it is something I would expect a person of character to do.

We have, by omissions and inaction, promoted, supported, enabled a bunch of stuff like the above and like the scams mentioned in this post.  Someone knows the persons is doing something illegal and simply looks the other way rather than take action. 

Just my two cents.

Sad state we are in.   

[Jess from VA]

At 15 working in a gas station, a guy asked me if I had 5 ones for a five dollar bill, so I gave him five ones.

He shuffled them around for a second then said, tell you what, just give me a ten for this, and I did.

He thanked me and left.

Something didn't seem right, and it took me a few minutes to figure it out.  Forehead smack.

I was young and trusting and nothing like that had ever happened to me before.

Scams.  And some people cannot be trusted.  No kidding.