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I've been reading a lot about scams recently and, to be honest, always thought it was something senior citizens fell victim to. (Or, of course, people trying to marry into Nigerian royalty.) One of the stories I read recently sent me to Chase Bank‘s tips on spotting scams, and what I saw there surprised me.
Here's one of the scams going around that you might fall prey to: a “sale” on your favorite brand. “Scammers create ads on social media offering merchandise at great prices and set up bogus websites that all look exactly like genuine retailers. They’ll collect personal information or ask you to pay with a digital payment platform like Zelle® when you go to “check out.”” Then, the merchandise never shows up.
The site provided more details:
I was scrolling on social and saw a sale ad for one of my favorite brands. It looked just like other ads I’d bought from before. The discount was really good, so I clicked on it and went to what looked exactly like their website, even with the free shipping headline.
When I went to check out, I thought it was odd I couldn’t find a place for my credit card, just options for digital payment platforms like Zelle®. But I thought no big deal and paid with Zelle®. I got suspicious when I didn’t get a confirmation email right away like I usually do. I waited about three weeks, but the merchandise never showed up. I tried to put in a claim for fraud with my bank, but I was told there’s no way to get my money back.
Yikes. I'm not sure if I would have been suspicious if the only means of payment was cash — but now I definitely will be on the alert, and I thought I'd pass along to you guys also.
Readers, have you been hit by any scams? What would you tell your pre-scammed self, if you could?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / artursz.
anon
Scammers take advantage of the fact that the complexity and sophistication of their scams have out paced our vigilance. Yes absolutely there is a stereotype that scams are more of a senior citizen thing, or the old Nigerian prince scam, or even that scammers have Indian accents. Scams have moved completely beyond this. From my compliance and legal in-house role, I can share:
– the level of sophistication of scams is astonishing. Scammers are making mirror websites, one letter different in the domain name, with all information the same, except maybe their phone number instead of the corporations.
– they are prepared to play the long game on scams. Getting pieces of information here and there to build up a very realistic profile. Eg phishing small seemingly insignificant info about your CFO to then call someone and pretend to be the CFO.
– the actors are not overseas, they are domestic parties. They could be your neighbor. Scamming became a “part time job” for some people during covid. Some of these scams are related to larger scale organized crime.
– anyone can fall prey to scams. There are so many different kinds now, and the scams are tailored and targeted. Recruiting scams, small business scams, investment scams, the list goes on. Do not be ashamed if it happens to you, it can happen to anyone from any walk of life, every age and stage.
– The US law enforcement system has major gaps for addressing complex, sophisticated digital scams.
Anon
Agree. The scams used to deliberately target the naive (arguably); now they target everyone.
I was the almost-victim of an in-person scam last year. It was terrifying and my evening went from “normal” to “I’m caught in a spider web” in a frighteningly short time period.
Senior Attorney
Are you up to sharing any details about this?
Anon
I’m willing to send via email but not post publicly.
anon
i would never suggest that i couldn’t be scammed but wouldn’t the zelle have given you pause? my 14 yos instagram was hacked and the hacker wrote everyone saying that (my 14yo) just needed some cash to make it to pay day…. like who would fall for that?
Anon
Agreed.
Senior Attorney
I thought my husband was smart enough to just hang up on scammers, but I heard him on the phone the other day with one of those Medicare scammers calling to “verify” his Medicare number. I’m all “DO NOT TALK TO THOSE PEOPLE” and he’s all “but they had my address and everything so it must be legit” and I’m all “yeah, and then when you give them your Medicare number they will be able to steal your medical identity.” Yikes. I had to tell him “don’t pick up from numbers you don’t recognize” so hopefully that will work.
anonshmanon
I wonder if there is a systemic reason that men are less in the habit of being on their guard? We were recently leaving the house, and a bumbling stranger walking down the side walk struck up a conversation with my husband. What’s your name? How long have you lived here? Do you rent or own? Are you on microloan? I can give you a better rate than your bank.
On the one hand he came across so odd that he was probably just a confused person and not actually dangerous. But on the other hand I couldn’t believe that DH had no issue with answering all his questions honestly, because ‘what could he possibly do with this information?’ Yikes indeed.
anonshmanon
I recently got a personal sounding text, something like ‘are we still on for tomorrow 5:30?’ I texted back ‘who is this’, and then they pretended to have the wrong number, but thanked me for being so kind about it, and tried to draw me into a conversation. Apparently this is one of these long cons where you build a relationship until they want money.
MMPiwo
I take pride in my ability to spot a scam. This just happened to me two days ago. My favorite Hauslabs liptsick appeared to be discontinued. I googled the color name and a webpage appeared showing the lipstick on clearance distcount from 28.00 to 5.20. Score! I whip out an order for multiple tubes, use my auto saved CC info and I get an alert : your number CC number isn’t right, please use another card and enter that number. Crap. Sure enough. Hauslabsusa.com is NOT Hauslabs.com. The next day my phone blew up with at least 20 “probably a scam” numbers I didn’t answer. I’m betting at least one of them wanted to assist me in completing that order. I shall be cancelling that card now. I know better.
babyweight
Similar thing happened to me. But they took my credit card and ran with it, racking up charges all sorts of places. I realized within moments of hitting enter that I was on what my husband now calls “Saks 4th Ave” rather than my intentioned and real retailer. Had to cancel credit card, get a new number and reset all of my autopays… Super pain. My only spider sense that tingled was when I realized they had my size in stock and on sale on a type of shoe that I wear a lot for work. That’s so rare, which is why I pounced and why they successfully lured me in! These scammers are sneaky.
Sarah Bowen
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