Tag Archives: scam

Sneaky text scams

You no longer just have to worry about email scams, now there are text scams coming your way. Yesterday I got this message:

I didn’t pay full attention to the address and went to the link. It looked totally real, with Canada post logos and the English was perfect. It said to get the parcel delivery rescheduled that I’d have to pay $1. That’s when I looked at the link address more closely and started to doubt the website.

What they want is your credit card number including the 3-digit code at the back. I’m sure they get it from many people.

I’ve also noticed a lot of text messages that seem like they are wrong numbers:

I used to try to be nice and respond to let them know they made a mistake:

But now I just block the number. I think they send these random messages to see if they get a response, then engage you in a scam.

It’s disappointing that we have to live in a world where we have to be so cautious of being duped by people. The moment I see a contest online or in my social media stream I think either scam or they are collecting data on me. I see a text from someone I don’t know and I think it was sent in bad faith. I’ve been weary of similar messages on email for a very long time. I have a contact form online that I’m going to take down because the only messages I’ve received in the last year are either trying to sell me SEO services or other inappropriate services.

Now the online scams are moving to text messages. I wish there was a way to fight this, but for now the only thing I can do is block them. I hope this acts as a warning to help others.

Phishing for your money

On Tuesday I received this almost real looking letter in the mail:

It’s a rather simple scam. First, tell me in a letter that someone has changed my personal information, and get me scared that someone has already gotten into my bank account. Second, have me phone them and ask for my reference number, so that they can call me by name before I even tell them who I am, making me believe that I’m talking to the fraud department of the bank. Next, ask for me to confirm who I am ‘for security reasons’ by asking information that they want to learn about me, so that they can pretend to be me and access my bank account.

I don’t know how these people live with themselves? They make an occupation out of tricking and stealing from innocent people. These scammers disrupt people’s lives, and some of them even break people‘s hearts. And it seems to be something that is getting more rather than less common.

It was after hours and so I contacted the bank via a Twitter direct message. Then through a rather painful process that took way too long, I finally sent a link to a digital copy of the letter to them (the person seeing my Twitter message was seeing it in a chat format with no images, despite my sharing the image in the original message). I got a thank you and a generic warning about how not to be scammed from them. The thing is, although it didn’t fool me, I’m sure this will fool someone who is panicked enough to share too much information with the scammers, thinking they are talking to their bank.

Why wouldn’t the bank immediately be in touch with the phone company to cancel the phone numbers? Why wouldn’t the police be involved too, tracking the phone number? I bet a disproportionate number of elderly are fooled by these scams. I bet the number of these scams that work are greater than we would guess.

Be aware of scams like these. Sign in to your account and check the information rather than calling. Call phone numbers that you can find on bank websites rather than in letters. We unfortunately need to start out cynical rather than trusting when we receive phone calls, emails, and letters like this… and not like this, because the next scam is probably going to be more elaborate, authentic looking or sounding, and tricky.

Scams and spam

It’s unreal how much spam comes our way. Recorded phone calls and emails that get by our spam filters, trying to get our attention or steal information or money.

Occasionally, I enjoy watching videos of people wasting the time of a scammer. They let them control a virtual and empty computer after 30 minutes of delays, or even fool the scammers and take over their computers. I like the idea of distant scammers doing bad things to good people being punished in some way. Especially since these scammers tend to take advantage of the elderly and vulnerable.

But that’s minimal entertainment compared to the damage they do; the hurt they cause. It seems to me that they undermine trust in a way that is harmful to society. They cause us to act from a standpoint of distrust as a default. They make the world more sceptical.

Email is broken. I get too much of it, and the relevance to my priorities is low. I don’t answer calls unless the number is in my phone or I’m expecting a call. But that doesn’t mean a spam call isn’t still a distraction, a thief of my attention and time. I’m not sure how, but this needs fixing. If not, I only see it getting worse.