Day 77: I feel like such a prize idiot

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 77: I feel like such a prize idiot

Have you ever wondered about the expression ‘You could have knocked me over with a feather’? I have. What could be so bad that a feather could knock over a person? After last Friday I wonder no more.

Shortly before noon, I got a call that went as follows:

“This is Anthony Walters with the RCMP. My badge number is 05J6798. What is your name?”

I gave him my name.

“Ma’am, I’m calling because there is a warrant out for your arrest.”

My breath got stuck in my throat, I could feel the color draining from my face and you could have knocked me over with a feather.

“What are the last three digits of your social insurance number?”

I recited the numbers.

“Ma’am this number has been used to open 16 bank accounts, 3 credit accounts, and you currently owe the bank $3.145.000.”

I nearly fainted.

“In addition, there is a case against you for money laundering. Are you aware of any of these actions?”

I managed to squeak out “No.”

“Well ma’am, that is the information we have and as such you will be arrested.”

“How much do you have in your chequing account?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know how much you have in your chequing account?”

“No.”

“How much do you have in your savings account?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know that either?”

“No.”

“Could you look it up?”

“No, I don’t know the number.”

At this point, the cable of the landline phone touched the level of the phone and the line went dead. Lord, above I went into a panic. I had just cut an officer of the RCMP off and he had informed me that I would be arrested. I started hyperventilating.

I thought the best thing to do was call the police and state my case that I didn’t have 16 bank accounts, 3 credit card accounts and knew nothing about money laundering. (Save of leaving some coins in the pocket of my jeans).

The officer at the switchboard put me through to ‘Communications’. I stayed on the line for close to 20 minutes and eventually hung up. I would try again later. When I called back the officer told me that the communications division was very busy. He put me through again, and again I waited and waited and waited.

And then I got an idea ... since it was an officer from the RCMP who called me, I would call the RCMP and ask for Anthony Walters.

The officer I spoke to told me that there was no such person as an Anthony Walters. I recited his badge number and he said that there was no such badge number either. When he asked what this was in regard to, I told him in broad strokes about the arrest warrant.

“It’s a scam,” he said. “We’ve had other calls of citizens over the course of the week. Did the caller ask you for money?”

No, he hadn’t, but then again, he didn’t get the chance. I had cut him off.

It was only later when I’d calmed down a bit that I started thinking. Why would the RCMP ask for my name? Surely if there was a warrant out for my arrest they would know that. And why would the RCMP be interested in how much money I have in my chequing and savings account?  

So this was a scam and I feel like such a prize idiot.

Day 75: A bit of information to save you some aggravation

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 75: A bit of information to save you some aggravation

   

If you’re planning on selling something on Facebook, beware, danger is lurking. Scammers are on the loose and this time you might not even know that you’re being scammed.

It goes somewhat like this …

You list an item for sale on Facebook and sooner or later you’ll get the response “Is this item still available?” If you say that it is, the person will show a great interest. He or she might respond with “I really love this”, “I’m really interested in buying this”, or “Please hold the item for me.”

Next there might be a price negotiation and eventually the person will make arrangements for pick up or if you’re planning on mailing the item your email address to pay via PayPal. This is where it gets dangerous.

If you never had dealings with this person, DO NOT give out your address. Rather arrange a meeting in a coffee shop, park, street corner or even the lobby of your apartment/condo building.

If the person asks for your email address to pay via PayPal, be VERY CAREFUL divulging this information.

The dangers of giving out your address are obvious … the person now knows where you live and can use this information for all kinds of mischief.

If you think that giving out your email address can’t do much harm, think again … this is how identify theft starts and other nonsense.

Usually I’m good with spotting scammers, but in this case I fell for it. Not once, not twice, but three times.

I listed two rugs, a set of curtains and a set of rings for sale and it didn’t take long for the scammers to notice this. I received comments such as 

“Oh how gorgeous, I want this”

“I’m at work right now but I’ll pay you as soon as I get home”, or 

“This is exactly what I’m looking for”.

Of course, once they had my email address, I never heard from them again. If it happens to you, they will sell your email address a be paid handsomely for it. How will you know that your email address has been sold … you’ll get lots and lots of junk mail in your inbox.

You’ll get emails for all kinds of insurance, foot care, laser surgery, gutter cleaning, mattresses, pest control, etc.

I fell for their scam not once, not twice but three times, but the third time is definitely the last time. I thought I’d pass on this bit of information to save you some aggravation.   

Day 149: Another Facebook Scam

​My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 149: Another Facebook Scam

Most of us pride ourselves on cleverness. When a scam is going around, we either know about it, or we think we’re smart enough not to fall for it. However, scammers came in all kinds of different forms and when one of those forms is a trusted friend, the scam is not so easy to recognize.

On Sunday morning I received a text from Steve (not his real name) starting with a simple “Hey”

Wiping sleep from my eyes I texted a “Hi” back.

“How are you?”

“Good. How are you?”

“Very good and very excited.”

“Oh?”

“I came into some money. $100,000.”

“You’re joking. Did you win that with the lotto?”

“No, through a grant program that is aimed at the unemployed, elderly, disabled, students, etc.”

“And you qualified?”

“Sure did. UPS delivered the money yesterday.”

“UPS delivered the money?”

“Yes. The online agent asked me if I wanted a cheque or cash and I said cash.”

“And UPS delivered that?”

“Yes. $100,000. I paid off my bills and took the rest to the bank.”

“That’s great. Congratulations.”

I found it a little strange that UPS delivers money but okay, if Steve said so, I wasn’t going to doubt him.

“You can get the same grant,” he went on. “I saw your name on the list. If you contact the online agent, you can get the grant too.”

It didn’t occur to me that this could be a scam. After all, this was Steve I was ‘talking’ to and why would he lie to me? The amount of money was also believable. Talk of millions of dollars would have raised a red flag, but $100,000 seemed reasonable.

“Contact the agent now,” Steve concluded. “His number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. Tell him that a friend saw your name on the list.”

“Okay, I will. Thanks.”

Moments later I fired off a text to the number provided and within minutes I received a text back.

“Your name is indeed on our list of grant receivers. Since we place high value on security, I will need your personal information so there can be no duplication of the grant.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“Are you ready to fill in the form now?”

“Yes”

I was mentally doing a dance of joy. $100,000 … could this be for real? Common sense told me this was too good to be true, but this message came from Steve and I trusted him.

Moments later I received a set of questions from the online agent:

Full name:

Address:

Gender:

Date of Birth:

Copy of Driver License or other photo I.D.:

Hm, now I did see a red flag. I’m notoriously hesitant of sharing my personal information, especially where it comes to government issued documentation. Before doing that, I wanted to verify with Steve that this grant program was for real and he had indeed received $100,000.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get hold of Steve, so I tried his girlfriend next. Doreen (not her real name) told me Steve has stepped outside for a moment, but he would be back shortly. When I got to talk to Steve, he sounded a little flat, not at all like a man who had just received a sizeable amount of money.

“Hi Steve, congratulations on the money.”

“What money?”

“The hundred thousand dollars.”

“What hundred thousand dollars?”

“You didn’t receive hundred thousand dollars from the grant program?”

He immediately knew what I was referring to.

“It’s a scam. My Facebook account was hacked and several of my friends were contacted by the scammer.”

“Oh I see.”

"You didn't fall for it, did you?"

"I did, sort of, but I didn't give him any vital information."

"Do you really think that if I won $100,000 I would tell everyone about it?"

That made sense. Mentally I saw $100,000 go out the window.

The scammer didn’t give up easily though. Throughout the day he send me messages such as

“When can you send me photo I.D.?”

“We have been waiting for you, we have a lot of people attending to.”

And then his last one … “Should we terminate your grant?”

This, I suppose, was to spur me into action. I took action of a different kind, I notified the authorities, if for nothing else than to have a case number in the event of identity theft. I kept Steve’s name out of the conversation. Not that my call was necessary. Mr. Scammer was known to them and an investigation was underway. Mr. Scammer’s days were numbered. They knew who and where he was and his scam would soon be terminated.

Day 81: Scam targeting self-published authors

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 81: Scam targeting self-published authors

If there’s one thing I hate it is scammers, particularly those who target self-published authors as they are such easy prey. They are looking for exposure leading to sales and scammers zoom in on this.

The other day, I received an email from Aimee A. stating:

 “I hope you do not mind me emailing you; I am emailing you because I would love to review your work on my website. My site is a book reviewing website which has received a great response from readers and now that I have a loyal following who I adore, I am always on the lookout for great books I can feature for them. I discovered your work and I loved what I saw, so that is why I am emailing you today! Your work looks wonderful, and you clearly are passionate; passion is a quality I love because I am very passionate about reading so I hope we are able to work together”.

My guess is that Aimee never read or even seen my work and that a few hundred other writers have received the same message.

Having been around the block a few times, I can smell a scam a mile away and so I cut right to the chase. I asked her how much she is charging. Her response … $75 per book. Her excuse is that she charges this fee because her reviews generate sales. She added that she is a mother of four.

I don’t know what this has to do with the price of eggs. Whether she’s single, married or a mother of a dozen, that’s none of my business and it is certainly not going to influence my decision whether or not to work with her. It was her decision to have four kids and she shouldn't ask others for support to feed and clothe them.

Other self-published authors may not be so wary though and actually believe the nonsense this woman is selling. I had a look at her website and there are indeed a number of books there, mainly mainstream published and yes, they have a good deal of comments. There are also a few self-published works (obviously self-published authors have already fallen for her scam) but they have no comments at all.

Most noticeable is that the mainstream books have quite a long review, too long if you ask me. The book isn’t just reviewed it is summarized. The self-published books on the other hand only have a rather short review, like Aimee couldn’t be bothered with them.

What I do wonder about is … where does she get the time to read all these books? I know a few women with one or two children and their main complaint is that they no longer have time for themselves. They have a husband and their kid(s) to look after, a house to keep clean, laundry to do, shopping to do, meals to cook, etc.

My guess is that Aimee doesn’t actually read any of the books she features on her website, but goes on Amazon, reads the synopsis of the book and a few comments and then elaborates on what she’s read. Also known as creative thumb sucking. 

And for that, she charges $75. Not a fortune, but if ten people fall for her scam that’s a nice sum for her.

I very much suspect that she hasn’t read any of my books, so how can she review them? The email that she sent me is clearly generic and not well written. You would think that for someone who reviews books for a living, her grammar and sentence structure would be better.

Fortunately, I’m not dumb enough to fall for her scam and neither should you. Be on the lookout for someone called Aimee A. and when she contacts you via email or Facebook, and tries to sweet talk you, send her packing. She's a scammer.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 57: How to spot a scam

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 57: How to spot a scam

There are very few people on earth who wouldn’t like a little extra money. Students to pay their tuition fees, the unemployed to have some income, those who are underpaid to earn a little extra, and seniors who want to supplement their income.

Scammers know this and come up with a variety of ways how to put money in your pocket. Usually, it requires registering with a site, doing little jobs, or doing absolutely nothing, and see the money come rolling in. Unfortunately, after all the time and effort you put into registering, you’ll never see one cent.

The latest scam is http://fixwork.online/index.php

The site requires a call name, your address, email address and a name to which you would like your cheques to be made out to. After registration members are provided with a unique code which they are required to post on social media sites. For every hit their unique link gets they get paid $10. Once they reach $300 they can request payment.

Sounds legit, right? Unfortunately, if you stop to think about it for a second, it’s a scam. Who is going to pay you $10 for simply posting a link to a website? Nobody. If you want to earn money, you have to work for it, as simple as that. Something for nothing should send red flags wagging. Or, if something is too good to be true, it usually is.

A sure way to find out if a ‘job offer’ is legit or not, is to simply Google the name of the organization. It’s what I did and I found the following info here:

https://benjisdad.com/is-fixwork-online-a-scam-review

as well as a very helpful video on YouTube here:

That’s the thing with scams, you’re never the first one to fall for it, someone’s been there before you. Some keep quiet about their experience, others post reviews to warn others. Unfortunately, as soon as one scam is exposed, another one pops up. So stay alert and learn how to spot a scam.

www.connymanero.weebly.com