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Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007
Maybe the spa has an old system that does all cc transactions at once, scheduled at 2am. That used to be a thing that most companies did and some smaller companies still do it.

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Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

Captain Monkey posted:

Maybe the spa has an old system that does all cc transactions at once, scheduled at 2am. That used to be a thing that most companies did and some smaller companies still do it.

I bet this is it. I've tripped over it more than once back when I was perpetually broke.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
OK. This just started happening to me recently.

I hardly gently caress around with Facebook like at all. Maybe I check it out once a week. Lately, I'm getting a ton of really weird friend suggestions and requests, usually involving a picture of a semi attractive woman and/or someone with an Indian sounding or Arabic name. Today, I got one for someone like "JihadJoe" or some poo poo. None of these people seem to have any content and the ones that do are minimal and comprised of obviously fake "Happy Birthday" messages and poo poo.

WTF is going with that? ANd what did I do to invite it or is this the new normal?

My FB page is not linked to anything else I use really and I doubt it's been breached. I have like 20 friends on it and only use it to look up old friends. Anyone else have this happen? Should I change my password?

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

yeah OP, without knowing how all the links in the chain work from the spa, to visa/mc/etc, and to your bank, it's hard to know things for sure. you could call the spa if you're really curious. depending on how good/smart they are about this they may even appreciate it. they might be defensive and weird about it too though, so don't be surprised if that's the response you get

MightyJoe36
Dec 29, 2013

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

BiggerBoat posted:

OK. This just started happening to me recently.

I hardly gently caress around with Facebook like at all. Maybe I check it out once a week. Lately, I'm getting a ton of really weird friend suggestions and requests, usually involving a picture of a semi attractive woman and/or someone with an Indian sounding or Arabic name. Today, I got one for someone like "JihadJoe" or some poo poo. None of these people seem to have any content and the ones that do are minimal and comprised of obviously fake "Happy Birthday" messages and poo poo.

WTF is going with that? ANd what did I do to invite it or is this the new normal?

My FB page is not linked to anything else I use really and I doubt it's been breached. I have like 20 friends on it and only use it to look up old friends. Anyone else have this happen? Should I change my password?

I get these all the time. Just decline the friend request and you should be fine.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



I just ignore them, then they can’t retry and they can’t confirm your account is active.

Quote-Unquote
Oct 22, 2002



EL BROMANCE posted:

Back in the UK, I got a call from my bank one day for security

“Did you then fly to Italy and clear out your account?”
“Errrr nope”

Haha, I had this happen once. I'd bought something using my credit card from a supermarket on my way to work, then two hours later got a call from my bank asking if I was in Calais buying a tonne of stuff from one of those big 'hypermarkets'. Theoretically, there would've been just barely enough time for me to hop on a plane at the nearest airport and get to Calais (and the hypermarkets are pretty close to the airport), but it still flagged up as suspicious. Charges were cancelled and I got a new card in the post the next day, which was great customer service.

Still not positive how my card details got stolen, but I suspect it was this (now long-defunct) German alternative clothing store. I'd let my housemate's girlfriend borrow my card to buy something since neither of them had credit cards.

Blackchamber
Jan 25, 2005

Blackchamber posted:

One of those times they ran the card at almost 2am (not what time it was processed, charged at 2am.)

Blackchamber posted:

they manually inputted my info and what times things were charged (not posted though since I couldn't see everything that was still pending but they could)

Blackchamber posted:

Again this info is coming from my bank, that was when the charge was made not when the transaction posted.

Captain Monkey posted:

Maybe the spa has an old system that does all cc transactions at once, scheduled at 2am. That used to be a thing that most companies did and some smaller companies still do it.

I really don't know how to make it clearer, but allow me to reach back into the past when I worked retail... When your card is used, a temporary hold is put on that amount in your account. This is part of a two step process, authorization and a settlement. The authorization allows the merchant ensure that you have a valid method of payment (people want to be sure they are gonna get paid). The settlement, usually with a delay, which in this case you are suggesting is a batch settlement done at 2am comes after.

So what I've been saying is the authorization which comes first, as was told to me by my bank, happened at 1 something A.M. (I rounded to 2am). So regardless of what you are suggesting as the settlement (or posting or processed) time the initial authorization time doesn't make sense since it is outside their business hours.

Way back in the olden times when I worked retail, and things may have changed because back when I worked it peoples credit card info was still printed in full on the receipts, in the event that the point of sale system was down and you needed to do the carbon copy pressing (all my new bank cards down even have raised numbers anymore) you still, painfully/ had to call into a hotline which did the authorization for you. Then when the system came back up you had to go back and enter the info into the computer and then save both your copy and the pos receipt together for record keeping or if there was a dispute later you could prove the card was there physically.

I don't think thats the case today, because it seems people are willing to hand jam in peoples info (other posters have offered examples of this like contractors) and there no longer is a requirement to be able to prove the card was there in person (if un-unusable like if the mag strip was bad). Which makes me curious how disputes are handled, but I digress.

And its not even important in my case because the time period between authorization and settlement in my case was only a couple hours. There were 3 charges at that same spa earlier in the day that were authorized then a couple hours later settled/processed/posted what have you and not done as a batch at night. So your theory doesn't work unless at some point that day they switched their POS system to a different system.

Lutha Mahtin posted:

yeah OP, without knowing how all the links in the chain work from the spa, to visa/mc/etc, and to your bank, it's hard to know things for sure. you could call the spa if you're really curious. depending on how good/smart they are about this they may even appreciate it. they might be defensive and weird about it too though, so don't be surprised if that's the response you get

They weren't helpful. Neither was Square which was their POS system. In both cases they can't provide information to me the card owner, because disputes have to be handled through my bank. Can't tell me what was bought or sold, none of that. They were both very defensive, you were right about that.

Tunicate posted:

bought a gift card online maybe?

This is actually totally possible! The amounts charged on my card don't directly correspond to any of the services on their menu but it they are an amount they sell gift cards online for. Would totally explain how they were able to charge my card around 2am also, and wouldn't appear fishy to anyone since there isnt an actual person doing a 'sale' for them to make multiple manually entered information transactions. I don't know if Square does this as a service though. Also this is really a bad idea though because in the event where its disputed, like I did, couldn't they look at the transaction and see the associated gift card number info and then the retailer could void the GC?

unknown
Nov 16, 2002
Ain't got no stinking title yet!


Captain Monkey posted:

Maybe the spa has an old system that does all cc transactions at once, scheduled at 2am. That used to be a thing that most companies did and some smaller companies still do it.

Common if they have a system that deals with tips. The initial transaction goes through (actually just does a hold for the amount), and the full transaction goes through (gets posted) at the end of the night and updates payroll/etc with a single batch amount after it figures out the tip formula for the staffers. (Usually when tips are shared/pooled among everyone working that day)

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice
Square is SUPER unhelpful. I apparently bought something from a company they later flagged for being unreliable or something, now it is rejected by Square across the board. They won't tell me who got it flagged or when, and the will not whitelist it for anything. I have not totally replace the card if I ever want to buy something from anyone that uses Square for processing.

m0therfux0r
Oct 11, 2007

me.

BiggerBoat posted:

OK. This just started happening to me recently.

I hardly gently caress around with Facebook like at all. Maybe I check it out once a week. Lately, I'm getting a ton of really weird friend suggestions and requests, usually involving a picture of a semi attractive woman and/or someone with an Indian sounding or Arabic name. Today, I got one for someone like "JihadJoe" or some poo poo. None of these people seem to have any content and the ones that do are minimal and comprised of obviously fake "Happy Birthday" messages and poo poo.

WTF is going with that? ANd what did I do to invite it or is this the new normal?

My FB page is not linked to anything else I use really and I doubt it's been breached. I have like 20 friends on it and only use it to look up old friends. Anyone else have this happen? Should I change my password?

I'm pretty sure the "attractive woman" fake accounts just end up trying to get you to pay for porn after you accept their request. The Playstation Network also has this happen sometimes- I had to turn off messages from non-friends because once every other week I'd get a message from a bot/fake account with an attractive woman as the picture that just said "Hey."

Krotera
Jun 16, 2013

I AM INTO MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS AND MANY METHODS USED IN THE STOCK MARKET

m0therfux0r posted:

I'm pretty sure the "attractive woman" fake accounts just end up trying to get you to pay for porn after you accept their request. The Playstation Network also has this happen sometimes- I had to turn off messages from non-friends because once every other week I'd get a message from a bot/fake account with an attractive woman as the picture that just said "Hey."

the other scam along these lines is to direct you to a Skype call, try to get you to wank on cam and then blackmail you to your friends

(source: dating site employee)

-Zydeco-
Nov 12, 2007


m0therfux0r posted:

I'm pretty sure the "attractive woman" fake accounts just end up trying to get you to pay for porn after you accept their request. The Playstation Network also has this happen sometimes- I had to turn off messages from non-friends because once every other week I'd get a message from a bot/fake account with an attractive woman as the picture that just said "Hey."

Might also be farming up friends before selling the page onto advertisers.

DaRealAce
Dec 27, 2004
Touch It.. No I dont want to... TOUCH IT!

Krotera posted:

the other scam along these lines is to direct you to a Skype call, try to get you to wank on cam and then blackmail you to your friends

(source: dating site employee)

Can you share any more details around this? How common is it.. that is how commonly do people fall for it?

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

DaRealAce posted:

Can you share any more details around this? How common is it.. that is how commonly do people fall for it?

one term used for this is "sextortion". a few rando google links i turned up:

https://www.allure.com/story/online-predators-blackmail-sextortion-victims-explicit-images

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sextortion-rise-suicides-blackmailing-sexual-images-sharing-social-media-a7446776.html

https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-what-is-sextortion/view

https://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Cybercrime/Online-safety/Sextortion

504
Feb 2, 2016

by R. Guyovich

DaRealAce posted:

Can you share any more details around this? How common is it.. that is how commonly do people fall for it?

Ahem...

It’s real common on porn chat sites to see “I’m a hot girl that wants to watch you whack it” messages. It’s embarrassing how offen people fall for it.

Krotera
Jun 16, 2013

I AM INTO MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS AND MANY METHODS USED IN THE STOCK MARKET

DaRealAce posted:

Can you share any more details around this? How common is it.. that is how commonly do people fall for it?

It's not common on our site because we have a really high level of scrutiny. (no profile gets up without being viewed by a human, major profile edits flag your profile to be reviewed before it can be seen again) I spoke to some contacts on another site where this is more common and average users seem really not cognizant of lures like "contact me via my alternate account" or "profile picture obviously distorted to evade reverse image search." At the same time, no one actually admitted to falling for it.

I would guess it's one of those things where one in a hundred people falls for it and like one in a thousand pays, but that's good enough money to keep doing it.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

back when i was doing online dating, it was difficult a few times when i tried to politely explain i would prefer to talk via the dating service rather than the single phone number that i use both personally and professionally. as the years went on it seemed like this became more understood, but i still got the odd one who thought "my phone runs this app kinda slowly" was a great reason to give their phone number unsolicited to me, a stranger on the internet

bulletsponge13
Apr 28, 2010

So what is up with the "I buy houses!" Scam? How does it work?

TheQuietWilds
Sep 8, 2009

bulletsponge13 posted:

So what is up with the "I buy houses!" Scam? How does it work?

They just lowball desperate people and resell to developers

Space Gopher
Jul 31, 2006

BLITHERING IDIOT AND HARDCORE DURIAN APOLOGIST. LET ME TELL YOU WHY THIS SHIT DON'T STINK EVEN THOUGH WE ALL KNOW IT DOES BECAUSE I'M SUPER CULTURED.

bulletsponge13 posted:

So what is up with the "I buy houses!" Scam? How does it work?

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/realestate/looking-for-eyecatching-profits-from-ugly-houses.html

People buy houses for cash at way below market value, then flip them at market value. It's more like payday loans, rent-to-own, and buy-here-pay-here car lots: not exactly a scam, but it tends to take advantage of desperate people who can't access normal financing options or afford to wait for the regular process to go through.

The signs are usually hand-lettered crap with google voice numbers because they're not legal (almost all cities have laws against throwing advertisements everywhere), and part of the customer base for "cash for ugly houses" places are people who "don't trust banks" or big corporations.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug
The other side of it is that they tend to crop up in places with a lovely housing market as there are people who just want loving rid of it. A common issue is some old person dies but none of the family lives anywhere nearby anymore. Nobody actually wants the house and dealing with selling it properly is a pain. However whoever ends up owning it on paper has to pay the property taxes. Just shuffling off on whoever gets rid if the problem. Those "we will buy literally any house" people absolutely will low ball you but they'll but it RIGHT loving NOW. No months and months of showings or risk of being stuck with a house in a half abandoned neighborhood you can't sell.

Konstantin
Jun 20, 2005
And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
There are also failed flips and renovations. I've heard of situations where a contractor ghosts when a job gets difficult, a second contractor quotes a price several times higher to fix everything previous contractors screwed up, and in any case the homeowner is without vital things like electricity or sewer service for months. At some point you just want to cut your losses and not deal with it anymore.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
Yeah, I think the "I BUY HOUSES NOW" thing is mostly for people who don't want the hassle of selling. Not sure I'd call it a scam totally so much as a quick solution. Like, I had a friend who was moving and needed quick cash for a car he didn't need so I referred him to CarMax, who will buy it on the spot. He was OK with it.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

BiggerBoat posted:

Yeah, I think the "I BUY HOUSES NOW" thing is mostly for people who don't want the hassle of selling. Not sure I'd call it a scam totally so much as a quick solution. Like, I had a friend who was moving and needed quick cash for a car he didn't need so I referred him to CarMax, who will buy it on the spot. He was OK with it.

They're one of those weird grey area things in that they'll happily prey on the desperate or those that lack knowledge if they can. However just plain banning the practice isn't a good idea because sometimes you just really do need or want to be rid of something and don't give a poo poo if you get a bit ripped of as making the problem go away is the most important thing. Sometimes it's scammy, sometimes it isn't.

SEKCobra
Feb 28, 2011

Hi
:saddowns: Don't look at my site :saddowns:
This is the same as a pawn brooker, no?

Konstantin
Jun 20, 2005
And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
No, a pawn is when you get a loan using valuable personal property as collateral. You leave whatever you are pawning there, and they sell it if you don't make the payments on the loan. The amount you get is usually quite low, the interest rates are very high, and most people either don't get their stuff back or end up pawning it again a few months later.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Konstantin posted:

No, a pawn is when you get a loan using valuable personal property as collateral. You leave whatever you are pawning there, and they sell it if you don't make the payments on the loan. The amount you get is usually quite low, the interest rates are very high, and most people either don't get their stuff back or end up pawning it again a few months later.

Yeah, pawning your possessions is the OG Payday Loan.

Oddhair
Mar 21, 2004

Initio posted:

Its called the CVV2 code. It’s an extra piece of security, but not exactly foolproof. That code isn’t stored on the mag stripe of the card, so in theory if someone got the number from a skimmer or from your statement or wherever, they couldn’t use it at Amazon.

At the same time though, not every merchant asks for the number. And if someone clones your number onto another card, nobody bothers to check it on an in person transaction.

I memorize the few CVV2 codes I need and then I physically remove them from the back of the card with a pocket knife just to make it that much harder in the event someone does steal my physical card or wallet. I have had a few people ask me for it when buying in person and it's no hassle giving it to them as I believe some card processors charge slightly smaller fees with the code than without. I've had some great ones, I had "123", "000", the first three of my social, just plenty of great combinations.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Yeah mines really easy to remember, that’s not a bad idea.

A 50S RAYGUN
Aug 22, 2011
i had literally no idea pawnshops offered loans to people. i thought it was just a place people went to sell their poo poo if they didn't mind taking a loss.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



A 50S RAYGUN posted:

i had literally no idea pawnshops offered loans to people. i thought it was just a place people went to sell their poo poo if they didn't mind taking a loss.

It is if you never intend to pay it off.

A 50S RAYGUN
Aug 22, 2011
i'm pretty sure a lot of pawn shops will just buy your poo poo. they certainly do near me, at least.

Zamboni Apocalypse
Dec 29, 2009
Yup,they'll happily take all your stolen property at maybe a slightly better rate than a loan, because then they don't have to write up the loan and store poo poo for whatever length of time, just tagit and throw it on the shelf for sale.

Depending on local/state laws, they may have to hold it until the cops actially run it on the lost & stolen property list, but that's a fairly recent development.

No matter if you go loan or sale, you'll get pennies on the dollar, even for actually valuable poo poo like guns, jewelry and electronics. Odds are if it's actually worth something, you can move it on Craigslist for a better profit, but the shop will pay cash *now*.

Not a scam, but just as high a profit margin as they can chisel out.

Mouse Dresser
Sep 4, 2002

This isn't Middle Earth, Quentin. There aren't enough noble quests to go around.
Similar to the “we buy houses” thing, I’ve always been curious about the signs that say “We buy diabetic testing supplies!”

What’s the game there? Why do they want diabetic testing supplies?

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

I've never seen that sign. I think you may have discovered a fetish.

FrozenVent
May 1, 2009

The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

Mouse Dresser posted:

Similar to the “we buy houses” thing, I’ve always been curious about the signs that say “We buy diabetic testing supplies!”

What’s the game there? Why do they want diabetic testing supplies?

People get them from Medicaid in too large a quantity, so it’s free money to the seller.

After that... I’m assuming it’s similar to that baby formula smuggling thing.

Space Gopher
Jul 31, 2006

BLITHERING IDIOT AND HARDCORE DURIAN APOLOGIST. LET ME TELL YOU WHY THIS SHIT DON'T STINK EVEN THOUGH WE ALL KNOW IT DOES BECAUSE I'M SUPER CULTURED.

Mouse Dresser posted:

Similar to the “we buy houses” thing, I’ve always been curious about the signs that say “We buy diabetic testing supplies!”

What’s the game there? Why do they want diabetic testing supplies?

Diabetic testing supplies are expensive if you have bad or no health insurance. People with Type 1 diabetes can go through 100 test strips a month, and they can cost more than a dollar apiece.

If you have Medicare or good private health insurance, and diabetes, they're cheap to you - usually just a copay for whatever your doctor says you need. Doctors will usually write a prescription for a bit more than a patient needs in a typical month, so they're less likely to run out.

That means there's a large grey market for test strips. Sometimes it's legitimate ("my doctor told me to switch brands and I've got a bunch of boxes I'm never going to use"). Sometimes it's grandma not testing as much as she should so she can sell the strips to afford meat that's not from a cat food can. And sometimes the resellers just sell counterfeit strips to uninsured people.

Healthcare in the US, it's pretty hosed up! :thumbsup:

Mouse Dresser
Sep 4, 2002

This isn't Middle Earth, Quentin. There aren't enough noble quests to go around.
That’s somehow both less and more hosed up than I thought.

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PhazonLink
Jul 17, 2010
Is selling epipens a gray black market too?

Asking for a friend.

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