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Redrum and Coke
Feb 25, 2006

wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid
I think it was mentioned here before, but the AARP makes a podcast about common cons and scams (seeing that a lot of times the targets are elderly people). It's cohosted by Frank Abegnale, the guy from Catch Me If You Can.

Check out this podcast: The Perfect Scam
http://perfectscam.aarp.libsynpro.com/rss via @PodcastAddict

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BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

Non Serviam posted:

I think it was mentioned here before, but the AARP makes a podcast about common cons and scams (seeing that a lot of times the targets are elderly people). It's cohosted by Frank Abegnale, the guy from Catch Me If You Can.

Check out this podcast: The Perfect Scam
http://perfectscam.aarp.libsynpro.com/rss via @PodcastAddict

Interested in this but this link is hosed up

Trastion
Jul 24, 2003
The one and only.

Non Serviam posted:

I think it was mentioned here before, but the AARP makes a podcast about common cons and scams (seeing that a lot of times the targets are elderly people). It's cohosted by Frank Abegnale, the guy from Catch Me If You Can.

Check out this podcast: The Perfect Scam
http://perfectscam.aarp.libsynpro.com/rss via @PodcastAddict

Podcasts. Just what Grandma and Grandpa are listening to these days.

Redrum and Coke
Feb 25, 2006

wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid
I think they're useful for younger people to also be aware of what scams are out there, and talk to their own folks about it (not that young people are immune to scams, on the contrary).

BiggerBoat posted:

Interested in this but this link is hosed up

Mine was, directly, the rss feed for the podcast. Try this one:

https://www.aarp.org/podcasts/the-perfect-scam/

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Trastion posted:

Podcasts. Just what Grandma and Grandpa are listening to these days.

Gonna scam these grandmas into listening to my podcast to convince them to buy into my new cryptocurrency - KnitCoin.

Achmed Jones
Oct 16, 2004



Trastion posted:

Podcasts. Just what Grandma and Grandpa are listening to these days.

AARP age is 50. This age group has had smartphones for years.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

Non Serviam posted:



Mine was, directly, the rss feed for the podcast. Try this one:

https://www.aarp.org/podcasts/the-perfect-scam/

Thank for this. That worked.

A little off topic, but what are some really good scam/rip off movies?

I love The Sting, House of Games, 21, Casino Royale, the Oceans films, Glen Gary Glen Ross, Catch Me if You Can, There Will Be Blood, Ladykillers...only seen parts of Paper Moon. Doesn't seem like it's a genre that gets looked at too much so any suggestions are welcome; documentaries too but I was looking more for fiction.

synthetik
Feb 28, 2007

I forgive you, Will. Will you forgive me?
Wolf of Wall Street. Wall Street. Boiler Room.

That Bootsy Collins flick that was just released seems like it uses the phone scams as it’s set piece.

Redrum and Coke
Feb 25, 2006

wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid
Matchstick Men, also whatever the name is of the film where de Niro plays Bernie Madoff.

Wicked Them Beats
Apr 1, 2007

Moralists don't really *have* beliefs. Sometimes they stumble on one, like on a child's toy left on the carpet. The toy must be put away immediately. And the child reprimanded.

That episode of DS9 where they rob a casino.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



synthetik posted:

Wolf of Wall Street. Wall Street. Boiler Room.

That Bootsy Collins flick that was just released seems like it uses the phone scams as it’s set piece.

Boots Riley wrote and directed Sorry To Bother You if that's what you're thinking of.

Many of the episodes of Danger Man had the main character set up a scheme to thwart a bad guy and would have the hero heading to the airport and out of town while the villain's world burns down around him.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
If TV's okay, Burn Notice has at least one scam an episode.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
Leverage was pretty good.

TheParadigm
Dec 10, 2009

I liked Molly's Game, after family took me to see it. I think its less scammy as much as exploring the lifestyle impacts of being in an environment conducive for being taken advantage of. Worth a watch on its own merits, i think.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice
I haven't watched it yet, but my uncle loved Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. Kinda long, 110 minutes. Not a documentary though it supposedly doesn't take much artistic license.

Red Oktober
May 24, 2006

wiggly eyes!



TheParadigm posted:

I liked Molly's Game, after family took me to see it. I think its less scammy as much as exploring the lifestyle impacts of being in an environment conducive for being taken advantage of. Worth a watch on its own merits, i think.

Molly’s Game came to mind for me as well but I hesitated as - as you say - it’s not really about a scam as much. Well worth watching though.

synthetik
Feb 28, 2007

I forgive you, Will. Will you forgive me?

Midjack posted:

Boots Riley wrote and directed Sorry To Bother You if that's what you're thinking of.

jfc I hosed that one up. Yeah, that’s exactly the one.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I've actually seen almost all the ones that were listed. I was reminded of one I've seen and liked but that's hard to find called "Hard 8", starring John C. Reilly.

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

Thanatosian posted:

Leverage was pretty good.

In a very similar vein, Hustle is great.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Corsair Pool Boy posted:

I haven't watched it yet, but my uncle loved Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. Kinda long, 110 minutes. Not a documentary though it supposedly doesn't take much artistic license.

What makes you think it’s not a documentary? I think there might have been a few reconstructed bits a la Thin Blue Line (it’s been like 10 years since I’ve seen it), but it’s definitely a doc. He also made the episode about VW emissions testing on Netflix under their Dirty Money series which is worth a watch.

terrenblade
Oct 29, 2012

BiggerBoat posted:

Thank for this. That worked.

A little off topic, but what are some really good scam/rip off movies?

I love The Sting, House of Games, 21, Casino Royale, the Oceans films, Glen Gary Glen Ross, Catch Me if You Can, There Will Be Blood, Ladykillers...only seen parts of Paper Moon. Doesn't seem like it's a genre that gets looked at too much so any suggestions are welcome; documentaries too but I was looking more for fiction.

Your list is missing Sneakers.

AlbieQuirky
Oct 9, 2012

Just me and my 🌊dragon🐉 hanging out
The Big Short

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

EL BROMANCE posted:

What makes you think it’s not a documentary? I think there might have been a few reconstructed bits a la Thin Blue Line (it’s been like 10 years since I’ve seen it), but it’s definitely a doc. He also made the episode about VW emissions testing on Netflix under their Dirty Money series which is worth a watch.

Just the impression that I got, the R rating, and the description on the back of the box

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Parents guide says there's nudity, and a ton of swearing so the R will be down to that (although iMDB has it marked as Unrated). It's a good watch, and yeah to the dude above on The Big Short - that's great.

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
This film is not yet rated. A movie about how the ratings system works for movies (it's a scam. South Park the movie had to have a ton of stuff cut, then when Matt and trey Parker got famous team America had very little cut).

Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010

If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

Red Oktober posted:

Molly’s Game came to mind for me as well but I hesitated as - as you say - it’s not really about a scam as much. Well worth watching though.

Oh poo poo, I never did watch it.

Even if I weren't sure about the premise, Idris Elba is the dreamiest man alive.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

The Brothers Bloom is another good one.

Vinny the Shark
Oct 11, 2005
No Country for Old Men

It's not about a scam or rip off, but it is a great movie involving foul play, dirty money and how being greedy and not doing the right thing can destroy you.

diadem
Sep 20, 2003
eet bugz
Not sure the scam in this one, but maybe someone can explain it to me, as it literally just happened:
1) A crazy guy causes and blocks the exit to a fast food joint.
2) I avoid the crazy guy and manage to exit the fast food joint, then a woman comes up to me. She explaining how she just got back from the police station because she was mugged and needs money home, which is of course out of town and she promises to pay me back.

Now that part is a common scam, so I offer her a T ticket (it's the Boston Bus Pass). I figure it'd help get her home if she really is stuck. She declines, but then some stranger built like a football player in a purple hoodie calls her over and gives her some cash. She seems all set, but I told her I'd still get her that bus ticket so she doesn't have to walk all the way to the train station.

She agrees and we walk a few blocks to a subway, where I can get her a ticket. She walks on ahead, choosing an empty stairwell which is weird, but whatever. In my head, i'm thinking "this poor woman was just mugged, so stay in populated areas so she doesn't feel threatened."

Well, as soon as we are in that stairwell, it turns out that huge guy was following us the whole time. He demands the money back, which she gives with a smooth immediate motion,, asks if I'm a friend of hers, says "it's my loving money," asks if I'm some sort of "loving goodie two-shoes." I say I'm trying to be.", then side-step from the bottom of the stairs to the main train hub, which is filled with people.

When I try to talk to her to find out what's going on, she talks and keeps walking back TOWARDS the drat stairwell where the guy was. Obviously, I couldn't follow ti find out what the hell just happened, because the stairwell only has her and a living bear of a man who is trying to walk AWAY from her back towards the street with many people.

What in sam hell just happened and what the scam here? There were onlookers who were sure that was a scam (since I side-stepped from the stairs into a crowd who saw the tail end), but none of us could figure out what the scam actually was. All she had to do was stay and I would have gotten her a T pass, which is at least worth some cash.

While my first guess is that she was a distraction so the big guy could mug me once I was distracted and it was just the three of us, why do it in such a sloppy manner (did he just not know the layout of the city as well as me or something)?

diadem fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Oct 26, 2018

My PIN is 4826
Aug 30, 2003

Only thing I can think of is that somewhere between her getting the cash and giving it back to the big guy, she’s meant to have lifted some cash off you and mixed it in with his cash. This would somehow in their minds make it less likely that you’d be able to challenge them on giving the cash back, because “it’s his loving money”?

That, or you just witnessed some non scam related pimp/hooker dealings?

LifeSunDeath
Jan 4, 2007

still gay rights and smoke weed every day
Not sure it's a scam: IT IS DEFINITELY A SCAM

Hippie Hedgehog
Feb 19, 2007

Ever cuddled a hedgehog?
I guess I don't see it either. Good on you for trying to help! Also for not getting scammed or mugged.

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010
And that is why I tell them I got no cash and move on. Too risky.

Anyone getting hammered with signa blue cross offers? I get like 2-3 a day and some bypass my block.

Eric the Mauve
May 8, 2012

Making you happy for a buck since 199X

diadem posted:

What in sam hell just happened and what the scam here? There were onlookers who were sure that was a scam (since I side-stepped from the stairs into a crowd who saw the tail end), but none of us could figure out what the scam actually was. All she had to do was stay and I would have gotten her a T pass, which is at least worth some cash.

While my first guess is that she was a distraction so the big guy could mug me once I was distracted and it was just the three of us, why do it in such a sloppy manner (did he just not know the layout of the city as well as me or something)?

I think your first instinct was the right one, it was a botched semi-mugging (no gun or knife, just relying on the guy being huge and aggressive to intimidate you into giving up your money), they were probably new to this flavor of crime and still working out the program.

bort
Mar 13, 2003

Nine Queens/Nueve Reinas is the best scam movie of all time, in my book. The original Argentinian movie is better, but there's a John C Reilly remake that's okay, also. The twist at the end of the original blows the remake away.

This may have been posted already, but Kitboga has a Twitch channel where he counter-scams computer scammers. He uses voice modulators and plays characters to gently caress with them. He's very good at it, but, for me, it gets a little tired. The scams are nearly always the same and his strategy of drawing the process out and wasting their time eventually fells like he's wasting mine, too. YouTube channel

Bad Titty Puker
Nov 3, 2007
Soiled Meat
The funniest anti-scam pranks I've heard were done by "Hoax Hotel".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuayDyJ1ODI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it-U7uppX7U

Holyshoot
May 6, 2010

Holy gently caress this was good. I lost it when he started talking about an actual ship bringing him the card and the route it would take. Hahahahah

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Posted in the BWM thread but belongs here too.

quote:

First off, I just want to say that this will be a long post, because I do want to rant and provide a lot of context for feedback and introspection. But basically, I was given jewelry by who claimed to be a rich man from Dubai in front of his family from a very expensive car at a gas stop who claimed to have run out of exchange cash. I felt bad for them and especially their kids, who were apparently in on the scam. As it turns out, none of the jewelry was real, and although a $1400 loss isn't going to kill me, it does sting, and I want to vent with someone. I apologize if this isn't the best subreddit for it; if someone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.
The story
I was at a Shell gas station when a middle eastern man in a white, family-sized Escalade called me over. He told me he needed his tank filled, because his bank card would be declined because it's from a bank outside of the country, since he was from Dubai.
A quick peek inside his car that duped me into thinking he was legitimately rich:
• Garmin GPS
• Bratty looking boy with highlights and a tablet in the front seat
• Wife in the back seat with baby
• Girl in back seat as well
• Nifty looking baby seat
• A lot of gold jewelry being worn by him and his wife
He was dressed in white garb, with a lot of gold-looking jewelry and sandals, which his family was dressed with American-looking street clothes. Throughout everything I will be describing to you, the entire family would tell to me "God bless you" and "thank you so much". I'd like to bring attention to the delineation between exploiting your family as part of a con, and having your children join in on the con.
the first con
As I was helping him out with the gas, he took me to his window, and shook my hand. His handshake included him kissing my hand (admittedly, it was weird, but it seemed genuine). Immediately, he took off a gold ring, which felt a little fake at the time, given the rough edges, and gave it to me. He explained how he was on vacation but ran out of his cash and was explaining about that he was actually from Dubai with "broken" english. He claimed he wanted to give me the ring as a gift. At one point, I do believe he noticed he was taking advantage of someone who's very dumb, as he repeatedly said, "I am a very rich man" and "Do you know where Dubai is?" My only question that wasn't answered due to his "broken" english was, "Why didn't you take more from the currency exchanges in customs?" In retrospect, since he made me walk away from the pump to help him out, I definitely didn't look that a full tank went up to ~$81.
the second con
After that, he immediately went on to say how much of a "good heart" I had. He then went on to say how much his family could use some help to get them through the night as their hotel might go out and he needs food for his children. At first, I had said no, and was trying to leave, but he insisted with a new piece of jewelry; he took off and gave me a necklace. The necklace and the ring were immediately upscaled of being very very valuable from him and his wife and although I tried to reject it, he presented it as "a gift" for my good heart. He said he could use $500 dollars for the night, and asked if there were any of my bank's ATMs nearby. See the red flags I totally ignored?
the third con
After he followed me to the bank and I withdrew $500 from my savings account, he further upped the ante. The new story was how he needed to get back to Dubai pronto; they had gotten word that morning the wife's mother was hospitalized. (Quick aside, this almost hurts to write due to how blatantly obvious everything I'm saying is). He then gave me the last two pieces of jewelry, his Rolex and another necklace. He sold the Rolex to me as being incredibly expensive, but he could afford it because he was a very rich man. Given the darkness of the night (sneaky bastard), I couldn't tell much other than the fact that the Rolex's second hand wasn't seamless and continuous. But then I mis-reasoned that that couldn't be a requirement for all Rolexes and that I shouldn't claim to know about watches because I don't. After another handshaking, fake adoration of my goodwill, and probing about my belief in God, I was ready to withdraw another $800 from my bank account, but the ATM screen showed I had reached my limit. After telling him, he quickly asked if I knew about the American Express cards at pharmacies that are prepaid. My trailing (but suppressed) suspicion wondered how a millionaire tourist who was dumb enough to not already have paid his hotel off for the nights here would know of how these cards worked.
As we drove to the nearby CVS across from my apartments, my suspicion started to get the best of me. When we parked, I brought the Rolex and the second necklace back to him and said, "you know, I'm sorry but I don't feel comfortable anymore about doing this." Seemingly humble, he quickly replied, "ok, what I want is your happy, maybe we could do with $500? but keep these, they are gift to you."
I felt bad inside the CVS.
I bought the $800.
After I went back, he immediately showered me with variations of "why you do this after what we talked? you truly have a good heart."
I got home and noticed the Rolex had a word misspelled on its face. The word was "certifiad".
The aftermath
I just moved to San Diego immediately after college. I graduated with an MS and am a programmer for a very well paying company based out of the bay area. (You would think I would've noticed the signs and not let my guilt get the best of me). This setback will not put me on the streets and certainly didn't make a dent in my daily life. Although, seeing bank account's combined worth drop from just over $11,000 to around $9,800 stings. It stings bad. I had recently made a financial plan which included me not making any big purchases in the next few months.
I will take any and all advice I can take from fellow redditors that have been scammed before. But I basically have nothing on them other than the jewelry, just a few vague descriptions, not even a license plate number. What kind of a Dubai Millionaire goes to loving Shell?

TL;DR: A middle eastern man, claiming to be rich, scammed money from me in return of jewelry in front of his family, including his children by gifting me fake golden jewelry. Any and all advice is welcomed.
[quote]

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Midjack posted:

Posted in the BWM thread but belongs here too.


[quote]

Ain't no school, but the old school.

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Pharmaskittle
Dec 17, 2007

arf arf put the money in the fuckin bag

Midjack posted:

Posted in the BWM thread but belongs here too.


[quote]

Lol owned

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