Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

«‹›215 »

Tubgoat: Jun 30, 2013; by sebmojo

Volmarias posted:

Like DKIM, SPF, and DMARC?

I'm very cynical in general but not that cynical.

I used to not be that cynical until literally every "improvement" under Capitalism seemed to never alleviate the problem it claimed to target and in fact only made everything worse, forever, always, inexorably.

Problem: People can't afford health insurance.
Solution: Everyone has to buy health insurance or they have to pay even more money while still not having health insurance.

Problem: Bots are being used to play Diablo II and they're set up to avoid all the anti-bot measures put in place.
Solution: If you quit to character select too quickly you get locked out of your account and lose the items you were muling, bots still rule the game.

Tubgoat fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Jan 8, 2021

# ? Jan 8, 2021 02:56

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 23:31

Pekinduck: May 10, 2008

axolotl farmer posted:

I think there was a thread here a loong time ago by someone who was involved in that cult/scam org that drives teenagers around in vans and make them go door-to-door selling books.

Sounds familiar to anyone?

southwestern company is one of the companies that does this.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 03:17

Alkydere: Jun 7, 2010; Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

Captain Monkey posted:

They can! Not only have I received annoyed calls and texts from people who got my number spoofed at them, I�ve also received spam calls from my own number.

Yeah it's almost more annoying when your number was spoofed than when you get the spam itself. Compared to getting 0-3 random spam texts a day it's fun getting 20-30 people who don't realize I'm not the spammer telling me to stop.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 04:58

Penguissimo: Apr 7, 2007

axolotl farmer posted:

I think there was a thread here a loong time ago by someone who was involved in that cult/scam org that drives teenagers around in vans and make them go door-to-door selling books.

Sounds familiar to anyone?

I think it was the OP's girlfriend who got sucked in, and the OP was trying to get her out...the title was something along the lines of "my girlfriend has joined a cult"? There used to be a "lost SA stuff" thread; they'd probably be able to track it down if that thread is still active.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 08:42

Zamujasa: Oct 27, 2010; Bread Liar

This is a different thread, but it's "My dad stole my identity", from 2009.

What a read.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 11:49

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

This is a good podcast about identity theft: https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-51-money-tree-8-23-2016/

From a very young age, a woman's family is plagued by identity theft. She becomes obsessed with it to the point of studying it in university. Eventually she figures it out it was someone close to her.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 12:22

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

nishi koichi posted:

yeah, all of the above.

i’m convinced mlm is for people who are dissatisfied with their lives and lack the class consciousness to understand exactly what’s going on

Sounds like what a LOSER would say to me!

Me, I'm a multi millionaire. Just had some minor liquidity issues for the last *checks age* 45 years

# ? Jan 8, 2021 19:46

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

Zamujasa posted:

This is a different thread, but it's "My dad stole my identity", from 2009.

What a read.

Good lord what a saga. Glad it seems it worked out in the end.

# ? Jan 8, 2021 21:40

hyperhazard: Dec 4, 2011; I am the one lascivious
With magic potion niveous

axolotl farmer posted:

I think there was a thread here a loong time ago by someone who was involved in that cult/scam org that drives teenagers around in vans and make them go door-to-door selling books.

Sounds familiar to anyone?

I got your back: My Girlfriend Has Joined A Money Cult

Part of the OP, in case you don't have archives (sorry for the wall of text) :

quote:

Last month my girlfriend came home after a day at University excited; some people from "Southwestern Company" wanted to interview her for a position selling books, in America. The selection process was gruelling, she said, and they only take the most driven, most capable students from each University in the UK. It would be tough but she looked forward to the challenge, she is that kind of person.

A few days later, she came home even more excited; she had been picked! Hooray I thought! Good for her! My girlfriend gets to do something she is really pumped about and I can watch bad Science Fiction on her HDTV!

As far as I was concerned at the time, this was fantastic! Sure, it would mean 12 weeks of the summer without seeing my girlfriend, but the results might be astronomical!

People come back from the summer loaded, apparently. Her current student manager (people who did well the previous year are sometimes invited to take on this role the next) made around $200,000 during the summer. But there are downsides. Eleven to sixteen hour working days, a tough job selling books door-to-door. All-in-all, she was sure, it would be worth it. After all, she had been chosen out of all of Edinburgh Uni!

So the weeks role by, the student manager arranges things, and even visits my girlfriend's family to answer any questions they may have. Where will she be staying, etc. He answers that he will be helping her find accomodation with a family that he knows from his last visit, that she will have a rigorous sales course of knowledge and that there is the safety net of the strong teamwork-based dynamic whilst out there, doing the job.

quote:

It is now 4:17 in the morning, and I am so knotted up over this I feel I can no longer make salient points. I shall bullet point the things that really get me and anything I have not mentioned so far:

*Teamwork is shouted about, but none is involved. She walks around suburbia for up to 16 hours of a day, alone, and then is compared and found wanting to other members of her "team".

*On one of their days at the "selling school", a woman takes all of the girls aside, and tells them that it is perfectly normal for their period to stop whilst they are selling. These people know fully well that the girls work so hard, stress so much and have such a poor diet that this will happen to their bodies.

*She is doing all of this in the 40 degree California sun.

*The word "Cultish" would apply to most of the teaching and indoctrination practices, including everything she was told before she went being a lie, and the main thing drilled into her head every day being "Do not quit!"

*She is allowed to e-mail only during a certain slot on Sundays, which is supposedly their "own time".

*She is not allowed a phone or any other comms whilst doing her job; we are supposed to have no way of contacting her. They want her as divorced from real life as possible.

*She is so buzzed and bent after only 2 weeks that she wholly forgot our anniversary.

*Her manager outright lied about what to expect out there. The actual projected earnings for a 1st-year are about $10,000 which you could earn working 16 hour days over here too.

*The selling permits are frequently 9-5, which means that they are actively encouraged to sell illegally if their days contain so many hours.

*Her Sundays are theoretically her own days off, but actually involve spending time with the team, doing team excercises, and spending as little time alone thinking or contacting people as possible.

*My girlfriend wholly accepting in that earlier conversation that she had to find a place to sleep but that her manager also told the truth. This showed such cognitive dissonance and double-think it seriously worried me.
But most importantly:

*Perfect is a private contractor, all the students are. Southwestern Company does not pay for anything and has nothing to lose. She paid for her Visa, for her flights there and back, for any food or lodgings whilst she is over there, everything. Because of this the company feel NO loyalty towards her, either financially or ethically. There are reports of people who were hospitalized being called up and badgered to get back on the streets. Most costs of the book selling, including the delivery, gets taken out of their commisSion too. It is truly pyramidesque.

After talking to her parents, they wrote a detailed e-mail to her manager complaining about a few things; they still "strongly discourage" Perfect having a phone, but we now have the number of her manager, so we can atleast contact her in an emergency.

She will call today, because it is now Sunday as I have been sitting here stressing about it so much. I think that I should talk to her parents, and all of us as a united front ask her to come home.

It will be difficult, they operate on a similar basis to Scientology: The worst thing you can do is quit. Plus! Now it is built into her in much the same way that believing in Xenu is built into the Church: She has vested so much time and so much of herself into this thing that she will lie to herself about it being okay, that she's having an alright time, that this is all normal, that she needs to stay to recoup the money she's spent, that coming home would be failure and that she must be strong to show us she can and so that we don't worry about her.

Frankly I don't even know if I'm doing the right thing. She's a very driven, potent individual. As an illustration, she had her Oxford interview at 15; maybe she would be one of the few that have a positive, changing experience. But from what people have said, she could come back an emotionless robot or a once Perfect girl with a now crushed spirit.

She *was* smart enough to tell them she had to go to Germany the same summer, and so she is expected to be there 6 weeks, instead of the customary 12. That is some small relief.

# ? Jan 9, 2021 22:03

Guest2553: Aug 3, 2012

Sweet jesus. How did that one end? :stonk:

I canvassed for newspapers for like a week before quitting because it was sketchy as gently caress. The 'team lead' was a poor hygiene neckbeard motherfucker who wore sweats everywhere and bought cigarettes for kids (for a fee). He'd pick us up at home or school, drive us to a strange part of town (in a day before cell phones), and keep us out until he was happy with our numbers (typically after dark and later than we should have been working). The crew ranged in age from 12 - 16 and we were encouraged to do illegal things (take money from children, lie about our cost or what would be delivered, invent subscriptions to pad numbers) because fixing it was someone else's problem. One of the kids routinely abandoned the five year old sister he was supposed to be watching, which wasn't a secret since he was one of the guys who'd get picked up from home and we could see the other kid crying through the window. Everything was done cash under the table because of course it was.

A couple other kids didn't last as I did, some just showed up for 1 or 2 shifts. Those who stayed probably came from really broken homes for that to be better. If there's a silver lining in the death of print media, it's that some of the people involved in building that system will die broke and unemployed, possibly disabled, and likely addicted to opioids.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 02:22

Cage Kicker: Feb 20, 2009; End of the fiscal year, bitch.
MP's got time to order pens for year year, hooah?

SKILCRAFT KREW Reppin' Quality Blind Made; Lipstick Apathy

Imagine being so cringy you remain trapped in a situation where you're free to leave at any time

# ? Jan 10, 2021 21:11

AlbieQuirky: Oct 9, 2012; Just me and my 🌊dragon🐉 hanging out

Cage Kicker posted:

Imagine being so cringy you remain trapped in a situation where you're free to leave at any time

Yes, people who are desperate for money and acclimated to abuse sure are cringy :rolleyes:

# ? Jan 12, 2021 03:23

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

Zamujasa posted:

This is a different thread, but it's "My dad stole my identity", from 2009.

What a read.

Quality share, was there ever a followup?

# ? Jan 16, 2021 14:48

hyperhazard: Dec 4, 2011; I am the one lascivious
With magic potion niveous

Guest2553 posted:

Sweet jesus. How did that one end?

I canvassed for newspapers for like a week before quitting because it was sketchy as gently caress. The 'team lead' was a poor hygiene neckbeard motherfucker who wore sweats everywhere and bought cigarettes for kids (for a fee). He'd pick us up at home or school, drive us to a strange part of town (in a day before cell phones), and keep us out until he was happy with our numbers (typically after dark and later than we should have been working). The crew ranged in age from 12 - 16 and we were encouraged to do illegal things (take money from children, lie about our cost or what would be delivered, invent subscriptions to pad numbers) because fixing it was someone else's problem. One of the kids routinely abandoned the five year old sister he was supposed to be watching, which wasn't a secret since he was one of the guys who'd get picked up from home and we could see the other kid crying through the window. Everything was done cash under the table because of course it was.

A couple other kids didn't last as I did, some just showed up for 1 or 2 shifts. Those who stayed probably came from really broken homes for that to be better. If there's a silver lining in the death of print media, it's that some of the people involved in building that system will die broke and unemployed, possibly disabled, and likely addicted to opioids.

I'm sorry that happened to you. Scams like that are horrible, especially because they prey on people who are desperate for money. Then they brainwash them to accept the abuse. If everyone around you acts like it's normal, it's hard to judge how hosed up it really is.

At least one person in the thread I linked argued rabidly in support of Southwestern because it taught them "valuable skills" like doing physical labor for long hours for no money. Posters pointed out that you could get the same experience working construction but, you know, actually make a living wage. But the person kept arguing that it made them tough and it was an experience, not a scam.

That whole thread ended when someone pointed out that OP's girlfriend was coming home soon and wouldn't be thrilled to find her personal emails posted on the internet. I assume she got home safely and was more careful about taking jobs in the future, but maybe she's one of the ones out there defending them.

# ? Jan 16, 2021 21:46

axolotl farmer: May 17, 2007; Now I'm going to sing the Perry Mason theme

hyperhazard posted:

I got your back: My Girlfriend Has Joined A Money Cult

Part of the OP, in case you don't have archives (sorry for the wall of text) :

Thanks

Wow, that thread was from June 2007, and I regged in May that year. Has got to be one of the first threads I followed :shobon:

# ? Jan 17, 2021 19:38

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

AlbieQuirky posted:

Yes, people who are desperate for money and acclimated to abuse sure are cringy

I mean I can see where they're coming from - for me it is just frustration?

How can you help someone who seems so utterly vulnerable? The temptation is there just to give up and snap at them.

And, in all the 'discourse', I don't think I have ever seen serious calls made to put a stop to the perpetrators. So the abuse and scamming will always continue - it will just be happening to someone else.

# ? Jan 17, 2021 23:57

Tubgoat: Jun 30, 2013; by sebmojo

The Saddest Rhino posted:

https://twitter.com/NewsBFM/status/1352450922912182274

# ? Jan 23, 2021 01:40

Inspector 34: Mar 9, 2009; DOES NOT RESPECT THE RUN

BUT THEY WILL

I thought the idea with cryonics was to freeze em before they died so that they could receive whatever hypothetical treatment gets developed in the future. Does he think there's going to be a cure for death by 2067?

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:46

The Lone Badger: Sep 24, 2007

Inspector 34 posted:

I thought the idea with cryonics was to freeze em before they died so that they could receive whatever hypothetical treatment gets developed in the future. Does he think there's going to be a cure for death by 2067?

Freezing kills you regardless of your state of health beforehand. There needs to be a cure for death for anyone to be revived from cryonic storage.

Also, it's illegal to freeze living people.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:48

Inspector 34: Mar 9, 2009; DOES NOT RESPECT THE RUN

BUT THEY WILL

Oh I know, they won't dupe me like that again.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:50

nishi koichi: Feb 16, 2007; everyone feels that way and gives up.
that's how they get away with it.

expanding ice crystals would tear apart your flesh anyway

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:52

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

Inspector 34 posted:

I thought the idea with cryonics was to freeze em before they died so that they could receive whatever hypothetical treatment gets developed in the future. Does he think there's going to be a cure for death by 2067?

The fundamental belief behind cryonics is that it prevents �information-theoric� death, that the physical arrangement of atoms in your brain is what makes you you and once that gets disrupted then it�s all over. Freezing the brain prevents that increase in entropy, and you have to take it on faith that there will be a process in the future to either reverse the preservation procedure or recover the information in the brain and use it to reincarnate your personality in some other physical medium. It�s right up there with The Singularity as a religion for nerds who think they�re too logical for religion.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:57

The Lone Badger: Sep 24, 2007

nishi koichi posted:

expanding ice crystals would tear apart your flesh anyway

There are a number of methods that can be used to reduce the damage this does, but it's always going to be way over the threshold of 'fatal'.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:59

Inspector 34: Mar 9, 2009; DOES NOT RESPECT THE RUN

BUT THEY WILL

It's entirely possible I was thinking more about pop sci fi stories about cryonics rather than any real world applications. All real world examples of it just sound like science fiction to me anyway so it's easy to get them confused.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 02:59

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

There are animals with natural anti-freeze chemicals in their cells that allow them to survive freezing, even that article mentions it. Surprised some super rich Goober hasn't poisoned themselves to death trying to emulate that.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 10:34

The Lone Badger: Sep 24, 2007

cakesmith handyman posted:

There are animals with natural anti-freeze chemicals in their cells that allow them to survive freezing, even that article mentions it. Surprised some super rich Goober hasn't poisoned themselves to death trying to emulate that.

That's one of the methods used to reduce ice-crystal damage, replacing the blood and perfusing the flesh with appropriate chemicals. Of course just like everything else in cryonics this is in it itself fatal.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 11:10

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

SO I just read about this and had never heard of it

Ever receive a package addressed to you that you didn't order and wonder wtf?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/23/business/package-didnt-order-brushing/index.html

I guess you're not in any danger from it but, still, let's just throw some more bullshit on the never ending scam pile.

quote:

The Federal Trade Commission and cyber experts have been warning consumers about these deliveries, which can be part of something known as "brushing" scams.

Here's how these scams work: Third-party sellers on Amazon, eBay and other online marketplaces pay people to write fake, positive reviews about their products, or do it themselves. To be able to post the reviews, these so-called "brushers" need to trick the site into making it appear that a legitimate transaction took place. So they'll use a fake account to place gift orders and address them to a random person whose name and address they find online. Then, instead of actually mailing the item for which they want to post a review, the brushers will send a cheap, often lightweight item that costs less to ship.

Sending an item (even the wrong one) creates a tracking number, and when the package is delivered, it enables brushers to write a verified review. If you're on the receiving end, you usually aren't charged for the purchase and your real account isn't hacked � but you are left in the dark as to who is repeatedly sending the mystery packages. In many cases, there's no return address. You don't need to worry that anything bad has happened to you or will happen to you if you get a package that might be part of a brushing scam, experts say. But we all need to be concerned about the scams affecting reviews we rely on when buying products.

Jesus, there's just no loving end to it. I know scams have been around for centuries but gently caress me if they don't somehow seem easier to pull off with the internet than they used to. You'd sort of think the opposite would be true but I'm personally terrified of doing almost anything involving money online, which puts me at an obvious disadvantage sometimes. But I'm terrified of getting my identity stolen and avoiding it feels like an arms race and the exact opposite of the convenience I'm supposed to experience by doing it all on the internet.

I started a thread dedicated specifically to advertising since there's a lot of crossover there and I think you could make a suitable enough Venn diagram.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3955716

# ? Jan 23, 2021 17:14

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

This has been around for a while, I remember people on SA posting about receiving packages with random poo poo a year or so ago.

Online reviews are so useless these days, literally the only way to figure out if something is worth buying is by asking people on dead internet forums. Don't even get me started on review sites.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 18:25

shame on an IGA: Apr 8, 2005

*Painstakingly makes great sacrifices of time and money to avoid interacting with e-commerce platforms in any way*

*Gets credit card stolen from hacked physical cash register at Target*

bruh, chill. The infosec gently caress train is coming for you regardless.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 18:27

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

shame on an IGA posted:

*Painstakingly makes great sacrifices of time and money to avoid interacting with e-commerce platforms in any way*

*Gets credit card stolen from hacked physical cash register at Target*

bruh, chill. The infosec gently caress train is coming for you regardless.

I know...

I know.

But why make it easier I guess?

# ? Jan 23, 2021 18:38

FMguru: Sep 10, 2003; peed on;
sexually

Fruits of the sea posted:

This has been around for a while, I remember people on SA posting about receiving packages with random poo poo a year or so ago.

IIRC people were getting packets of seeds in the mail from China that they never ordered last year and wondering what was up with that.

https://bgr.com/2020/09/13/seeds-from-china-mystery-explained-suspected-brushing-campaign/

# ? Jan 23, 2021 19:18

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

BiggerBoat posted:

I know...

I know.

But why make it easier I guess?

Every single card security issue I�ve ever had has involved physical interaction with the card. At least with e-commerce the payment platforms have to be absolutely on top of poo poo because a security breach could end them. Any site I see that uses Apple Pay gets my thumbs up, easy and secure from my point of view.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 20:00

goatsestretchgoals: Jun 4, 2011

Yeah your credit card is probably safer on Amazon's servers than it is in your wallet.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 20:19

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

You guys are probably right.

I'm just getting up there in age, feeling like this poo poo is passing me by, that the world moves too fast and I need people to get off my non existent lawn. Doing everything through my phone doesn't seem to make my life easier. It just makes have to be on my phone all loving day and remember 200 passwords.

:love:

It's not you, it's me. :love:

# ? Jan 23, 2021 20:33

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

BiggerBoat posted:

You guys are probably right.

I'm just getting up there in age, feeling like this poo poo is passing me by, that the world moves too fast and I need people to get off my non existent lawn. Doing everything through my phone doesn't seem to make my life easier. It just makes have to be on my phone all loving day and remember 200 passwords.

It's not you, it's me.

Password managers can make that much easier, both by generating unique strong passwords automatically and storing them securely so you only have to remember one master password to access all the rest of them, and you can copy/paste them into browser forms from the manager. Several have phone clients, and you can usually sync between a computer and a phone though some make this kind of hard. There are a number of thoroughly decent free ones out there.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 20:38

Pekinduck: May 10, 2008

I briefly worked on brick-and-mortar retail payment systems. Its much more messy than e-commerce with numerous locations, physical POS equipment, etc.

An amusing (to me at least) example I read about a while ago: so each retail location needs a data link back to their payment processor to check if a card is valid and process the transaction. If the link goes down the company has two options: refuse customers paying with a card until the links back up, or just store the card number and process it at a later time. A lot of stores quietly do the latter, figuring most of the cards will be valid and they don't want to lose business.

So some fraudsters had a bunch of credit cards flagged as stolen. They snuck up onto the roof of a gas station and wrapped the satellite dish in aluminum foil, cutting off the payment link. Then they freely bought a ton of gasoline using the bad credit cards.

BiggerBoat posted:

You guys are probably right.

I'm just getting up there in age, feeling like this poo poo is passing me by, that the world moves too fast and I need people to get off my non existent lawn. Doing everything through my phone doesn't seem to make my life easier. It just makes have to be on my phone all loving day and remember 200 passwords.

It's not you, it's me.

Just keep an eye on your card statements for any purchases you didn't make. Card companies are obligated to refund any fraudulent transactions.

And yeah password managers are great.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 21:39

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

Pekinduck posted:

And yeah password managers are great.

I've heard.

What's the over/under on how long before I need a password manager manager to manage my password manager though?

# ? Jan 23, 2021 22:08

Inceltown: Aug 6, 2019

BiggerBoat posted:

I've heard.

What's the over/under on how long before I need a password manager manager to manage my password manager though?

Given that password managers only require you to put in the one password to access all your other ones this won't really come up. Unless you use multiple different password managers in which case you may need a password manager password manager. If you need one of them please check out my kickstarter.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 23:45

Zamujasa: Oct 27, 2010; Bread Liar

Pekinduck posted:

Just keep an eye on your card statements for any purchases you didn't make.

Most banks have ways to set up SMS notifications for transactions. I have both my checking and credit account set up to send me a text for any transaction, and then I set the numbers the notifications come through to have a unique text tone.

I've had my card cloned more than once and each time I caught it within literal minutes thanks to this.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 01:01

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# ? Apr 16, 2024 23:31

Midjack: Dec 24, 2007

BiggerBoat posted:

I've heard.

What's the over/under on how long before I need a password manager manager to manage my password manager though?

This would be analogous to needing a wallet to store your existing wallet so I feel like you�re probably going to be okay here. Additionally, I commend you for your correct use of the over/under proposition!

# ? Jan 24, 2021 01:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams: "Thanks, you suck. Hello, this is Linda."

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