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Every few months I get a text or a call referring to me as Jonathan (not my name) and it's always inquiring about some property that "Jonathan" is renting or selling. This has been happening for like two years now. I've always just assumed that somewhere online the lines got crossed and they think my number is some property manager's, but just in case, does anything about this sound like a scam attempt? I usually ignore it or simply reply wrong number and they either don't say anything back or apologize but don't push for further information.
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May 1, 2023 18:15
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I get this but 'Roy'. and I just assume it's them trying randomly with some common name or name that somehow became associated with your number/data. It's literally not worth their time to even verify whether you have property or are that person, it costs them next to nothing to just keep dialing even if you make it clear it's the wrong number. And renting/buying/real estate is basically just 60% scams.
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May 1, 2023 21:55
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Captain Monkey posted:I get this but 'Roy'. and I just assume it's them trying randomly with some common name or name that somehow became associated with your number/data. It's literally not worth their time to even verify whether you have property or are that person, it costs them next to nothing to just keep dialing even if you make it clear it's the wrong number. And renting/buying/real estate is basically just 60% scams. I just realized that when I google my phone number, Jonathan's name comes up... a few times, actually, with those data mining sites that list my number as a number that he "has or had". Which is weird, since I've had this number for 20 years, though it has transferred to different carriers. Are these random texts just people and possibly scammers just trying to verify if the number is active?
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May 2, 2023 00:26
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They're probably the ridiculous lowball offer people. They'll actually pay if you accept but you can do way better selling the usual way. Someone may have just used your number as a throwaway for a website and it got sold like that; I usually use -7272 for fake numbers since it's usually Papa John's Pizza (PAPA on the keypad).
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May 2, 2023 05:39
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Got a call today on my work number from the security department for "Visa and Mastercard".
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May 2, 2023 10:59
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:I just realized that when I google my phone number, Jonathan's name comes up... a few times, actually, with those data mining sites that list my number as a number that he "has or had". Which is weird, since I've had this number for 20 years, though it has transferred to different carriers. I get routine robo calls and texts for a specific person who I know exists but have never met. I think some info scraper got their wires crossed. Then every scammer who uses that pastebin calls me to offer me lowballs on property I've never been to, but that matches what I can dig up on my doppelganger. There's a chance you can sic them on Jonathan if you can find a number, like passing off a cursed artifact that returns if you try to throw it away.
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May 2, 2023 15:24
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Blue Footed Booby posted:I get routine robo calls and texts for a specific person who I know exists but have never met. I think some info scraper got their wires crossed. Then every scammer who uses that pastebin calls me to offer me lowballs on property I've never been to, but that matches what I can dig up on my doppelganger. It's literally not worth their time to bother correcting it, any response but an actual bite is effectively zero value since a correction is also probably going to give them no value on the new number too. If you're not faking interest and getting them to look at :goatse: you're probably wasting your own time.
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May 2, 2023 18:48
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About a 1-2 times a month for the last 4 months or so I’ve been getting calls from Beijing, Shangai, and “China Mainland”. I didn’t pick up for any. Once I got a voice mail from a woman speaking Chinese but I had no idea what was said so I deleted it. The voice to text was in Chinese except the words “China Customs Agency” or something similar. At that point I hadn’t bought anything from a Chinese seller in like a year, so I just assumed it’s a scam fishing for someone who buys or bought from China recently, but that doesn’t explain why the call wasn’t in English. Anyone come across this?
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May 2, 2023 20:00
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Bloopsy posted:About a 1-2 times a month for the last 4 months or so I’ve been getting calls from Beijing, Shangai, and “China Mainland”. I didn’t pick up for any. Once I got a voice mail from a woman speaking Chinese but I had no idea what was said so I deleted it. The voice to text was in Chinese except the words “China Customs Agency” or something similar. At that point I hadn’t bought anything from a Chinese seller in like a year, so I just assumed it’s a scam fishing for someone who buys or bought from China recently, but that doesn’t explain why the call wasn’t in English. Anyone come across this? They're scammers trying to trick Chinese immigrants. Maybe your area code has a large immigrant community in it, or they may just be trying random numbers. A recent immigrant is probably going to be less savvy to how things are done in their new country, and receiving a call from a stranger speaking their native language would probably make them put their guard down.
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May 2, 2023 20:09
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ponzicar posted:They're scammers trying to trick Chinese immigrants. Maybe your area code has a large immigrant community in it, or they may just be trying random numbers. A recent immigrant is probably going to be less savvy to how things are done in their new country, and receiving a call from a stranger speaking their native language would probably make them put their guard down. That makes sense. I’m in a large metropolitan area with a considerably sized Asian and East African immigrant population.
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May 2, 2023 20:23
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I get a few of them a week too. Chinese immigration scam calls are the only regular ones around here that hit people I know.
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May 2, 2023 21:17
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I've gotten 10+ calls to my work number in the past week. I picked up once and it was just silence but the calls keep coming. Googling the number says it's a robocall thing. It's the first time I've had a robo call try to call repeatedly from the same number.
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May 2, 2023 22:25
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Blue Footed Booby posted:I get routine robo calls and texts for a specific person who I know exists but have never met. I think some info scraper got their wires crossed. Then every scammer who uses that pastebin calls me to offer me lowballs on property I've never been to, but that matches what I can dig up on my doppelganger. You should do a reverse scam and tell them that, yes, you'll sell it and all you want is a $65,000 "good faith" deposit since you've been getting so many offers. Then let them gradually find out that you don't own the home.
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May 2, 2023 23:01
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FMguru posted:you'd better hope you die before you're 80 or you'll literally have no place to live. There’s a way to make sure this happens.
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May 2, 2023 23:48
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Bloopsy posted:About a 1-2 times a month for the last 4 months or so I’ve been getting calls from Beijing, Shangai, and “China Mainland”. I didn’t pick up for any. Once I got a voice mail from a woman speaking Chinese but I had no idea what was said so I deleted it. The voice to text was in Chinese except the words “China Customs Agency” or something similar. At that point I hadn’t bought anything from a Chinese seller in like a year, so I just assumed it’s a scam fishing for someone who buys or bought from China recently, but that doesn’t explain why the call wasn’t in English. Anyone come across this? As mentioned above, it's the Chinese immigrant version of "this is the FBI and we are mad about your tax theft but we can settle this right now in exchange for Google Play gift cards" except that they pretend to be the embassy to up the ante.
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May 3, 2023 00:13
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bamhand posted:I've gotten 10+ calls to my work number in the past week. I picked up once and it was just silence but the calls keep coming. Googling the number says it's a robocall thing. It's the first time I've had a robo call try to call repeatedly from the same number. It's due to the new antispam (shaken/stir) stuff. They're making "legit" calls out so that the it looks like the source number makes calls and doesn't get clamped down quickly/automatically. . Normally they call company numbers to get an ivr to answer and not care if there is silence. Eventually they'll change it up and do the real spamming calls in a much higher volume.
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May 3, 2023 01:23
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Volmarias posted:As mentioned above, it's the Chinese immigrant version of "this is the FBI and we are mad about your tax theft but we can settle this right now in exchange for Google Play gift cards" except that they pretend to be the embassy to up the ante. The Chinese government just loves to harass its citizens overseas through their embassies, so there are more fears the scammers can play on.
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May 8, 2023 04:46
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pumped up for school posted:Before I had ads blocked I saw a lot of ads on YouTube, and hear a lot of radio ads, to get you out of a timeshare. The cynic on me just thinks corps are buying timeshares so they can resell them to another unsuspecting buyer. Or maybe Airbnb them ? Just curious if I'm off base there. I just saw a Last Week Tonight about the topic , and those are basically just scams. They realized that timeshare owners are people who have already marked themselves as susceptible to scams and figured a way to piggyback on that to wring more money out of them. The fine print absolves them of a requirement to succeed and you pay them for a while to do basically nothing. The topic is timeshares generally, but the ecosystem around them, including the scams around escaping, get talked about for a bit too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2bbHoVQSM Also, re: the "hey, why haven't you texted me back" spam, I think those are the opening to the "pig butchering" scam. I replied to one once, and they'll concede they don't know who you are, but "you seem nice, maybe we can chat?" and attempt to befriend you. According to articles the script used to culminate in trying to convince you to start getting into crypto, on this great exchange they know, which disables withdrawals once you've put enough money in.
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May 8, 2023 05:06
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Scam? Maybe MLM but I think a person I recently met it is trying to set me up possibly bartering or reselling consumables like toothpaste and soap from Amway. Anyone familiar with that?
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May 10, 2023 02:51
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Rabite posted:Scam? Maybe MLM but I think a person I recently met it is trying to set me up possibly bartering or reselling consumables like toothpaste and soap from Amway. If Amway is involved it's MLM, full stop. If you're "reselling" bullshit like soap it's MLM, full stop. If you're "bartering" then congratulations, you're participating in an exciting new variation of MLM.
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May 10, 2023 03:38
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Rabite posted:Scam? Maybe MLM but I think a person I recently met it is trying to set me up possibly bartering or reselling consumables like toothpaste and soap from Amway. Sounds like somebody has a bunch of unsold product that they've ordered in order to raise up their "PV" every month. People are so obsessed with that PV number, since that determines their "level" and how much of a rebate check they receive, but they're so god damned brainwashed that they'll actually buy stuff for themselves that costs them 10 times as much just to get that number up. This is why sometimes when they try and recruit, they'll show someone a check for like $1500 to show them how easy it is to make money ("I got this working just 2 hours a week!"), but without telling you that they bought $7000 worth of overpriced crap that's now sitting unsold in a filled up garage.
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May 10, 2023 11:35
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Penis Vagina?
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May 10, 2023 14:15
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Ponzi V-bucks, I think.
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May 10, 2023 15:56
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bird with big dick posted:Penis Vagina? It's this
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May 10, 2023 16:10
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Pure pyramid schemes are too easy for government regulators to shut down, so MLMs need to actually sell a physical product in addition to recruiting new marks. It's common for there to be a requirement for everyone involved to have a quota of product they have to personally sell in order to get paid, both to try and convince people they are a legitimate business and to avoid paying people. Of course, since the product is overpriced crap, they can't meet their quota and have to buy the product themselves, so it piles up in storage.
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May 11, 2023 09:25
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Sorry, yeah, "PV" stands for "personal volume", a number Amway uses to calculate "sales". Sales are usually just what distributors purchase themselves. They use the number instead of an actual dollar amount I presume to camouflage the total money being spent and distract disassociate from it.
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May 11, 2023 12:44
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12075527/NSW-Police-warn-bizarre-rise-virtual-kidnappings-targeting-Chinese-students-Australia.html "Authorities have issued a warning over a sophisticated 'virtual kidnapping' extortion racket targeting Chinese international students. Four cases were reported in April, with scammers forcing victims into taking photos of themselves as if they've been 'kidnapped, tied up and gagged' before sending them to their families for ransom money. Victims aged 17-23 are contacted by scammers posing as Chinese authorities, police, or staff from the Chinese Embassy or Consulate before they are told they need to pay large sums of money between $175,000 and $200,000 to avoid being deported or being placed under arrest. 'When they've extorted all the money they can from these victims, it then escalates where they trick and coerce the victim into faking their own kidnapping and taking photographs of themselves in vulnerable positions,' Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi said. 'Unfortunately, on all the cases we've seen, the victims legitimately believe they are speaking to Chinese officials and that the threats will occur if they don't comply.' Initial contact can be made via calls or on encrypted messaging apps like Telegraph, WhatsApp and WeChat. Police believe the perpetrators are 'predominantly offshore'. In one case, police say a 17-year-old boy was told by someone posing as a postal service worker that he had contraband goods in a package under his name that had been sent to Chinese police for investigation. The teenager was told to pay $20,000 to prove his innocence and instructed to stage a kidnapping to extort money from his family to pay a fake debt. Police became involved after his family in China reported receiving photos of the teenager appearing injured and kidnapped and were able to locate him safely and before money was transferred. Superintendent Doueihi said the emotional toll on the victims was severe, with some 'psychologically traumatised' victims requiring hospitalisation. 'It's such an elaborate scam that they can talk to these victims for hours and hours and sometimes days on end,' he said. 'They absolutely convince them and psychologically trick them into believing they will be arrested and their families will be harmed if they don't comply with their requests. 'They are psychologically traumatised.'"
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May 13, 2023 01:06
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I just got an odd one. An automated voice saying I had a package with problems and I needed to talk to UPS. Had muzak playing in the background. Then a message in what sounded like chinese, no muzak and about the same length, then it disconnected. Whole thing was less than 20 seconds. The odd part is they gave me no way to contact the scammer. It just said to "contact ups". Presumably anyone who does that with no instructions will end up with the real UPS. I tried calling it back but nothing. Any ideas? My best guess is the Chinese part is the real scam and the English part is camoflauge of some sort.
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May 17, 2023 15:38
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Got a very old fashioned scam message on LinkedIn, inviting me to apply to "Who's Who." Didn't realize that was still a thing hah.
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May 17, 2023 16:51
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Akratic Method posted:... Got a funny variant of this one today. "Excuse me, please come and move your car, my car is blocked" Except I drive a truck and it's parked at the bottom of my driveway next to a fence.
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May 17, 2023 22:17
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I got a weird Indian accented voice trying to get me to repeat a phrase back to him. It was like "Imhran Khan is back". I hung up pretty quick like. Local number but they're easy enough to spoof.
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May 18, 2023 09:00
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Gf got a vm today saying along the lines of ‘This is a message for (her name) of (our address) to advise you of impeding legal action against you in (our county). Please call 877-xxx-xxxx or this will be filed today.” Luckily she works in the legal field and knows this isn’t how things are done, but the combination of an American accent that is either good AI masked by crappy telephone quality or a real person, and not broken English along with real information means at least some are going to fall for the first stage. I googled the number and got nothing, she said she managed to find a hit for it being used for an IRS scam. And luckily the number it came in on was different and flagged as spam.
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May 24, 2023 23:15
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This thread needs more content: I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of NFTs, crypto, forex, rug pulls, pump and dumps, etc and just started watching videos from a YouTube called Coffeezilla. Anyone have any opinions on the channel? Is it mostly for real? It seems like some real investigative work but it’s sooooooo stylized ( he talks with a CG robot bartender for half the episode) that it’s hard to take it seriously and I’m worried that it’s just straight fiction. I guess I could research more but thought I’d ask here first and bump the thread since I really like this thread
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Jun 23, 2023 02:13
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namlosh posted:This thread needs more content: I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of NFTs, crypto, forex, rug pulls, pump and dumps, etc and just started watching videos from a YouTube called Coffeezilla. Coffezilla is pretty legitimate reporting on scams, even if the syntax is irritating the semantic content is on target.
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Jun 23, 2023 02:59
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Midjack posted:Coffezilla is pretty legitimate reporting on scams, even if the syntax is irritating the semantic content is on target. Ok awesome, good to hear, thx! Website that he references a lot and seems thread appropriate: https://behindmlm.com/ Between coffeezilla, munecat and (Folding Ideas) Dan Olson, I’ve been binge watching a ton of this stuff straight into my veins lol Vvvvvvvvvvvv Nice! namlosh fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Jun 23, 2023 |
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Jun 23, 2023 03:09
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For medical scams check out Myles Power https://www.youtube.com/@powerm1985
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Jun 23, 2023 03:13
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Midjack posted:Coffezilla is pretty legitimate reporting on scams, even if the syntax is irritating the semantic content is on target. His latest one involves half a billion scam and the Canadian feds investigation got closed twice because they got bambozzeled by a chronic liar. Special Guest star this episode: the actual wolf of Wall Street who was in on the scam and also not caught.
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Jun 23, 2023 04:01
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Papa Was A Video Toaster posted:I got a weird Indian accented voice trying to get me to repeat a phrase back to him. It was like "Imhran Khan is back". I hung up pretty quick like. Local number but they're easy enough to spoof. Imran Khan is the recently-deposed prime minister of Pakistan, currently struggling with the Army and legal system. Riots, chaos, etc. I guess the the caller was trying to rally support? Or targeting Khan supporters as part of the scam?
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Jun 30, 2023 16:16
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Anything they sell you is some level of scam. Take a moment to think about that.
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Jul 6, 2023 14:28
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What about sex
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Jul 6, 2023 14:38
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