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 MY GIRLFRIEND almost got popped by an "I'm in trouble" scam and I'm real glad I had been reading this thread/staying aware of scam tactics for a long while. Caller was pretending to be a friend of a relative in some sort of tight spot and needed money right now. Was trying to get her to send money via the Cash app (like Venmo/Zelle, I hadn't heard of it at all) and while she is empathetic and was starting to believe, fortunately she isn't gullible and feigned dependence on my decision until I got home and the phone rang again. I picked up and we had a different sort of conversation.Pretty standard fast-talky, scammy person trying to talk past the ability to process information. Knew an incredible amount about the guy he was pretending to be, including a professional license number which he was far too over eager to share in order build confidence. Told him to slow down and we had a pretty ridiculous "you're a loving idiot scammer and it's obvious" call where he was constantly trying to break off from me to get back to her. I got tired of the call when he started turning it around on me in a poo poo lazy fashion and told her it's probably A Good Idea to block the number. A strange part was that he was pretty adamant about getting on Facetime to prove who he was. That seemed strange to offer that up when clearly this was someone that snagged an identity, and I wasn't going to waste the 10-15 mins where he "can't get video working" or whatever that was probably heading toward, but like.. I dunno, it was oddly confident but in the obvious way sociopaths/narcissists can get when challenged. Either that or it'd help him identify me via connections he'd already made. One curiosity came to mind after, was what are the chances this is a single direct hit on something like email -> social media accounts -> building up a list of info and relatives to hit, versus that whole thing being sold as a package by a third-party and/or in bulk? It seemed like it would be an awful amount of work to dig up the really comprehensive, but outdated information about not only the mark, but shared acquaintances as well. I've only ever thought about bulk credentials being traded in the dark but it's even scarier if it's large profiles that have been mined from that information.  PS: This thread not needs derailed hellotoothpaste fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Aug 19, 2018 |
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Aug 19, 2018 16:37
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Zereth posted:don't forget the grating "SOMETHING hosed UP" error beep almost all of them use to indicate "i have successfully read the card, you can remove it now, everything is working correctly" This is one of the most exhilarating design mistakes I have ever experienced. CVS seems to have gotten it figured out/changed to be an affirmative tone but nobody else has.
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Aug 3, 2019 18:36
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Churchill posted:I always figured it wasn't about signalling that the transaction was completed but rather to remind the customer that their card is in the reader and not to forget it. I suppose that at least makes some sense. Another non-scam CVS related post: If you download their app, buried within settings is the ability to send receipts to email instead of printing out a mile worth of paper. It always surprises the cashier when the computer is probably telling them something like 'smart person does not want long paper'. As an extra bonus that means all of those crazy coupons are now indexed in your email. 
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Aug 7, 2019 22:11
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BiggerBoat posted:That's another one that doesn't get mentioned enough because it's so silent. But downloading company apps exposes you to a poo poo ton shady stuff that tracks you, shares your info and sells everything they track that you do to marketing types that essentially frame your entire experience on the internet. Yeah, good point and technically this could open Gmail email processing to knowing your prescription history if that's allowed by law (no idea). At this point, I figure my entire life activity is outward facing to corps and I just work to make my life as convenient as I can. Edit: More protips. Appchoices and Adchoices, while I'm not trustworthy of an advertising association, seemingly erased most knowledge that the networks have on me at least when it comes to serving me ads. One click auto submit of 'forget me' requests to hundreds of ad networks whose names you won't even recognize. None of my ads are relevant anymore, which makes me think it isn't scammy but I haven't looked into either enough to be able to guarantee that. All I know is that all internet ads per device, and even my streaming service video ads seem to have guessed that I am part of a hispanic family that enjoys high fashion, which is about as inaccurate as it gets. hellotoothpaste fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Aug 9, 2019 |
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Aug 9, 2019 20:06
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Dumb Lowtax posted:Hahaha they want me to install their software on my device just so I can opt out of their data collection that they shouldn't have been doing? Where is this "one click auto submit" option? All I see are requirements to install their app to make it happen. Again, I'm too lazy/busy to do homework for everyone but the app allows you to blow away the unique ad ID on an Android device and click the choose all button before sending all these requests out for all ad networks participating. Delete it after trying it, I guess. AdChoices is web-based and does it per device for browsers.
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Aug 9, 2019 20:50
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LIVE AMMO ROLEPLAY posted:Why were you taking a scratcher out of the trash? Probably cuz it was worth 75 bux
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Sep 10, 2019 06:52
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ToxicSlurpee posted:Yeah, MLMs have been spreading propaganda focusing on the tiny number of people who do in fact make crap tons of money. There are even children's books about it. It's on the level of "well hey if you work very extremely hard and want it bad enough you'll get to diamond and make millions!" In case anyone hasn't heard of it, the children's book is Just Wait Til We're Diamond, and holy poo poo is it depressing. I found a copy online somewhere a while back and it basically excuses away parents-in-Amway behavior on the parents' behalf, why they're working so hard, etc. - Pretty bastard level way to get the kids to share the just wait mentality. It sort of makes sense since the kid is likely reading by themselves because their parents are acting like the ones in the book. Some real meta poo poo.
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Nov 27, 2019 19:34
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Depressio111117 posted:God this is loving depressing. I hope this was never given to a single child in earnest. That said - I know that this was a weird illustrative style that was popular in 93-94, but I hate anybody that thinks it's enjoyable. Like fingernails on a chalkboard, but instead my eyes.
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Dec 6, 2019 17:13
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GIMP is for the most part usable as a Photoshop replacement and doesn't suck as much as it did whenever you may have tried it last. Icons get fucky on 4k screens but there's some way to resolve that in UI settings and then you're good to go. I moved to it once this Creative Cloud bullshit happened because I wasn't able to cancel my subscription after losing access to the email address I signed up with. Had to reroll my debit card and that was it for me with all that bullshit.
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Dec 28, 2019 06:52
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I never got to catch this when it made the rounds back then, but I gotta say this is about 10x more effort than I expected there to be - gah drat
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May 3, 2020 14:36
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My favorite part of that stupid article is that one of the companies is literally named PPYPYPYPYPZ or whatever, checks out AMZN says
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Jul 17, 2021 04:32
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Hyrax Attack! posted:Saw a guy in a tourist area walking around holding a $100 bill and I think a credit card in front of his face I think trying to entice people. What kind of scam was that? I’m guessing something with prepaid credit cards? Just a tourist
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Jul 22, 2021 01:51
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The Amway of Sweatpants, holy poo poo can’t wait to watch that gem
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Nov 4, 2021 13:41
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thrakkorzog posted:I'll admit, I'm a bit weak on the slurs. "Please stop calling me," doesn't work. LOL this person went full computer scammer angry in the thread whooee.
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Aug 8, 2022 11:36
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DiabloStarCraft posted:Genuinely can't believe people in this thread sounding like a 2002 chain email saying a scammer is gonna abduct and rape you like cmon. When I was in a stupid rush to find an apartment on craigslist out of necessity after moving cross country, one of the hits I found wanted (needed) to show me the 4-person techbro house they were proposing in the entry but only in person. It was also extremely underpriced per techbro. But I had to meet them and get in their van, was a waste of $1.25 in bus money and a couple of hours of not dying. They wouldn’t let me meet directly at the house. Edit: Love unpacking scams but had no interest in this one, haha. Also it doesn’t matter, but just a bit iffy that everyone I corresponded with had an immediately detectable Mandarin accent. hellotoothpaste fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Aug 8, 2022 |
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Aug 8, 2022 11:40
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BiggerBoat posted:Based on the nibbles I got, apparently I'd be really good at selling life insurance I watched someone do this based on some insane quota, and he did not appear to be having fun but did appear to bother all of his friends.
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Sep 7, 2022 14:02
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