Tell me about common cons/scams - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams

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.

I've known people who make money through this stuff, but it's pretty rare and when you break down how much effort it required, turns out they were making well below minimum wage.

My parents did herbalife when I was a teenager and they definitely sold all their stock, but the amount of time they spent on it was nuts.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2017 06:06

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# ¿ Mar 24, 2023 00:12

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.

Collateral Damage posted:

And how many friendships did they ruin in the process?

I believe they stuck to irritating coworkers.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2017 10:29

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.

I showed up to an "interview" once when I was 19 after finding an ad in a newspaper that swore I could make $3-$4 grand a month. My mom told me it was a scam and we had a big fight, so I went to the meeting in a huff just to spite her and it turns out the gig was selling Kirby vacuums door-to-door. I remember sitting in a waiting room filling out paperwork while a bunch of people in a class were cheering and chanting slogans next door. They told me I couldn't get into the class that day but they would contact me next week.

I went home and my mom had dinner waiting and we didn't bring it up again. Lesson learned.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2017 19:43

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.

FROOOOOOOOG posted:

Here!

The thought of someone reading this to their kids each night (or handing it off to their kids in lieu of parenting because mommy and daddy are busy making it to DIAMOND) is heartbreaking.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2017 04:20

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.

Absurd Alhazred posted:

Moving away from cars, on a scale from 1 to hella, how much is this an mlm?

Ten out of ten downlines agree, this is a legitimate opportunity to make real money and be your own boss!

And all it will cost you is whatever they charge for the cheapest wine blends they can find to markup 500%. Of course you only pay a 400% markup if you sign up to be a CEO (signing up to be a CEO only costs a small monthly fee).

Pharmaskittle posted:

I bet you $10 I can tell you where you got your shoes.

That one actually got me the first time I ever heard it, and the guy was funny so I just paid him.

Dude did this to me in SF when I was 18 or 19. His delivery was pretty funny and he also gave me a shoe shine so I paid him.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2018 01:31

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.

Don't know about the others, but Crunch Fitness is a real business, though opening a gym is probably not the best business decision unless there's no local competition for some reason (if there's no gym there already, there's probably a reason).

Crunch is ok if you want a cheap gym. Ten bucks a month and they usually have a decent selection of weights. Probably no more than one or two squat racks though.

Edit: More specifically to your question, franchises usually require whoever is opening the business to have some sort of minimum investment capability. According to Crunch's website, you need to have a million bucks with four hundred grand in liquid assets before they'll talk to you. MLMs, on the other hand, require that you be breathing and have the ability to buy their product.

Wicked Them Beats fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Feb 25, 2018

# ¿ Feb 25, 2018 00:16

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 or go to a rich area and pretend to be the "help" out shopping for Richie McDumbass. Back when I did retail electronics rich people would send contractors or assistants in all the time with their credit card info scribbled on a slip of paper.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2018 00:48

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.

Doctor_Acula posted:

Maybe you folks can help.

On my way to my office, I stopped into a Shell station in question to purchase a chicken sandwich and a soda for a coworker around 09:56. The total was 3.88 (or 3.98, I forget precisely).

I attempt to insert my card into the pin-pad, and am told it is not working. The attendant says he can swipe it for me at the register.

He swiped my card, then flips it over and is looking at it, commenting that the magnet strip is worn and it may not work. I found this peculiar since he had already swiped my card.
He then said "everything went through, have a good one" and I left.

On my way to my office, I started feeling very unsettled by him staring at the back of my card where the CV2 number is located. As soon as I arrived at my office I checked my statement and sure enough the charge was for 11.21.

I attempted to call the station using the number listed as their contact, but it rang to voicemail.

I contacted my bank, and they stated they could reverse the charge when it poated, but they also recommended me cancelling my card based on how he may have copied the CV2. Which I did.

On my lunch, I left my office and went to my bank to get a new card. On the way back, I decided to see if it was possible that this was a system error by checking exactly what I was billed for.
(Note: I don't believe this is possible, since the difference between the amount I was told and the amount charged is not a flat amount or a multiplication thereof.)

I asked the clerk for a copy of my purchase receipt. He said sure, and fiddled with the register for a bit. Then he asked me if there was a problem. I said I just wanted the receipt. This went back and forth a few times before he told me it was impossible to reproduce a receipt (even after I cited that the Shell site says specifically the opposite).

He continued to ask me what the problem was, and I told him he knew he overcharged me and I wanted to see what he had billed me for. I asked to speak with his manager, and he told me he was the manager. I then asked to speak with his boss. He provided me a phone number for a "Bobby" and said that was his manager.

I called Bobby and it went straight to voicemail. He did not call me back.

I called him again later in the evening, and he said he wanted to speak to the gas station and call me back. He left me a voicemail, simply stating he was returning my call. I have not yet made another attempt to contact him, since I have no idea who "Bobby" actually is.

Reviews online all point to this being a frequent situation, which concerns me greatly. Shell customer service says it's independently operated so there isn't anything they can do, and it sounds like "Bobby" is hip to what is going on. Is there anything I can do to stop them from getting away with this?

If they actually stole your credit card info and made fraudulent charges it's what is known as a crime and you can report them.

Check your local district attorney office's website and see if they have a fraud hotline you can call.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 20:22

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.

Like I already said, contact your local DA or whichever body in your area handles consumer fraud and file a report. They won't take action over :10bux:

but if they get multiple tips about the same vendor they'll investigate. They have full-time enforcement officers who look into this sort of thing for a living.

They're generally more interested in multi-million dollar stuff but busting a small time credit theft ring makes for good headlines in the local papers.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2018 02:39

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.

life is killing me posted:

Anyone heard of the fuel delivery scam? You sign up with a low monthly fee, talk to real people in "customer service," and book a delivery time during which they will fuel your car if you leave it in the driveway, and they will charge you less than current local fuel prices. You don't even have to be home! Just leave your fuel door open and they will show up. Only no one ever does. You attempt to call, they answer and rebook, no one shows up. When you get fed up and call to cancel, they apologize and say they will cancel the service and your card will no longer be charged but they keep charging it anyway--my guess is they just want to wear you down, and they eventually stop picking up the phone so your only avenue is to cancel your card with the bank. If they get enough people, $3.99USD/month isn't much but it adds up for them. Presumably someone just shows up to actually SIPHON gas out of your car if you leave the fuel door open.

The FB page and website seem legit enough on the surface, but there are no real numbers to call, no info on the company, no owner's name. Just photos of generic fuel tanker trucks fueling a Honda or some poo poo.

I've heard there ARE legit fuel delivery companies, but at least a few of them are bullshit companies. Anyone seen this?

I looked into this a bit recently and one thing I know is that it's illegal in a lot of places due to fire regulations. And the ones I saw were app-based and offered multiple services including tire pressure checks and window cleaning.

Found an article where at least one company was only servicing corporate clients on privately owned company property for insurance reasons. If you're calling some number you found in a craigslist ad to set up the service I probably wouldn't trust it.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2018 15:49

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.

It's not uncommon for a bad rating to become a better rating as soon as your membership check clears, and calling yourself a "Bureau" implies some sort of official government status when they're actually a private org that has no actual power or authority.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2018 22:13

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.

Lutha Mahtin posted:

i think this is pretty clearly a problem retailers have never considered. like imagine how bad it would fail if a retailer tried to train their "minimum wage checkout people" to try and respond to straw purchases of products of questionable utility. i bet the entire economy of the world would collapse if a cashier job ever tried to add the job description requirement of "watch for this type of purchase activity because it is probably related to crime". this is why it's possible for all underage people to openly buy tobacco and alcohol products via proxy buyers. like you can loudly talk right by the cashier HEY THANKS BUDDY FOR BUYING THESE WINE COOLERS I'M NOT OLD ENOUGH and this works every single time it's ever been tried

i can't possibly think of how such behavior could be curtailed

I remember a movie theater I worked at was really strict about the age limits for R-rated movies. People were shocked they couldn't just buy tickets for the two kids outside who I'd already told to take a hike.

And it was a small theater so if the kids successfully got a hold of the tickets they had to walk past me to go see the movie. I guess the thought process was that if they were holding the ticket I was powerless to stop them. "Oh no you got me go on in."

# ¿ Jul 28, 2018 06:54

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.

Yeah the proper reading of that is "Baker... added that if the FBI had focused on surveilling terrorists and not McDonald�s winners, 9/11 might never have happened."

He's mad that one of the FBI's top agents was after his millions in fraud instead of randomly searching Saudi nationals boarding planes.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2018 17:18

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.

Achmed Jones posted:

My wife does it and she�s from northern California (actual northern, not bay area). The bit about folks from southern Oregon using it probably explains that though 🤷‍♀️

I hear it from relatives and my family is from Monterey. But we also say howdy and y'all cuz we's hella Okie.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2018 00:12

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.

EKDS5k posted:

Neither way is "correct," because who fuckin' says so? It's like kitty-corner, catty-corner, cat-a-corner, kit-a-corner, kattywampus, and caddy-corner. Every one of them is "right" to someone, but they're all mispronunciations of "cater-corner," and "cater" itself is a mispronunciation of a French word. Nobody even knows or cares anymore, though, and it doesn't matter anyway, because 90% of the time you're talking to someone who uses the same word as you, and the meaning is understood.

Kattywampus? Kattywampus??? My kin say kittywampus and how dare you mispronounce our most cherished shibboleth. You'd best move along fer sundown. *spits*

# ¿ Aug 19, 2018 09:25

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.

Trastion posted:

I'm sorry but you will need to Paypal me $1,000 for that info. Don't worry as a bonus I will throw in a sweet super awesome skin for your use in the game.

Increase the price to $5,000 and throw in a picture of a spaceship and I'm on board.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2018 19:23

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.

The scam was Christ Roberts promising a video game when what he really wanted was to pretend to be a Hollywood bigshot.

"If I open a mocap studio then Gary Oldman will HAVE to talk to me!"

:yarg:

# ¿ Aug 28, 2018 16:39

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.

Crowdfunded boondoggles have their own subforum now: https://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=212

# ¿ Aug 28, 2018 20:51

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.

The Moon Monster posted:

I think it started as an earnest attempt to make a game, and probably still is on some level, but Chris Roberts isn't very good at schedule and budget, and when they realized they could make nine-figures by selling people pictures of spaceships the business plan evolved.

As always the smart move with crowd-funded games is to just buy it when it see a general release, if and when that happens and if the game turns out to be any good. They'll probably slap a "1.0" on whatever they've got once the fanbase has eroded enough and the money dries up but I wouldn't count on it being any good.

On top of schedule and budget Chris also don't know how version numbers work so they're on v2.3 or somewhere thereabouts.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2018 15:48

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.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2018 01:55

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.

bamhand posted:

How does the scam work then? I assumed it was just charge customer, then don't deliver product. In which case wouldn't it make sense to make it as believable as possible? I guess maybe their payment method could be "mail us cash in an envelope". I never bothered to actually try and buy anything from those ads.

Imagine you're someone dumb enough to think the IRS would ever demand payment in gift cards. Now assume you REALLY want a cool motorcycle. And hey, you just found this ad for a cool motorcycle and it only costs $100! Add in a story about how the scammer had to leave the country or something else that you desperately want to believe because you want a bike and this is your only chance to afford one.

And yeah it will be something like mail us some cash or some gift cards or give me all your bank account information and we'll do a transfer and oops that's weird I accidentally transferred $5,000 to your account what a woopsie how about you send me back $3,000 and I let you keep the rest in apology.

# ¿ May 14, 2019 16:04

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.

It's cheaper for them to just blanket everyone in whatever list they have with offers than it would be to properly maintain and curate said list.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2019 21:07

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.

People would occasionally try to run that on me when I worked in retail. They never got me because I would basically stop them and slow the transaction down until I could piece the numbers together, long line of customers be damned, but I know that there were other people whose tills would come up short at the end of a shift because they got pressured into rushing through.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2019 20:25

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.

A lady once accused me of trying that scam on her because I asked for my change back in a combination of fives, tens, and quarters, but I think she was just really bad at math.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2019 20:29

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.

You have to applaud the simplicity. No tricky cons, no distractions, no complicated schemes... just a guy and his getaway driver grabbing what they can and getting the hell out of there.

Edit: oh hey in that story there's not even a separate driver. Even better, no partner for the cops to turn against you if you get caught.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2019 02:21

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.

Tubgoat posted:

For how long???

Until you make Diamond. In other words

ToxicSlurpee posted:

Forever.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2019 20:21

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# ¿ Mar 24, 2023 00:12

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.

EL BROMANCE posted:

That ones been circulating a year or two, thru usually include a password they farmed off an insecure site with everything kept in clear text as �proof�.

Yeah I got one a few months back and it had an old invalid password from probably years ago. Odds are that tactic scares more than a few suckers into paying up.

# ¿ May 3, 2020 01:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about common cons/scams