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."

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

green chicken feet posted:

This is a wild guess, but maybe it is a stolen credit card and they use you to enter the transaction to avoid culpability.

...Man, that's clever. I like it.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2016 05:10

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# ¿ Mar 25, 2025 19:14

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

photomikey posted:

It's tax free, so in the US, they're already making 30% more than someone with a job.

What?

No.

Not unless they're making over the median wage, and that's in states that, you know, have a state income tax.

At which point I doff my hat to their marketing skills and would recommend that they submit a resume for a more formal job.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2016 00:56

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

photomikey posted:

I used to have a $20 gucci watch that I sat side-by-side with a $600 gucci watch that you just could not tell the difference between. It's knockoff merch.

Now I'm wondering what the production chain on this is like. Shady Russian and Chinese factories turning them out by the thousand? Perfectly legitimate (minus the intellectual property thing) Russian and Chinese factories turning them out by the thousand?

# ¿ May 1, 2016 01:07

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

drunk asian neighbor posted:

On the other side of the coin, FDA fuckery also means that a lot of things that may be legitimately beneficial go ignored for various reasons. The classic example is , which despite being scientifically proven a billion times as having multiple significant lines of research re: medicinal properties, is still categorized as a Schedule I drug, meaning the government's official stance on it is "no medical uses at all and no allowances for medical study," which results in poo poo like Marinol and Sativex (used to treat motion sickness, seizures and many symptoms of degenerative neuronal diseases) being readily available in almost every country in the world except the US.

Another example is 5-HTP. It's a chemical precursor to serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that the most common antidepressants indirectly act on. You can get it on Amazon or at GNC or Walgreens or wherever, and in my personal experience it's a godsend. Several years of expensive, zombifying SSRIs, and 5-HTP treats my depression significantly better, without turning me into an emotional cripple. I know several people with similar experiences, but you better believe it's got that wonderful THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THESE PRODUCTS ARE NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE OR PREVENT DISEASE. labels on the bottle.

Or theanine, the calming active ingredient in green tea. Rather like 5-HTP, its effects are fairly well known (GABA production goes up, mostly), and for a small subset of anxiety sufferers (like me) it's a miracle treatment. (Or St John's Wort, Baby's First SSRI. :v:

)

Strangely enough, all three of these have undergone some fairly rigorous studies, they just haven't gone through the full OTC med process, partly because they don't need to to sell.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2016 20:04

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Chuu posted:

No, I'm not talking about the "herbal viagra" type sites. What I'm saying is that those online sites that claim to sell you actual prescription drugs without a prescription actually do send you what you order. Things ranging from basics like Clindamycin for people who can't afford to see a doctor or who have a doctor that won't prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics for your cold, Adderall for your upcoming eSpots star or finals week college student, to Viagra for those people who are too embarrassed to talk about ED with their doctor.

From leaked records*, a surprising number of people are using these companies for really basic problems like Hypertension, High Cholesterol, and Diabetes. Something is really screwed up with our medical system when you need to rely on them for basic medical issues.

(*The reason they got interested in the story was apparently that there were two giant online pharmacies who were the backend for the majority of fly-by-night sites out there. One of them decided to hack the other and release all their internal reports including sales numbers, client lists, marketing plans, HR (i.e. spammer recruitment) information, etc. In response, the victim hacked the other firm and did a similar release. This let economics basically piece together how the industry works via primary source documents, something that can be hard to come by for grey-market and black-market industries)

Haha, that's amazing. Corporate espionage, Internet edition.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2016 00:29

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Maw posted:

What about putting strange USB sticks in my mouth though?

I'm afraid you are hopelessly contaminated. Please report to the nearest medical booth so your brain can be wiped and updated from your most recent backupm

# ¿ Sep 22, 2016 23:42

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

bitcoin bastard posted:

This is (probably) how Stuxnet became a thing. $20 in lovely USB drives is a pretty low buy in if someone uses one to jump the air gap at a reasonably important target.

Efb but this is why superglue in the USB port is a thing.

I was under the impression that Stuxnet was more about "saturate the Iranian internet and wait for someone to gently caress up". Still, even putting your own private USB sticks in your secure work computer is not the best plan.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2016 06:56

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

I mean, poo poo, I'd plug it in, just to an old burner computer. :v:

# ¿ Sep 28, 2016 00:56

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Cyrano4747 posted:

Just go to the library, either publlic or university. All the ones I've been to have available computers with working USB ports. I flat out assume those need to be reimaged monthly due to their user bases so it's not even that dick a move.

I worked in front line IT for a university for years. Monthly is almost optimistic.

And that's with a system that tries reasonably hard to quarantine user action. (As per sleppy. There were ways around it because our contractors were morons and/or presented with unrealistic and mutually contradictory demands)

Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Sep 28, 2016

# ¿ Sep 28, 2016 23:15

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

How do I post a negative review of Yelp?

Inform the BBB.

# ¿ May 23, 2017 23:51

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

DrunkMidget posted:

I found a fun way to fight this. I answer these calls now, hit whatever number it is to speak to the scumbag on the other end, wait until they're on the line and then play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the keypad until they curse me out and hang up. The best part is they know I can't hear their screaming because all I hear is beep, bop, boop, bop, beep, beep, beep. If they're still on after the first go around you can go up a register and play it with an even more annoying tone.

"Hey! You can lower your credit card payment instantly! Press "1" to speak with a representative and start saving!"
1
: "Hello, this is Steve from.."
: 3,2,1,2,3,3,3,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,2,1,2,3,3,3,3,2,2,3,2,1
: "Hello? Hey!"
: 6,5,4,5,6,6,6,5,5,5,6,6,6,6,5,4,5,6,6,6,6,5,5,6,5,4
"You mother fucker! I will gently caress your..."
: 9,8,7,8,9,9,9,8,8,8,9,9,9,9,8,7,8,9,9,9,9,8,8,9,8,7
*CLICK!*

They quit calling about 2 weeks ago, it's been nice.

Edit: This might have had something to do with it too.

While I have some fragments of sympathy for the minions, this is goddamn hilarious.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 00:31

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

peanut posted:

Japan's NHK does door-to-door collections too. Satellite/cable tv has the NHK fee bundled in and managed apartments should have a group contract. The NHK guys are notoriously stubborn and have been said to demand things like, "sign this contract before we determine if you need to pay or not."

Oh, so that's where Japanese cops and prosecutors come from

# ¿ Sep 5, 2017 22:57

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

shame on an IGA posted:

There was just a secret service alert about this today, someone's intercepting brand new cards in the mail to the user, then stealing the chip and switching it for a fake one. Real chip goes into generic fake card, real card with now fake chip goes to you, and they siphon all your cash as soon as you activate the card.

Sounded like they think it's an inside job at the post office

the culprit of this would wind up in the deepest, darkest Postal Oubliette

don't gently caress with the Postal Service, Postal Inspectors are terrifying

# ¿ Apr 11, 2018 22:48

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

JacquelineDempsey posted:

One place I worked at, our finance manager got so sick of the "can I speak to the person in charge of buying ink and toner supplies?" cold calls (and the employees that would transfer those instead of hanging up), she had a extension set up that just went to a phone with the ringer off in a closet somewhere. If someone called my line asking that, I cheerfully said "sure! Let me just transfer you!", hit the 4 digit Extension Number to Nowhere, and went on with my day.

that's genius

# ¿ Jul 2, 2018 22:39

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

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.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2018 04:38

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Someone just signed up for a VPN service with a credit card that isn't mine, a name that definitely isn't mine, and... my rather distinctive, afaict uncompromised (although I changed the password and checked devices just in case) email address. Which means that now that I reset the password to get in and make sure it wasn't my credit card, they won't be able to access the service they just spent $60 on. :raise:

I reported it to the service so I don't get in trouble but I don't think I understand the master plan here.

The service is ExpressVPN which appears to be a pretty legitimate VPN company, and even if it's a complicated ploy by the VPN company to steal/launder money... why use a real person's email address instead of a throwaway?

Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Oct 17, 2019

# ¿ Oct 17, 2019 20:04

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

unless your address is so weird that you can't imagine anyone having that address plus a number or whatever, I'd say the most likely answer is that someone typo'd their own address as yours

It IS pretty weird but all the other answers are less sensical, so.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2019 21:22

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

EL BROMANCE posted:

When they spoof your own number, they really should lean into why everyone who answers does so - the hope that it�s a call from themselves from the future.

Steve, it�s you from 2023. Everything is going great man, but I tell you one thing - you really need to buy these dick pills.

I love this pitch.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2019 00:45

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

Probably pecked by an emu.

well yeah, ever since the war they have to send an annual tribute of sacrifices

# ¿ Sep 26, 2022 00:22

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# ¿ Mar 25, 2025 19:14

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; I've made a huge mistake.

The Lone Badger posted:

Did someone invent effective anti-phishing training while I wasn�t looking?

they sure did, please pm me with your name and social security number to learn more

# ¿ Nov 29, 2023 06:38

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