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."

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

In a French airport today, had a guy come up to me and pull out his wallet. Showed me his id, and said he needed 20 euros to get a plane ticket home. He had a couple suitcases with him, so I walked away. Figured if he's only 20 euros short and it's a monday he can get the drat bus.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 22:45

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 11:01

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

BiggerBoat posted:

From forever ago but I recently called Comcast to cancel my cable TV and landline after my mother was permanently hospitalized (she wanted that poo poo). As of now, I'm still receiving cable TV. I haven't gotten a bill yet but why do I suspect that they'll have no record of me cancelling my service even though I turned in almost all of my equipment? I kept the one box because the poo poo still worked, figuring I'd hand that in once the signal went out.

gently caress...now Im worried they'll have no record of me returning the equipment. Comcast is amazing in its fuckery.

I have a stamped sheet of paper saying I turned in my Orange equipment and the bastards still haven't paid me. This is after they told me other the phone they'd reimburse me for a service I didn't want, then told me a month later when I called that they never reimburse. Then I went online and they did it.

Telecoms companies loving suck.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2017 21:49

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

ShadeofBlue posted:

That image describes a theoretical way to travel quickly across the universe. It�s a modification of the idea that you can warp space such that the distance between you and the destination is shortened, rather than you moving faster than light. It�s a theory that�s been talked about by respectable physicists, and in principle does not violate any of the physics that we currently understand. It�s been a while since I�ve heard or read anything about it. IIRC, the problem is that it requires generating a massive amount of negative mass, which we don�t know how to do (or even if it�s possible, although it doesn�t specifically break any theory), and also involves intense forces on the spacecraft, such that no material we know of could handle it. This is still just cool sci-fi, nothing concrete will come out of it in our lifetimes, or even close. I also don�t know what �beneath time� is supposed to mean.

To be clear, they�re definitely nuts, but the graphic on that slide isn�t gibberish. I think the equations are just a bunch of barely related general relativity things.

Just gotta get on the spice and fold space in half.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2017 21:14

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

"we suppose you will be a good fit for this position"
Yeah, I guess you'll do.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2017 17:21

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

peanut posted:

Step 1. Cut a hole in a GOX

Step 1 was getting everyone to invest their bitcoin in it. Step 2 was cutting the hole.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2018 15:15

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

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.

How does that even work? Like i wouldn't take the bet, but how do they ever win that?

# ¿ Feb 10, 2018 00:11

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Absurd Alhazred posted:

To my knowledge they only contact the site owner.

Better open it just to be sure. Could be important!

# ¿ Mar 7, 2018 12:41

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Stick Insect posted:

For years now, paypal mails me every month telling me the overview of recent transactions is ready for me. Seems pretty shady because I get these even when I haven't used paypal in months.

As far as I can tell, they're legitimate e-mails from paypal, but there's no way to turn them off in the settings screen. I'm confused what their purpose even is. Just to remind me I have an account with them?

I get emails from paypal every month as well. I really should just delete the account.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2018 22:38

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

I keep getting missed calls from a number I don't recognise, but the phone never actually rings. Had a look online and apparently it's a pay number, so if I call back it charges me. Super low effort scam, but surely there aren't a lot of people who would call back and even make them .5 dollars/euro/pounds for staying on for even 30 seconds?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2018 10:58

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Some disposables better than others, but most of them last a decent length of time and do a decent enough job.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2018 16:12

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

People frothing at the mouth to go off on perceived maga trump supporters all over the drat forums. I just want to talk about how a guy called me up asking if I was interested in their duct cleaning services, or telling me he was from Microsoft central security and there's a problem with my computer.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2018 08:37

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Absurd Alhazred posted:

It is well known that the internet is a series of ducts, so you may want to call them back.

Didn't catch his name and his number was private. He told me to look in the mirror and gently caress myself when I kept him on the line for a few minutes then told him I lived in an apartment without central air

# ¿ Jul 29, 2018 15:05

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

What happened to the star citizen thread? I was reading the gbs one but I don't see it anymore.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2018 21:43

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Guildencrantz posted:

This isn't a Europe thing, it's a Netherlands thing, and a couple of other countries. Most of the rest of us find it a bit unusual and inconvenient when we go there.

I don't think I've seen a credit card in the UK or France either. Admittly I don't really look at people's cards, but debit seems more common for locals here.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2018 12:05

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Quote-Unquote posted:

I know. I'd be the first person to advise not to use a credit card for actual credit unless you are really desperate. I'm talking about people that have cash, but use a debit card instead of a credit card. I can't figure out why you'd voluntarily give up the protection offered by a credit card.

In the UK at least, every high street bank offers credit cards to anyone that hasn't got completely ruined credit. The interest rates are terrible and you don't get any rewards, but you still get the protection of being able to cancel charges. To me this is an invaluable thing. If you can get a reward card that's even better, of course, but even a basic lovely credit card is better than a debit card.

My bank in England told me they wouldn't issue me a credit card when I asked for one. I had never overdrawn and they didn't even glance at a credit rating.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2018 12:59

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

DizzyBum posted:

So uh, here's one. My wife got some weird spam calendar invite. Turns out people can just send you an email with a bogus calendar invite, and if you have the option enabled to automatically add Gmail invites to your calendar (it's on by default), you'll see whatever message they added. It's a simple measure to disable that feature, but man, what a pain.

My parents had this one happen. Thankfully I was able to delete and block the auto-adding of calendar invites for them considering I visit them once a year.

Supposedly my mum heard my dad on the phone about to give his credit card info to someone so I worry about their susceptability to scams

# ¿ Aug 30, 2019 20:06

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

BiggerBoat posted:

For casinos, basically ensuring the odds always favor the house at 51-49%. After that, it's all about keeping people playing for as along as possible in order to ramp up the proceeds from those odds.

They eliminate windows so you don't know what time it is, put the biggest winning slots near the front and do things like route traffic in ways similar to what grocery stores do to encourage more shopping and impulse buys. They give out free drinks to make people impulsive. Casinos in and of themselves aren't "scams" and to compare what they do to what carnival games do is off the mark.

They also tend to be very well lit so it always feels like daytime, have extremely soft and comfortable carpeting when you walk around, and it's very hard to actually see where exits are

# ¿ Sep 5, 2019 21:49

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

FrozenVent posted:

The movie has a musical number titled “Springtime for Hitler”, just fyi.

And it's loving hilarious. The movie literally has someone call it out as being in bad taste.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2020 01:05

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Professor Shark posted:

I received another text message from the number that said they found my missing ring… this time they told me they had found my dog. I played along this time and asked how I could get the dog back and they replied:

Is this some kind of two factor scam?

They'll send you a code when they're already texting you? Ask them how a code is relevant to your dog

# ¿ Sep 5, 2022 11:07

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

I've got a friend who got really into it, changed their life view and stuff. I guess if it makes them happier and fixes relationships or be more effective in daily life then good for them, they're getting value out of it. They got me to go with them to a session and I was pretty uncomfortable, and it's not a good sign when someone trying to get me to come out says "It's not a pyramid scheme"

# ¿ Sep 18, 2022 23:33

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

BiggerBoat posted:

Sign up for what exactly, though?

If they can't tell you or offer specifics, it's an Amway MLM Direct Marketing bullshit thing.

Nah. Not to poo poo on your friend or anything but it'll most likely be short lived. And if they have to say "it's not a pyramid scheme" then that's exactly what it is. Sorry.

If it's what I suspect it is, it's filled with "positive thinking", self help go get em inspirational talk and full of people who pretend to like you and tell you YOU CAN DO IT if you just believe in yourself and poo poo, so your friend is drawing off those endorphins. Next thing you know, before you know it, you're friend will find Christ and show up for your weekly gaming session or whatever you do with him wearing a suit and tie and be trying to sign YOU up. All the time. Soon, it will be all he talks about. He'll start lending you books to read.

If I'm mistaken, I apologize in advance but I don't think I am and I smell a direct marketing/MLM style scam here where, before long, if you or anyone else in your circle doesn't get on board, he's going to stop hanging out with you because you'll be "dragging him down" and "ruining his dream" if you're not interested.

He's also going to start giving you free samples of "concentrated" overpriced products to try out and never poo poo the gently caress up about how shiny it can make your car or whatever. If he's not doing that already.

Has he given you any energy drinks, protein bars or car wax to try out?

They want you to sign up for like weekend seminars where you do personal growth workshops and stuff. As you say, it's probably short lived as the high of the intense weekend goes away.

I don't think landmark actually sells any product. Got the impression it's self help seminars only, so no inline for recruiting people or whatever. I didn't ask for details since the evening thing I went to made me feel really uncomfortable and it felt a bit culty so I wasn't going to stick around.

Ended up moving away so I don't talk to that friend much anymore, but they've never mentioned it the few times we have seen each other so I think they're fine.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2022 00:42

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Not sure what I've signed up to but I've been getting loads of fake shipment tracking emails. Maybe gmail isn't filtering them out as usual because it's near the holidays?

# ¿ Dec 19, 2022 23:11

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Ah cool, I'll see if I can poke around at the headers and find out. I marked the first few as spam but a few more came straight to inbox today.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2022 23:55

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

bird with big dick posted:

I’ve started playing Fran Turismo 7 and my first 6 roulette rewards every single one of them has landed on the lowest value prize, seems like a scam, the probability of that happening naturally seems very low.

Roulette rewards in a car game? Wtf?

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 09:53

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Still a big fan of windows blanking my screen during the windows 10 update and having the "All your files are exactly where you left them" make me reach for my phone to make sure I hadn't been gotten by one of the crypto scams

# ¿ Mar 14, 2023 10:03

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Isn't that the whole point of stuff like landmark forum? Really intensive retreats that make you function better?

# ¿ Jul 23, 2023 23:18

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Flipperwaldt posted:

I don't quite get it, it says three different ways that you've already paid it and spells out not to pay again. Are they looking for people to identify themselves as marks by disputing it? Creating a trail of credibility to bill them more later?

If you call them up and ask about it they probably hit you with the old computer hijacking refund scam

# ¿ Sep 20, 2023 00:54

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

I think you just wanted to send this photo to satisfy your inner joy

# ¿ Nov 9, 2023 01:17

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Fruits of the sea posted:

It’s mostly done in games that allow trading on 3rd party sites - harder to track and more pop up every time one is shuttered. Items are often posted with ludicrous prices to make sure the money doesn’t end up in somebody else’s hands.

Steam has been used for laundering for quite a few years now. If you sell something at a price far above its average selling point, you might get an automated message saying the funds have been put on hold. It doesn’t help that they provide an API for third-party sites to use the marketplace.

Amusingly there’s also a small industry of low effort games priced at 200$ and above. Just another way to whitewash currency.

I think the practice is probably a lot more widespread than publishers and platforms acknowledge. They take a cut of the proceeds, after all.

E: my pet theory is that the reason Star Citizen posts higher “pledges” every single year is money laundering via selling ships. It’s nuts that the spending has consistently increased every single year.

Counterstrike skins are apparently used for this

# ¿ Nov 30, 2023 23:59

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

FMguru posted:

R/Shoplifting eventually got shut down, and people tried to relaunch it as a "roleplaying" forum (where people would talk "in character" about their hauls and their techniques...that their characters would be doing in a LARP, hypothetically). Reddit admins didn't fall for that, either.

"In minecraft"

# ¿ Dec 1, 2023 09:36

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

The worst part is I'm still convinced this was a great ten bucks to spend

# ¿ Feb 20, 2024 08:45

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Fil5000 posted:

I've had my tenbux worth out of SA at least a hundred times over I think. The PC part picking megathread alone has stopped me from wasting money on garbage. In fact the one time I bought a PC without reading that thread in the last fifteen years (I was in a hurry, my previous PC had broken and I was days away from my second kid being born so I didn't have time to build one) it wound up being garbage.

If you can amortise that ten bucks over twenty years or so it's surprisingly good value.

Yeah I need to go ask about laptops and getting a new one soon. my old one is struggling a bit these days

# ¿ Feb 20, 2024 13:00

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

That's immigration services in every country it seems, just wild bureaucracy that's been changed so much that nobody knows what it means anymore

# ¿ Feb 28, 2024 12:49

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 11:01

ilmucche: Mar 16, 2016

Blue Footed Booby posted:

I'm now getting spam via Google drive notifications, which ask me for approval for a doc named Only4U.pdf, shared by a different user name every time. Google is apparently aware of the issue.

The red bull scandal is getting out of hand

# ¿ Mar 5, 2024 17:44

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