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grack posted:Walking out of a dollar store today, some guy pulls up in a minivan and asks me if I want to buy a flat screen TV. I really hope this is a resurgence of my all time favourite scam... http://www.tomsguide.com/us/man-sells-oven-door-hdtv,news-4443.html It's probably the usual 'garbage electronics being sold as if its high end' one, but one can dream.
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Apr 16, 2016 06:28
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Swingline posted:A common scam at least here in NYC is free teeth whitening cold calls to office worker phone lines. Teeth whitening seems to be an inherently scammy business. I saw a bunch of really highly rated products on Amazon and all seemed good... until one honest person took a photo of the packaging it arrives in that stated clearly "Give us a 5* review on Amazon, and we'll send you another set of teeth whiteners for free!".
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Apr 17, 2016 17:52
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RenegadeStyle1 posted:Isn't that illegal or at least against Amazon TOS? You'd think so, but I found a variant of the one I'm talking about with this pointed out in 2014 and it's still up. https://imgur.com/a/kDYHg Maybe the small-ish print is enough to cover their rear end? But it pretty much implies they want the 5* review. I couldn't find the 'give us 5 and get another one free' one, perhaps that one was pulled.
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Apr 17, 2016 18:55
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I just went into a big box store and asked is it cool if I just took a 65" OLED TV after we bonded over football, and the rear end in a top hat had the gall to say he valued his pay check, benefits, and not being in jail. What a loving scam.
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Apr 22, 2016 07:57
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Can you get confirmation that she's your real sister? They might be going for the long con here.
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Apr 26, 2016 18:16
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Amazon wish lists don't reveal the home address at least, which is why they're popular.
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Apr 28, 2016 03:49
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That's the only way to deal with it. They say something provocative in order to get you to respond, and then they're in control. Just walk away.
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Apr 29, 2016 19:26
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The best part is he did this exact same thing months ago, but nobody cared.
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May 4, 2016 22:18
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Imaduck posted:In that same vein: Is this the BBC one where he comes across as a bit of an rear end at one point and demands they don't use the footage? and then at the end there's a note saying Randi said it was absolutely fine to use everything that was filmed, even if it made him look bad. The Amazing Randi is a national treasure and doesn't get the love he deserves, everyone should know his name.
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May 8, 2016 22:18
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seacat posted:Yeah I think I missed the part where this was supposed to be funny, im assuming because of the "whilst" it's a British humor sort of thing? The $ signs indicate more like someone who thinks they're more cultured than they are. You can't blame this one on us!
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May 12, 2016 05:41
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Anything he sells will be freely available online, so gently caress that guy.
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May 16, 2016 22:47
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Seems like the number I've been getting calls from is notorious. Pretty common for there to be reports just like this for most numbers that are scams. I'll usually Google the number as my phone starts ringing to get a positive scam ID if I don't recognise it, or its from a popular scamming area/non geographic number. I seem to keep getting calls from a cellphone who's never left a message or texted me. No reports online. Pretty weird, the one time I answered I couldn't hear anything legible so I just hung up.
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May 27, 2016 08:17
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Read this yesterday... still seems a bit odd regardless of what the author says. Either way it's interesting to read 'I'm aware of the scams and I went along with it anyway' and I'm sure plenty of people will now read this and fall for scams themselves. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160601-the-moroccan-scam-that-wasnt
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Jun 12, 2016 22:59
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London still had a bunch of 'clip joint' bars running pulling the exact same scam even up to a few years ago, possibly even now. Authorities say they wanted them closed in the early 2000s but didn't really do a good job of it as you can still find stories of them operating a bunch of years later. So even in the English speaking world you can't always escape this poo poo it seems.
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Jun 13, 2016 06:59
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Grey market just means they're sourced from a cheaper country with no applicable warranty. No more, no less.
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Jun 28, 2016 07:39
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Same, thought about when George was selling computers out of the garage for him.
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Jun 29, 2016 05:09
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peanut posted:I've heard of taxi or restaurant scams where the customer leaves their wallet or phone as collateral while they "go to an atm." The staff realize it's an empty wallet or plastic display phone when the customer never comes back. I was in a gas station when someone left their phone behind as collateral the other day, I really wanted to wait outside to see if he came back. It looked like a legit, decent quality smartphone and the guy looked normal enough on the few seconds I saw him. Next time I'm in there, I'll have to ask the lady who was nice enough to agree to it.
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Jul 8, 2016 04:39
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many johnnys posted:I hear they generally will unlock it, since that's how they get paid. If they torched it after getting their money, big-ticket targets like hospitals and cities would stop giving in to their demands. A lot of recent reports are they're killing the machines anyway, for individuals at least.
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Jul 20, 2016 02:45
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I don't know how "scammy" this is per se, but I've noticed quite a few verified accounts on Facebook (for example, Bam Margera's just came up on my feed) don't seem to have anything to do with said celebrity but simply post links to the same 'viral' site day in and day out. Are these sites basically buying celebrities accounts from them to post this junk to get people sharing it because they believe their celebrity idol is sitting down reading through clickbait headlines all day? You'd think some of these people would rather retain their accounts to promote their own goings on.
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Jul 29, 2016 21:18
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The only place someone's ever tried to rob me was on the metro in Barcelona, as it was going under that big touristy area everyone warns you about. I'll admit I hung on to being annoyed for ages that they tried it, and was pissed off that despite catching them in the act I didn't have enough proof at the time to do anything about it. Punching someone on a crowded train in a foreign country probably isn't the best plan anyway, but I had about $1000 on me in cash just for that journey and it would've been a nightmare if they'd got my wallet.
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Sep 5, 2016 03:30
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Essentially it was a super busy carriage, and as we left someone on the platform motioned a warning to my wife that her bag was slightly open, so I knew to have caution while on there m. I keep my wallet in my front pocket rather than the back, and I felt a hand brush against it so I put my hand over it straight away and I caught the look of a girl in the eye in front of me. At the time I was like, was she trying to pick pocket me or was it just an unintentional brush? Then her and another two guys split across the carriage who were obviously working as a team rush off on the next stop, and it was apparent I was super lucky.
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Sep 5, 2016 05:56
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I'd listen. He sounds like he means business.
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Sep 20, 2016 01:27
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I worked at a place about 15 years ago where, in a 7 man office, the IT guy disabled all the USB ports on every machine behind a password protected BIOS. Like most IT people, he was a crazy and deranged individual who should have been fired for an absolute multitude of reasons, but I can't argue with him being ahead of the times on that one.
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Sep 25, 2016 05:42
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Mr Robot did indeed use a very similar scheme (a rap CD a character was tricked into buying). The show is pretty good at using real life techniques that have a good hit rate.
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Sep 26, 2016 06:36
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Ah yes, I forgot about that one. Such a good show.
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Sep 26, 2016 07:48
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There's videos on YouTube of people doing that, it's never particularly fun. They just get you to download teamviewer or similar and they remote control in. One guy caught wind that he was being setup (the guy had full screened a DOS VM to pretend he wasn't even in windows) and proceeded to nuke the machine out of spite.
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Oct 7, 2016 15:16
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CommieGIR posted:There's been a major uptick in driveby robocalls lately with a lot of scammy pitches. Anyone else notice that? Lack of enforcement of Do Not Call list? Yeah whoever had my cell number before me managed to get himself on a million things, as well as telling none of his friends he has a new number. I swear it must've been recycled within days. Thank god for the block button on the iPhone, if they don't leave a message and it's out of state it gets blocked immediately. If it's in state... it probably gets blocked too.
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May 20, 2017 15:04
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I just read the worst reviews of the company in question, and see how they dealt with the situations.
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May 23, 2017 16:23
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Midjack posted:Find their corporate office on Google Maps. Speaking of Google Maps, there's actually a really interesting scam involving them and locksmiths. Reply All did an episode about it... https://gimletmedia.com/episode/78-very-quickly-to-the-drill/ The relevant stuff starts at 16:22, but I remember the first part (about Google Ad Word scams) being a decent listen too. Reply All is always good for this kind of stuff though.
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May 24, 2017 01:56
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The one thing I do miss about living in the UK is the amount of consumer protection I got. In hindsight, it was nice of them to pity me for losing it by deciding they didn't want it going forward...
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May 24, 2017 16:17
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bongwizzard posted:Why on earth would you read yelp reviews? Just look at the pictures and pick a place based on that. I'll admit that if I'm on vacation and having a great time, I'll check the 1* reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp during a 5 minute down period just to laugh at the utter nonsense some people write, and think that matters.
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May 25, 2017 17:09
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Jyrraeth posted:I looked up yelp reviews for a place I drove past called "motel hollywood" that looks like if there's any fake reviewers they'll put it down as a 2 or 3 instead of a 5. Sounds like the place to go for that authentic Hollywood experience to be honest.
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May 25, 2017 19:08
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HerStuddMuffin posted:Even posting in the thread you meant to seems to be somewhat beyond your capabilities. He's trying to scam us into thinking he's the Op. Don't fall for it!
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Jun 12, 2017 20:45
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I do love the names these guys pick out, it's like they *almost* make sense but never quite right.
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Jun 14, 2017 19:31
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CommieGIR posted:There's a definite increase in the number of robocalls, I wonder if Trump's not enforcing the Do Not Call list anymore Republicans are keen to pass a bill that allows spammers to leave voicemails on phones without them ringing, so...
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Jun 19, 2017 14:37
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I genuinely did have a cheaper bill every month because I had a landline with no phone plugged into it (Virgin Media in the UK) I've got Xfinity now in the states, and while everything has genuinely gone well in the last year beyond a few hiccups, I'm sure they'll mess up on Thursday when I move. I see a coax cable hanging out of a wall in the new place but no guarantees it's actually hooked up to them so I'm not touching poo poo.
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Jun 19, 2017 23:32
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http://www.419eater.com/html/RoadToChadDarfur/ The general belief is the kids who went missing weren't scamming, but were told to go by the scammers.
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Jun 20, 2017 13:26
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PT6A posted:I have a bigger issue with the fact that I need to buy two separate packages to get CBC Newsworld and BBC World at the same time from my current provider, yet somehow I have Fox News for free. gently caress that poo poo. Xfinity, I'm gonna guess? It's quite annoying some of the channels that you don't get on the standard package that you'd think would be included. Other than that, eh I don't really hate the service I get from them except for whenever I have to deal with them directly (their system is currently let me book engineer appointments that then never get acknowledged, luckily I was able to complete a move myself so as long as they don't charge me the $60 now I'm happy). For about $100 I get enough TV channels to cover what I want to watch live, including all my local hockey games which is invaluable, a DVR service that works nicely most of the time and can bounce things to my phone at pretty silly speeds, and a solid connection that moves faster than it's rated at. I have media boxes and add subscriptions to things as needed, but I can't be bothered to mess around beyond that.
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Jun 23, 2017 14:37
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As the man's hat says, he's simply the Federal Booby Inspector.
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Jun 24, 2017 16:35
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I used to work insurance, and my friends in the fraud team always had good stories. I always remember the guy claiming for an expensive watch was asked to send in a photo of him wearing it, which he complies. The only problem was the photo had a calendar in the background that clearly showed the date was the same as the day we requested the photo. Denied.
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Jul 3, 2017 21:00
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