Beware of phone scammers... goddamn

MCmeow

Ok so I always assumed I was a smart reasonable person, someone who can't be fooled by scams "Psh how do people fall for those Nigerian prince scams? It's so obvious". But today I nearly got scammed by someone who plays with life or death situations. It's a lot easier than I assumed and I nearly lost $1000. This is how: (it's a long story but also a warning)

Before I start I'll say my brother is fine, the worst time for his phone to be dead, but he answered afterwards.

First I was at work and got a missed call and got a text saying "Your family member was in a car accident, call back at this number" I'm in a few family member's emergency contacts so I thought it was reasonable. I called the stranger's number back. A guy answered and said there was a car accident and my brother or husband was in the crash and wasn't looking good, he was unconscious and I freaked out and panicked and asked which brother? and gave their actual names, and he chose one of the names.

He explained that my brother was in a car crash and the scammer's 10 year old nephew got badly hurt as well and they had no insurance for medical expenses. So the nephew's dad wanted to shoot my brother but the caller calmed him down and decided to call me for the money. So as I was shaking thinking my brother was being held hostage he walked me through trying to get money out of account and send to him through Western Union. 

That started to sound suspicious of course, but I was panicking because my brother wasn't answering his phone. He told me to get out of work and do this "It's ok if you get fired, you can get another job but you won't get another brother", he's disgusting. So I stalled for 30min walking around some blocks pretending I couldn't find a western union but they were monitoring my every word. I was scared of saying the wrong thing and triggering them. Still scared texting my fiance through all of this, he researched that this is a common scam (that I never heard of). So I looked up the number while on my headset and the same story happened to someone else with this number a few weeks ago. So I asked the guy if he can put my brother on the phone. He lost his patience and freaked out and I hung up.

It sounds stupid looking back at it but these scammers play with your emotions, first by you thinking your family member is hurt, then by making up a story that they are taken hostage and you'd believe anything. This taught me to look up all numbers before calling them. I never wanted to know what it feels like to think your brother is going to die, but that's what it felt like and it's disgusting that people make a living off making strangers feel this way.

Just giving a warning about this sort of scam, never knew they go this far.

bohobrideCA

Glad you figured it out before it was too late. I had a friend who grandparents were scammed with something similar. Someone called pretending to be their grandson saying they were in jail and needed money for bail and not to tell their parents. Most grandparents would do this without thinking twice. Some people are garbage. 

ILoveBeachMusic

So glad it worked out for you. Thanks for the warning - it just goes to show how convincing these subhuman life forms can be.

MobKaz

MCmeow said:

Ok so I always assumed I was a smart reasonable person, someone who can't be fooled by scams "Psh how do people fall for those Nigerian prince scams? It's so obvious". But today I nearly got scammed by someone who plays with life or death situations. It's a lot easier than I assumed and I nearly lost $1000. This is how: (it's a long story but also a warning)

Before I start I'll say my brother is fine, the worst time for his phone to be dead, but he answered afterwards.

First I was at work and got a missed call and got a text saying "Your family member was in a car accident, call back at this number" I'm in a few family member's emergency contacts so I thought it was reasonable. I called the stranger's number back. A guy answered and said there was a car accident and my brother or husband was in the crash and wasn't looking good, he was unconscious and I freaked out and panicked and asked which brother? and gave their actual names, and he chose one of the names.

He explained that my brother was in a car crash and the scammer's 10 year old nephew got badly hurt as well and they had no insurance for medical expenses. So the nephew's dad wanted to shoot my brother but the caller calmed him down and decided to call me for the money. So as I was shaking thinking my brother was being held hostage he walked me through trying to get money out of account and send to him through Western Union. 

That started to sound suspicious of course, but I was panicking because my brother wasn't answering his phone. He told me to get out of work and do this "It's ok if you get fired, you can get another job but you won't get another brother", he's disgusting. So I stalled for 30min walking around some blocks pretending I couldn't find a western union but they were monitoring my every word. I was scared of saying the wrong thing and triggering them. Still scared texting my fiance through all of this, he researched that this is a common scam (that I never heard of). So I looked up the number while on my headset and the same story happened to someone else with this number a few weeks ago. So I asked the guy if he can put my brother on the phone. He lost his patience and freaked out and I hung up.

It sounds stupid looking back at it but these scammers play with your emotions, first by you thinking your family member is hurt, then by making up a story that they are taken hostage and you'd believe anything. This taught me to look up all numbers before calling them. I never wanted to know what it feels like to think your brother is going to die, but that's what it felt like and it's disgusting that people make a living off making strangers feel this way.

Just giving a warning about this sort of scam, never knew they go this far.

It is always nerve wracking to receive any call like this, legit or scam.  The important thing to remember is to stay calm and think the scenario through reasonably and rationally. 

In a bad car accident, how would a stranger get the phone of someone else?  If they are still at the accident scene, ask what town they are in, and call that local police department.  If the scammer says they are at the hospital, ask for the name of the hospital.  Hang up and call the actual hospital. 

Do not give these callers any information.  Do not leave a workplace or do anything that isolates you.  Never agree to give anyone any money without contacting your local police department.

There are so many scammers out there.  My sister in law almost got scammed through her computer, because someone was able to manipulate her screen and make it appear as if she needed to purchase anti-virus protection.  They were even able to lock her screen in an attempt to force her to call a phone number.  She did.  Thankfully, she called me before giving up any personal information.

It is better to err on the side of caution, and even suffer some personal embarrassment, rather than get caught up in these scams.  They are everywhere!

kimmiinthemitten

That's scary...and I'm so glad you figured it out and your brother is okay. I was scammed after my credit card went through a skimmer but they were so obvious I had to laugh at them (they were screaming and swearing and threatening to call my boss). 

FI's grandma had a phone call from someone pretending to be FI asking for money. I forgot exactly what it was. It the caller said something that he would never say so she hung up and called his dad. They can be sneaky, it's crazy the lengths they go to now. 

kvruns

Yikes that is scary

MCmeow

MobKaz said:

MCmeow said:

Ok so I always assumed I was a smart reasonable person, someone who can't be fooled by scams "Psh how do people fall for those Nigerian prince scams? It's so obvious". But today I nearly got scammed by someone who plays with life or death situations. It's a lot easier than I assumed and I nearly lost $1000. This is how: (it's a long story but also a warning)

Before I start I'll say my brother is fine, the worst time for his phone to be dead, but he answered afterwards.

First I was at work and got a missed call and got a text saying "Your family member was in a car accident, call back at this number" I'm in a few family member's emergency contacts so I thought it was reasonable. I called the stranger's number back. A guy answered and said there was a car accident and my brother or husband was in the crash and wasn't looking good, he was unconscious and I freaked out and panicked and asked which brother? and gave their actual names, and he chose one of the names.

He explained that my brother was in a car crash and the scammer's 10 year old nephew got badly hurt as well and they had no insurance for medical expenses. So the nephew's dad wanted to shoot my brother but the caller calmed him down and decided to call me for the money. So as I was shaking thinking my brother was being held hostage he walked me through trying to get money out of account and send to him through Western Union. 

That started to sound suspicious of course, but I was panicking because my brother wasn't answering his phone. He told me to get out of work and do this "It's ok if you get fired, you can get another job but you won't get another brother", he's disgusting. So I stalled for 30min walking around some blocks pretending I couldn't find a western union but they were monitoring my every word. I was scared of saying the wrong thing and triggering them. Still scared texting my fiance through all of this, he researched that this is a common scam (that I never heard of). So I looked up the number while on my headset and the same story happened to someone else with this number a few weeks ago. So I asked the guy if he can put my brother on the phone. He lost his patience and freaked out and I hung up.

It sounds stupid looking back at it but these scammers play with your emotions, first by you thinking your family member is hurt, then by making up a story that they are taken hostage and you'd believe anything. This taught me to look up all numbers before calling them. I never wanted to know what it feels like to think your brother is going to die, but that's what it felt like and it's disgusting that people make a living off making strangers feel this way.

Just giving a warning about this sort of scam, never knew they go this far.

It is always nerve wracking to receive any call like this, legit or scam.  The important thing to remember is to stay calm and think the scenario through reasonably and rationally. 

In a bad car accident, how would a stranger get the phone of someone else?  If they are still at the accident scene, ask what town they are in, and call that local police department.  If the scammer says they are at the hospital, ask for the name of the hospital.  Hang up and call the actual hospital. 

Do not give these callers any information.  Do not leave a workplace or do anything that isolates you.  Never agree to give anyone any money without contacting your local police department.

There are so many scammers out there.  My sister in law almost got scammed through her computer, because someone was able to manipulate her screen and make it appear as if she needed to purchase anti-virus protection.  They were even able to lock her screen in an attempt to force her to call a phone number.  She did.  Thankfully, she called me before giving up any personal information.

It is better to err on the side of caution, and even suffer some personal embarrassment, rather than get caught up in these scams.  They are everywhere!

Yeah i agree with all of this. But when you think a family member can die you don't think rationally. It was easy for me to see how obvious it was afterwards. At first I assumed it was because I was on his emergency contact list. This is what they aim for and it's gross. They know people would do anything for family. Also the leaving work advice, I agree, depends where you are though. I'm in NYC where all the streets are crowded and it's pretty safe for this sort of situation. If you're in the middle of no where, absolutely do not leave.

missJeanLouise

Another one going around is someone calling pretending to be the IRS and saying if you don't pay immediately, you'll be arrested.

bleve0821

I keep getting the calls from "Microsoft."

thisismynickname2

Ugh I'm sorry this happened to you.
I keep getting calls, from all kinds of various numbers, saying "This is about your credit card account. Please call xyz..."
Sigh. 

Tyvm

There are so many scammers out there.  My sister in law almost got scammed through her computer, because someone was able to manipulate her screen and make it appear as if she needed to purchase anti-virus protection.  They were even able to lock her screen in an attempt to force her to call a phone number.  She did.  Thankfully, she called me before giving up any personal information.

@AtomicBlonde @MobKaz FFIL just got tricked by the "Microsoft" one, but it was largely because of the timing: we had just wiped his computer and reinstalled the OS the night before, then he randomly picked up one of these "Microsoft" calls. Thankfully, we caught it early and had him shut the computer down while they were still mid-process of installing various adware and spyware to the desktop. They kept calling afterwards, telling him he must turn his computer back on. They were super persistent. But we wiped the harddrive again, and did a secure revert. And the bank has been alerted, yadda yadda yadda.

The "Microsoft" scam is a well known one - they claim to be from MS IT, and ask you to open up some diagnostic tool or somesuch that's already on your computer, and errors show up (they will always show up, on every machine), so then "Microsoft" tells you that if these errors aren't fixed, they'll close down your computer. BUT they'll fix the errors for $200! You just have to fork over your credit card number and remote access to your computer. Lucky you. Ugh.

badbnagdway

missJeanLouise said:

Another one going around is someone calling pretending to be the IRS and saying if you don't pay immediately, you'll be arrested.

This is very very common around where I live. Even if you do have tax debt you will not learn of it the first time via a call from the IRS. The IRS sends you notices and a local agent may even show up at your house if you ignore them long enough but they're not going to call you and tell you you're going to jail right off the bat. In reality few tax infractions involve criminal referrals.

kvruns

AtomicBlonde said:

I keep getting the calls from "Microsoft."

One of those got to our IT guy last week. He recorded his call with them, they finally got mad that he wasn't giving the information the scammer wanted to take over the computer and hung up. Our IT guy would give random numbers that didn't match the computer and kept saying he wasn't smart enough to do it.

TNDancer

@atomicblonde @tyvm That is so funny. I actually do work for a Microsoft subsidiary. People ALWAYS think I am a scammer. We call businesses, not individual people. It's annoying from my side, but people always need to be safe.

madamerwin

missJeanLouise said:

Another one going around is someone calling pretending to be the IRS and saying if you don't pay immediately, you'll be arrested.

I have received automated voice messages from this scam... I always Google phone numbers when I get a call that sounds shady.

But thanks for the public service message, @MCmeow - I am sure when it's happening to you, and you think a family member is in danger, it's easy not to think rationally. I am glad you figured it out before you lost any money (and that no one in your family was actually hurt!)

IrishPirate60

When the Microsoft calls come, I act totally puzzled and say, "But I have a Mac. I don't own a PC." They go away.

AlPacina

bohobrideca said:

Glad you figured it out before it was too late. I had a friend who grandparents were scammed with something similar. Someone called pretending to be their grandson saying they were in jail and needed money for bail and not to tell their parents. Most grandparents would do this without thinking twice. Some people are garbage. 

This one got my grandma! Luckily she called my dad instead and said "(Grandson) didn't want me to tell you, but he's stuck in jail in Mexico and needs money for bail." ........... My brother is not the type to go to Mexico, and she's not even close to him. I don't think he'd even have her phone number.

ei34

Tyvm said:

There are so many scammers out there.  My sister in law almost got scammed through her computer, because someone was able to manipulate her screen and make it appear as if she needed to purchase anti-virus protection.  They were even able to lock her screen in an attempt to force her to call a phone number.  She did.  Thankfully, she called me before giving up any personal information.

@AtomicBlonde @MobKaz FFIL just got tricked by the "Microsoft" one, but it was largely because of the timing: we had just wiped his computer and reinstalled the OS the night before, then he randomly picked up one of these "Microsoft" calls. Thankfully, we caught it early and had him shut the computer down while they were still mid-process of installing various adware and spyware to the desktop. They kept calling afterwards, telling him he must turn his computer back on. They were super persistent. But we wiped the harddrive again, and did a secure revert. And the bank has been alerted, yadda yadda yadda.

The "Microsoft" scam is a well known one - they claim to be from MS IT, and ask you to open up some diagnostic tool or somesuch that's already on your computer, and errors show up (they will always show up, on every machine), so then "Microsoft" tells you that if these errors aren't fixed, they'll close down your computer. BUT they'll fix the errors for $200! You just have to fork over your credit card number and remote access to your computer. Lucky you. Ugh.

@Tyvm @MobKaz @AtomicBlonde   - who did you report this to (if anyone)?  Something very similar happened to me the other day, I have a Mac but it's 8 years old so it's really been slowing down lately.  The guy claimed he received a report from Mackeeper, was controlling my screen, suggested a million different things I should do, and was then perplexed when I wouldn't give him my credit card info to follow his suggestions and fix the problems.  I did bring it to an Apple store a few days later, and the tech guy's analysis was completely different.  I felt so violated to have received that phone call.
@MCmeow sorry you had to go through that...and of course glad that your brother is okay.  Some people are so low.

monkeysip

I don't know if it was necessarily a scam, but some guy called my mom saying he wanted to talk to her about her computer problems.  She told him she doesn't have a computer (she really doesn't!).  He refused to believe her... he kept getting all mad asking who doesn't have a computer.  

RomanceManaged

I get these a lot at work. We've been having some issues with our website because we switched companies and upgraded. Well the scammers called looking for the manager Terry (I'm the manager right now, and Terry has been gone for 30 years..) so they can help with the upgrade.

I wouldn't give them any information and they started cursing at me and hung up. Had they not requested Terry, I probably would have given them info due to the timing!

drunkenwitch

I constantly get the toner scam calls and the Microsoft scam calls.  I just tell them I'm not an idiot and hang up.

ThisShamanluvsaMage

I'm so glad no one in your family was really hurt.

When I've gotten the Microsoft or irs scam calls, I just pass the phone to my toddler and let him "talk" until they hang up. Telemarketers get the same treatment if they call more than once.

CMGragain

The same thing happened here.  This time the scammer said it was the victim's pastor who was in trouble.  They got more than $2000 from an elderly church member.

ernursej

@MCmeow did you call the police? That is a pretty bad scam. I'm really glad that your brother is okay and that you didn't end up giving them any money.

MCmeow

ernursej said:

@MCmeow did you call the police? That is a pretty bad scam. I'm really glad that your brother is okay and that you didn't end up giving them any money.

I did call, well I called 411 first to report the number but they transferred me to 911. They wanted me to come to a police station in person. I didn't really want to... I just wanted to report the number and that's it but they wouldn't let me give them the number. I just felt uncomfortable with the whole situation and didn't want to deal with going in person too. I wonder if I should. 

MairePoppy

I've been getting the IRS scam call several times a week. I also get calls from microsoft, 'the pharmacy', credit card services and I've won several Bahamas cruises. I get recorded messages about the back brace or scooter that I have ordered. This week I had several collect calls from prisons through Correct Solutions. Some of these callers 'borrow' numbers from my phone directory. I'm always curious when my cell pops up on my land line caller ID.

ernursej

I would report to the police. They may be able to catch whoever is doing this or at least make others aware of the scam. 

Edited for spelling ... Because I can't spell tonight. 

Tyvm

 The guy claimed he received a report from Mackeeper, was controlling my screen, suggested a million different things I should do, and was then perplexed when I wouldn't give him my credit card info to follow his suggestions and fix the problems. 

@eileenrob As a general rule, never give remote access to your computer to anyone, especially not anyone who calls you. If you called them, it *might* be different. But in general, don't give anyone remote access. No one in any official capacity will call you and ask for remote access. It just won't happen.

Have you grabbed what you want from your Documents folder, and reinstalled your operating system yet? They could have installed key loggers which will give them all the usernames/passwords that you type into your computer (as you type them).

who did you report this to (if anyone)?  

You should be able to report to the local police. We're not the victims, and I suspect the victim himself is a bit too pride-hurt to report it as a crime to the police. So in this case, I think we're just letting it go.

charlotte989875

MairePoppy said:

I've been getting the IRS scam call several times a week. I also get calls from microsoft, 'the pharmacy', credit card services and I've won several Bahamas cruises. I get recorded messages about the back brace or scooter that I have ordered. This week I had several collect calls from prisons through Correct Solutions. Some of these callers 'borrow' numbers from my phone directory. I'm always curious when my cell pops up on my land line caller ID.

I get these all. the. time.  Like once a week I get a call saying I won a free trip to the Bahamas... I could really go for a free trip right now.

I have to say, I was surprised the IRS one left their phone number on my voicemail. It makes it so much easier to track them down.

I'd recommend reporting it if I were you @MCmeow. If they are caught, and charges are brought against them there will be a stronger case the more people that report them.

ei34

Tyvm said:

Have you grabbed what you want from your Documents folder, and reinstalled your operating system yet? They could have installed key loggers which will give them all the usernames/passwords that you type into your computer (as you type them).

@Tyvm  Thank you!  Yes I actually did go to my local police station.  They had this whole phone scam unit, they took down the number and also the caller's full name (or what he told me his name was...).  There wasn't an actual crime to report but apparently they keep a database.  I'd asked you and others about reporting bc if there was some other place i could also report it I'd love to know.
And the guy at the Apple store did something with my operating system to protect it from that guy.  You're so savvy I hadn't even thought of what you'd suggested I was thankful the Apple guy did

IrishPirate60

You might also check in with your state's Consumer Protection office and make a report.