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I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

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Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#11

Post by akeck »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #5
woah wrote: post #2

Easy way to avoid this: don't answer the phone

I think the movie was Phone Booth that begins with the line "A ringing phone demands to be answered" Technology projects a form of authority (disconnected from any real power) in the same way that written words were synonymous to truth for illiterate 13th century peasants. To follow your logic, which I am not criticising as it's a valid approach given how dysfunctional cellphones are as trustable systems, I would say…

The rule in our family for a number of years now has been, "If the number is not in your address book, let it go to voicemail." We have the landline ringer off and always let it go to voicemail. As an 80/20 solution, it's been remarkably effective so far.

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#12

Post by Nextgrid »

rolobio wrote: post #6

I nearly got taken by a scammer because Amazon transferred me to one. I purchased a set of Reolink cameras on Amazon, (they've been great) one of them failed a couple months in. I contacted Amazon customer support (via my Amazon login and in their interface) and they wanted to troubleshoot with their technical team. Eventually the (very helpful) Amazon technician suggested contacting Reolink for support and started a…

> I was blown away that Amazon would transfer me to a scammer. I contacted Amazon again and let them know what had happened. Hopefully they will figure out how their guy got this scammers phone number and teach him how to find a 3rd party phone number...

1) Amazon is complicit in shady behavior on their platform, whether it's inventory commingling, sketchy sellers repurposing existing, well-reviewed listings for a totally different product or those bribing customers to leave good reviews with gift cards or free stuff.

2) The tech support number could very well be provided by the seller, and you could've bought the camera from a listing from said seller instead of the real Reolink (if the "real" Reolink even sells on Amazon to begin with). Maybe tech support scammers are now using this as a new lead-generation tactic ("legitimately" sell a high-maintenance product but scam anyone that calls for support?).

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#13

Post by ______-_-______ »

rolobio wrote: post #6

I nearly got taken by a scammer because Amazon transferred me to one. I purchased a set of Reolink cameras on Amazon, (they've been great) one of them failed a couple months in. I contacted Amazon customer support (via my Amazon login and in their interface) and they wanted to troubleshoot with their technical team. Eventually the (very helpful) Amazon technician suggested contacting Reolink for support and started a…

I bet your Amazon rep just searched for Reolink and clicked on a Google ad that happened to belong to the scammers.

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#15

Post by Loughla »

buscoquadnary wrote: post #8

Security theater. I had a situation where I had to buy something online from a company in Europe (owl4thunderbird) I placed the charge and then right after I got a text telling me to call a # for a possible fraud alert. That's a big red flag there. So I try and find the phone # of the fraud dept of Citi because anyone can send a text message. Turns out can't find it anywhere in the official Citi site. So I finally gi…

>It is security theater of the worst degree by incompetents and MBAs and I am getting sick of it.

It's security theater giving people exactly what they want. People want to feel secure, but they don't want any amount of actual difficulty in getting what they want from Company A.

Like it or lump it, but regular people really don't want actual security. They want the ease and convenience of no passwords at all, and want someone to blame in case something goes wrong.

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#16

Post by dade_ »

Not much of an expert, caller ID means nothing.

Standard procedure for everybody in the last 20 years should be: Whenever I get a call about security or fraud from the bank, I thank them for the notification and tell them I will call them back, and hang up. Then I call the number on my credit /bank card, not the number I was called from. Fortunately there is a lost or stolen cards so there is no queue time and tell them I received a fraud alert notification.

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#18

Post by hunter2_ »

buscoquadnary wrote: post #8

Security theater. I had a situation where I had to buy something online from a company in Europe (owl4thunderbird) I placed the charge and then right after I got a text telling me to call a # for a possible fraud alert. That's a big red flag there. So I try and find the phone # of the fraud dept of Citi because anyone can send a text message. Turns out can't find it anywhere in the official Citi site. So I finally gi…

> always says "You will never be asked for this code" and everytime they ask for it.

Yes, but the real meaning behind that phrase is "You will only be asked for this code by pages served by our domain name or a native app we published." It's unfortunate brevity.

Re: I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

#19

Post by jjoonathan »

Nextgrid wrote: post #12
rolobio wrote: post #6

I nearly got taken by a scammer because Amazon transferred me to one. I purchased a set of Reolink cameras on Amazon, (they've been great) one of them failed a couple months in. I contacted Amazon customer support (via my Amazon login and in their interface) and they wanted to troubleshoot with their technical team. Eventually the (very helpful) Amazon technician suggested contacting Reolink for support and started a…

> I was blown away that Amazon would transfer me to a scammer. I contacted Amazon again and let them know what had happened. Hopefully they will figure out how their guy got this scammers phone number and teach him how to find a 3rd party phone number... 1) Amazon is complicit in shady behavior on their platform, whether it's inventory commingling, sketchy sellers repurposing existing, well-reviewed listings for a to…

Yep. Amazon gets a cut and they act like it.
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