Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

lupinia.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 562 posts

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

#461

Post by system2 »

samfather wrote: post #350
TrianguloY wrote: post #279

"I was tired" This says it all. You may be the best expert and everything you want, but when you are tired you are no longer an expert, and it's something that practically can't be learnt to self-identify. If you think that X will never happen to you, wait until you are tired and we'll see about that.

Part of being an expert is recognizing your limitations, flaws and vulnerabilities. This was not an expert.

I can tell from the comments and from my own observation, the entire HN knows she is not an expert. I think we shouldn't beat the dead horse here. I also agree she shouldn't call herself "expert" of at least the cyber security field.

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

#462

Post by mitchdoogle »

Galaxeblaffer wrote: post #139
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…

It's really hard recognizing the image Amazon have in the US compared to my personal experience with amazon.de . The service is stellar, shipping both ways is free as long as you buy products covered by prime. Refunds are with no questions asked (as long as you don't start abusing it i guess). As soon as you go into 3rd party sellers the experience gets muddled, though I've had plenty of good experiences with those a…

As a prime member in the US, your description more closely matches my experience with Amazon than the negative reviews here. I don't know if it's the way I shop or maybe I'm easier to please, but I really don't get it when people complain about counterfeits or poor quality experience with Amazon.

I only purchase items that have prime shipping, and that have free returns in case something is wrong. 99% of the time their delivery estimation is accurate, usually within 48 hours of my order or less. If something is broken or I simply don't like it, I return it for free at any one of several places within a 10 minute drive of my house: Whole foods, ups store, or Kohl's. And there's no rush - I have a full month to return the items and the refund is issued before I even get back home after dropping off the item.

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

#463

Post by mitchdoogle »

monksy wrote: post #200
rolobio wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon US used to be as you describe. But now its mostly just cheap knockoff stuff. I hardly purchase there anymore. Its really sad because they used to have such a wide selection.

> just cheap knockoff stuff. By that you mean overpriced dropshipping from aliexpress.

Everything I've seen on AliExpress has a 30-60 day delivery window. Amazon gets it there within a couple days. I don't mind paying a couple extra bucks to get something in 2 days vs 60. And that's not really drop shipping anyway.

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

#464

Post by system2 »

stretchwithme wrote: post #78

Why would an expert on scam prevention answer the phone?

Turns out our scam prevention expert wasn't an expert at all. She poorly titled herself without proper knowledge of security field. Probably a curious person but not trained in this field at all.

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

#465

Post by mitchdoogle »

rndgermandude wrote: post #409
Nextgrid wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon is more strict in Europe because their behavior from the US would get them in legal trouble here.

Maybe that, to some degree. But amazon.de has a lot of problems, too. There are a lot of fishy listings, but it's also often quite easy to detect those fishy offers, because the German text is usually full of grammar and spelling errors, and often obviously a result from Google translate, and often not even fully translated, with larger parts still in (shoddy) English. Outright counterfeit products seem to be somewha…

Honestly maybe you just have a better detector than most.

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

#466

Post by mns »

klik99 wrote: post #21

There's one easy rule that could have avoided all of this - never give out any info on incoming calls. If I get a call or text about fraudulent transactions, I'll keep them on hold while I log into the bank website. If I get a call about a late payment, I'll thank them for the info and ask them to stay on while I pay online. If I get an inbound call with a more complex request, I'll ask them for their employee info a…

I think I read about this rule here on HN and have been following it since a couple of years. The funny thing is, banks do scammer like things so often. I had a yearly subscription that tried to renew and they tried to charge me first for 0, and bank rejected it. 2 hours later I get a call from a weird number from my city (when my bank is in another city and all official numbers are from there) from apparently the fraud department of another bank that now handles fraud prevention from my bank. I refused to give them any info, told them I will call the bank back and just called the number on my card, which is the default support number for my bank and sorted everything out in 5 minutes.

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

#467

Post by system2 »

TheHypnotist wrote: post #171
A7med wrote: post #83

"EXPERT"

That's all I could think. This guy sounds like a typical person prone to scams. Expert my ass.

Not a single reader in this forum thinks she is an expert. Let's not hurt her feelings further with insults. She probably knows she isn't an expert, it is just a title she came up with, randomly?

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

#469

Post by Mawr »

whimsicalism wrote: post #131
iforgotpassword wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's easy to convince yourself you're way too smart to make this mistake. At the same time, you now deliberately skipped over the fact twice that he just skimmed the mail and didn't fully realize it was specifically a 2FA code, just assumed it was some verification code. I mean, the wording explicitly talks about entering this code somewhere to enable stuff. That's already two dead giveaways. Otherwise you'd be…

It's pretty obvious what is a 2FA code and what is not. If I'm being sent a code on my email or phone, I know not to tell it to someone on the phone. Indeed, even that very email she was sent contained a reminder not to tell it to someone on the phone. I read the entire article, I am just unimpressed by the justifications as to how this "could happen to anybody."

> Indeed, even that very email she was sent contained a reminder not to tell it to someone on the phone.

Yes, as regular unformatted text and tucked away at the end of the very last paragraph that starts with standard boilerplate:

"If you did not request this code, or if you have questions, please call us at the toll-free number on the back of your card. Wells Fargo will not contact you by phone or text to request this code."

Worse yet, the second paragraph starts with "Important:". That implicitly signals that the most important part of the email is what follows. However, that's obviously not the case.

The email is absolutely horrible security-wise, it downplays the most important security bit while overplaying everything else.

I happened to read through the entire email while reading the story and spotted the text at the end, but I'm not that confident I would be as diligent in a real life situation, especially if I was tired, like the OP was.

Just about every regular person would easily fall for this.

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

#470

Post by couchand »

whiddershins wrote: post #367
14 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Last example was LED grow light I purchased and description said had a grounded plug. When it arrived there was only a 2 prong plug. I’m weary of everything I buy there now and try find a manufacturer direct order when possible. Fulfilled by Amazon should read as a warning sign.

Just FYI weary = tired … wary = suspicious.

FWIW I'm weary of everything I buy
Post reply on HN