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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

#381

Post by woojoo666 »

mdavis6890 wrote: post #348
mort96 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of text in that e-mail. The text you're referring to is perfectly positioned to be almost invisible -- it's in the last paragraph intermingled with the standard "if you have any questions, call us on blah blah blah" text. My brain skipped the rest of that paragraph the first 5 times I skimmed the e-mail.

Does a "scam prevention expert" really need to read that fine print to know not to provide a one-time code to an inbound caller?

The author mentioned that (1) they have had many poor experiences with Wells Fargo and (2) they don't have much experience with Apple but the experiences they have had weren't positive. I personally have had to deal with my fair share of janky and badly designed support systems (especially in health and banking), sometimes they are worse than startups. So it's not outside the realm of possibility that giving the support rep the auth code was simply the best solution they could find given whatever poor and legacy systems they had in their backend.

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

#382

Post by Mawr »

dangus wrote: post #100

The author ("scam prevention expert") was extremely uncomfortable at multiple points in the interaction and just...kept going. I know that this scam is relatively sophisticated compared to others, but I have to think if I was a scam prevention expert that I wouldn't tarnish my own name by putting a story with this much raw honesty out there. They basically violated rule #1 of scam avoidance which is that no legitimat…

> but I have to think if I was a scam prevention expert that I wouldn't tarnish my own name by putting a story with this much raw honesty out there.

I wouldn't consider sweeping one's mistakes under the rug a virtue. Quite the opposite - I think it shows integrity.

> They basically violated rule #1 of scam avoidance which is that no legitimate business cold calling you will need you to do anything with urgency.

There's an overlap between legitimate but dysfunctional systems and very sophisticated scams that can make telling them apart almost impossible. The author points this out repeatedly - is this a super sophisticated scam or are the bank's systems just that bad?

For example, other commenters in this thread have pointed out instances where their banks would ask them for information that they should never ask for.

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

#383

Post by 1970-01-01 »

>I checked the caller ID, and it was my bank, Wells Fargo (I know, I know; trust me, they were not my first choice).

This was too quickly dismissed. If you know a bank isn't up to your personal standards, don't cave into using them anyway! There are so many alternatives that the decision to keep using them should be seen as the primary or root cause of the problem.

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

#384

Post by megablast »

cjg wrote: post #42
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…

Calling on the official number is a good rule. But my neighbour followed that and was still scammed for tens of thousands. The critical extra step that they missed was to check that the line was disconnected before calling out. They were using a landline. The scammers called them, but didn't hang up. Then, when my neighbour called out to their bank, they pretended to be answering that call - going through security, e…

I guess we need to teach people how to use a phone line??

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

#385

Post by megablast »

jameshart wrote: post #160
Phiwise_ wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even already knowing about this I'm still mystified that landlines work this way on every occasion that I'm reminded of it. Does anyone know if there is, or at least was, a justification for this mode of operation? Was it at least of any use to anyone back around the 1900s or whenever or is it just another "we do it because that's how we've been doing it" residue that hasn't been cleaned yet?

Back in the day, folks would have more than one phone in their house. Someone would call and all the phones would ring (or you might turn off the ringers on some of them so only one main phone actually rings). So someone might pick up the phone in the entrance hall and the caller would ask to speak to Becky, and Becky’s mom would yell up the stairs ‘BECKY PHONE’ and then put the receiver back down while Becky runs in…

> and then put the receiver back down while Becky runs into her big sister’s room to grab the upstairs phone

This is dumb though. Just don't put it down until becky picks up.

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

#386

Post by doyouevensunbro »

atum47 wrote: post #378
Nextgrid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> Amazon is complicit in shady behavior on their platform Bought some wireless earbuds a while back, they sent me a horrible knock off. Contacted the store, he said the delivery guy made the switch, took forever but sent me new ones. Left a review stating all of this and warning users not to buy from this sketchy store, my review never saw the light of day.

None of my negative reviews about scammers have ever been approved by Amazon. I have just started taking my business elsewhere.

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

#387

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

I've had calls from my bank's fraud prevention department and, for me, they go down like this:

* A call comes in from a number I don't recognize, it goes to voicemail.

* The voicemail message says "This is the fraud prevention department at $BANK, please call us back at $NUMBER"

* I pull out my physical card, call the number on the back (which does not match $NUMBER). I go through the menu tree to get the fraud department and ask if the call was legit.

Interestingly enough, at some point the bank modified the menu system so that when you enter your card and the fraud department has called you they'll bypass the menu completely and transfer the call right to that department. Clearly I'm not the only one that does this and they don't necessarily want to discourage this behaviour.

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

#389

Post by doyouevensunbro »

jesusthatsgreat wrote: post #241
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…

Or better yet, just don't answer incoming calls that you're not expecting

But I might miss out on a sweet extended warranty deal for my car.

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

#390

Post by nullc »

narag wrote: post #242
dqv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well this initiated a rant, not directly related to ads, but Google in general. This is an internet literacy issue I’ve noticed more and more. People will refer to Google listings as an authoritative source even if the data comes from some third party. “Is this Jordan’s Tiles?” “No. This is Patrick. You have the wrong number.” “It says on their website this is the number!” “Their website is wrong, this isn’t Jordan’s…

“It says on their website this is the number!” "What do you think is more probable: that the website is wrong or that I don't know who I am?"

That is one of those situations where the right move is to leave an uncomfortable silence so they can think about what they said.
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