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I'm a scam prevention expert and I got scammed

lupinia.net

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

#491

Post by haspok »

dheera wrote: post #163
itslennysfault wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reason #99,999 that I don't use Amazon anymore. Just buy stuff in-person, pay the shipping, wait the week, or whatever. You'll be fine I promise.

Stuff in person costs 2X the price though. Especially bike parts. It's often cheaper to buy from Amazon but never go through troubleshooting support. Always return or replace. If that doesn't work, give a 1 star review, wait for the seller to come chasing you with a gift card in return for 5 stars. Change it to 5 stars, spend the gift card, and then change it back to 1 star.

As someone in Europe, Amazon would be the last place for me to look for bike parts. We have so many great options, including huge online retailers (Bike24, bike-components, bike-discounts, just to mention a few), all of which I've ordered many times from, and was pretty much always happy. Local bike shops may be more expensive, but then you support your folks, which might come in handy later, when you need servicing for something that you don't have the tools for...

The thing with bikes and bike parts is, details matter, two seemingly similar looking parts might be completely different, and there are many small parts that have many options (length, material, color, thread type etc). So unless you really know what you are doing, it's very easy to mix things up - that is true for the consumer too, of course :) Any non-bike-specific webshop is doomed for this reason, except for some special items, eg. eletronics.

One thing I noticed is that these days there are more and more small shops that are legit online, they may not be offering small parts, but I bought a bike from one such shop 2 years ago, and it was heavily discounted, the bike was exactly what they said it would be, it was in stock and was shipped within a week to another EU country no problems.

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

#492

Post by rob_c »

** ** ** really an _expert_ relaying a DO NOT SHARE 2-factor code with someone in _ANY_ situation is someone who deserves to be called out for this! This is not expert behaviour.

I think a lot of sysadmins following best practices (not every box or estate on the net are compromised, and this is not to say zero-days don't exist) are getting frustrated with security "experts" like this who simply can't even be bothered to practice what they preach...

There isn't a more polite way of phrasing this really...

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

#495

Post by haspok »

ricardobayes wrote: post #485

I think I'm adequately protected from this as I don't take phone calls at all. I will call my bank and providers on my own time.

I take this to the next level, and never even call any banks or providers. I just walk in and deal with them in person. Probably takes more time and effort, but is totally worth it IMHO.

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

#496

Post by ptsneves »

I honestly do not understand why anyone having a fraud call, would not bother to go to the bank itself. That is my rule and would have avoided the situation. I had a call similar to the article's and in the end I just said I will go to the bank myself and sort the issue in person. As i did not see any communication in my bank's page, nor app(it has push notification), nor any letter I never bothered to waste more time.

I put the effort on the bank, as the bank has the duty to safeguard my money, not the other way around. The bank's responsibility on suspicion of fraud is to block the transaction and summon the account holder.

I use the bank's channels for communication and this does not include random calls. It communicates with me through the bank's web page and app and it has never sent me any email. This is true for my experience in Poland and Portugal. The Portuguese bank used to have a crappy web-banking system and even this worked properly. When I got contacted by my bank, it was an in-person summon with no ability to discuss through the phone, the end.

Being so "remote" these days that we do not consider it important to go to the bank in person is maybe the issue. It is ridiculous one's ability to handle one's fortune in a phone call. It should be bureaucratic by nature.

I can understand being busy but not a single time the article's writer mentioned he will go and sort things himself in the bank. Are physical banks rare in the United States?

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

#497

Post by kevincox »

hunter2_ wrote: post #18
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.

Maybe it would be better to send a link. Then it can't be sent to the wrong domain.

Of course you need to then educate people that they shouldn't trust the domain they land one and always immediately close the tab. Even if that tab says "Warning you have a fraud alert on your account. Click here to check your recent transactions"

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

#498

Post by whywhywhywhy »

Honestly I’m shocked a scam prevention expert would talk to anyone who initiated a call to them.

Even if I get a text message flagging a purchase that I initiated I still won’t call the number they text me with I’ll always go to their website via url I type and call the number there. Surprised an expert isn’t doing the same.

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

#499

Post by Symbiote »

dheera wrote: post #451
Symbiote wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your local shop isn't the only option. The first online retailer (above Amazon in my Google search result) is €3 cheaper than Amazon, shipping included. https://www.amazon.de/-/en/C1010429-P-Continental-Gatorskin-... https://www.bike24.com/p2195136.html

+19.99 EUR and 10-14 days to ship to the US. Not cheaper. Not to mention maybe another $150 in Uber rides waiting 14 days instead of 1 day for it. Also Amazon gives me 5% cashback too so that also needs to be factored into all prices.

I used two European sites, since my comparison was obviously for delivery to somewhere in Europe (Denmark, in my case).

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

#500

Post by khafra »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #393
taylorfinley wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s pretty shocking but most IP cameras can be accessed with nothing more than their serial number. Here’s a somewhat recent DefCon talk about it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_gKEF76oMM I use Reolink cameras, in the admin interface there’s an option called UID. Turning that off (theoretically) disables the backdoor. I have my cameras and NVR (which is actually just a python script on an old laptop that uses ffmpe…

This internet of things future is frightening. I don't feel comfortable buying any new product.

Best practice is to remember that intelligence means optimizing for some state of the world. If you have a "smart" product, it may not be optimizing for your preferred state of the world. Most commonly, it's not even optimizing for its manufacturer or vendor's preferred state of the world, because we don't truly know how to design a specific intelligence yet.

Our best efforts are just kind of putting in some objectives and hoping they don't get goodharted too badly.

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