Scammers

[Cammy]

This past few weeks I've inundated with scammers. Here's the list of what's going around at the moment:
1. Got a Facebook message from supposed one of my friends, but was really a scammer pretending to be a friend. He told me about that government grant thing where you can apply for all sorts of money for anything. Just for fun I tried it and was approved for 20,000 dollars in minutes PROVIDING I gave them my personal information including my social insurance number.
2. Got a call from Microsoft Technical Assistance to tell me they had detected a problem on my computer. Amazing, considering I only use MacIntosh. Apparently once you give them remote control, they hold your computer for ransom by locking you out by changing the password.
3. My husband got a text message saying that the tax people were coming to arrest him.
4. I got a voice mail from the tax people saying they were coming to arrest me
5. I got an email from a supposed female who had 5 million dollars locked up and all she needed was an international business partner to tell the bank to open up the cash drawer. Yeah, right. This is a version of the Nigerian Prince Scam.
6. If you get a phone call and no one is on the other end, don't say anything else, just hang up. If you speak the word "yes" they use it to prove you approved of them sending you their products in the mail and then charge you for them.
7. There's an emergency at your bank phone call - your account has been compromised. If you hang up and pick up right away to call the bank, the scammers haven't hung up yet but are still on the phone pretending to be your bank to get your account information from you.
8. Never call back strange cell numbers or phone numbers on your call display. They ring you through to a 1 900 line that can cost you a ton. I got one of these too - just don't phone back. Mine came from the canary island region.

PS: I REALLY despise scammers.

[mosaic]

wow you really have been inundated with the scammers! that's wild.

it's a good reminder to us all to be vigilant and careful with what information we provide to whom.

[The People]

Good ideas! Apparently, I am going to tax jail in Canada and the USA at the same time. I foolishly answered the phone call from 'Microsoft.' They tell me that they received a message from Microsoft stating that there was an issue with my computer. For X number of dollars, they could fix it. Sometimes a young teen answers the phone. Fortunately, we no longer have a credit card.

[Cammy]

Amazing People: Maybe you can make a deal with the US AND Canada and split up your jail time in alternate cycles. OMg. Do you believe these scammers? They don't even bother to check what country you're in before issuing their ridiculous threats. I got one scammer so mad at me that he said that he was sending the FBI after me. Okay buddy - talk to my consulate first about that one since I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada. It's funny too that when they go off script suddenly their English gets really bad and they totally betray their country of origin - this dude was definitely Nigerian, which of course is scam central.