How to spot a scammer

[SteveFord]

I worked in Internal Audits Division for a spell where all I did was work fraud cases where people's accounts were getting hijacked or simple identity theft claims.
I've been looking for a motorcycle part and placed a wanted ad on a site. 
I was beset by someone who had a Nigerian flag next to his name.
Here's his latest email.
Notice the strange punctuation, odd choice of words, one glaring mistake about shipment. the refusal to accept Paypal, and the Venmo/Zelle/Wire Transfer bit.
This is a textbook scammer:

Hello Steven, sorry for the late response I have been extremely busy with the family for the holiday vacation, so I couldn’t check my inbox time to time…I reach  out to my wife concerning making use of her PayPal mail but she said she is having issues on the acct and I can’t make use of it, so I’m suggesting we do direct wire transfer to make the payment instead since you don’t have a Zelle or Venmo info, I will provide my Wells Fargo bank details to you if you are ready to make the payment for the S-W motech center stand we discussed about. Kindly let me know your thoughts so I proceed in making preparations on the shipping to our address.

Regards,
James.

 

[sparquelito]

I get at least two scammer emails a week.
I just delete them without reading.

Craigslist is another matter altogether.
90% of the Craigslist respondents are scammers.

"I am interested in the item. Can I send you a code to make sure you are a human?"

The answer is always NO.

Then delete.

😉

[gearbasher]

My favorite is the phone calls telling me that there was fraudulent activity on my Visa card. I love telling them that I don't have a Visa card and there is a special place in hell for people like them. Same goes for the Apple tech. phone scams. I have no Apple devices and I give them the same response.

[10PoundLester]

Back in the early 2000's I would get these emails and I'd play them like a fiddle for a few weeks making them waste a $hitload of time and effort, then I would just tell them to f-off after I got tired of playing with them. It was pretty satisfying actually.

[sparquelito]

25 minutes ago, 10PoundLester said:

Back in the early 2000's I would get these emails and I'd play them like a fiddle for a few weeks making them waste a $hitload of time and effort, then I would just tell them to f-off after I got tired of playing with them. It was pretty satisfying actually.

I did that with a guy calling from Pakistan (or thereabouts) who claimed to be an IRS Agent.

I "owed $5,000, and I need to pay him right now, over the phone, or the IRS goon squad was going to be at my door promptly".

That was a LOT of fun.
I wasted a half hour of his productivity that day, and left him absolutely, furiously exasperated.
😃
 

[ksdaddy]

2 hours ago, sparquelito said:

"I am interested in the item. Can I send you a code to make sure you are a human?"

😉

Typically this is a scam for them to use YOUR cell phone number to set up a Google phone number. In the honest world, Google numbers are used to mask your real number. For example, my daughter has an online business making and selling custom vinyl stickers. Rather than giving out her real phone number, she uses a Google number. You dial that number and it forwards the call to your real phone. Telemarketers are forever getting their numbers blocked so they need a steady supply of Google numbers to use. You GET the Google number by entering a legit phone number, and then Google will send that number a code to verify it’s legitimate. That’s the code they’re trying to get from you. Once they’re done with you (by getting your code), you’ll never hear from them again. I don’t know what legal dangers could be down the road by having your number tied to a telemarketer. I had this happen to me because I didn’t know any better. It was fairly simple to go through Google Voice and with a few clicks reclaim my number, unencumbered, and with no more connection to the scammer. 

[Pinch]

Never answer. They'll use that to.... can't remember what it was, but it wasn't good. Something like that.

In today's world, you have to just delete and ignore.

[ksdaddy]

Yep if you answer, you have signaled to them that your number is a working number. And even though they have not scammed you, they now can sell your number as legit.

[ksdaddy]

I had one person call my house claiming one of my daughters owed on a payday loan.  I hung up, they called back, more insistent. After the 4th call the curse words were flying from both directions.  On the fifth call I turned into Apu from the Simpsons, which made our conversation much more exciting.  It was like two street vendors arguing in Kolkatta.

I ended the conversation with a suggestion he have relations with himself. I believe I had suggested that many times before to no avail. It's amazing how that two word phrase is universal. That must be one of the first phrases they teach at telescammer school. 

Side note, I have no idea if my daughter had a payday loan. Doesn't matter. Don't strongarm me or mine.

[SteveFord]

A while back someone called my mother posing as a newphew.

Help, it's so and so, need money for bail...

She hung up on him.

[B.T.]

For years I had to carry a business phone and the scam calls were relentless. Due to the nature of the job I almost always answered to be sure it wasn’t a business call. I usually could tell by the incoming phone number if it was going to be a scammer but answered nonetheless. 
I finally learned several general greeting phrases in Mandarin Chinese and if I figured the call was probably bogus I’d use them. (I even worked on mimicking the correct dialect and sounded pretty convincing!) Fastest way to get rid of an unwanted caller I ever tried!!
Occasionally however the call turned out to be legit and I’d have a very confused individual on the other end  - but I was always able to quickly salvage the conversation and it usually generated a good laugh!  Boy I’m glad I’m retired and can simply ignore my phone if I don’t recognize the number! 😂

[Murph]

Corkroaches.

They look like corkroaches.

[10PoundLester]

16 hours ago, sparquelito said:

I did that with a guy calling from Pakistan (or thereabouts) who claimed to be an IRS Agent.

I "owed $5,000, and I need to pay him right now, over the phone, or the IRS goon squad was going to be at my door promptly".

That was a LOT of fun.
I wasted a half hour of his productivity that day, and left him absolutely, furiously exasperated.
😃
 

I do the same thing when the guy from the "auto warranty place" calls and tells me my car's warranty is about to expire. I ask him which car is he referring to and that starts the downhill slide into their most frustrating call of the week.

Also a lot of fun is when the "neighborhood tech support" guy calls from India and tells me he has noticed a hacker in my system. That is a ton of fun and makes for a great hour or so of messing with them.

Edited January 7 by 10PoundLester

[ksdaddy]

Sometimes I would get a robocall asking me if I was interested in a business loan. If so, press one. Then I would be greeted by Rashneesh, who would ask my name (fake), the name of my business (fake) and if my business income was at least X per month (yes).  He would then ask the nature of my business, and I would reply “it’s a specialty division of a dry cleaning chain, picking farts out of old men’s shorts”.