He's a telus customer, he got a call from someone claiming to be from telus, from what he thought was a legit number. He was told about a new deal for his cable/internet/phone package that would save him $50.00 dollars a month. He of course got greedy, and signed up. The person told him they needed to set up an appointment to install new boxes for his higher speed internet and needed a credit card number as a deposit, so my dad not thinking gave it to him. They then sent him a confirmation email, which I think he responded to.
He noticed late last night that charges had gone through on his card. Just some smaller ones. So he phoned Telus and was informed that he had been scammed and it wasn't him. So he did inform his bank, cancelled his cards, and all of that stuff, and I went through the scam checklist with him, I also warned him that his contact info has probably been sold and to expect a uptick in calls and emails, and went through some cautions. But I wanted to put this here in case you have people that might not be saavy to a telus scam.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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Thanks for the heads up. Good thing your Dad tracks his credit card transactions closely and was able to cut this off quickly. Not everyone pays as close attention.
I got a call last week from someone claiming to be from Readers Digest. They told me I won $960,000. I told him that was amazing and I was thrilled. I then asked the guy calling me for his credit card number. He hung up. If I wasn't at work I would have kept on the call longer and had some more fun with more colourful language.
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I got hit with one this week which was a text saying one of my shipments is held up at customs. When you click on it - it looks a ton like UPS and they want your CC info to pay a minor duty fee.
With so many people ordering online - easy to get tricked. I have something coming that I expect will have a customs fee so it nearly got me for that reason.
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Honestly, they need to crack down on these crimes and increase the penalties substantially. It's seniors who end up getting scammed and it's so frustrating. Earlier this week my mom was texting me that her phone account was locked (obviously it wasn't as she was texting me...). As a good son and mostly wondering what in the world she was talking about, I stopped by to check her phone. It was a scam text telling her that the account was locked and click here to resolve it.
I have no answers for how to prosecute these people, or how to shut them down, but I hope someone in law enforcement is taking a serious look at this.
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Honestly, they need to crack down on these crimes and increase the penalties substantially. It's seniors who end up getting scammed and it's so frustrating. Earlier this week my mom was texting me that her phone account was locked (obviously it wasn't as she was texting me...). As a good son and mostly wondering what in the world she was talking about, I stopped by to check her phone. It was a scam text telling her that the account was locked and click here to resolve it.
I have no answers for how to prosecute these people, or how to shut them down, but I hope someone in law enforcement is taking a serious look at this.
Isn't almost all of this based in India, so law enforcement here can crack down all they want... Maybe Justin should dress up the family in saris again, and see if he can get Modi to crack down...
My elderly Dad has been complaining lately about an increase in these scam calls. Thinking of giving him my Pixel as it seems to have a good built in blocker/screener for those calls.
My Dad like 800,000 other people had gotten the CRA email that their accounts were suspended due to compromised logins.
Scams are way up during the pandemic, especially for the Elderly because they're alone without a lot of contact to the outside world and they're vulnerable.
I read that India is cracking down on these Call Centers, and that most of the workers know exactly what they're doing. They're scum and there really should be no mercy for them in the courts.
Give em life sentences breaking rocks.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
My mom has dementia. These calls send her flywheeling into extreme anxiety. I’ve tried to get her to simply stop answering the phone, but habits of a lifetime are hard to change. We’re seriously considering removing the phone altogether.
So yeah, it’s a problem.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
My mom has dementia. These calls send her flywheeling into extreme anxiety. I’ve tried to get her to simply stop answering the phone, but habits of a lifetime are hard to change. We’re seriously considering removing the phone altogether.
So yeah, it’s a problem.
Land lines tend to be more vulnerable to more local scams though. I had a long top with my dad about which agencies and companies call and which don't and I went through verification processes. Ask their names and ID numbers and which call center company they work for so you can phone the company that they're representing to confirm that this is legitimate. Nobody legitimate will ask for any kind of verification in terms of DL numbers, SIN numbers etc. Look for reaching questions when they ask to verify you're account. "What you don't know my account number?" "I do I'm just verifying", "I'll have to call you back through Telus' etc direct support number, I'll need your id and name and extension".
Don't ever give a credit card over the phone or to an email inquiry, etc.
It was an uncomfortable situation, my dad feels pretty foolish. I had to reassure him that its not his fault, that these are pro's at what they do.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Someone close to me got sucked in with a pop-up on his computer. He called the number on the pop-up and the "tech guy" got him to open his computer and the guy was logged in remotely. Likely had a dummy screen for him to watch while the thief went through his computer and emails looking for anything to steal (id, bank account, card numbers...) He was on the phone/computer with him for a bout an hour. They sent him a bill and IIRC he paid it over the phone with his credit card.
When he mentioned to me a few hours later that his computer was finally fixed, it got me asking a bunch of questions. Sure as s41t, there were charges on his card. We got it all fixed in the end and luckily there was nothing on his computer that they were able to use. But I felt so bad for him because he felt so guilty and stupid.
If anyone is looking for some good vigilante justice against these scammers, check out these guys who have baited scammers to connect remotely and deleted personal files on the scammers PC and even password locked them out of their own PC
deleting thousands of the scammer's PC files
sys key'd the scammer PC
another dude uses a voice filter and pretends to sound like an elderly lady. Ends up driving the scammer into a rage when "grandma" loses $3,000 she was going to give him
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Some of the scams out there are pretty elaborate now.
I was behind in my hydro bill for my business before, but did eventually pay it and was square with them. I got a call on a Friday just barely after the hydro company business hours saying they were cutting off my power unless I paid half the amount immediately. I told them I had paid, but they said they had orders and I would have to call on Monday to sort it out and get reimbursed. I tried calling the hydro company but was put through to their voicemail saying that it could take 72 hours to get back to me. So basically I was forced to pay or risk shutting down for the weekend. In the back of my head I thought it could be a scam, but I couldn't take the risk at the time, and transferred the money to what seemed like a legit account.
The thing is, the number that came up on my phone was the hydro company's number and they even had the exact amount right down to the cent that I owed before I caught up. My best guess is that they stole my mail or something.
The worst part was not only did I feel dumb already, but when I called the police to report it, they were extremely rude and condescending to me saying that it was my fault and they weren't going to pursue it. They said they warn people about scams like that all the time and therefore I should have known.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 03-26-2021 at 06:10 PM.
I just believe they weren't interested in pursuing it and they actually said to me "The Credit Card company will give you your money back...you're not really a victim." Well trying to get your money back on cash advances... lol good luck with that, and I was super rattled and felt very violated. I was a victim, and was not happy with that statement, so decided to just get the ball rolling on identifying them.
I don't understand this garbage. The police flat out told me that they weren't interested in pursuing it, and not in a polite way, but like I wasted their time even reporting it. No wonder so many scams are out there. The police don't care and the punishments are a joke. A crime happened, it was reported. It shouldn't be their decision to make on which crimes should be dealt with and which ones they can let go. This was in Ottawa.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I was on hiatus from CP when this happened, and I always wanted to share it here as a PSA. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I used to deal with people that went through this stuff all the time when I worked as a Finance guy at our dealership. And I'd also help them fix it. I thought I knew all the scams. These guys got me good, and it was professional right down intermittent beeps you hear in the background when you are on the phone with police.
Interesting story how this ended up as a news story.
I had access to the buildings security cameras, as I was on the condo board when we had it installed, and I was the one that shopped for the system and installer. I had this footage that night. Also, about a dozen mailboxes were hit on our street, and there were a lot of victims. I told the Police, I can put their pictures up on Facebook, give you the pictures to post on your site, Crimestoppers, whatever. There was a lot of people that were pretty rattled. And I had incredible evidence with crystal clear photos.
They were totally disinterested, they fed me BS lines like... "It might harm our investigation, tip them off, etc...." I disagreed, as if they were just vagabonds 'passing through', it would be best to release it now before they moved on. I check-in a week later, "We'll get back to you, still in progress" 2 weeks later I call again, and get another officer "Oh, yeah, the investigator is back from his softball tournament tomorrow, nothing has been done yet."
I just believe they weren't interested in pursuing it and they actually said to me "The Credit Card company will give you your money back...you're not really a victim." Well trying to get your money back on cash advances... lol good luck with that, and I was super rattled and felt very violated. I was a victim, and was not happy with that statement, so decided to just get the ball rolling on identifying them.
I was pretty pissed. I had clear pictures, this wasn't a one off, and there were a ton of victims. I knew Nancy and asked her if she wanted to do a story. I was willing to endure the humiliation of getting scammed, as long as you put their pictures clearly in the story. That's the only condition. It was personal, I wanted these people caught. I talked to them on the phone for gods sake.
Story runs, Global gets tips within minutes, and they are arrested within 3 days. 8 months later or so I was asked to make a victim impact statement, but was too afraid to. These guys knew my name, address, personal info etc... it was actually the last nail in the coffin I needed to buy a house in Cochrane. I just didn't want to live in that place anymore.
But I'm not a "victim", right CPS? Because I got 5000 of the 6000 back from the CC company. I was privy to the sentencing information, but didn't even want to know what it was, as I would have been even more upset, at the 6 hours of community service they likely got.
But there is nothing special about you. Anyone can be scammed.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calgaryblood
Looks like you'll need one long before I will. May I suggest deflection king?
So a used car salesman is adept at spotting cons because of experience.
I don't even have the energy to defend this, as there is so many wrong things in that sentence. I'm not even a salesman FFS, I haven't been one for 15 years.
Anyways, I'm not gonna dignify this any further than, I have never lied to cheated, or ripped-off a client and always done right when things went wrong. I've treated the people on this board that became clients with the utmost professionalism, dignity and fairness. I've also become a client of many members on this board, and built many offline friendships and business partnerships.
I was asked to come back here, more than I wanted to by many of those people. I came back here to try and contribute to this place, share some wisdom when I can, offer up some advice from time to time on cars, chat Flames Hockey....
I just don't need statements like that. Especially ones that question my ethics and character. It just isn't worth my time.
You know what though, this is what I need, thank you.
This isn't a rage quit, this is just a realization that sometimes things just aren't the right fit. Good luck guys. I am officially done here.
scam alert
