Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
I had a weird scam call today. My social insurance number had been compromised. It was a message and ended with a really fast reference number and then said to press one for more info. I was already going to press one to erase it. So maybe that's how they get you to engage their pay per call system. Tricky.
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They're calling you via a modern age auto dialer. Rather than dial out themselves, the system calls the numbers and weeds out dead lines or fax lines or anyone who just hangs up automatically. If you press '1', it's showing a live body at the end of the line and one to which hasn't yet dismissed the call as a scam.
Had you stayed on the line for the sin scam, they would have asked you to provide your last 3 digits of your sin card and pretended it's a match to make you believe as such. They would not ask for the 'full' sin # as that gets peole too suspicious. Thereafter, they would have then directed you to go to your bank while they stay on the line, advise you to withdraw all of your money and deposit it into a bitcoin machine to 'keep your account safe' during their supposed investigation. You then give them the bitcoin refernence number, and pomptly never hear from them again and lose your money through a relatively untracable method.
There are variations to that scam, but that's essentially the gyst.
Other popular scams included but are not limited to:
CRA Scam: your account has been flagged and you owe 'X' amount (eg $8000.00) in backpayment and RCMP are coming to your door in 45 minutes to arrest you. But this can be solved over the phone for a much lesser cost if you go to 7-11 and buy 'x' amount ($1000) in itunes gift cards and read the #'s to them over the phone.
Tiffany scam: you receive a call on a land line (res or bus, not a cell) that someone is at Tiffanys/Birks (etc) trying to buy a $22,000.00 ring and they want to know if you approve the cost. Of course you say no, they then instruct you to hang up and immediately call your credit card company to cancel. You hang up, pick the phone back up, begin dialling your credit card company, however, because it's a land line, the phone number is actually still 'locked' with that caller (much like if you call us on 911 and hang up, we lock your line and will not release it so you cannot dial out. if you pick up the ph again, we're still there). The offender hands the phone to someone else who pretends to be the card company you yourself believe have dialled (in fact you didn't ) and you go ahead and start providing your card, password, # on the back, etc.
Indeed job scam: No experience necessary, all you have to do is some bank work. Deposit that check worth $3800. Then withdraw immediately $3000 and send to 'x' account, you keep the $800. The check then bounces days later but not until you've made the deposits and the offr withdraws their funds from you.
Microsoft scam: Message pops up on your computer about a virus and to call the # for immediate fix with their IT. You call it, they negotiate a price that you pay via etransfer or provide bank info for them to withdra from (etc). they then take over the computer to 'clean it out', and in fact they do, just not in the way you thought. They get all your passwords, account info, etc.
Grandmother scam: person calls elderly lady pretending to be their grandson and states they're out of the country and got into a car accident and needs 'x' amount of money for lawyer/legal fees. they never identify themselves by name, but grandma just hears a young voice and assumes its their grandson.
Romance scam: online dating, manipulates lonely people by professing their love over time all the while concocting stories of their plan to get to gether to marry. Just needs money for their business, or for this or that, to clear themselves and eventually come see their true love.
email/password scam: email comes in ghosting your own account - meaning the email arrives in your inbox appearing to come from your own email address. The email advises that as per the message coming from your own account, they have clearly hacked your computer. To further, they give you an old password of yours that you once used (it's correct, and due to a security breach in the early 2010's to a major company). They tell you that unless you pay 'x' amount via bitcoin, they will send all your private info and websites (etc) you visited to all your family and friends. -- They do not have your current passwords, do not have your actual email address and do not have access to your computer, but the scam and previous breach gives reasonable doubt. This scam is not common any longer but does pop up time to time.
Lottery scam: you won a big prize of $100,000. Just pay us $2300 processing fee.
There are other scams that I'm forgetting at the moment, but work is picking up so I'll end this here. WhiteTiger may also chime in and piggyback with more to add.
About the best advice I can give as an 'overall' would be to tell friends and family, especially seniors or those with language barriers, to essentially never give any personal information out to anyone who calls them no matter what the scenario. CRA, police, donations, lottery, family/friends out of country, etc. If anyone wishes to make a payment of any variety or offer personal information over the phone, do so when you yourself iniitiate the call against a number you know is valid at a time you decide. That means call your bank and provide info but not when someone calls you first and says to. Or investigate a charity first and ask for donation pamphlet or website, never just pay over the ph or at the door. Call CRA yourself and ask if there's an issue if someone calls you and advises as such.
At any time and as WhiteTiger previously noted, you may also call us on the non-emerg CPS line if you're unsure and we can assist. If you're a victim (out money, etc) we will dispatch. If you simply received the call but are unsure of its validity, we can help debunk and/or direct you to anti-fraud thereafter.
I hope this helped. Be well everyone.
They have been caught out once & had to replace a credit card, so they tend to call us about stuff now, if they're ever tempted to look into things further.
