A coworker just shared a couple of scary stories about how targeted scams have become.
In one scam attempt, he received a phone call in his daughter's voice asking for help paying for a tow truck. He thought that didn't sound right, so he hung up and called her and she answered her phone nonchalantly with no idea about what was going on. But someone had found her voice somewhere, knew her relationship with him, and targeted the scam with precise details.
In another scam attempt, he was contacted by someone in the soccer league he coaches for asking for help getting gift cards for some legitimate-sounding purpose. In that case, it took a few rounds of communication before he realized that something wasn't right. But again, someone had the data on him and his role/relationship to the soccer league, and customized that scam to a degree that he didn't think anything of it at first.
It's scary out there. I think we're all at risk, but I worry most about my older relatives living on their own.
sadly my voice is readily found online so my own parents might be a target of this
Job scams are incredibly common. You’ll apply to what looks like a real job at a real company on a job site, and they’ll send back an offer letter and have you sign fake paperwork to get your personal info.
They might have you pay for a fake background check or credit check to confirm your eligibility. They might steal your card info, or just take some smaller amount and use that to help hook you into the scam to get more money later.
They might tell you that you need to purchase a computer or pay for training from them to start a Work From Home job, only there is no computer or training.
They might use you to launder money out of accounts with stolen banking info or just send you a fake cheque and have you “send salaries to other employees” as part of your job duties which will mean you’re transfering your money to someone on cash app or another digital banking app and then the cheque you deposited will bounce.
They might have you repackaging and reshipping stolen goods.
They might pretend to be a company that helps you resell goods and set up an order for some product for you to sell, only it never shows up.
My mother signed me up for so many of those when I was younger because they offered immediate employment and then when I was placed on the call it was the shadiest sounding shit, then there were the non-scam but also scam sales rep things where they called you a manager, offered intense executive training to fast track you to the top of the org but you were just going door to door trying to sell some shitty product.
Had a similar experience. And that check bounced right before rent was due. I was definitely younger and inexperienced, now sadder and wiser from those moments.
Job scams are incredibly common. You’ll apply to what looks like a real job at a real company on a job site, and they’ll send back an offer letter and have you sign fake paperwork to get your personal info.
They might have you pay for a fake background check or credit check to confirm your eligibility. They might steal your card info, or just take some smaller amount and use that to help hook you into the scam to get more money later.
They might tell you that you need to purchase a computer or pay for training from them to start a Work From Home job, only there is no computer or training.
They might use you to launder money out of accounts with stolen banking info or just send you a fake cheque and have you “send salaries to other employees” as part of your job duties which will mean you’re transfering your money to someone on cash app or another digital banking app and then the cheque you deposited will bounce.
They might have you repackaging and reshipping stolen goods.
They might pretend to be a company that helps you resell goods and set up an order for some product for you to sell, only it never shows up.
My mother signed me up for so many of those when I was younger because they offered immediate employment and then when I was placed on the call it was the shadiest sounding shit, then there were the non-scam but also scam sales rep things where they called you a manager, offered intense executive training to fast track you to the top of the org but you were just going door to door trying to sell some shitty product.
Yeah, the MLM scams are an entirely different can of shitty worms. Total nightmare.
Had a similar experience. And that check bounced right before rent was due. I was definitely younger and inexperienced, now sadder and wiser from those moments.