Don't believe that for a second! I just did a quick search for "Russian Bride" and found these lovelies are available and eager to wed American guys...
Posted on 03/09/2024 9:31:27 PM PST by nickcarraway
As technology gets more sophisticated, so do scammers. As bad actors adapt to the times, cryptocurrency scams are becoming a bigger problem, duping Americans out of huge sums, the Better Business Bureau said.
In its annual Scam Tracker report, the BBB said investment and cryptocurrency scams were the “riskiest” type of scam in 2023. Scammers are using people’s general lack of understanding about cryptocurrency to their advantage, the Bureau said, promising huge returns on investment for purchasing Bitcoin.
One victim, who shared her story, said she came upon a cryptocurrency scam while watching a YouTube video about Bitcoin investments. People in the comments said they made money using a trading service, so she reached out to the investment firm.
Red flags when dating someone online
“Shanell was told to buy Bitcoin through Cash App and send $1,500. Though it stretched her financially, she sent the money. After 10 days, she received a screenshot that showed her account increased to $7,345.56,” the BBB said.
The problems came when she tried to withdraw her earnings. She was told to pay a $700 commission plus an $800 broker’s fee. The broker still wouldn’t give her the so-called earning, demanding another $1,200 in fees. That’s when she realized it was a scam.
The median loss reported for investment and cryptocurrency scams was $3,800
Another scam growing more prevalent since the pandemic are employment schemes. You may think you’re accepting a job offer, but you’re actually being recruited to help with fraud. That happened to one St. Louis woman whose new “employer” deposited $2,400 into her bank account, then asked her to go purchase $2,400 in gift cards and send them the numbers on the back. Her bank later told her the $2,400 check was fraudulent, and she never heard from her “employer” again.
‘Layers of deception’: Federal agencies warn about AI scams Employment scams were more likely to target people under 45, while investment and cryptocurrency scams targeted older people, the BBB said. Romance scams were also a growing problem, especially for those over 65.
The 10 riskiest consumer scams in 2023, according to the BBB, were:
Investment/cryptocurrency
Employment
Online purchase
Home improvement
Romance
Advance fee loan
Phishing/social engineering
Credit repair/debt relif
Tech support
Travel/vacation/timeshare
To determine how “risky” each type of scam was, the BBB looked at a few metrics: how prevalent the scam was last year, how much money victims lost, and how likely victims are to lose money once targeted.
But money isn’t the only thing victims lose to scammers. They also reported losing time, compromising their personal information and risking their credit scores.
To avoid falling victim to scams, the BBB advises people:
Trust your gut if the offer sounds too good to be true
Good on Fox8 for highlighting these scams. Too many people are completely unaware of them, and the government doesn’t bother to inform anyone.
Anyway, the United States has the technology to put a man on the Moon. But evidently we are not able to cyber-attack these scammers in India, Pakistan, etc. So the scammers are free to steal from vulnerable citizens, over and over again.
At work years ago someone cold called my direct office line. Few had that number that would ring directly to my desk without going through the switchboard. She was talking about some crime I supposedly committed. It was comical. She was a terribly bad scammer. I could hear her TV set in the background. She was sniffling like she was on cocaine or heroin or something. She said there was “a police car” down the street and if I didn’t pay the “fine” right then and there with my credit card she would radio the car to come arrest me. It was laughable. I should have mocked her but instead I just said “ok, send the cops” and hung up.
Maybe the newer scams are more sophisticated.
My baseline assumption anymore is that everything is a scam.
Every phone call
Every text message
Every email
Every advertisement
Everything
Romance has always been a consumer scam. Oldest trick in the book.
> Maybe the newer scams are more sophisticated. <
They are. A friend of mine got a text message from his boss. His boss was at a conference, and couldn’t get away to buy a last-minute birthday gift for his sick wife.
Could my friend help? Please buy a $100 Target gift card, then text the redemption code to the wife’s cell phone number. Thanks much!
Except that it wasn’t his boss. And there was no wife. And the “wife’s” cell phone number was actually the scammer’s own cell phone number.
My friend came an inch away from following those directions. Only at the last minute did he pull back, and question what was really going on.
And everything in the news is a lie
I keep getting these calls representing my bank. They do, what I think is an identity check, by asking the last four numbers of my Social Security and the month and year of my birthday. Only, I give false numbers and that connects me with a Philippine scammer. I ask him his name and with that, he tell me his name. I tell him his name is invalid. He goes crazy. I tell him he has contacted me, who is the human resources officer for the central California region. On my computer I have access to all the employees for our bank. When I tell him he is engaged in bank fraud and I am reporting him, he freaks and hangs up.
#1 red flag IMHO, the email does not use your name, only something like “client”. If your name is not addressed it is a scam.
Don't believe that for a second! I just did a quick search for "Russian Bride" and found these lovelies are available and eager to wed American guys...
I got an email today from my sister with the subject line: “I wanted you to see this site”
That was a HUGE red flag. I texted her that her email account was hacked and she needed to contact everybody and tell them mails like that were not from her.
I later opened the email and found it was a legit mail. She had found an article she thought I’d like and forwarded it from her phone. The text app apparently put that horrible, spammy / scammy subject on her email. So the anxiety was for no reason.
I then did a test and sent the article via email from my browser on my computer. The Apple “Mail” program put the title of the article as the subject line — much better.
Even false alarms like this a a huge PITA.
Same here. And I don’t answer them. They just get deleted.
It’s a safe place to start.
Trust no one. Presume all they are interested in is your money.
Sure they are.......
Wow! Double tease! These 10 scams AND the red flags!
I had a strange call last week that snuck through Robokiller..
A strange accent that was hard to understand (not a red-dot) was asking me to do a survey on my recently purchased Mercedes something or other.. I have never owned one.
I hung up on him and he called right back.
I told him that he is a scammer and I wouldn’t waste my time with him and hung up.
He never called back.
Shanell calling???
I don’t know any groids!
Those scams pale to these two much bigger scams:
US Dollar (it’s not money)
FED/IRS/1040-taxes (the IRS is a collection agency, what it collects is NOT used for government programs - Grace Commission)
Every phone call
Every text message
Every email
Every advertisement
Everything
Not just online, 90% a scam or all lies, in-person face-to-face conversations. I always wait before taking action because Truth always eventually leaks through then destroys their setup.
I absolutely hate being forced into being this sinical. I feel like I'm on the wrong planet.
I am happy to say yesterday was the fourth time I won the Readers Digest grand prize. Person on phone told me he was in the area and is ready to deliver my grand prize. Just needs to “personal” information to verify I am who I am. I told him if he was in the area we should meet so I can give him the information personally.
Good security software for your computer, prescreen calls before you answer and hang up on anyone with a foreign accent.
The most simple answer is don’t be stupid.
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