topic Re: Another Scam Attempt in Community Chat

Another Scam Attempt

shoesnbags — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 18:01:49 GMT

I'm just reporting this as another reminder of the various ways they try to scam us. I received a text message this morning supposedly from Citi Bank saying that a $750 charge had been made at Home Depot and giving a phone number to call if it wasn't a legitimate charge.

Of course I know better than to ever call a number like this. But I do have a Mastercard from Citi so I couldn't just ignore the text. So I had to waste time calling the number on my card to verify that there was no fraudulent charge. Then I sent a copy of the scammer's text to the fraud dept. at Citi. So aggravating!

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Kachina624 — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 18:51:51 GMT

@shoesnbags. Although intellectually you know these calls/emails are not legit, they're, hmm... startling, and, as you say, take time to verify. A real nuisance.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

JudyL — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:04:21 GMT

I can attest to how unsettling these scam emails/texts are. A couple years ago I received an email from Geek Squad. Looked very legit. Saying that my yearly warranty on my laptop that I purchased on _____ (they had the correct date too) was about to expire and they would automatically charge my credit card for $400. I panicked because I hadn't remembered getting the warranty but realized I could have and had just forgotten about it. Didn't want $400 going on my CC, etc. It gave a number to call. Without thinking I called and what a rabbit hole I then went down. It was a mess but realized what was happening and immediately went to my bank and they were so good. We changed passwords on my accounts, they put an alert on my accounts, etc. Then I took my laptop into my work and the IT people were so understanding and completely wiped my computer clean for me and reinstalled certain programs. I was embarassed, humiliated and thought how could I have been so stupid. It happened so fast and was so convincing. Afterwards, I joined LifeLock and while I've had a few issues with identity theft (don't think they had anything to do with this incident), they were nothing that LifeLock couldn't deal with and take care of for me. Don't talk much about this because it still brings up such horrible memories but also because the embarassment and humiliation I felt at falling for this scam was awful and even now when I think about it, those feelings come back.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

shoesnbags — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:12:14 GMT

@JudyL Such an awful experience for you! My own personal Lifelock is to not trust anybody or anything - whether it's an email, a text, or a phone call. But there's still the possibility that I could get caught someday, some way. What a world, eh?

Re: Another Scam Attempt

JudyL — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:19:01 GMT

@shoesnbags wrote:
@JudyL Such an awful experience for you! My own personal Lifelock is to not trust anybody or anything - whether it's an email, a text, or a phone call. But there's still the possibility that I could get caught someday, some way. What a world, eh?

@shoesnbags - I used to say the same thing as you and thought I would NEVER fall for the email, text, phone call that would come through. Somehow they caught me at a vulnerable day and time and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It was terrifying to realize they got access to my bank accounts but luckily did not get my money. I barely slept for weeks worrying about what may happen. I have learned my lesson and am now so careful.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

jlkz — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:32:33 GMT

@JudyL

Please go easy on yourself. Like you, I thought I was ahead of the game until a simple email from a good college friend (class of '66) asking me to help her help a friend who was very ill. Knowing how many life surgeries my college friend has gone through and her heart condition as well as the fact she can't drive, I got the gift cards for her to send to her friend.

Since my friend's adult children were spread over the entire country, I thought nothing of helping her help another person. When my "friend" asked for more $ and the email showed a Greenwich Meridian address, there was no doubt this was a scam. Just that quick when I tried to stop the transaction, it was all over.

It cost me $300 fir the lesson: now everything I don't initiate I consider to be a scam.

( My friend's Contacts list had been the hacker's delight. When I called her, it was the second call she had had....wish she had alerted each person in her list with a blast email ! )

So @JudyL, anyone can be vulnerable depending on the circumstances. We live / we learn.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Puppy Galore — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:34:19 GMT

I received one today, supposedly from Amazon.
it stated a purchase I made in October doesn't meet their Safety standards. I called Amazon, there was no such recall. I still don't know which product it is. I bought deodorant.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

They CallMe MRWILKES — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 19:41:07 GMT

The most important thing you can do is to set up notifications and alerts from all of your accounts: bank, retirement, credit card, credit score, investment and brokerage....

You have little control over the bad guys getting in, but you can monitor each and every activity if something occurs and proceed from there.

I check my credit score at least twice a week from two separate sources. It's a great way to see if anything has been going on that you may not have been aware of.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

shoesnbags — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 20:05:00 GMT

@They CallMe MRWILKES wrote:
The most important thing you can do is to set up notifications and alerts from all of your accounts: bank, retirement, credit card, credit score, investment and brokerage....

You have little control over the bad guys getting in, but you can monitor each and every activity if something occurs and proceed from there.

I check my credit score at least twice a week from two separate sources. It's a great way to see if anything has been going on that you may not have been aware of.

@They CallMe MRWILKES That's what was so sneaky about this one. They pretended to actually be an alert from the CC company. I can see where some people might fall for this.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

JudyL — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 20:36:20 GMT

Thank you @jlkz for your encouraging words. So sorry you were a victim too! We both learned a valuable lesson.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

shoesnbags — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:10:44 GMT

I just got that same text for the second time today. Unbelievable. Checked my account again and it's fine. Ugh.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Carmie — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:23:41 GMT

@jlkz I got one of those e-mails from my cousin asking for $300 for an Amazon gift card for something. It looked legit, but I know my cousin would never ask for money. She doesn't need to.

So, I called her. Apparently someone got into her e-mail list that was loaded with family members because she coordinates the family reunions and sent a money request to everyone in the list.

I was ticked off that she didn't send out an e-mail to everyone explaining what happened. I don't know if anyone fell for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

I agree this scam looked legit. When someone gets access to your e-mail list, they can do some damage.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

jlkz — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:52:07 GMT

@Carmie

Just as you were annoyed that your cousin didn't send word to the names of her list, I felt exactly the same way. When I suggested she said out a master message, she seemed to blow it off. Not what I would expect of her.

Guess our standards were quite different !

Re: Another Scam Attempt

elated — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 02:22:55 GMT

Gift Cards is one of the biggest scams. Any time someone asks you to send gift cards that should be a red flag. I received a call saying that I had a delinquent bill and needed to call immediately. I knew that was a scam. I had invoices sent to me that an item was purchased showing the amount..At first, it does appear plausible but I never bought anything.

I always check my bank or credit card to make sure nothing has transpired. It is sad how many people lose money thinking it is legitimate. Scammers are highly intelligent crooks with no conscious. You always need to be one step ahead.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Teddixat — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 03:36:15 GMT

I hate scammers

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Venezia — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 04:21:06 GMT

Several years ago someone got into my email list and the first thing I did was send an email alert to everyone on it to warn them. I made it clear that anything "suspicious" was not from me.

And recently, I've had to laugh - I actually get emails from scammers, but the idiots put my name in the "From" line. So, I'm sending a scam email to myself???

I always, always, always hover over the sender's email address (even if it appears to be from a legit source). With scammers, usually it's a long string of gobbledygook, not remotely like what you see in the email header. I use the "block senders" option, which deletes and blocks the sender.

The scumbags are out there, working overtime.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Estellee — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 12:44:41 GMT

I would have done the same thing @shoesnbags too bad we have to though.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

San Antonio Gal — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 14:32:15 GMT

@jlkz wrote:
@Carmie

Just as you were annoyed that your cousin didn't send word to the names of her list, I felt exactly the same way. When I suggested she said out a master message, she seemed to blow it off. Not what I would expect of her.

Guess our standards were quite different !

@jlkz - That's too bad the sender didn't care one bit about warning others. smh.

Re: Another Scam Attempt

Still Raining — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 15:03:17 GMT

I see your Home Depot and raise you two (2) iPhone 16s on Verizon 🤣

Re: Another Scam Attempt

shoesnbags — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 19:04:44 GMT

@Still Raining LOL!