Community Chat

[shoesnbags]

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!

[Kachina624]

@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. 

[JudyL]

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.

[shoesnbags]

@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?

[JudyL]

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@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?

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@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.

[jlkz]

@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.

[Puppy Galore]

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.

[THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes]

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.

[shoesnbags]

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@THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes 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.

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@THEY CallMe Mr Wilkes  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. 

[JudyL]

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