Scams Scams Scams

I can't believe how many different scams out there these days.  You have to be so careful when answering the phone at home and at work.

I work for a resort town newspaper.  We're a small company and I'm astounded by the number of scam phone calls we get.  The latest phone call was yesterday.  It was a relay call.  Do you know what a relay call is?  A relay call is a operator service that assists a deaf person in making a phone call but the people that use this services isn't always deaf.  When I answered the call, the operator asked me if I was authorized to accept a relay call and if I knew how a relay call works.  I answered yes and waited for the caller to speak.  The person wanted to place a classified ad.  Since I worked for my company for almost 14 years, I knew exactly what the call was - SCAM!  Now you might think that I jumped the gun by instantly thinking scam but the caller wants to sell a motorcycle and gives a gmail.com email address which is untraceable, no phone number and no description of the motorcycle.  The caller has no connection with our newspaper.  He doesn't live in the area or worked here.  How this scam works is the caller places the ad and gets people to pay for a motorcycle but never get the motorcycle.  The company loses money also because these ads are charged to a stolen credit card which is charged back to the company.  I've seen these ads so many times.  Other ads placed are puppies for sale but no location and for some reason, the puppies are usually English Bulldogs.  So if you see these puppy ads in a newspaper, most likely they are scams unless the puppies are in your area and you can go see them. If you're not sure if it's a scam or not, do NOT send any money before you investigate!  

As for scammers placing classified ads, they usually are sent via email and every so often, I can locate the real credit card holder and let them know that their card is being used.  One time, I called a elderly woman asking her if she was trying to place a classified ad which she wasn't and she was so relieved because she had no idea her credit card number was stolen.  Another instance was a person called to place a roommate ad.  The caller had a thick foreign accent but the name on the credit card given was not a foreign name so we did some investigating and located the real card holder.  He was very angry because he was on his fishing boat with his crew and noticed his card was stolen while on his boat. Not good!

One time, we received a fax to place a classified ad from a bank.  I thought it was weird right off the bat because the closest branch was 30 minutes away but I thought maybe the bank was branching out into this area.  The ad was advertising loans with low costs which could have been legit coming from a bank but what made the ad suspicious was the way the ad was worded.  I called the local branch to see who faxed the ad to us and was told that the ad didn't come from anyone there.  They passed me to the corporate office.  I was asked to fax the ad to them and they found out it was from an employee at a branch across the country.  I wonder if the person is still employed there.  I would hope not!

Other scams at the office are calls about the copier, subscriptions and business directories. Unfortunately, you have to be very careful with how you answer questions from certain callers.  For example, we were charged for a business newsletter subscription that we didn't order.  When I called the company about the bill, they told me that my boss agreed to the subscription.  He said he did not agree to anything.  It took many phone calls and a report to the Better Business Bureau to get the invoice credited.  Evidently, my boss answered "yes" to one of the caller's questions and they have the "yes" recorded as agreeing to the subscription.  To top it all off, we did not even receive the newsletter we were billed for!  The calls about the copier want your copier model so they can send toner that is outrageously expensive.  Those calls seemed to have stopped since we no longer a central copy machine.  Business directories are another call that really bother me.  They call from a company that you can't find if you Google it.  They want you to list the company in a business directory and then charge you for the listing.  The listing doesn't usually exist or is a directory that the company wouldn't need to be listed in.

Other scams in the area are large orders being called in to restaurants and paid by credit card over the phone.  Then the caller calls back to cancel the order and wants the money refunded in cash that they can come pick up.  I haven't heard any restaurants that actually gave up any money but I know a restaurant that prepared the orders that were cancelled.

I came across scams with Avon too.  I have a website where customers can shop for Avon and pay by credit card.  Every couple of weeks, I get a contact request saying "I want to order products."  The contact requests come from someone who signs up to be a customer but doesn't want to place an order. Rather they want want to order a whole bunch of products from you via email and want to pay by cashier's check.  Once you tell the person how much their order is, they tell you that the cashier's check was made out for more money than what the order is and they always say, please be kind and send the difference back to me. No, I don't think so!  First, the check is fake so the bank won't cash it.  Second, you order the products and have to pay for them.  Third, now the products need to be returned to get your money back but you have to pay for the shipping.  Luckily, I never fell for one of these scams but I know fellow Avon reps who have because they see that big sale and think money, money, money!

Now after battling these scams and being on guard, I have to be careful at home when the phone rings.  The latest scam being a person telling us that our computer is sending their computer a virus.  Really?  Now how does that work?  My husband hands the phone to me because he doesn't know much about the computer.  I was completely floored that this person thinks that people fall for this.  I asked the caller what company they are calling from and I was told "Windows."  I laughed out loud and said, that's funny, there is no company called Windows.  It's Microsoft, you dummy!  I highly doubt Microsoft was calling me about my computer.  How this scam works is the caller gets the person to go to the computer and download program which is really a virus or malware.  Then the caller gets you to pay by credit card to remove the program.  This would work with many people because so many people are computer illiterate.  Now my hubby knows that this call is a scam so the last call we received, he argued with the caller saying that we didn't have a computer.

I've read about phone scams where the caller tells you that a relative was arrested and they need bail money.  Other scams are sweepstakes winnings where the caller needs a transaction fee.  If you didn't make the call, do NOT give any credit card or bank account information to anyone, period!

The same with emails.  If you see an email from a company that you do not deal with and they want your personal information, just delete it.  Even if it's from a company you deal with, call the company instead of giving your information via email.  Scammers are really good at disguising emails to look like they come from an official company.  Another tip to help determine if an email is really from a company you do business with, your name will be addressed or your account number will be listed in the email.

I hope this information about scams helps you watch out for scammers whether it's at work or home.  Please feel free to share your experience with scams.