Scam - The Invisible Crime It's All About Money
Scams come in many forms and have always plagued the unwary. We all know about the "Snake Oil Salesman" from the past. There is much snake oil sold lately. Below are reports of serious and real scams from LAPD, DWP and from many of our residents. If you have a story, please share it to protect others. Send to hrtoppel@aol.com.
If you are alert you can figure out scams pretty easily. They are usually obvious when all your bills are paid and you are financially
comfortable, have no outstanding tickets, and have a clear tax record. There
are so many people, who live on the brink of bankruptcy, getting
chased by bill collectors. They are the most vulnerable, scared, pay, and then
find out that they have been duped. That is the biggest tragedy.
A note of warning: when verifying a claim that seems suspicious, never contact the number or e-mail provided with the suspicious communication. It will of course connect you with a fake contact as well. Use previous bills, the number on your credit card, or your e-mail list to assure yourself that you speak with a legitimate contact.
Clicke here for: LAPD Warns of Scam Bill Collectors by Phone or in Person
Click here for: DWP Warns of Telephone Scam posing as Bill Collectors
Click here for: The 12 most common scams of Christmas
Click here for: Scams with cars, cellhones, GPS, and other gadgets.
Click here for: Grandpareant Scams
Click here for: Testimonies of more Scams reported by our Residents or continue reading below.
Different Versions, more of the Same
1) Caller identified themselves saying they were from Micro Soft and that my computer was infected with multiple viruses and kept asking me for my password to enable them access to my computer. I realized it was a scam but my mother did not when they called her. They implanted over 800 viruses and took over her computer allowing them access to all her files. When she finally figured out that it was a scam and hung up they shut down her computer and she can no longer access anything and has had to change her passwords. One of her friends was not so lucky.
~jars~
Stranger asking personal questions at the front door.
Come to the front door - a new one.
I am elderly. I received a phone call in the evening from a male pretening to be my grandson. I don't have a grandson. The caller said that he was here to visit and was waiting at the front door, asking me to "come down" to let him in. I was indeed on the second floor of my house. Suspicious, I stated that I was not able to come down, but he now insisted that I come to the sliding glass door that opens into the back yard, I again declinded. At that time I asked him if he was "Jason" (that is my nephews's name), and he answered "yes." I then asked him to give me his last name, assuming that as a stranger he would not know that. The caller then hung up. I reported this conversation immediately to LAPD and was told that they had not heard the "come to the door and open up" approach to a potential home invasion. LAPD suggested that I share this experience with my neighbors as a warning. My suggestion: always ask questions that only your family member or friend would know to determine the true identify of a caller or e-mail if there is any doubt, especially when calls come in late at night when you are alreay asleep and perhaps not too alert to know the difference. Always immediately notify LAPD by calling 911, this could be an immediate threat to you or it may now be targeting others. ~Jack
Robbed in a foreign country scam
Click here for: The 12 most common scams of Christmas
Click here for: Scams with cars, cellhones, GPS, and other gadgets.
Click here for: Grandpareant Scams
Click here for: Testimonies of more Scams reported by our Residents or continue reading below.
Different Versions, more of the Same
1) Caller identified themselves saying they were from Micro Soft and that my computer was infected with multiple viruses and kept asking me for my password to enable them access to my computer. I realized it was a scam but my mother did not when they called her. They implanted over 800 viruses and took over her computer allowing them access to all her files. When she finally figured out that it was a scam and hung up they shut down her computer and she can no longer access anything and has had to change her passwords. One of her friends was not so lucky.
2) I got an email supposedly from Amazon asking me to follow a link and update my information. I realized it was a scam when I looked at the questions and discontinued. When I called Amazon they said it wasn't them.3). Calls on my cell phone claiming they were from my credit card company and they detected fradulent activity on my Credit card but when they asked for my acct# and security code I hung up.
~jars~
Stranger asking personal questions at the front door.
A
neighbour on Iliiff street had a stranger at her door- selling books- he started
asking personal questions about her occupation, which car was hers etc. Be safe and don't give
out any personal information. Best to be firm, polite and withdraw from the
situation quickly. ~Ninkey
Come to the front door - a new one.
I am elderly. I received a phone call in the evening from a male pretening to be my grandson. I don't have a grandson. The caller said that he was here to visit and was waiting at the front door, asking me to "come down" to let him in. I was indeed on the second floor of my house. Suspicious, I stated that I was not able to come down, but he now insisted that I come to the sliding glass door that opens into the back yard, I again declinded. At that time I asked him if he was "Jason" (that is my nephews's name), and he answered "yes." I then asked him to give me his last name, assuming that as a stranger he would not know that. The caller then hung up. I reported this conversation immediately to LAPD and was told that they had not heard the "come to the door and open up" approach to a potential home invasion. LAPD suggested that I share this experience with my neighbors as a warning. My suggestion: always ask questions that only your family member or friend would know to determine the true identify of a caller or e-mail if there is any doubt, especially when calls come in late at night when you are alreay asleep and perhaps not too alert to know the difference. Always immediately notify LAPD by calling 911, this could be an immediate threat to you or it may now be targeting others. ~Jack
Robbed in a foreign country scam
I received the urgent scam message pretending to be from a dear friend. (Note the poor grammar and foreign phrasing with a hue of British). ~Natasha
really hope you get this quickly. I could not inform anyone about our trip, because it was impromptu. we had to be in Istanbul, Turkey for Tour.. The program was successful, but our journey has turned sour. we misplaced our wallet and cell phone on our way back to the hotel we lodge in after we went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables we had. Now our passport is in custody of the hotel management pending when we make payment.Click here for: Testimonies of more Scams reported by our Residents
I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a short term loan from you ($2,950 USD). this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest.
Order Scam claiming to come from Target or Walmart
The message below is fraudulent, don't open it if you get it. If you have actually bought something at the store that presents itself in the e-mail, go to the websiteof that store and communicate with the store from there to verify the communication or call direct.
As Thanksgiving nears we want to advise you that our online shop has an order addressed to you. You may pick it in any store of Target.com closest to you within four days.Please, open the link for full order information.Happy Thanksgiving,
Always yours,Target.com
Larger Than Normal Credit Card Charge
In the past I have received telephone notifications when a larger than normal charge was placed against my credit card and that my credit card would be blocked until I can verify that charge. I received such a call about a month ago. I had indeed charged a high-cost item and dutifully answered the security questions. She began with the expiration date. She then had trouble with my card number and I had to repeat it twice, giving the full number. Still having problems she asked for the security code on the back. When I asked about details regarding the charge in question, to assure this call was indeed addressing my own charge, she said that there was a lot of static on the line and the connection went dead. In order to receive clarification, I called the customer service number on the back and found out that there was no problem with my card. The customer service agent immediately asked if had given out the full account number and the security code on the back of the credit card. I was stunned at my own stupidity and gullibility to have given that information out so easily. The agent urged me to cancel my credit card and order a new one, she also offered to transfer all auto pay to the new card, which made the process less painful. ~Haldis
Jury Duty Scam
Here are some more scams going around now. In addition to the IRS scam
that my sister reported, my brother just called me and said someone
called his wife yesterday and claimed to be with the "sheriff's dept
warrant division." He told her she had missed jury duty and there was a
warrant out for her arrest, and that she was due in court, etc, etc, but
that she needed to go to Right Aid to get a payment card, etc, etc.
They immediately reported it to LAPD, who said they had several calls
already that morning about the same scam. ~Judy
Time Warner Scam
When I reported the Jury Duty scam the LAPD officer said that here is another scam going around where someone purporting to be with TimeWarner calls and says if you prepay a certain amount of your next year's costs to them now, you'll get a big discount in next year's billing. ~Judy
Here are some more scams going around now. In addition to the IRS scam
that my sister reported, my brother just called me and said someone
called his wife yesterday and claimed to be with the "sheriff's dept
warrant division." He told her she had missed jury duty and there was a
warrant out for her arrest, and that she was due in court, etc, etc, but
that she needed to go to Right Aid to get a payment card, etc, etc.
They immediately reported it to LAPD, who said they had several calls
already that morning about the same scam. ~Judy
Time Warner Scam
When I reported the Jury Duty scam the LAPD officer said that here is another scam going around where someone purporting to be with TimeWarner calls and says if you prepay a certain amount of your next year's costs to them now, you'll get a big discount in next year's billing. ~Judy
IRS Scam
I just received a scam call and wanted to warn others. The recording
claimed that the call was from the IRS which has purportedly "filed many
lawsuits" against me. My husband and I are attorneys, so I knew right away this
was bogus. It gave a call back number of 202-241-2305. The recording's send
off was "God Bless You," a clear giveaway. ~ Catherine
US Treasury III
I listened to a phone message as I was screening my calls. The man with a heavy accent identified himself as "Steve Martin" or "Dean Martin". Words like US Treasury, ignoring, criminal offense, urgent… were mentioned. The rest was a bit muffled for me to decipher. The phone number he repeated twice was 559-836-5813. I then looked online using this telephone number and complaints on Steve Martin were listed on my first click at the top of the list. I heard calls of this nature is on the rise; fortunately, this guy was so hard to understand you couldn't possibly take him seriously. I would like to share this because the next caller may sound more "legit" and scare someone. ~ Mirei
Grand Jury Summon
I
got a call on the answering machine a few minutes ago. Very strong accent, hard
to understand, but what I could make out was if I didn't call back I would be
summoned before a grand jury, and they were trying to help me avoid that.
Obviously a scam. They did leave a call back number: 559-836-5813 ~Kathy
I continue to get fraudulent phone calls from persons representing themselves as U S Treasury representatives. They leave a recording that there is a major federal action against me and if I don t respond I will be taken to jail etc. etc and fined etc etc. This time I called back. The number was 818 745-2031. First I called and they actually answered U S Treasury representative. When I asked for Steve Madden they said he was in another department. I responded "you know you r committing a federal offense by what you are doing. And they responded "I know". and then hung up. Then I called back again. Someone answered U S Treasury Department. I said who is this. The guy said Mike. I asked for his federal ID number. He gave me a five digit number. I could hear the people in the background making phone calls. When I asked why they called me he responded 'I don t know" and hung up on me. I called my attorney. He said there is a major scam that continues with these people and that he had a client that was called from a phone number in Washington DC. A sheriff in Orange County was contacted and they r all aware of this fraudulent operation. ~Maureen
US Treasury I
My sister got some scam phone calls from someone representing
himself to be from the Dept of the Treasury, and saying she was being
investigated for some crime, etc--obviously "phishing." She called the
local office of the Dept of the Treasury, was told hers was the 10th
call they had received this morning, and was advised to get the word out
that there is a new scam in town, and for people not to give any
information. I know our folks in the Palisades are not likely to fall
for something like that, but I thought I'd let you know, so that you can
"get the word out." ~ Judy
himself to be from the Dept of the Treasury, and saying she was being
investigated for some crime, etc--obviously "phishing." She called the
local office of the Dept of the Treasury, was told hers was the 10th
call they had received this morning, and was advised to get the word out
that there is a new scam in town, and for people not to give any
information. I know our folks in the Palisades are not likely to fall
for something like that, but I thought I'd let you know, so that you can
"get the word out." ~ Judy
LA Times Billing
We received a bill in the mail from what looked like the LA Times. for a one year subscription renewal for over $700. I almost mailed in the payment check in the genuinely looking envelop provided but the charge seemed a lot higher than our last bill. A call to the LA Times number listed on a precious bill informed me that the bill I had received was a scam and not sent from the LA Times. Had I called the number on the fake bill, I would have reached a "fake" operator. The LA Times is investigating. ~ Kurt
Friend in Distress, needs bail
The phone rang at 3 a.m. yesterday morning with a voice that sounded a lot like my grand son's but had a lot of static on the line. He said that he had been falsely arrested, was in jail and needed $2,000 to bail him out. He was in panic. I knew him to be a good kid and was ready to wire the money, still half asleep. I suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be on vacation with his parents in Oregon and started to ask some questions. The caller then hung up. I reported this to LAPD and they told me that hackers get into cell phone conversations with kids, and are able to synthesize their voices, as well as gain phone number and personal details from their conversation to convince worried friends and relatives of their identities, especially at odd hours of the night. ~ Carolyn
Friend in distress, stolen wallet
I just received the upteens e-mail that pretends to be from a dear friend who is stuck in some really bad situation in Europe, (a previous one pretended to be from a different "friend" stranded in Thailand). The story is always the same: robbed, lost passport, wallet, credit cards, unpaid hotel bills, will be arrested if not paid, send cash via Western Union or some other cash institution. Of course, my friend was happily at home when I called her. Never send cash or wire cash, you will never see it again. ~ Bob
Additional cash for Condo Rental
I advertised my vacation condo on Craigs List. A caller offered full price and explained that it was a honeymoon gift for his soon to be married son. He asked if he could send me a cashier's check for the rental and an additional $2,000 to give the cash to his son to pay for the car rental. I agreed. When I took the cashier's check to the bank to cash, the teller became suspicious and called the issuing bank, the check was a very good, unrecognizable forgery. If I had cashed the check, it would have bounced and the money would have been subtracted from my account, after I had already paid out the $2,000 to the pretend renter. The observant banker told me that this scam has many victims. ~Cindy
Additional cash for Condo Rental
I advertised my vacation condo on Craigs List. A caller offered full price and explained that it was a honeymoon gift for his soon to be married son. He asked if he could send me a cashier's check for the rental and an additional $2,000 to give the cash to his son to pay for the car rental. I agreed. When I took the cashier's check to the bank to cash, the teller became suspicious and called the issuing bank, the check was a very good, unrecognizable forgery. If I had cashed the check, it would have bounced and the money would have been subtracted from my account, after I had already paid out the $2,000 to the pretend renter. The observant banker told me that this scam has many victims. ~Cindy
