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monophoto

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Joined
Mar 13, 2010
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2,542
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Saratoga Springs, NY
I just received a phone call from a person claiming to represent Wood Magazine and offering to renew my subscription at a special, senior citizen rate. She claimed that I had been sent a letter that should arrive in the mail today or tomorrow offering the renewal at the regular, higher rate, but they wanted to make sure that I was able to take advantage of a lower geezer rate.

The call originated at 516-986-2591 which appears to be in Farmingdale, NY (Long Island).

The woman claimed that I had charged my previous subscription to Mastercard, and asked for my number to enter the renewal. I objected that most of the phone calls I get are robocallers/scammers, and because I had no way of knowing that she was who she claimed to be, I was reluctant to provide that information over the phone. She assured me that she was legitimate because she had records of a prior subscription and knew that I had paid by credit card.

Now, I have a subscription to Woodturning magazine (published in England) and my subscription is due for renewal early next year, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that I would be asked to renew sometime in the next few months. But this woman didn't seem to know anything about Woodturning magazine, instead referring to subscriptions to Wood Magazine, and Popular Woodworking. So I specifically asked her where the magazines she represented were published, and she assured me that they were all published in the US. At that point, my scammer alarm went off and I discontinued the discussion.

Many of us used to be subscribers to Wood Turning Design, a US-based wood turning magazine of which Joe Hermann was the editor in chief. The publisher of that magazine suddenly went out of business six or eight years ago - as I recall, Joe told several members of the IAP community that Wood Turning Design had been very successful, but the parent publisher was dragged down by some other craft magazines that had not been struggling for many years.

Shortly before Wood Turning Design ceased publication, I (and many others on this board) were contacted by an organization offering subscription renewals to the magazine. It turned out that the organization that offered those renewals was a third-party subscription service that was unrelated to the publisher of Wood Turning Design magazine, although that was not entirely clear in the mailing we received. Thinking that the renewal offer was legitimate, I submitted payment shortly before the demise of Wood Turning Design was announced. I was eventually able to get my money back, but I continued to receive renewal offers for Wood Turning Design from that subscription agency for at least a year, and later the offers were recast to offer subscriptions to other publications. As I recall, that subscription agency had a suburban New York City mailing address. So I am suspicious that the woman who called me today was from that same agency.

Ya gotta be careful - there are a lot of scammers out there!
 
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mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
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Location
Medina, Ohio
Yesterday I received two phone messages threatening 'legal action' if I did not call them back. The calls originated from Australia.
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
I still work part time in ministry. Two weeks ago, my ministry assistant asked why I purchased Norton anti-virus software for nearly $400.00 when we already had AVG. I said I had not. Then she showed me an email invoice billing for that price. I told her it was a scam. She said it was an invoice. I told her it did not come in through the mail and therefore was not legitimate! I next told her that if I HAD purchased it, it would be on our credit card and she could pay the CC. At that point it began to make sense to her.

A year ago, my daughter wanted a particular sweater for her birthday. I ordered it from LLBean. The next day, my wife saw an ad on FaceBook for LLBean Outlet with the same sweater for 1/3 the price. I called LLBean and they said that they did not have an "outlet discount" store and it was a scam. I notified FB and they took the ads down. It was from China and the pictures were from LLBean to their site.
 

magpens

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
15,913
Location
Canada
Thanks to all who have posted.
I read these posts with interest.
One cannot be over-prepared to combat the ingenuity of scammers.
 

howsitwork

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Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
2,299
Location
Thirsk
I want to know why I keep getting discounted offers for Viagra !!! πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Do they know something I don't?πŸ€”
 

greenacres2

Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
1,686
Location
Northwest IN
Yesterday I received two phone messages threatening 'legal action' if I did not call them back. The calls originated from Australia.
The only legal action from Australia that would worry me here is if it involved Crocodile Dundee starting with "you call that a knife?" Saw that clip recently, now I need to see the whole movie again!
Earl
 

Kenny Durrant

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Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
2,480
Location
Sachse Tx. 75048
I used to get the car warranty calls all the time. I might get one a month now. A friend told me to keep talking to them so they can't scam someone else. Since I'm retired I have a few minutes from time to time to spare. I listened to their spill and asked as many questions as I could come up with. When they finally asked for a credit card to start the warranty I told them I didn't have one to send a bill and I'd mail them a check. Then they would hang up on me! What a great feeling. I'd give them a zip code on the other side of the metroplex and then it was on. The longest time was 22 minutes. This is only when I'm waiting on glue to dry or something similar. I don't really have all day to play on the phone.
 
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
8,206
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA.
I keep getting calls from medicare telling me my new card should have arrived and they could set me up for all the "benefits" i'm entittled to at no extra cost to me...and they can save me money on my supplemental insurance.... I pay zero for supplemental insurance and always ask how much lower than zero can they go.... usually ends the call.
 

sorcerertd

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2019
Messages
2,657
Location
North Carolina, USA
I've noticed a lot of the email scams lately don't have the usual phishing links, but have phone numbers to call to question that purchase or whatever that you DID NOT make. People get scared and want to call to cancel or investigate these supposed purchases. If you are calling them, it seems more legit to some people I guess. If it's not on my credit card statement, then I didn't buy it and I just delete the emails.

I've been getting scam text messages a lot lately, too. "Costco" keeps texting me that I won something, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, right.
 

tomtedesco

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Joined
Jan 7, 2015
Messages
3,276
Location
Centennial, CO
Got one today saying I ordered a 1800 dollar computer from Amazon to be delivered to an address in New York, they even had the logo on the email. Four times in the email in bold print it advised me to call them if it was not my order. Checked my Amazon account and found no such item ordered by me, sent email to spam.
 

WriteON

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Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,269
Location
S. Florida
I do not have kids but got a call from my grandson. Asked if he is ok and does he need anything. I wanted to know where he is and why he took so long to call. I should have told him
I heard he hit the lotto and would he send some cash.
 

WriteON

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Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
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Location
S. Florida
Got one today saying I ordered a 1800 dollar computer from Amazon to be delivered to an address in New York, they even had the logo on the email. Four times in the email in bold print it advised me to call them if it was not my order. Checked my Amazon account and found no such item ordered by me, sent email to spam.
When you respond to that on that email it gets ugly. They get the info they want.
 

WriteON

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,269
Location
S. Florida
I got cursed from this thread ….. today's email:
 

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Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
8,206
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA.
I keep getting calls from medicare telling me my new card should have arrived and they could set me up for all the "benefits" i'm entittled to at no extra cost to me...and they can save me money on my supplemental insurance.... I pay zero for supplemental insurance and always ask how much lower than zero can they go.... usually ends the call.
Got another call this morning just as I was getting up.... persistence may pay off???
 

WriteON

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,269
Location
S. Florida
"
If not ordered by you, Call us on +1 8507-801-940 to cancel order and Help us in saving from Phishing and Scams.
Thank you for shopping with us"

This was included in the bogus email. I think f you call that number it creates a more problems
 

penicillin

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
1,036
I have some small experience in this area.

I am seeing all sorts of cons and scams. They are coming through websites, email, text messages, phone calls, the postal mail, and even your healthcare provider. Any way that someone may communicate with you, the attackers will use that method to try and trick you out of your money or worse.

I am seeing a greater volume of these scams. There has been a significant increase since Spring 2021. Furthermore, this is a war of attrition, and the scammers are using newer, more sophisticated methods. Those methods include acquiring and using information about you, to convince you that they are legitimate, because they "know" and disclose something to you. They use it to trick you into disclosing information that they want, especially information that can be used to steal your money.

More companies are getting hacked and losing control of their customer databases. I detected a customer database breach at one company in the woodworking industry. I tried multiple times to notify them, and despite many promises, they never contacted me about it and have ignored it. They are in violation of breach disclosure laws, but that doesn't seem to bother them either.

Magazines sell their subscriber lists to interested companies can send you mailers and advertise their products, so I am not surprised that someone is using the information to contact @monophoto and others to steal magazine renewal commissions. I subscribed to Consumer Reports in 1981 for two years and never renewed it. I use a unique name for each magazine subscription. I can detect which magazine sold my name and contact information to whom. 40 years later, and I still receive all kinds of junk mail advertisements from that original Consumer Reports subscription ... and they have tracked me through many home addresses, including gaps where I lived and worked outside the US as well.

I have distant family in-laws. They are very elderly, and were scammed out of thousands of dollars by a phone call from their "grandson" who was in "trouble" in some distant place. They somehow wired the money to the con artist, never to be heard from again.

SUMMARY:
Heartless, evil people are out to get you and separate you from your money. Do not disclose any personal information to anyone or anything that contacts you if you did not initiate it. Do not believe any threats or fear they may try to instill. Instead, hang up or disconnect. Do not call back or contact using any information they provide, whether it comes in email, a text message, a voicemail, a letter, or any other source.

Next, get out the correct, real contact from the back of your credit card, your bank statement, or other authoritative source that you have at home. Use that to contact them yourself and ask about the issue. Most likely, they will tell you that it is fraud and not them. Hopefully you didn't fall for it.

Be alert, be suspicious, and pay attention.
 

monophoto

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Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
2,542
Location
Saratoga Springs, NY
"


This was included in the bogus email. I think f you call that number it creates a more problems
Exactly.

In my experience, when I get a legitimate e-mail receipt for a purchase, it says that it was a credit card purchase and includes the last four digits of the credit card number. I suspect that in your case, there was no credit card reference, and in fact the whole point of the e-mail was to induce you to call that number to talk with a 'representative' who would attempt to get you to reveal your credit card number.

Note also that the telephone number doesn't conform to the usual syntax - three digit area code, 3 digit exchange code, and four digit number. That's also a clue that something is not right. It may be a US number (area code 850 is in Florida), but it also could link to a computer that then places a VOIP call to the scammer outside the US. When I did a Google search on the number, it returned a number of Russian references, another clue that something ain't kosher.

Your e-mail client has a spam/trash folder - it exists specifically for messages like this.
 

Curly

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Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
4,828
Location
Saskatoon SK., Canada.
Until a couple three months ago I got virtually no unsolicited emails, then suddenly I was getting at least half a dozen a day. Lots of bitcoin, 2nd attempt, free gift from local and nationwide store chains (Shoppers Drug Mart, Tom Hortons, Walmart, iPhone 12 etc). Every time I see them I move to the Spam folder and then go to the email provider and block them. When you look at the addresses they usually have a mixed bag of letters in front that they keep changing with every new attempt to get around the blocking. They have fallen off a little but I expect that is because they are working others that have fallen for it. Rat bags that need to be erased from the planet.
 

Hartwell85

Member
Joined
May 14, 2021
Messages
98
Location
Findlay, OH
Thank you for sharing your experience. You did the right thing in terminating the conversation. I have learned that there are several companies that broker magazine subscriptions but are not associated with the publisher. With the abundance of scammers who are getting more savvy in their methods, we must never let our guard down. I, like many other members have received plenty of phone calls from supposed legitimate organizations.

The Federal Trade Commission has a lot of information on avoiding fraud. You can also report fraudulent phone calls and emails. They do take action against many companies perpetrating fraud. Sign up for fraud and scam alerts sent to your email here: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts
 

Larryreitz

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2015
Messages
702
Location
Salem, CT USA
I've noticed a lot of the email scams lately don't have the usual phishing links, but have phone numbers to call to question that purchase or whatever that you DID NOT make. People get scared and want to call to cancel or investigate these supposed purchases. If you are calling them, it seems more legit to some people I guess. If it's not on my credit card statement, then I didn't buy it and I just delete the emails.

I've been getting scam text messages a lot lately, too. "Costco" keeps texting me that I won something, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, right.
I've been getting these on a regular basis lately also. The last one said they had removed more than $300 from my checking account. Looked it up on my bank's web site there was no record of it. Went back to see who sent the email and it was gone.
 

monophoto

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Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
2,542
Location
Saratoga Springs, NY
I've been getting these on a regular basis lately also. The last one said they had removed more than $300 from my checking account. Looked it up on my bank's web site there was no record of it. Went back to see who sent the email and it was gone.
The US Government has gotten tougher about robocalls, and while they continue to happen, its not as frequent. In fact, a new set of regulations went into effect at the beginning of July that require the phone companies to apply technology to verify that calls are in fact coming from the number displayed by caller ID.

So the spammers are resorting to e-mails and SMS messages; they claim that you have won something, or there is a charge against your account, etc, with the intent of getting you to call them so that they can then try to get you to reveal a credit card number, bank account number, etc. It's a federal violation for them to call you, but it's OK for them to use bogus e-mails and texts to get you to call them!
 

jeff

Administrator
Staff member
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Dec 5, 2003
Messages
8,970
Location
Westlake, OH, USA.
Just to emphasize a point that should not need emphasizing....

Do not call any of the phone numbers posted in this thread.
 

Bats

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Messages
364
Location
W. Nowhere, CT
Just to emphasize a point that should not need emphasizing....

Do not call any of the phone numbers posted in this thread.
But what if I'm really lonely and just need someone to talk to? 😒

(maybe it's just me, but that "crying" emoji looks like it's got a really bad runny nose)
 

Curly

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Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
4,828
Location
Saskatoon SK., Canada.
But what if I'm really lonely and just need someone to talk to? 😒

(maybe it's just me, but that "crying" emoji looks like it's got a really bad runny nose)
Call Lava Life and a beautiful woman πŸ’ƒ will talk to you for $3.99/min as long as you like.
Long distance charges may apply.
 

Bats

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Messages
364
Location
W. Nowhere, CT
Call Lava Life and a beautiful woman πŸ’ƒ will talk to you for $3.99/min as long as you like.
Long distance charges may apply.
I bet I could call Herbalife and get someone to talk to me for free... Although I might have to mortgage my soul and agree to spend the rest of my life driving off friends and family in an attempt to find suckers who'll be the next step down on the pyramid.

Well, duh! ... Go to the lathe and turn a pen!
How did you know I talk to my pens??? 😲

*checks for hidden microphones*

Of course, most of that conversation isn't fit for mixed company. Or unmixed company. Or any company, really. I suspect my pens don't really appreciate it either.
 

randyrls

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
4,821
Location
Harrisburg, PA 17112
But what if I'm really lonely and just need someone to talk to? 😒

(maybe it's just me, but that "crying" emoji looks like it's got a really bad runny nose)

I realize you are joking or sarcastic, but this is serious.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CALL THAT NUMBER!
The reason was mentioned by one of the early posters. It can transfer your call to another number. That number may be in another country, but suppose that that number is a 900 area code and starts charging you $5 per minute for each minute you are on the line. Suppose it doesn't disconnect when you hang up? (Google 'Delayed disconnect' for more information).

You could get a VERY nasty surprise on your next phone bill!
 

sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,649
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I still use a landline for most of my calls, only giving my cell phone number out to a select few. (I have a big 5" smartphone that I don't carry around on my person (keep it in my purse), and I have landline extensions all over the house, so it is more convenient for me to answer the landline when at home.) I have NOMOROBO on my landline (free on landline, fee for cell phone) It has eliminated about 90 percent of telemarketing calls. My Panasonic handsets can block up to 300 numbers, and the ones that get past NOMOROBO get blocked on the handset. Now I rarely get any spam calls at all. Should I Answer (also free) performs a similar function on the cell phone. If I get a telemarketer on the cell, I just add it to the Should I Answer blacklist and they are blocked.
 

monophoto

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Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
2,542
Location
Saratoga Springs, NY
I still use a landline for most of my calls, only giving my cell phone number out to a select few. (I have a big 5" smartphone that I don't carry around on my person (keep it in my purse), and I have landline extensions all over the house, so it is more convenient for me to answer the landline when at home.) I have NOMOROBO on my landline (free on landline, fee for cell phone) It has eliminated about 90 percent of telemarketing calls. My Panasonic handsets can block up to 300 numbers, and the ones that get past NOMOROBO get blocked on the handset. Now I rarely get any spam calls at all. Should I Answer (also free) performs a similar function on the cell phone. If I get a telemarketer on the cell, I just add it to the Should I Answer blacklist and they are blocked.
A requirement for NOMOROBO is that the company that provides your phone service include a 'simultaneous ring' function in their system - that means that calls addressed to the monitored line simultaneously ring on a number specified by NOMOROBO. This is a feature that most computer-based phone services can provide. (In our area, Verizon is what is left of the old Ma Bell wired network - they didn't have that capability which was one of the factors that caused us to decide to switch our land-line service to the Charter VOIP system.) That allows NOMOROBO to monitor the caller-id numbers of incoming calls and intercept calls from numbers that they have recorded in their database as likely spammers. If the call is blocked, my phone rings once but then NOMOROBO intercepts the call,, and the caller gets a recorded message. If a call from a real person is intercepted incorrectly, the message provides a code that they can enter to bypass the intercept to complete the call. And calling robots aren't smart enough yet to understand how to get around that intercept.

I've had NOMOROBO for many years and I appreciate its effectiveness in blocking some, but not all spurious calls. More recently, I've taken advantage of that 'simultaneous ring' feature to have calls simultaneously diverted to both NOMOROBO and my cell phone. I use an app on my cell phone called 'Hiya' that also checks the caller ID of incoming calls against a database and blocks calls that it knows to be spammers. In addition, my cell phone (an iPhone) has a feature that diverts all incoming calls that where the caller ID is not previously listed in the contacts directory to voice mail without actually ringing the phone. That means that unknown callers who are not blocked by either NOMOROBO or Hiya are sent to voice mail. I can then either return calls that matter, or else upload the caller ID number of spammers to Hiya so that they will be blocked in the future.

There are still quite a few trash calls directed to my number (anywhere from two to six per day), most of which are successfully blocked. So its now relatively rare for a robo caller to actually get through these multiple layers of filtration.
 
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penicillin

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
1,036
Strung him along a while just for fun.....
I do that sometimes, when I have a few spare minutes. If all of us did that, the calls would stop.

If I feel like being nasty, I may say things like, "You seem so smart. Why are you stuck in such a humiliating, evil job, annoying good people and trying to scam them out of their money? Can't you find anything better? What about a more satisfying job where people appreciate your work so much more; a job like politician, drug dealer, or porn star? ... "

(They usually hang up quickly when the conversation deviates too much from their script. For fun, see if you can keep them on the line for more than 5 minutes. It isn't easy.)
 

jrista

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,222
Location
Colorado
I stopped getting scammer calls once I installed You mail, a third party voicemail system for Android. They filter out the very last majority of spammer/scammer/telemarketer calls, among many other useful features.

You can still see the calls if you wish, and even play back messages. While I seem to get a dozen or so such calls a week, I'm generally oblivious to them.
 
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