One new connection on LinkedIn started with small talk and then talked about his investing success. If I create a forex.com account with $1000 in it and add him as manager, he guarantees profits of 10% each week.

Next, two people approached me on Telegram and after some small talk started pushing some MLM crypto mining/investing company called Octanechain.ltd. They also promise crazy profits. Interestingly, there's very little mention online of the company even though they say they have 40K investors.

I've been leading them on with questions for a while to see how they answer questions. Is anyone else being approached by these scammers?

That stuff isn’t in my circles, I would delete & be blocking all of it.

Anyone who guarantees you a certain amount of profit is running a scam, regardless of what he's selling, bitcoin or stocks or equities or whatever.

invested my $1 in Nigerian Bit Coin, said his uncle's cousin had a sister who's brother worked for a wealthy family sheik who would turn it into a million bucks..

Pump and dump is how 90% of those crypto investments work. The guy saying he needs to be added as a manager sounds like he’s working a pyramid scheme with the ability to run with your money.

And like Flash-LB said if anyone guarantees a certain profit it’s a guaranteed scam. No one knows what any market is going to do much less 10% PER WEEK. Come on.

That's funny because every beautiful young asian girl I match on a dating app immediate wants to go to WhatsApp (NOT used in east Asia but universal in India) and then talk to me about crypto investing.

Crypto is pure pyramid scam. Why there hasn't been a crackdown by the SEC yet I have no idea.

::: old thread notice : : :

An 85 y.o. elderly person was standing at the bit coin machine at the grocery store that I frequent.

He was on his cellphone receiving instructions.
What buttons to push when.

Then !
He pulls out two big bank envelopes packed full of $100.00 bills.

And starts feeding the machine.

: : : old thread alert : : :

When I left the Moline P.D. had just showed up.

24 hours later , I just found out that the p.d. came and
Stopped the transaction in time to stop the scammer.

He had put over
$15,000.00
In the machine.

Yep. That type of scam is so common that the Bitcoin ATMs even have warnings about it printed on them, and local LE agencies commonly add their own too.

Unfortunately, it's almost exclusively old folks who fall for it, often ignoring all these signs in the process.

Wait, it's not real? Uh oh ...

Now I am hearing that he made six small transactions.
So
The may have gone through.

Small , like $5,000.00

*Old thread ALERT *

As of ten days ago Fareway grocery stores have either unplugged the Bit coin machines , in their Iowa stores or they have taken them out of their stores.

Too many elderly people were getting scammed at too many of their stores.

*Per the loss prevention regional supervisor.

Bitcoin investment is an oxymoron. Bitcoin scam is a redundancy.

I don't understand crypto, so I don't "invest" in it. Same with other investment options I don't understand nor do I really want to. Mutual funds, specific stocks, and bonds I understand.

^^^

The last two posts perfectly define my position.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
^^^

The last two posts perfectly define my position.

Add me to the list, it's all a SCAM.

As someone who is closer to 81 than 80 YO, I fully recognize how fortunate I am in some ways when it comes to the decisions I made and must make now. I am, however, puzzled by the idea that just because someone is my age (not to mention younger) how they could fall for some of those scams. How did they mange to get to those ages by being so naïve and gullible? Yes, cognitive ability declines with age, but it usually affects our ability to deal with the new, and doesn’t wipe away what was learned before.

Or am I wrong?

Fear
Pressure
Sense of urgency
Deference to (fake) authority
Inexperience with new concepts/technology and with modern scamming methods

Professional scammers are really good at using all of the above levers on their victims.

Some of them, like the latter two, are more commonly available with the elderly. Plus, many elderly victims have moderately large nest eggs readily available to them that can be drained, making them prime targets.

For example, the most common elderly scam in my area nowadays involves the scammers claiming to be FTC agents, IRS agents, bank fraud support, or similar, claiming that their bank accounts/retirement accounts/etc. have been hacked and therefore they must transfer the funds immediately to a holding account or bitcoin account in order to prevent them from losing all of their nest eggs and primary means of support for the rest of their lives. The victims believe they're dealing with the authorities, and are so fearful of losing their funds and so pressured and faced with a sense of urgency that they agree to transfer their funds/turn it into bitcoin to "protect it". It very effectively pulls on all those levers to turn the victims into willing (though unwitting) participants.

Last victim I dealt with a few days ago lost $141,000 before she stopped and realized she was being scammed. She initially believed them because they already had all kinds of information on her, both personal info and banking info, and because they provided her with images of fake government credentials.

I was fortunate, as my mother aged she was still mentally sharp to the end and I didn’t worry about her being scammed. We discussed it frequently and she was all over it as some of her friends had fallen for scammers.

There was the time that "her grandson" called from a hospital in mexico needing money to get treated after a car accident. Turns out she wasn’t the loving grandmother they expected.

quote:

For example, the most common elderly scam in my area nowadays involves the scammers claiming to be FTC agents, IRS agents, bank fraud support, or similar ...

Dragnet 1967, "The Bank Examiner Swindle" Only the technology has changed.