Sorry, your neighbor got scammed. Wish we would go after these scammers more and put pressure on the countries they operate out of.

Being educated isn't the same as common sense and critical thinking.

So many red flags in this story. Always call the bank yourself with a number you know is correct. To easy for the scammer to spoof numbers. Also, I would think if your bank or credit card company calls you, it will not come up as the number on the back of your card.

I use a Walmart Pre paid card for online purchases as a way to my other cards protected, don't keep much on the card until I need to use it. Earlier this year I received a call supposedly from their fraud department, guy with heavy indian accent kept pushing me to authorize a charge, Nope, hung up and called walmarts fraud department and they even said it was a scammer, even with giving them notice they allowed over a dozen charges starting that evening and into the next day. A few days later when I got an email that an order I had made could not be completed I called Walmart back and asked how they could allow all these charges when I had already made them aware of a scammer trying to make charges, They at least apologized and issued me a new card along with replacing the funds that were removed. It doesn't seem like the financial institutes all that concerned about it.

The problem with “everyone knows …” is that countless people don’t know what others assume everyone knows. That’s especially true today when the wonders of modern technology make it easy to fake so much so convincingly. It’s not about common sense or intelligence: so-called “common” sense isn’t a sense at all, it’s what we’ve learned either from others or through our own experiences, and any lack of intelligence is what we can blame on the genes our parents gave us.

Anyone who doesn’t know all that is demonstrating his own ignorance about something that’s far more common than spoofed phone calls.

In my own experience, I get spoofed calls on my landline number (yes, I know ) all the time, but very seldom on my cell phone; not never, but seldom. Answering them gives me a chance to practice my glossolalia.

What I do find odd is that that possibility doesn’t get stressed in the fraud avoidance guidance from my financial institutions. There’s plenty of, “If you suspect …,” warnings, but I don’t recall, “If your caller ID says the call is from us, it might not be because it could be easily faked. If we need to talk to you, we’ll ask you to call us back.”

We all think the guy is stupid for falling for the scam… until we fall for the scam ourselves.

Remember: we’ll all get older, we’ll lise our mental faculties to some degree, and be emotionally vulnerable that a well-versed scammer can utilize to his advantage.

But I do like the imagery someone else suggested: a missile going through the window where these scammers are operating and detonating in the middle of them.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
guidance from my financial institutions.

I get emails from my bank- Beware of fraud- "Click link to find out how".
That seems contradictory.

quote:

Convinced him to wire money to an “ultra safe government account so the hackers can’t get at your money".

That should have been the red flag to terminate the conversation.

quote:

Nope, hung up and called walmarts fraud department and they even said it was a scammer, even with giving them notice they allowed over a dozen charges starting that evening and into the next day.

I would immediately go into my account and freeze it. Then call for a new card.

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
How could this make sense to a guy that is not a dummy? Really? Your bank wants you to wire 75K to the government? Say that out loud and see if it makes any sense at all.

Or “wire” money anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Moral of the story is you ALWAYS initiate the call.

Yes, yes and YES.

Sorry to read about your neighbor.

Huge red flag: "we can’t stop them because they appear to BE you in our system.” Sure they can stop it if fraud is suspected. If he had alerts setup he could have checked for those right away for any suspicious activity including transfers from his account, account logons, account changes, etc. Multi factor authentication all the time for account access is also HIGHLY recommended as is never "save" password for sensitive accounts.

I took most of money and transferred it to a professional independent financial advisor. I keep a couple of bank accounts to pay the credit cards, electric, etc. If I need a large amount for a new roof, A/C, etc., I'll ask the advisor for a check.

My thought was that someone scamming an advisor would be very slim and really, really bad for their business.

I know several people at the Credit Union and have their personal numbers.

Anyone can call their financial institution and freeze an account solid instantly, with the Big Red Button™.

Account controls are layered and can be denied access to individuals, groups, branches, departments etc.

And as stated, always hang up on any call you suspect is bullshit, call the entity directly.

You can always offer apology for the "hang up" if the person who was calling was legit. The great majority of people in such industries will understand such a response.

You do not have to be smarter, more educated in everything about banking or anything, just realize there are 8 billion "cock sukka" out there, and the great majority of them want to steal your stuff.



("we fren together!")

If someone called me with that story I would hang up on them and not think twice about it. Doesn't sound like your friend is as bright as you might have thought but it does demonstrate anyone if you're not careful can be scammed. One way I avoid scams is to never answer the phone unless I recognize the number.

Everyone should be subscribing to Kitboga as far as I'm concerned.

Assuming he did nothing and lost his $75k to hackers, wouldn't FDIC insured apply here? Or is that only if the bank fails, not to funds stolen by hackers?

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Moral of the story is you ALWAYS initiate the call.

This. I got two calls from "Navy Federal" with a matching toll free number and they went basically the same as what happened here. After the first, I called directly and inquired and they confirmed everything was fine with my accounts and that it was a spoofed call.

The second time, I knew better and played along long enough to catch the guy in a few lies and when I said "you're not from the credit union really, are you?" and "find a real job or GTFO out of Russia you commie scum" to which I got a "FUCK YOU" in thick slavic accent in return followed by a dropped call.

When the " Bank guy " said that they can't stop him .....GAME OVER . Have a nice day . Click .

I got a question. I have only wired money a handful of times. Always during a home purchase. I’ve done it directly from my bank to the title company handling the transaction. Are you saying your neighbor “wired” it through the guy calling him on the phone?

I’m piling on but, oh well. Your neighbor ain’t as bright as you think he is.

quote:

Originally posted by mttaylor1066:
I was thinking of ending my original post with the line: “Of course, all of us are too smart to be fooled like that.”

I was fooled like that.

I was 8 years old and my mom had given me a couple bucks to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck for my brother and me. All the neighborhood kids were standing outside waiting for the ice cream truck and an older girl suggest we all put our money in a paper bag. I asked why and she add a convincing argument that the money would be safer that way. Ice cream truck rolls up, my brother and I are the last to order, and guess what? There’s no money left in the bag.

So for $2, I got no ice cream, a crying 5 year old brother, a whooping with the belt, and the single most valuable financial lesson of my life: when someone suggests pooling everyone else’s money will be safer and/or better for everyone, I want to be the one holding the bag full of money. . Not really, the lesson is that person or group of people is lying.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Moral of the story is you ALWAYS initiate the call.

Yes, yes and YES.

That will work up until the scammers hack their way into the phone system servers and re-route your initiated calls to numbers/phones they control. With more and more phone system infrastructure being based on ordinary computer equipment, I'd be surprised if this were not already being done.

I am also sure that at least some of the "click here to learn more" notifications purportedly sent by banks and other financial institutions are being forged and aren't necessarily trustworthy. One of the most popular and successful ways to steal login credentials is to set up a fake website that looks just like your bank's.

It is wise to be cautious even if you initiate the contact.

These scams will continue as long as the scammers are successful at stealing money. When enough "ordinary" people get cautious enough that the scammers have to work too hard to find a sucker, they will move on to some other scam.

Increased penalties for fraud will not stop this, simply because criminals never believe they will be caught. Not that it isn't something that should be legislated in any case, just to increase the cost/risk of "doing business," and to aid in victim restitution.

Where is "The Beekeeper" when you need him?