quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
Money lost to fraud can be an income tax deduction. Probably your neighbor knows that, but you ought to mention it to him just in case.

He’s aware of the tax deduction. Spoke to him last evening, “I’ve got everything locked down, Experian will alert me of any changes, the bank has frozen my current accounts making it hard to pay bills, including quarterly taxes. I am throwing out the computer I used during this whole mess and getting a new one, have to rebuild all my access,,,this is a real pain.”

quote:

I am throwing out the computer I used during this whole mess and getting a new one

The computer is not the problem.

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Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

I am throwing out the computer I used during this whole mess and getting a new one

The computer is not the problem.

True, his understanding of the problem is the problem.
As I reread the OP, his phone is the problem (yes, just kidding) as this whole thing started when he answered a personalized spam/scam call.

I know from experience, if THEY call YOU, it's a scam. Chase will call and tell you (or text) that they believe your account has been compromised and ask you to log on to your account OR appear at a branch in person to resolve the issue. I've had this happen more than once. The very first thing to remember is, DO NOT PANIC. Scammers rely on fear to succeed.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
The very first thing to remember is, DO NOT PANIC. Scammers rely on fear to succeed.

"You must act now! It is very important!"
I think that gets a lot of people.

About a week ago I got two calls from a number that I didn't recognize. Both times I had a bad cell phone connection, so all I could do was hang up. My wife asked who it was and I said I have no idea, but I'll wait for the next call to go to voice mail and find out. They never called back but I dialed the number in question it turned out to be an extension at my local Chase branch. I checked, and they hadn't tried to contact me during that time.

Be careful out there people, fuckery is a foot and they're getting pretty good at it.

Scam e-mails imitating or mimicing the banks' format and information are frighteningly realistic. And also imitating the IRS. Call, Do not click.

The guy may be educated. He may be successful. But, the fact that he fell for this in 2025 shows he has zero common sense.

But, the reason why scammers keep pulling this is because of people with zero common sense still fall for it.

Just because you're educated, doesn't mean you're smart...Just sayin'

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
The guy may be educated. He may be successful. But, the fact that he fell for this in 2025 shows he has zero common sense.

But, the reason why scammers keep pulling this is because of people with zero common sense still fall for it.

All it takes is a moment of weakness. We can know better, but get caught in the emotion. Maybe we slept poorly, maybe the stock market just had a bad week and we're feeling a bit financially worried. Maybe we heard a true story of a theft, and now it appears we're having that happen to us, so we discount that it is really a scam.

Each new iteration of scam is more sophisticated and believable. AI voice and video is going to make it even worse.

Ah: So much, “What a smart boy am I.”

“Common sense” is what we have been educated about either through personal experience or what someone else told us, and what (most of us, anyway) assume other people know because we assume their education has been the same as ours. If an Inuit had been magically transported from Greenland to Australia a millennium ago, would his knowledge of polar bears and sea lions have been of any “common sense” value for interacting with venomous spiders, snakes, and blue ring octopuses?

Although I haven’t seen it mentioned here in a while, there used to be incredulous posts that young people don’t know how to change a car tire. Well, why not? If they weren’t taught by anyone how would they know what to do? Yes, it’s a fairly simply process that someone could probably figure out in time, but what about something like changing a car battery? I once watched one of my brothers teach his daughter how to do that, but how many fathers (or mothers) do anything like that today? As far as I can tell, most parents are more than happy to let whatever their offspring know be learned via their phones as long as it keeps the kids quiet.

Had a very similar experience about a year ago. Had a scammer contact me regarding somebody at my local bank. I hung up, and immediately called my branch about this, and was told ..Its a scam, give them NO information, and come to the branch for further consultation. All is good !