How often do people try and scam you?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

More than is permissible...

 

[MrsPete]

That's just pathetic. If you're going to try to scam someone, you should at least put some effort in. I mean, throw up a picture of the Union Jack with the message. Go all out and use some punctuation and learn the word arrest. Choose a department within the government.

I'd say I get some kind of a scam about once a month.

 

[fla4fun]

This was my favorite. The phone rings and this shows on the Caller ID:



No, I did not answer the phone.

 

[Meriweather]

Multiple times a day....email, phone and text. I don't answer the phone.
I block them all.....but they still keep coming

 

[Lewisc]

This was my favorite. The phone rings and this shows on the Caller ID:

View attachment 876056

No, I did not answer the phone.

The caller ID spam came from your carrier. Is there any reason to even put the call through?

 

[fla4fun]

The caller ID spam came from your carrier. Is there any reason to even put the call through?

You wouldn’t think so. I don’t have a landline anymore.

 

[WITN-E]

Hilarious!

 

[DisneyTarheel]

Be thankful it was so poorly drafted. Some are starting to use AI tools to polish their writing so it isn’t as obvious.

 

[bwr827]

That's just pathetic. If you're going to try to scam someone, you should at least put some effort in. I mean, throw up a picture of the Union Jack with the message. Go all out and use some punctuation and learn the word arrest. Choose a department within the government.

I'd say I get some kind of a scam about once a month.

There’s a theory that poor grammar is purposeful, weeding out the more discerning recipients and leaving only the very few extremely careless ones who are more likely to follow through with the steps involved in the scam.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My favorite is when my “grandson”calls, is at the police station and needs to be bailed out without telling his mother. Like that would ever happen .
Nevertheless, this insight into modern family dynamics is interesting.

What I must be more careful of is emails. Text messages have made emails tedious and I read them fast, infrequently, and with less care.

 

[GoingSince1990]

All the time. “Your package could not be delivered” texts (of course they need a credit card number for the redelivery fee), fake Norton/Geek Squad invoices by email, “several months ago I gained control of your devices and will share incriminating videos of you unless you send me Bitcoin”, fake messages from banks about suspicious purchases, fake emails pretending to be my Social Security statement where the link to “download my statement” would actually install malware, phishing emails linking to fake bank, brokerage, or internet provider login pages, calls from “Amazon” about a “suspicious purchase”, and many, many more. Anyone wanting to learn more about current scams should take a look at the Reddit Scams forum, which is eye-opening. By the way, If anyone ever “accidentally” texts you, claims it was a “beautiful misunderstanding”, and tries to strike up a friendship, it’s a scam. If anyone “accidentally” sends you money using Venmo, Zelle, etc., and asks you to “send it back”, NEVER send it back; it’s probably a scam, the original payment will eventually be reversed and you will lose the money you have “returned”. If you are selling something, NEVER accept a check, unless you know the buyer personally, or go to a bank with the buyer and watch as a teller makes out a cashier’s check. And NEVER accept an overpayment for something you are selling where you agree to pay the extra to the delivery company or anyone else.

 

[_19disnA]

Emails that contain poor grammar/syntax errors or missing words are the most obvious. Why anyone would reply to such nonsense makes NO sense to me. I also don't understand why the phone company allows callers to spoof their real number. I no longer answer my home phone since the vast majority of calls are from someone trying to run a scam or sell you something. People can leave a message if from a legit business, scammers never leave a message since they know you won't return the call.

If a scammer calls multiple times trying to get a real person to answer, they go on my 'blocked number' list. Works great and they can no longer bother me...................LOL.

The fake texts about 'your package couldn't be delivered' are obvious scams. First of all, I have nothing currently on order. I don't believe any real company will send you a test message if there is a delivery issue.

 

[tvguy]

Not often. I have to wonder if it is because I don't give out my cell phone number. I only give out my landline number. And I don't use banking apps or do ANY business on my cell phone. The scam texts/calls I do get I suspect are from people (or computers) that dial sequential numbers with no idea who they are calling or even if it is an operating number.. They start for example at 415-444-0000 and keep working their way down to 415-444-9999.
My cousin did everything on his phone, and he got hacked. It was a mess because the hackers changed EVERYTHING on his back account. Security question answers, etc. He went to the bank with his Driver's License, Passport and Birth Certificate and the bank said "nope, that's not you". Took some time, but they finally went to their archive and pulled his original paper signature card from when he opened the account decades ago. Even once they had established that he was in fact, him, the bank had to jump through a lot of hoops within their system to get it to allow them to reset everything to the correct person and security questions.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Emails that contain poor grammar/syntax errors or missing words are the most obvious. Why anyone would reply to such nonsense makes NO sense to me. I also don't understand why the phone company allows callers to spoof their real number. I no longer answer my home phone since the vast majority of calls are from someone trying to run a scam or sell you something. People can leave a message if from a legit business, scammers never leave a message since they know you won't return the call.

If a scammer calls multiple times trying to get a real person to answer, they go on my 'blocked number' list. Works great and they can no longer bother me...................LOL.

The fake texts about 'your package couldn't be delivered' are obvious scams. First of all, I have nothing currently on order. I don't believe any real company will send you a test message if there is a delivery issue.

The problem with blocking a number is if a scammer has spoofed the caller ID (as they often do) you may end up blocking a number you don't want to block. For example, the scammer may pretend to be calling from Chase customer service, spoof the caller ID accordingly, and if you block it, the real Chase customer service would not be able to reach you if they tried calling you.

 

[MillauFr]

I get a dozen scam calls per day. I never answer the phone so they never get a chance to talk to me.

 

[_19disnA]

I will take my chances with blocking a number that keeps calling me. I never give out my home phone number to anyone I actually want to call me. Clearly, those calling my home # are some sort of scam and I can't be bothered with them. Legit businesses like my car dealer, dentist, doctor or other types of home maintenance services all have my cell phone # instead.

 

[sam_gordon]

I will take my chances with blocking a number that keeps calling me. I never give out my home phone number to anyone I actually want to call me. Clearly, those calling my home # are some sort of scam and I can't be bothered with them. Legit businesses like my car dealer, dentist, doctor or other types of home maintenance services all have my cell phone # instead.

That's what we do too.

Home # = I don't want to talk to you.
Cell # = maybe I'll talk to you

 

[TCRAIG]

My favorite spam call - I really wanted to answer…

 

[kdonnel]

I enjoy getting the scam texts.

I like to play along for awhile and then say something outrageous and see how long the scammer hangs on.

 

[tvguy]

I will take my chances with blocking a number that keeps calling me. I never give out my home phone number to anyone I actually want to call me. Clearly, those calling my home # are some sort of scam and I can't be bothered with them. Legit businesses like my car dealer, dentist, doctor or other types of home maintenance services all have my cell phone # instead.

I had some health issues where I wanted to get test results IMMEDIATELY and what I discovered is the called ID is useless. Phone extensions inside a medical facility are often blocked, or a number comes up may be correct, but it just displays a number that isn't in my contacts. I HAD to answer the call, because if you missed a Doctors call, even if they left a call back number, GOOD LUCK contacting them.
And last year I had surgery, and my nurse gave me her cell phone number......for that day.... in case I had an issue that day. After that, she said to call my Doctor. She explained the hospital gives them a different phone number every day, so they can freely give it out, knowing it won't be abused since it won't be their number tomorrow, or a month from now if a past patient tries to call.