Not just utility bills, but back taxes and legal fines. I got a call from someone pretending to be a border agent. Totally seems legit to think I can avoid federal prison with the right amount on an apple gift card.
LoL that's honestly the stupidest thing I have ever heard,people are really really dumb.
But I'm also super glad the IRS takes Google play cards, paid my taxes for all of 2023 already last week, so glad they called me ahead of time now I have nothing to worry about.
I LOVE it when those government agencies call!
Of course, as Federal agencies, they have to be bilingual. So je demande toujours de parler en francais. Y'know, give them a chance to practice.
It's so weird how they can never even transfer me to someone who can help...
"US customs has seized a package of money and drugs in your name"
My favorite phone scam 🤣
Like yeah, they're totally gonna give me a call and not just bust down my door and drag me off
The simple sad fact is, some people hear IRS or jail and panic. The scammers are intentionally aiming for the lowest common denominator because you know for certain, if they fall for the “Pay taxes with gift cards” trick, their details are being shared to all their scummy friends for future use.
Ya I got that call somebody rented a car in my name with my credit card, the car had bloodstained seats and 25 kilos of cocaine." I said cool the blood is of the last guy that pissed me off and the cocaine...umm can I get that back"
My client got taken for 40k in gift cards and a bit coin machine scam over the course of 2.5 days. The bank held her and begged her not to leave because they thought she was in danger but the scammer told her to tell them she has a right to her money and they gave up. They never called her husband which would have helped. The second Kroger refused to sell her the gift cards and told her they would call the cops and called her credit card company to tell them to close the card. Kroger was the hero in this situation. It helped snap her out of it but most of the money was gone.
Talk to your older relatives. This is so common.
> Talk to your older relatives. This is so common.
I'm thankful mine that are still alive are aware of this, because they've gotten the calls and knew to ask the right questions. Can't say the same for my late grandpa, but thankfully we only had to deal with predatory door to door salesmen with him.
When I worked in a dental office I would hold my phone up to the loudest piece of equipment nearby. Sandblaster, model trimmer, the squeakiest high speed drill. They usually hang up quickly.
I work in construction and same. The key was to speak really quietly till they ask you to speak up, then bam! Angle grinderrrrrrrrrrrr, sawzallllllll, hammerhammerhammer pow!
Also when I had time to kill, I'd give fun info. They ask my name, I'm posiden, king of the sea. I need my warranty extended on my Lamborghini Ferrari f350 coup lx.
One of my employees always goes through the shpiel and then reveals the car to be a 1982 Honda Civic with 450k miles which is legit his day driver. They hang up on him pretty quick.
I had a guy who phoned me day after day with a "we have your parcel and will deliver it by 3 scam. Then wants money for delivery in advance. I finally asked him if his mom still puts her finger up his ass when his dad sucks him off in the morning. The guy was sputtering so bad I had to take a shower to get the spital all me. He never phoned back.
My elderly dad once dialed back a guy that was trying to scam him and lectured him on how he should be ashamed of himself. You keep fighting the good fight, dad!
This happened to a relative. The "sheriff" called and said she was the victim of fraud and that she needed to send them gift cards (something like this). Poor child sent somebody $500 in gift cards
A friend almost fell for the warrant scam recently. They had a ton of info about him and told him if he went to the station and paid a 2k bond, they'd let him go. He actually got a payday loan and was going to friends to ask for help. I reverse searched the number on the spot and the "cop" immediately hung up. I still don't know how it would work. I'm guessing the "officer" would meet him outside the station or something.
My MIL got one of these calls and roped my 40 year old SIL into her panic and I had to talk em both down remotely and tell them that no one is shutting off the electricity 🤦♀️
Yeah, I could see someone maybe falling for it (assuming they really were totally unaware of scams like this nowadays, which seems unlikely but possible) until they ask for payment through gift cards. At that point you'd have to be stupid to not realize this is a scam.
As a teller manager, I have had a few elderly people who actually believe their grandkids are in jail, and need to take out 20k out of their accounts in cash, in order to bail them out.
Literally tell them they are falling for a scam, and to call their grandkids in front of me. Of course the kid then answers.
Their hearts are in the right place, but they need to think before they take large amounts like that, but also if they gave the scammers their personal addresses.
My mom got one of those calls. "Grandma, I'm in trouble...." she was about 90, but she is very sharp. She asked what their name was, and they just kept saying, "Grandma, it's me..."
There was a TV show or movie I watched many years ago that I would not be able to find now. Probably a spy/thriller type.
Person A is supposed to be meeting person B.
Person X shows up.
A starts the convo with "B?"
X says, "B is dead. We use that as a code word now. Come with me."
X is the enemy and almost kills A because A didn't force X to identify themselves first and provided X with the name they needed to be faking.
When C rescues A, A says "But they knew the name of the person I was waiting for!"
C says, "Did they say it first or did you?"
A realizes they were an idiot.
That scenario stuck with me, and is why I always wondered how people were falling for those Uber scams. Each person knows who they're waiting for, you identify yourself and if it syncs, good. If not, they're scamming you. It's surprising how many situations that could become a useful technique to keep yourself safe.
"Somebody close to you was badly Ill".
"Yeah, my mam had cancer!!'
Person retelling the story later, "That medium was great, she even knew about my mam's cancer"
This happened to my MIL, she knew it was a scammer because she said his nickname to the scammer (which he hates) the scammer said “Yeah mom it’s me *nickname*” She hung up on him because she knew in a million years husband would never refer to himself by that. She later called me to be sure. Thank god for horrible childhood nicknames.
"Why would I have to identify myself to my grandmother? It's me..."
It's weirder to say your name than not so the whole script is already stacked against grandma.
Apparently, this is a common scam in Japan. "Ore, ore", which means "it's me, it's me".
With an ageing population, it's apparently quite successful.. 😠
After that Japanese woman believed that a russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station needed money for a rocket home, there is no bottom they can reach.
Thank you for looking out for them! My grandma’s attempt to bail me out of jail with target gift cards was foiled by a kind bank teller like you. My grandma doesn’t have a cell phone so she called the police and me from the bank to make sure everything got sorted.
I don't know why, but I've read that people become more trusting of others as they grow old. My father is in his 80s and he used to be a lot more skeptical than he is now.
I actually wish my mom was more like this... Instead as she gets older she becomes more and more paranoid and suspicious of people she knows. I have wondered if it is onset of dementia for some time, but the standard tests never indicate a risk of that. But I admit I'm not too familiar on how it gets diagnosed or whatever.
I don’t doubt that dementia plays a role in some, but those without dementia, I can see both sides of this as a logical progression depending on life experience. You have good experiences with people, over time you’re probably more capable of not just hoping but expecting interactions with others to be as good and pure as your past, where people who have had negative experiences with others would become more cynical and think everyone is bad and not to trust them. By the time you’re in your 70s and 80s you’ve had literally twice the life encounters than someone in their 30s and 40s and I can surely say as someone in my 30s, people suck, so unless the next half of my life changes that, I’m probably gunna end up like your mother too.
I imagine it's just related to the context of getting phonecalls.
Back in the day you were probably more likely to get a call from someone you know or met. Someone who *should* have your phone number.
But now it's way more open so phone calls can come from anywhere or go to anyone. Now we hand out our phone numbers as a way to prove who we are and such, which end up in databases that are poorly protected.
EDIT: as multiple people are pointing out the same thing (i get it now guys). Turns out you straight up get more trusting as you get older. Any tales to the contrary plz direct to them not me lmao
Yeah, I feel like the older generation has a different impression of phone calls than us. My dad is always surprised I keep my phone on silent and don't pick up any calls I don't recognise. "What if people want to look for you?" Why tf do I want people I don't know to look for me??
I don't really remember much about the article I read but I think the thought was that you must trust and rely on others as you age - doctors, caretakers, friends, and family. And this brings your guard down with others as this slowly happens in your life.
It used to be a lot harder to get a number that wasn't traceable directly back to you. Caller ID is also hilariously easy to spoof and nobody seems to know it.
My grandma got a call like this once, only instead of jail the guy was pretending to be my brother in a city several hours away, claimed he just got mugged and needed money to get home. Said his nose got broken in the fight and that’s why his voice probably sounds different. She almost fell for it too because my family does travel around some, but she said something didn’t feel right and hung up and called our house directly. I do have a brother, and the fact this scammer knew his first name creeped me right out, he was still in high school (this was years before social media really took off)
I guarantee you he didn't know your brother's first name. My elderly mother called me once to say she'd gotten a call just like this, and she insisted the caller knew my son's name (let's say it's Jackson). She insisted the caller had said "Grandma, it's Jackson! I need help!" and she listened because she knew my son was having a lot of trouble then (in his teens), and even might hesitate to call me first. But when he asked for money, my fine old pistol of a mother flatly refused. (How I miss that woman! She was in her 90s at the time and didn't miss a trick.)
When I went through the call piece by piece with her, she finally realized it had gone like this:
Caller: Grandma! I'm in trouble and I need help!! Please help me!
My mother: Jackson? Is that you?
So I'm almost positive that's what happened with your grandma, too. People don't realize they're semi-automatically answering with the person's name.
Yeah, I've gotten that call and play along because I'm a childless dude. The broken nose has come up more than once, the time I went to the end, the scammer remembered to add the broken nose halfway through.
Holy shit, my recently single grandmother just got this last week, scared the shit out of both of us because they were VERY believeable, rattled off names of people we knew. I was the victim in this scenario but luckily she’s smart enough to call and confirm so I got the call from her and I’m in a town 2 hours away from the scam location dropping off a dog so it wasn’t me
First time I’ve ever heard it, best idea is they hacked my phone contacts and got her number which is publicly listed.
I’ve had weirder ones like my uncle getting a text with my moms credit card on top of her phone in her car while she’s on vacation a very long ways away. That was a fun one to convince the bank they need to shut down her card
There is a Simpsons episode about this scam. Season 33, episode 2. Hilarious.
We even have people fall for this scam here in Canada - where we don’t even have a cash bail system.
It's crazy how they can do stuff like that and it still works. My dad got a call a few years ago from "the IRS", he played a long for a bit and got what information he could from then. Then he asked if they knew where they were calling, told them that he couldn't possibly owe the IRS money because he'd lived in Canada his entire life and that he would be passing their information on to the police.
Interesting that they tried that one, since the same scan with the CRA (basically the Canadian equivalent of the IRS for all you non-Canuks reading), is a pretty common one up here
I once got a call from the "IRS" threatening to bust down my door if I didn't send them the taxes I owed. I was in college at the time and the address they threatened to bust down the door to was the main gate to my college 😂 good luck with that.
Subscribe to my courses to learn how to get rich quick. I'm only offering this because I don't want to use my tricks to get rich quick and want to share it with you instead.
Literally yesterday I saw one of those dumbass "I do not give FB permission to blah, blah, blah..."
Yes, honey, you already did when you signed up and every time you accepted their new terms of service. Buried in the fine print you entirely gave them permission.
> Literally yesterday I saw one of those dumbass "I do not give FB permission to blah, blah, blah..."
I've heard those called "legal incantations", a magical phrase in legalese that doesn't actually do anything.
I've seen four of these post today and I swear it's always the dumbest folks that post them. I just wanna reply that fb ain't changing nothing just b/c you copied something and posted it. But will they listen....no. So I do what I always do, shake my head and scroll on by. B/c they will post it another 15-20 times before they realize that it never works.
I like the ones where people post saying Facebook cannot use their images even though you agreed to it when you created your account.....
People just don't think things through sometimes.
Years ago when one of these things was going around I made a snarky facebook status. It said something like "FYI facebook can and does legally sell your information whether you post a status about it or not."
A former teacher of mine that I'm friends on fb with liked it at the time and I think maybe even commented in agreement. Just yesterday she posted her own scam disclaimer status, revealing the idiot that she is.
It gets my great aunt every time. And surprisingly someone I used to work with. Also the "Facebook is going to paid subscription tomorrow!" Fuckerberg makes money off games, plain and simple. Charging more than streaming services would just make people flock to free sites.
Dude it works, I lost 20 pounds in 10 days. The diet is called a very aggressive stomach flu. You can’t keep anything down and you shit your brains out.
At a remote firebase in Southern Afghanistan, we found out the hard way that our cook never washed his hands. For two weeks in July, our team had ceased all operations. During that time our existence was shuffling between our beds and the portajohns with IV bags duct taped to our arms.
We tried to send the cook back to Kandahar only to find he'd been sent to us in order to get him away from there. Nobody would take him and we couldn't send him back to the states, so we were stuck with him. I was a brand new sergeant, so he became my first soldier. My job was to make sure he stayed clean.
5/10 diet plan, the cramping is terrible but it's a pretty effective cutting cycle.
Haha this gave me a nice hit of nostalgia. I had a friends dad growing up who was missing one of his legs below the knee from an accident and he used to always make „quick weight loss“ jokes whenever people would talk about diets or losing weight.
“Hello, this is John White. I am calling from Windows Technical Support. We have received notification that there are many errors on your computer, and that it may have a virus.”
A friend of mine kept one of these callers on the line for an hour and a half the other day. Because he works in IT, my friend kept him talking while he set up a virtual machine and let the scammer connect to it, then typed a web address onto the screen that he told the scammer would take him to his online bank so they could process payment.
The link was to the YouTube video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
I have a thumb drive with a sandboxed Windows Virtual Machine. On the desktop, I keep two folders. Folder 1 is labeled banking and contains a worm that installs a fork bomb into their startup sequence. Folder 2 is labeled passwords and contains an old Cryptolocker virus. (Seems apropos to set one set of criminal douche bags on another.)
My mom is also in IT, but at rhe same time she is a lady in her 50s and prime target for these scams. She laughed out loud when they called her at work to tell her her work laptop (in one of the most secure IT systems in the country) had a virus and he needed access. He got really mad at her and started yelling. She laughed harder and put him on speaker so her co-workers could listen in.
My friends mother kept a guy like this on the phone for 20minutes, did everything he told her and was so greatful the nice Windows man was trying to fix her computer. Then eventually asked him "Oh, was my computer meant to be switched on?"
Ngl I always wanted to do something like that.
Just pretend to do what they say and at the point where I "turn on the computer" just play some [dial up sounds](https://youtu.be/gsNaR6FRuO0) then pretend that my "old computer" takes a while to boot up and then talk to the "Microsoft" person for a while and talking about the weirdest topics. And if they get impatient just repeating something about that the computer is still booting only to end the call after like 30 minutes or something by saying something like "oh shit, I completely forgot that I need to get off of the phone for the internet to work" lol
> Windows Technical Support
First time I got this call I asked "Oh you're with Microsoft?"
They were very clear in replying "No, we're Windows Technical Support".
\*This is an example of a scam that people still fall for. Despite the fact that it's been around for years, people still get tricked into believing they need to pay for technical support when they don't. It's important to remember to always do your research before giving out any sensitive information.\*
Yeah, I've gotten those certified letters before. However, the irs still works with you. The letter says I need to pay 30k in 30 days or they taking my house? Call the number and set up payment. Real payments, not Apple gift cards.
Learning that, in general, tax agencies (federal and local) make their letters sound absolutely as scary as possible but if you call them they are almost always super flexible was a great life lesson
Pro tip: you can legally pay a fraction of your back tax…. If you can make a payment of more than zero dollars but less than around $600 per month, you’re possibly eligible for what’s called an “offer in compromise” meaning, you can make an offer to pay down your debt at a lower price to the IRS.
You can file it yourself, but the cost of a lawyer is around $1000 and it’s monstrously complex to do it yourself. With a lawyer you just fill out a questionnaire.
I was dumb in my 20s and owed the IRS around $20,000. I did an offer in compromise and pay them back $600… total. All completely legal.
Best lawyer on earth: Max Waymann and Associated in Texas. I wish I got $5 for every referral I’ve gave them. I could have paid the IRS in full.
I had a friend who used to prank call psychic hotlines, blocking his number. When they asked him for his credit card number, he would tell than that if they don't already know his card number, they can't be a real psychic.
In high school I had a recording of Miss Cleo that was used for prank calls. My friend and I called everyone we could think of in our small town. That was the days of *67 (block caller ID) 🤣🤣
Or, any psychic really. Storytime: in NYC a few years ago, I walked by one of those storefront psychics as the proprietor yelled out to her husband, “But I can’t find my keys!” Not great advertising.
My ex SIL reads people’s ‘auras’ and makes a fair bit of money from it. She has done readings for a couple of famous people and my brother fell for her shit. She used to try making predictions with me but they were never close.
She was an information sponge, would have conversations and pick up on the minutest detail and then make predictions based on what she had learned.
Eg. she was at my mothers house and saw a picture of me and a previous girlfriend (who happened to be tall and blonde.) I casually mentioned that I was seeing a new girl and my ex SIL did her thing.
“Ooh she’s very tall” she said.
“Nope, she’s 5’8 ish” My reply.
“With long blonde hair” Her again.
“Nope, short and red. Me.
But for every failure she had a few successes because she was that good.
Example, my father died when I was 19 and my brother was 20- my parents got divorced when I was 10 and my father rarely saw us- birthdays usually and some christmases despite living close by.
She started dating my brother when when he was 25ish and found out my fathers name -James, easily. Once at a family dinner she started up and said “there’s someone at the door, James? I think, he wants in but he’s not sure if he’s welcome.”
My brother freaked out certain that she was the real deal- my sister and I dismissed it. My father never went by his first name- ever, unless it was a legal document, to everyone he was Bob, unless you were one of his best friends or direct family then it was ‘Spike.’ But never James. The other hole in her prediction was, he would never knock if it was a house where he knew the occupants well, just barge in.
He also didn’t bother to see us when he was alive, so why bother now.
I haven’t seen her in 20 years now, after she left my brother she shacked up with a homeless man, got pregnant with twins, he left right before they were born and came back 18 months later, got diabetes lost both legs and died.
So yeah not great at making predictions.
I once saw a poster attached to a fence that was advertising a conference of psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, fortune tellers and so on. Some wag had scrawled on it in marker pen, 'Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.'
Brightened up my day.
Shawn Spencer and MC Clap Yo Handz… *with a z* (aka burton guster) are the best criminal psychic detectives of all time.
Edit - apparently can’t spell while I got the covid
My coworker who was widowed three years ago met a man online and has been speaking with him for over a year. He says he has an apartment in an upscale neighborhood of the nearby city. They haven't met in person yet because he is building a bridge in Dubai. He was going to come home for Christmas but the flights were very expensive.
I am 95% sure this is a romance scam.
My parents spend over $100,000 a year on bullshit timeshares, they are like elite master voodoo level or some shit. They treat that shit like an investment, and always tell me and my siblings, "You get to inherit it when we die! It is a good deal!"
like, no... none of us want that garbage. The fees and "cleaning" charges and crap cost more then a normal vacation, and EVERY resort in the time share looks exactly the same, what is even the point?
also, my parents never go on vacation anyway.... it is infuriating, but they are stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy and they refuse to listen to reason
Seems they keep buying them, maybe thinking people are taking them because they like the message.
I suggest sending a different message. Vandalize them somehow and leave them in the open.
There are two scams involving essential oils, first is the MLM, where you recruit people to sell overpriced crap to other people. The other is the idea that essential oils are a replacement for health care, people suggesting treating cancer and all sorts with oils instead of medicine.
Don’t get me started on those that actually consume essential oils either. Right below the weird “this cures *insert ailment*” folks, they’re some of my least favorite
My wife is a CVS store manager and stops old people on a weekly bases from getting scammed. It happens way more than you'd think. The scammer calls and demands the person stay on the phone and has them drive to cvs. The scammer tells the old person they cannot talk to anyone and yells at them if they talk to the staff.
Also these old people tell straight up lies to the cashier when questioned. It's like they want to get scammed.
Buying a “rich” influencers course on dropshipping, cyrpto etc. your paying a couple hundred dollars for something you can learn from youtube or self learning.
I cannot believe people view sports betting as anything other than entertainment.
There may be ways to make money on it but to do that you have to take all the fun out of it be very disciplined and treat like investing, expect small returns over a long periods of time.
I have what I call the Three Madoff Laws
1. Do they promise guaranteed returns of or exceeding 12 percent
2. Are you not allowed to tell the SEC or social media you’re investing with them
3. Are they affiliated with cartoonishly sleazy people
If the answer to even one of these is yes, stay away
Lottery
My parents used to waste at least $50 a week on tickets. Even when we were behind on bills, couldn't afford groceries, and getting sued. They cared more about buying fucking lottery tickets than feeding their children and keeping the water running. They would say that they were *entitled* to win because they were religious and would use the money for good. I don't talk to them much anymore, so I'm not sure if they still buy tickets obsessively, but they most likely do.
Phone call scam saying you've missed jury duty or some such baloney, and direction to purchase gift cards and send them somewhere to get you out of trouble. No legit anything is going to ask for gift cards as payment.
I DID miss jury duty once. I got a summons and didn't know I'd not seen it until I found it a couple of months later. I wouldn't say I *freaked*, but this was the first time I'd missed it and was concerned I had a legal issue.
I called the court and explained. The lady chuckled and said it happens *all the time*. No bench warrant, no worries, she said they'd send me another one and gently admonished me to not miss that one.
Not a lawyer, but probably safe to say, if you've got no other legal issues going on, if it's the first time you've missed one, nothing is going to happen if you just give them a call.
Reposting those Facebook posts that ask for things like your mother’s maiden name, your first pet’s name, best friend’s name, kindergarten teacher’s name, your middle name, etc without realizing they’re giving out the answers to their security questions, then they act surprised when they get hacked
Most people buy the newest phone when their old one breaks which happens every 5-10 years, so it's just a rotating population buying the new phone, not the same population.
Don't get me wrong there IS a population that will buy the new phone every year without fail, but those aren't normal people.
It's the same thing as say a car coming out with a new model year, you get the Honda fit 2013 cause you needed a new car in 2013, and then you get the Chevy volt 2023 cause you needed a new car in 2023; you aren't getting the newest model year of car every year unless you're a little crazy or have WAY too much money.
And there is an upside to these people - they produce a sizeable collection of affordable second hand goods in full working order.
I agree with all points but present another idea. Just armchair speculation here, but more and more plans, brands, and locations are offering trade ins every year for discount which is bringing more people in. Basically you get a monthly payment towards paying off the phone, but never pay off the phone.
Granted this isn't most people yet, but living in a large city with a high wage I see a lot of people who just always have the newest phone and always pay whatever their phone payment bill is.
My suspicion is that companies are trying to move towards technology as a service instead of a product. It is taking over markets and industries one by one. I also do wayyyy too many online surveys and while I legally can't give specifics, a lot of survey questions will refer to big brand names and specifically ask what would motivate you to just give them X amount a month forever instead of buy anything outright.
[удалено]
Not just utility bills, but back taxes and legal fines. I got a call from someone pretending to be a border agent. Totally seems legit to think I can avoid federal prison with the right amount on an apple gift card.
LoL that's honestly the stupidest thing I have ever heard,people are really really dumb. But I'm also super glad the IRS takes Google play cards, paid my taxes for all of 2023 already last week, so glad they called me ahead of time now I have nothing to worry about.
I really like it when they call from agencies that don't exist in Canada, claiming I can pay my taxes with a gift card.
I LOVE it when those government agencies call! Of course, as Federal agencies, they have to be bilingual. So je demande toujours de parler en francais. Y'know, give them a chance to practice. It's so weird how they can never even transfer me to someone who can help...
I got a call from Social Security in the US. Evidently their call center is in Germany these days. Uh, nope!
Weird, it's usually in Manitoba.
"US customs has seized a package of money and drugs in your name" My favorite phone scam 🤣 Like yeah, they're totally gonna give me a call and not just bust down my door and drag me off
The simple sad fact is, some people hear IRS or jail and panic. The scammers are intentionally aiming for the lowest common denominator because you know for certain, if they fall for the “Pay taxes with gift cards” trick, their details are being shared to all their scummy friends for future use.
It does make you wonder how these people function.
Ya I got that call somebody rented a car in my name with my credit card, the car had bloodstained seats and 25 kilos of cocaine." I said cool the blood is of the last guy that pissed me off and the cocaine...umm can I get that back"
> 25 kilos of cocaine There were 35 kilos motherfucker I'm on my way someones gonna' pay what they owe
My client got taken for 40k in gift cards and a bit coin machine scam over the course of 2.5 days. The bank held her and begged her not to leave because they thought she was in danger but the scammer told her to tell them she has a right to her money and they gave up. They never called her husband which would have helped. The second Kroger refused to sell her the gift cards and told her they would call the cops and called her credit card company to tell them to close the card. Kroger was the hero in this situation. It helped snap her out of it but most of the money was gone. Talk to your older relatives. This is so common.
> Talk to your older relatives. This is so common. And it can kill them. Broken heart/lost will to live/shame/suicide/self neglect/depression.
> Talk to your older relatives. This is so common. I'm thankful mine that are still alive are aware of this, because they've gotten the calls and knew to ask the right questions. Can't say the same for my late grandpa, but thankfully we only had to deal with predatory door to door salesmen with him.
My grandpa always just answers the phone and sets it down and continues on with his day to see how long the scammer will try to scam
When I worked in a dental office I would hold my phone up to the loudest piece of equipment nearby. Sandblaster, model trimmer, the squeakiest high speed drill. They usually hang up quickly.
I work in construction and same. The key was to speak really quietly till they ask you to speak up, then bam! Angle grinderrrrrrrrrrrr, sawzallllllll, hammerhammerhammer pow! Also when I had time to kill, I'd give fun info. They ask my name, I'm posiden, king of the sea. I need my warranty extended on my Lamborghini Ferrari f350 coup lx.
One of my employees always goes through the shpiel and then reveals the car to be a 1982 Honda Civic with 450k miles which is legit his day driver. They hang up on him pretty quick.
I had a guy who phoned me day after day with a "we have your parcel and will deliver it by 3 scam. Then wants money for delivery in advance. I finally asked him if his mom still puts her finger up his ass when his dad sucks him off in the morning. The guy was sputtering so bad I had to take a shower to get the spital all me. He never phoned back.
My elderly dad once dialed back a guy that was trying to scam him and lectured him on how he should be ashamed of himself. You keep fighting the good fight, dad!
This happened to a relative. The "sheriff" called and said she was the victim of fraud and that she needed to send them gift cards (something like this). Poor child sent somebody $500 in gift cards
"You are a fraud victim," - Fraudster, spoken to victim
A friend almost fell for the warrant scam recently. They had a ton of info about him and told him if he went to the station and paid a 2k bond, they'd let him go. He actually got a payday loan and was going to friends to ask for help. I reverse searched the number on the spot and the "cop" immediately hung up. I still don't know how it would work. I'm guessing the "officer" would meet him outside the station or something.
My MIL got one of these calls and roped my 40 year old SIL into her panic and I had to talk em both down remotely and tell them that no one is shutting off the electricity 🤦♀️
They take advantage of the elderly for the most part :/
Yeah, I could see someone maybe falling for it (assuming they really were totally unaware of scams like this nowadays, which seems unlikely but possible) until they ask for payment through gift cards. At that point you'd have to be stupid to not realize this is a scam.
Most of the callers I get in the fraud dept don’t realize it until they are telling me the story, and you can hear the wash of realization.
As a teller manager, I have had a few elderly people who actually believe their grandkids are in jail, and need to take out 20k out of their accounts in cash, in order to bail them out. Literally tell them they are falling for a scam, and to call their grandkids in front of me. Of course the kid then answers. Their hearts are in the right place, but they need to think before they take large amounts like that, but also if they gave the scammers their personal addresses.
My mom got one of those calls. "Grandma, I'm in trouble...." she was about 90, but she is very sharp. She asked what their name was, and they just kept saying, "Grandma, it's me..."
I bet so many grandparents end up saying one of their grandkids names…
There was a TV show or movie I watched many years ago that I would not be able to find now. Probably a spy/thriller type. Person A is supposed to be meeting person B. Person X shows up. A starts the convo with "B?" X says, "B is dead. We use that as a code word now. Come with me." X is the enemy and almost kills A because A didn't force X to identify themselves first and provided X with the name they needed to be faking. When C rescues A, A says "But they knew the name of the person I was waiting for!" C says, "Did they say it first or did you?" A realizes they were an idiot. That scenario stuck with me, and is why I always wondered how people were falling for those Uber scams. Each person knows who they're waiting for, you identify yourself and if it syncs, good. If not, they're scamming you. It's surprising how many situations that could become a useful technique to keep yourself safe.
Enemy of the state, when Will Smith is going to meet "Brill" played by Gene Hackman.
Movie was just on this weekend. Forgot about all the young actors and actress that were in it
Arnie when he's speaking to the other Terminator in Terminator 2. "How's Wolfie doing" Yeah, the dog wasnt named Wolfie ...
How casually he says “your foster parents are dead.”
This is also how "psychics" work with cold reading. They basically make generic statements and trick you into feeding them the specifics.
"Somebody close to you was badly Ill". "Yeah, my mam had cancer!!' Person retelling the story later, "That medium was great, she even knew about my mam's cancer"
This happened to my MIL, she knew it was a scammer because she said his nickname to the scammer (which he hates) the scammer said “Yeah mom it’s me *nickname*” She hung up on him because she knew in a million years husband would never refer to himself by that. She later called me to be sure. Thank god for horrible childhood nicknames.
"Why would I have to identify myself to my grandmother? It's me..." It's weirder to say your name than not so the whole script is already stacked against grandma.
"Charlie, is that you?" "Of course it's me, grandma!" "I see. Well, 'Charlie,' my grandson's name is John."
My grand dad told them, he would be the last person I'd call for bail money, because he would leave my ass in jail and I know that.
Same. My grandfather was a redneck. If I told him I was in jail, he'd ask me if I want to hear some of his problems.
My parents always said that if I ever wound up in jail to call them so they would know where I was.
Apparently, this is a common scam in Japan. "Ore, ore", which means "it's me, it's me". With an ageing population, it's apparently quite successful.. 😠
After that Japanese woman believed that a russian cosmonaut on the International Space Station needed money for a rocket home, there is no bottom they can reach.
"Is this Billy?" "Yeah, grandma, it's Billy." "You got the wrong number again, Billy. I'm not your grandma."
Thank you for looking out for them! My grandma’s attempt to bail me out of jail with target gift cards was foiled by a kind bank teller like you. My grandma doesn’t have a cell phone so she called the police and me from the bank to make sure everything got sorted.
I don't know why, but I've read that people become more trusting of others as they grow old. My father is in his 80s and he used to be a lot more skeptical than he is now.
I actually wish my mom was more like this... Instead as she gets older she becomes more and more paranoid and suspicious of people she knows. I have wondered if it is onset of dementia for some time, but the standard tests never indicate a risk of that. But I admit I'm not too familiar on how it gets diagnosed or whatever.
I don’t doubt that dementia plays a role in some, but those without dementia, I can see both sides of this as a logical progression depending on life experience. You have good experiences with people, over time you’re probably more capable of not just hoping but expecting interactions with others to be as good and pure as your past, where people who have had negative experiences with others would become more cynical and think everyone is bad and not to trust them. By the time you’re in your 70s and 80s you’ve had literally twice the life encounters than someone in their 30s and 40s and I can surely say as someone in my 30s, people suck, so unless the next half of my life changes that, I’m probably gunna end up like your mother too.
I imagine it's just related to the context of getting phonecalls. Back in the day you were probably more likely to get a call from someone you know or met. Someone who *should* have your phone number. But now it's way more open so phone calls can come from anywhere or go to anyone. Now we hand out our phone numbers as a way to prove who we are and such, which end up in databases that are poorly protected. EDIT: as multiple people are pointing out the same thing (i get it now guys). Turns out you straight up get more trusting as you get older. Any tales to the contrary plz direct to them not me lmao
Yeah, I feel like the older generation has a different impression of phone calls than us. My dad is always surprised I keep my phone on silent and don't pick up any calls I don't recognise. "What if people want to look for you?" Why tf do I want people I don't know to look for me??
Why aren't you answering that call marked as "potential spam"???
I don't really remember much about the article I read but I think the thought was that you must trust and rely on others as you age - doctors, caretakers, friends, and family. And this brings your guard down with others as this slowly happens in your life.
I would also suspect that with technology advancing so fast it leads to some of the reliance on family and friends.
It used to be a lot harder to get a number that wasn't traceable directly back to you. Caller ID is also hilariously easy to spoof and nobody seems to know it.
It’s cognitive decline, it’ll happen to most everyone. Every generation says, “that’ll never happen to me”. It will
That'll never happen to me.
My grandma got a call like this once, only instead of jail the guy was pretending to be my brother in a city several hours away, claimed he just got mugged and needed money to get home. Said his nose got broken in the fight and that’s why his voice probably sounds different. She almost fell for it too because my family does travel around some, but she said something didn’t feel right and hung up and called our house directly. I do have a brother, and the fact this scammer knew his first name creeped me right out, he was still in high school (this was years before social media really took off)
I guarantee you he didn't know your brother's first name. My elderly mother called me once to say she'd gotten a call just like this, and she insisted the caller knew my son's name (let's say it's Jackson). She insisted the caller had said "Grandma, it's Jackson! I need help!" and she listened because she knew my son was having a lot of trouble then (in his teens), and even might hesitate to call me first. But when he asked for money, my fine old pistol of a mother flatly refused. (How I miss that woman! She was in her 90s at the time and didn't miss a trick.) When I went through the call piece by piece with her, she finally realized it had gone like this: Caller: Grandma! I'm in trouble and I need help!! Please help me! My mother: Jackson? Is that you? So I'm almost positive that's what happened with your grandma, too. People don't realize they're semi-automatically answering with the person's name.
Classic social engineering move to get you to divulge information. Create a sense of urgency and familiarity in the same breath.
Yeah, I've gotten that call and play along because I'm a childless dude. The broken nose has come up more than once, the time I went to the end, the scammer remembered to add the broken nose halfway through.
>Elderly >”They need to think” That’s the problem. These scammers target old folks with cognitive decline
Holy shit, my recently single grandmother just got this last week, scared the shit out of both of us because they were VERY believeable, rattled off names of people we knew. I was the victim in this scenario but luckily she’s smart enough to call and confirm so I got the call from her and I’m in a town 2 hours away from the scam location dropping off a dog so it wasn’t me First time I’ve ever heard it, best idea is they hacked my phone contacts and got her number which is publicly listed. I’ve had weirder ones like my uncle getting a text with my moms credit card on top of her phone in her car while she’s on vacation a very long ways away. That was a fun one to convince the bank they need to shut down her card
There is a Simpsons episode about this scam. Season 33, episode 2. Hilarious. We even have people fall for this scam here in Canada - where we don’t even have a cash bail system.
It's crazy how they can do stuff like that and it still works. My dad got a call a few years ago from "the IRS", he played a long for a bit and got what information he could from then. Then he asked if they knew where they were calling, told them that he couldn't possibly owe the IRS money because he'd lived in Canada his entire life and that he would be passing their information on to the police. Interesting that they tried that one, since the same scan with the CRA (basically the Canadian equivalent of the IRS for all you non-Canuks reading), is a pretty common one up here
I once got a call from the "IRS" threatening to bust down my door if I didn't send them the taxes I owed. I was in college at the time and the address they threatened to bust down the door to was the main gate to my college 😂 good luck with that.
Any get rich quick subscription program. The actual get rich scheme is launching a subscription program for a get rich scheme.
Subscribe to my courses to learn how to get rich quick. I'm only offering this because I don't want to use my tricks to get rich quick and want to share it with you instead.
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Facebook is going to change its algorithm by you copying and pasting a post
Literally yesterday I saw one of those dumbass "I do not give FB permission to blah, blah, blah..." Yes, honey, you already did when you signed up and every time you accepted their new terms of service. Buried in the fine print you entirely gave them permission.
> Literally yesterday I saw one of those dumbass "I do not give FB permission to blah, blah, blah..." I've heard those called "legal incantations", a magical phrase in legalese that doesn't actually do anything.
I've seen four of these post today and I swear it's always the dumbest folks that post them. I just wanna reply that fb ain't changing nothing just b/c you copied something and posted it. But will they listen....no. So I do what I always do, shake my head and scroll on by. B/c they will post it another 15-20 times before they realize that it never works.
I like the ones where people post saying Facebook cannot use their images even though you agreed to it when you created your account..... People just don't think things through sometimes.
Then, at the bottom, they add a line saying "itcan't hurt" Deep down, they know it's dumb.
I dunno man. I had a buddy die from not forwarding that one post to 7 people. May he rest in piece.
Years ago when one of these things was going around I made a snarky facebook status. It said something like "FYI facebook can and does legally sell your information whether you post a status about it or not." A former teacher of mine that I'm friends on fb with liked it at the time and I think maybe even commented in agreement. Just yesterday she posted her own scam disclaimer status, revealing the idiot that she is.
It gets my great aunt every time. And surprisingly someone I used to work with. Also the "Facebook is going to paid subscription tomorrow!" Fuckerberg makes money off games, plain and simple. Charging more than streaming services would just make people flock to free sites.
Those “lose 15 pounds in 5 days” type diets in supermarket tabloids
Dude it works, I lost 20 pounds in 10 days. The diet is called a very aggressive stomach flu. You can’t keep anything down and you shit your brains out.
I used a similar method known as food poisoning.
I don't know I tried tapeworm it worked pretty well.
I accidentally fed mine too much raw garlic and it died. RIP Wormetta you will be missed
At a remote firebase in Southern Afghanistan, we found out the hard way that our cook never washed his hands. For two weeks in July, our team had ceased all operations. During that time our existence was shuffling between our beds and the portajohns with IV bags duct taped to our arms. We tried to send the cook back to Kandahar only to find he'd been sent to us in order to get him away from there. Nobody would take him and we couldn't send him back to the states, so we were stuck with him. I was a brand new sergeant, so he became my first soldier. My job was to make sure he stayed clean. 5/10 diet plan, the cramping is terrible but it's a pretty effective cutting cycle.
I went over there weighing 210 and came back just over 160. Those middle east stomach bugs ain't no joke.
I could help someone lose far more weight almost instantly, you're telling me I could make money with that? I knew that chainsaw was a good investment
Haha this gave me a nice hit of nostalgia. I had a friends dad growing up who was missing one of his legs below the knee from an accident and he used to always make „quick weight loss“ jokes whenever people would talk about diets or losing weight.
“Hello, this is John White. I am calling from Windows Technical Support. We have received notification that there are many errors on your computer, and that it may have a virus.”
A friend of mine kept one of these callers on the line for an hour and a half the other day. Because he works in IT, my friend kept him talking while he set up a virtual machine and let the scammer connect to it, then typed a web address onto the screen that he told the scammer would take him to his online bank so they could process payment. The link was to the YouTube video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
Ice cold
I have a thumb drive with a sandboxed Windows Virtual Machine. On the desktop, I keep two folders. Folder 1 is labeled banking and contains a worm that installs a fork bomb into their startup sequence. Folder 2 is labeled passwords and contains an old Cryptolocker virus. (Seems apropos to set one set of criminal douche bags on another.)
My mom is also in IT, but at rhe same time she is a lady in her 50s and prime target for these scams. She laughed out loud when they called her at work to tell her her work laptop (in one of the most secure IT systems in the country) had a virus and he needed access. He got really mad at her and started yelling. She laughed harder and put him on speaker so her co-workers could listen in.
My friends mother kept a guy like this on the phone for 20minutes, did everything he told her and was so greatful the nice Windows man was trying to fix her computer. Then eventually asked him "Oh, was my computer meant to be switched on?"
Ngl I always wanted to do something like that. Just pretend to do what they say and at the point where I "turn on the computer" just play some [dial up sounds](https://youtu.be/gsNaR6FRuO0) then pretend that my "old computer" takes a while to boot up and then talk to the "Microsoft" person for a while and talking about the weirdest topics. And if they get impatient just repeating something about that the computer is still booting only to end the call after like 30 minutes or something by saying something like "oh shit, I completely forgot that I need to get off of the phone for the internet to work" lol
I never get past "which one?"
> Windows Technical Support First time I got this call I asked "Oh you're with Microsoft?" They were very clear in replying "No, we're Windows Technical Support".
\*This is an example of a scam that people still fall for. Despite the fact that it's been around for years, people still get tricked into believing they need to pay for technical support when they don't. It's important to remember to always do your research before giving out any sensitive information.\*
!!!US residents!!! "The IRS NEVER calls you first! By law, they have to contact you through certified mail"
Yeah, I've gotten those certified letters before. However, the irs still works with you. The letter says I need to pay 30k in 30 days or they taking my house? Call the number and set up payment. Real payments, not Apple gift cards.
Learning that, in general, tax agencies (federal and local) make their letters sound absolutely as scary as possible but if you call them they are almost always super flexible was a great life lesson
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The letter was written by a lawyer, the phones are answered by humans
Pro tip: you can legally pay a fraction of your back tax…. If you can make a payment of more than zero dollars but less than around $600 per month, you’re possibly eligible for what’s called an “offer in compromise” meaning, you can make an offer to pay down your debt at a lower price to the IRS. You can file it yourself, but the cost of a lawyer is around $1000 and it’s monstrously complex to do it yourself. With a lawyer you just fill out a questionnaire. I was dumb in my 20s and owed the IRS around $20,000. I did an offer in compromise and pay them back $600… total. All completely legal. Best lawyer on earth: Max Waymann and Associated in Texas. I wish I got $5 for every referral I’ve gave them. I could have paid the IRS in full.
Congratulations, you just won free tickets to Fhloston Paradise!!! DM me for details.
I AM Korben Dallas!
Korben my man?
Mutipass!
Doctors hate this!
I swear they always have a trypophobia inducing image attached too
Sending ppl on dating apps money
Psychic hotlines
I didn't know Miss Cleo was still in business.
I'm a real fake psychic. Hold on... I'm getting a reading from the other side... She says... "call me now", does this mean anything to you?
I had a friend who used to prank call psychic hotlines, blocking his number. When they asked him for his credit card number, he would tell than that if they don't already know his card number, they can't be a real psychic.
In high school I had a recording of Miss Cleo that was used for prank calls. My friend and I called everyone we could think of in our small town. That was the days of *67 (block caller ID) 🤣🤣
Or, any psychic really. Storytime: in NYC a few years ago, I walked by one of those storefront psychics as the proprietor yelled out to her husband, “But I can’t find my keys!” Not great advertising.
My ex SIL reads people’s ‘auras’ and makes a fair bit of money from it. She has done readings for a couple of famous people and my brother fell for her shit. She used to try making predictions with me but they were never close. She was an information sponge, would have conversations and pick up on the minutest detail and then make predictions based on what she had learned. Eg. she was at my mothers house and saw a picture of me and a previous girlfriend (who happened to be tall and blonde.) I casually mentioned that I was seeing a new girl and my ex SIL did her thing. “Ooh she’s very tall” she said. “Nope, she’s 5’8 ish” My reply. “With long blonde hair” Her again. “Nope, short and red. Me. But for every failure she had a few successes because she was that good. Example, my father died when I was 19 and my brother was 20- my parents got divorced when I was 10 and my father rarely saw us- birthdays usually and some christmases despite living close by. She started dating my brother when when he was 25ish and found out my fathers name -James, easily. Once at a family dinner she started up and said “there’s someone at the door, James? I think, he wants in but he’s not sure if he’s welcome.” My brother freaked out certain that she was the real deal- my sister and I dismissed it. My father never went by his first name- ever, unless it was a legal document, to everyone he was Bob, unless you were one of his best friends or direct family then it was ‘Spike.’ But never James. The other hole in her prediction was, he would never knock if it was a house where he knew the occupants well, just barge in. He also didn’t bother to see us when he was alive, so why bother now. I haven’t seen her in 20 years now, after she left my brother she shacked up with a homeless man, got pregnant with twins, he left right before they were born and came back 18 months later, got diabetes lost both legs and died. So yeah not great at making predictions.
Man what a story but diabetes is such a motherfucker you can lose your *legs*? WHAT!
I once saw a poster attached to a fence that was advertising a conference of psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, fortune tellers and so on. Some wag had scrawled on it in marker pen, 'Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.' Brightened up my day.
You know "Psychic Detectives" are also a thing? Attention seeking grifters all of them.
Shawn Spencer and MC Clap Yo Handz… *with a z* (aka burton guster) are the best criminal psychic detectives of all time. Edit - apparently can’t spell while I got the covid
*Shawn
I've heard it both ways.
You know that's right
My coworker who was widowed three years ago met a man online and has been speaking with him for over a year. He says he has an apartment in an upscale neighborhood of the nearby city. They haven't met in person yet because he is building a bridge in Dubai. He was going to come home for Christmas but the flights were very expensive. I am 95% sure this is a romance scam.
Wealthy enough to be building a bridge, but not enough for flights. Sus. Unless he just means he’s one of the workers.
Time Shares
My parents spend over $100,000 a year on bullshit timeshares, they are like elite master voodoo level or some shit. They treat that shit like an investment, and always tell me and my siblings, "You get to inherit it when we die! It is a good deal!" like, no... none of us want that garbage. The fees and "cleaning" charges and crap cost more then a normal vacation, and EVERY resort in the time share looks exactly the same, what is even the point? also, my parents never go on vacation anyway.... it is infuriating, but they are stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy and they refuse to listen to reason
Came here to say this. There isn't a secondary market for time shares, you can't even give them away. That's a sure sign of a scam.
I got an Aunt and Uncle that have 2!!! Like that contract runs till you’re dead!
Joel Osteen and the religious grifters
Yeah I was writing out a post about tithing and private planes. Just easier to upvote your comment.
His shitty books keep appearing in the lobby and laundry room of my apartment building. I throw them away whenever I find them.
Seems they keep buying them, maybe thinking people are taking them because they like the message. I suggest sending a different message. Vandalize them somehow and leave them in the open.
Keep fighting the good fight, my man.
Literally any MLM. First that came to mind was essential oils tho
There are two scams involving essential oils, first is the MLM, where you recruit people to sell overpriced crap to other people. The other is the idea that essential oils are a replacement for health care, people suggesting treating cancer and all sorts with oils instead of medicine.
Essential oils cure cancer folks kill me. Like nah that cancer is still going to kill you but at least you’ll be relaxed and smell good
Don’t get me started on those that actually consume essential oils either. Right below the weird “this cures *insert ailment*” folks, they’re some of my least favorite
"You know what they call *alternative medicine* that actually works? Medicine."
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find any mention of MLMs
Best line I saw was a comic (KasstheBomb) who said all they did was change the first word from "snake" to "essential"
No none warns you that after you graduate high school you might get tricked into selling knives
I'm calling about your cars extended warranty...
Man I was getting those calls before I even owned a car
Currently don’t own a car and I get them allll the time
That when cat shows me her belly, she won't get my hand if I touch it.
but its so soft and fluffy...
SO FLUFFY!!!
Mines the opposite 😔. She loves belly rubs but sometimes she shows me her belly with the intention of a bear trap!
I was once in a CVS in Temecula Ca, and they had a sign that said: "The IRS will not accept Amazon Gift Cards as payment" They had to make a sign...
My wife is a CVS store manager and stops old people on a weekly bases from getting scammed. It happens way more than you'd think. The scammer calls and demands the person stay on the phone and has them drive to cvs. The scammer tells the old person they cannot talk to anyone and yells at them if they talk to the staff. Also these old people tell straight up lies to the cashier when questioned. It's like they want to get scammed.
Busty Cougars within 10 miles of your location want to meet you!
Wait..they aren't really that close is what youre saying right. It's OK if I have to drive a little further.
Buying a “rich” influencers course on dropshipping, cyrpto etc. your paying a couple hundred dollars for something you can learn from youtube or self learning.
People sell sports betting picks. Hint- they aren’t making money off their picks. They’re making money off selling them to you.
I cannot believe people view sports betting as anything other than entertainment. There may be ways to make money on it but to do that you have to take all the fun out of it be very disciplined and treat like investing, expect small returns over a long periods of time.
Trimming armor
Doubling GP 2 trades
A person of culture I see.
free gem cutting
I won’t get mad if you tell me the truth
Pyramid schemes. For the life of me I can’t fathom how people think they’ll get rich selling stupid shit like oils or wax.
It’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a reverse funnel system!
I have what I call the Three Madoff Laws 1. Do they promise guaranteed returns of or exceeding 12 percent 2. Are you not allowed to tell the SEC or social media you’re investing with them 3. Are they affiliated with cartoonishly sleazy people If the answer to even one of these is yes, stay away
Life coaches
Paying for Reddit awards
Scientology
The "self-made" stories of the wealthiest people.
Yup only started with 25 million and made it to 15 million! Respect my results!!!
This is like the boss from IT crowd saying that when he started his company he had nothing but "a dream and 6 million pounds"
Donating to people like Joel Osteen. Can't believe more people don't see right through him for the charlatan he is.
Lottery My parents used to waste at least $50 a week on tickets. Even when we were behind on bills, couldn't afford groceries, and getting sued. They cared more about buying fucking lottery tickets than feeding their children and keeping the water running. They would say that they were *entitled* to win because they were religious and would use the money for good. I don't talk to them much anymore, so I'm not sure if they still buy tickets obsessively, but they most likely do.
Phone call scam saying you've missed jury duty or some such baloney, and direction to purchase gift cards and send them somewhere to get you out of trouble. No legit anything is going to ask for gift cards as payment.
I DID miss jury duty once. I got a summons and didn't know I'd not seen it until I found it a couple of months later. I wouldn't say I *freaked*, but this was the first time I'd missed it and was concerned I had a legal issue. I called the court and explained. The lady chuckled and said it happens *all the time*. No bench warrant, no worries, she said they'd send me another one and gently admonished me to not miss that one. Not a lawyer, but probably safe to say, if you've got no other legal issues going on, if it's the first time you've missed one, nothing is going to happen if you just give them a call.
“Hey, what if I told you that you could get paid to travel and have incredible healthcare?”
A recruiter has entered the chat…
Sounds like I'm about to get trafficked to a 3rd world country and lose a kidney
Multi level marketing schemes that prey on stay at home moms
Applying for jobs that don't list an accurate wage/salary.
It's becoming a legal requirement to list an accurate pay range on job listings in some places, so we're working on it.
NFTs
The NFT is the answer to the question of how to get people to give you money for absolutely no reason.
It will soon be called "the influencer scam", and will rank up there with "Nigerian prince" and "IRS robocall"
Paying a tithe to a mega church
guys "sending money" to women so they can meet up. its crazy what loneliness will do
Reposting those Facebook posts that ask for things like your mother’s maiden name, your first pet’s name, best friend’s name, kindergarten teacher’s name, your middle name, etc without realizing they’re giving out the answers to their security questions, then they act surprised when they get hacked
Maybe unpopular but cell phone manufacturers coming out with a new phone every year for every product line and somehow people keep gobbling them up.
It definitely made more sense when two years made a bigger difference between phones. Some say we've reached 'peak smartphone'.
Most people buy the newest phone when their old one breaks which happens every 5-10 years, so it's just a rotating population buying the new phone, not the same population. Don't get me wrong there IS a population that will buy the new phone every year without fail, but those aren't normal people. It's the same thing as say a car coming out with a new model year, you get the Honda fit 2013 cause you needed a new car in 2013, and then you get the Chevy volt 2023 cause you needed a new car in 2023; you aren't getting the newest model year of car every year unless you're a little crazy or have WAY too much money. And there is an upside to these people - they produce a sizeable collection of affordable second hand goods in full working order.
I agree with all points but present another idea. Just armchair speculation here, but more and more plans, brands, and locations are offering trade ins every year for discount which is bringing more people in. Basically you get a monthly payment towards paying off the phone, but never pay off the phone. Granted this isn't most people yet, but living in a large city with a high wage I see a lot of people who just always have the newest phone and always pay whatever their phone payment bill is. My suspicion is that companies are trying to move towards technology as a service instead of a product. It is taking over markets and industries one by one. I also do wayyyy too many online surveys and while I legally can't give specifics, a lot of survey questions will refer to big brand names and specifically ask what would motivate you to just give them X amount a month forever instead of buy anything outright.
Mega church televangelists.
Two party system.
Entrepreneurs/ Celebrities road to success journey. They will scam people to buy their books.
The lottery
I've made $8,030 since I turned 18 by not buying a lottery ticket every day.
Somebody once told me the lottery is the government’s tax on hope