<p>Discover card is really helpful at avoiding fraud. They have an automated system that has called me several time (and occasionally a human) to have me ok an unusual purchase. I always call them if I’m leaving the country to make sure the card will work where I’m going. They also have a secure online generated card# that I use for most online purchases. It’s a one-time# so all those websites that hang onto my cc info being compromised doesn’t worry me at all.</p>
<p>shrinkrap, that’s a scary one – they must just call hotels and ask for different room numbers, then see who bites.</p>
<p>Edit: Did they have your name?? If so, that’s a whole different level of scary.</p>
<p>“I would be pretty upset being called at 4am!”</p>
<p>Apparently there is research to suggest you have your worst judgement at around that time.</p>
<p>I thought I’d heard of every scam, but I just received this email today from D2’s Director of Campus Safety. Thought parents should be aware of this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Holy cow.</p>
<p>Has anyone been on the receiving end of an email from someone you know who writes that he’s overseas and needs $X,XXX wired to him asap?</p>
<p>We have. Luckily, the person allegedly sending the eamil was not someone close enough to us that he would ever have asked for money from us, so it was clear from the get-go that it was a scam. I guess for every 9,999 times no one falls for it, someone does the 10,000th time.</p>
<p>^My kids had a TEACHER asking them to help her with such a situation in Nigeria a few years ago.Kids argued with ME when I said “ummm…NO…”</p>
<p>DD is getting an apartment for next year and because she has no job or income, they needed a co-signer. The realty company wanted me to put my SS# and checking and savings account numbers on a form and e-mail it back. When I said that I would not do that, they said I was the first person to ever question the practice.</p>
<p>My D also was asked to do that when looking at apartments. I said no, because this was requested at the “apply & see if you get it” stage. We waited until she found a condo to rent through a private owner … I was able to research the owner (a doctor who happened to practice in my in laws’ town), speak with him, and feel comfortable before providing my info for a credit check.</p>
<p>We got a memo at work the other day that someone has been supposedly sending things out to people with our letter head telling them that have won something from us and only have to pay the shipping or something like that. Directions to staff were to try to obtain copies of these letters from whoever calls us about it because the fraud department still hasn’t figured out where they are coming from. Thankfully people seem to be calling to question how legitimate they are as opposed to just doing whatever the letter says.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Former alumni ‘tele-annoyer’ here…</p>
<p>It’s cheaper to use credit cards (the schools don’t have to print/send out a pledge card, which does cost $), and they’re able to access the money more quickly–it’s drilled into our brains that we’re supposed to ask people to use plastic.</p>
<p>“Did they have your name??”</p>
<p>No, which seemed to mean something to the guy in charge the next morning, but whom(?) did not seem quite upset enough for me.</p>
<p>I’ve had several of the scam e-mails from people i know who are stranded abroad and need money wired to them. I instantly suspected a scam. In all cases, they weren’t people close enough to contact me for money. My secretary immediately called them, and in all but one case (out of 5), we were the first to let them know.</p>
<p>Our hotel in New York earlier this month gave us a printed warning about scammers preying on hotel guests, as mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This reminds me of this scene from The Office:</p>
<p>Toby: Didn’t you lose a lot of money on that other investment? The email?
Michael Scott: You know what, Toby, when the son of the deposed king of Nigeria emails you directly, asking for help, you help! His father ran the freaking country! Ok?</p>
<p>Glad Muhlberg has let parents know about that scam. ICK! Well, I guess the good thing about 4am is that it is generally not that time in HI. Not sure I’d answer a hotel phone at 4am, especially since no one in the hotel should be calling us at that hour. I guess if you’re half awake, who knows what you might do or disclose.</p>
<p>Wish scammers would turn their energies to helping FIX our economy intead of helping make us all poorer & increasing stress & aggravation!</p>
<p>Here’s one that D ran into recently: she has a summer internship in DC and needs housing for that time. A friend forwarded her a Craigslist ad for a 1BR place near Dupont Circle. The price was amazing and the photos looked great – there were multiple photos of the interior and a couple of the outside of a fairly large building. The write up was detailed and well done. There were a couple of “errors” that could easily have been taken for typos, as opposed to the huge grammatical mistakes that usually show up in the “Nigerian lottery” type scams. So, D emailed the person, saying she was interested and since her boyfriend lives in DC, she’d like him to take a look. The response was that the person is renting out the place while she’s working in UK, and there’s no way the bf can see the place since she (owner) has the only key. And by the way, she’s going to collect the rent $ through EBay – so let’s set up that account, and when you pay I’ll send the key. So, total scam. They only thing the person has is D’s name and email, so no harm done. D’s bf told her this is a fairly common scam in some of the larger cities. I have to say it was one the most well done that I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Have seen many of these scams. The “help I am stuck in Europe and my purse was stolen” email, the “you have won the lottery” email, the “help me get my relatives milions out of Nigeria” email, the “I have a car to sell that we will transport to you” Craigslist, the "I have football tickets on the 50 yd line but I am in Europe " Craigslist listing (which said the first pitch was thrown at 8, LOL). you name it. </p>
<p>I have my credit locked, after having been the viction of some cellphone purchase (which Verizon admitted they realized was a fraud but permitted to go though anyway). I’ve gotten warning calls form credit card companies, which I appreciate. I typically get a number and call them back.</p>
<p>I responded to a rental on Craigslist that seemed too good to be true – and it was. Turned out the guy allegedly renting the place was in Nigeria for four years but, if I paid the entire four years’ rent all at once, life would be good.</p>
<p>I declined.</p>
<p>What was scary was that the scammer provided me with the address, and I looked it up on <a href=“http://www.whitepages%5B/url%5D”>www.whitepages</a>, reverse look up. The name the scammer used was the same name as the fellow who owned the house – who, I’m sure, had no idea what was going on.</p>
<p>They did a story on one of the news shows about people renting non-existant condos/apts to tourists on line and then the person shows up and no such address exists.</p>
<p>Telemarketer calls you to offer a special deal on a home security system. One of the first questions - do you have a dial out alarm system? Has happened to me twice. ALWAYS say yes, and I am very happy with it. Could be the local burglar trying to find out who doesn’t have a system.</p>