Scams You've Encountered

H’s office is in a two story building that used to have the mailbox for all the businesses outside. Well, one time someone managed to use a crowbar to open the back of the mailbox (the part that the mailman uses a key to open) and mail was stolen. Another time, two guys pulled up in their pickup truck and tied the end of a rope or winch to the base of the mailbox and then got back in the truck and floored it and pulled the mailbox out of the ground…and then they both managed to get the mailbox in the bed of the truck and sped off. Several businesses in the building lost important mail. This was all caught on camera. After the second incident, they installed a mailbox inside the building that was much more secure.

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It is good mgmt opted to move mailboxes inside—sad that was what had to happen. My BIL doesn’t like mail sent to his office as there are homeless nearby and sometimes it gets stolen. The neighborhood around his home is more secure and he doesn’t have porch pirates. His D does so she has things mailed to his house.

The neighborhood where he works and where D live in are both nice neighborhoods, but sadly mail does get stolen. :frowning:

Yes it is a good thing they moved it inside. H’s office isn’t in a bad area, but it is in a business park that is pretty quiet outside of business hours, so late at night there isn’t anyone around. That said, the buildings do have cameras.

I keep getting pop up notifications on my iphone telling me that $xxx was charged on my apple account and to call apple at yyy-yyy-yyyy if I need to contest. I just delete but it does look scary and I can see how they reel in folks trying to get things straightened out.

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Is this an actual iPhone pop-up notification? Those are unusual, and I don’t know of legitimate Apple system notifications like this being easy to spoof (as opposed to emails or text messages, which are very easy to spoof).

If it really is an iPhone system notification, you might want to check your Apple account or contact Apple just to be sure. But of course, don’t call the number they’ve provided. Go through Apple’s official website and customer support instead.

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I got a text the other day “Hey Mom, just wanted you to know that I messed up my phone after accidentally dropping it in the toilet. I’m borrowing my friends phone for now until I can get mine replaced.” Up to this point I was pretty convinced it was my oldest son who a month or so ago locked his keys and phone in his car and texted me from a friend’s phone to see if I wanted to chat while his fiancé went back to their apartment with friend to get the spare keys. But in that text he identified himself (3 people call me Mom) and mentioned fiancé by name. Then the last line of this text was “Please reach me at xxx-xxx-xxxx as soon as you can.” The number was different than the number shown as the source of the text, the wording didn’t sound like my son, he knows there’s nothing I can/would do to replace his phone, and I had talked to him the day before. There was nothing in the text that sounded like my other two sons either. So I sent a screenshot to the family group text and got replies that no one had dropped their phone in the toilet. Apparently this is a common scam. And it almost got me to at least reply, although there’s no way I’d be sending $$ to any of my kids to replace their phones if this did happen.

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No, it’s not an APPLE pop up but it’s made to look like one. I always get notifications if there are any apple pay payments and have to click twice to approve. I just stare at it and delete.

So these pop-ups are in your web browser (Safari)? If so then they’re definitely a scam.

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I just got 10 emails in the last week saying I won some toolkit and to click on the link to claim it, no thanks!

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I got multiple emails from Boost thanking me (actually, thanking Kwaana) for signing up and trading in an iPhone. It was to an old email address that I set up many years ago strictly for job hunts with a search firm and was forwarding to my regular gmail. I called Boost but they couldn’t help. It might even have been legit but that particular email wasn’t one that could easily be mistyped, unlike my original AOL email which has had numerous legit people accidentally using it over the years. So in the end I just deleted that old gmail so will never know the outcome.

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My husband just received a call on his cell phone. The caller said they were with the FCC or something similar and were investigating something. He said the caller sounded foreign. The caller asked if I (meaning me) had ever had a phone number registered in Virginia. My husband said if it was something urgent they probably have our address and can send us a letter. He then hung up.

Anyone have any clues as to what that was about?

Almost definitely a scam

Thanks for the link! I suspect that my husband got the call because we recently used his number for car rental abroad in which I was listed as a co-driver.

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An update on my stolen check situation. I filed a fraud/theft claim with the post office. They recommended I file a report with local police, which I did. I also filed a report with Jon Ossoff’s office. Police called me back and said there’s nothing they can do as it is a federal service. The officer was very frustrated and said this is happening all the time with the post office, as they hire a lot of contracted part-time employees. They can only be investigated by an Inspector General, and that is not currently happening. He recommended contacting my representative, which I have done. My bank has closed the case since I ended up not losing any money, nor did the bank. I am, however, still dealing with having to set up all new auto payments. My financial advisor recommended putting everything on a credit card. So that’s what I’m doing. Of course our social security payments are currently going into the frozen account, and it will take them two months to switch to my new account. What a pain.

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Credit Unions seem to be much more lax than banks. My brother is corporate attorney with a bank and complains that the credit unions compete with them for customers but don’t have same laws & regulations governing them so it’s unfair.

So sorry you are going through this but it’s great you aren’t out any money in spite of the fraud and crimes involved.

Awful that things are pointing to the post office as a place where the fraud is happening and nothing is being improved there. Our post office has longtime employees and we have been spared those issues.

I am cutting back on check-writing. Ugh!

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Tell me if this is a scam. I received an emailed $18 receipt for beers at a bar I’ve never been to across the country. The email said a Visa card was charged (I don’t have a Visa) and gave the last four digits. It came from clover, which is a real payment processor and FWIW, the email had the blue checkmark. The bar looks legitimate too (Rustic Taps in Gorham ME). The email address was mine, but not one I’d use for this type of transaction. My credit has been locked for years but I checked it anyway but found no issues. All I can think of is someone signed up with clover and mistyped their email address. Any other ideas?

Did the receipt simply list the beers, amount, date, and card’s last four digits, or did it include a button or link such as “View receipt,” “Dispute charge,” or “Get help”?

If not, likely a typo.

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I would absolutely ignore it.

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It had a link for the “full transaction receipt” which showed a payment ID, Order ID and “order employee.” Looks legitimate.

One other possibility is that it’s unusually well crafted phishing. If you want to investigate further, whatever you do, DON’T follow any of the links or use any contact info provided in the email. Look up any phone number or email address independently.

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