Hmm, yes. That’s certainly possible but would still be quite unusual. Hacked emails are typically used to reach email contacts impersonating the hacked person.
Mass email scams directing you to a phishing website are typically sent from anonymous emails.
Our neighbor was hacked… We got requests to buy a gift card from his email. I quickly called his wife to alert them. It was a mess!
Right. That’s the sort of email I’d expect from a hacked account. Not a mass email campaign.
Emails can be spoofed, just like phone numbers. Also, a skilled hacker will know how to use a legit email to mass distribute scams.
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I know. I’m just saying hacked emails are used to target address book contacts, where the hacker impersonates the hacked person and emails people who would know them. Like in the examples you and MaineLonghorn provided.
I bet the scammers are sitting somewhere in Malaysia or somewhere nice and warm… outside of the US authorities reach. I read an article by some computer security expert saying that broken English is used to fish for easily scammable folks. The DLs of those contacts that “bite” the scam can be sold to other scam artists, apparently.
I have 2 personal email accounts; one for friends and family, and the other for most everything else. When I get my reports from the credit bureaus, this email address comes up as being found on the dark web; my personal email does not. When trying to use this email for my Zelle account, Zelle would not let me use it due to a high risk of fraud.
Unless someone has multiple emails, I am guessing this is hard to avoid, but it was an eye opener to see how many times my email or phone number showed up on the dark web reports.
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I may have already written this, but I read that the reason that the back stories of so many scams are ridiculously easy to see through is intentional. They’re looking for the very most gullible people, and better yet, gullible and greedy. They aren’t looking for people with even the least bit of common sense.
Basically, the stories are like the bars at amusement parks: “you have to be at least this gullible to keep on playing”.
This is something that only works when scammers are able to reach a lot of people, since they are really looking for that one in ten thousand who is both really really gullible, greedy, AND has enough money to make the scam worthwhile. I assume that, while the scams themselves are ancient (versions of the Nigerian Prince scam have been around at least since the 18th century), the idea of using a really transparent story as a sifting mechanism probably only started with the advent of modern mail. Faxes made it even easier, since you don’t have to print out and mail 1,000 copies of a letter, and email was a godsend to people running these scams.
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A woman stopped me in a store parking lot today and asked if I could help her because she had a rental car and couldn’t figure out how to get the key out of the ignition. I hate that my mind started reeling about all the ways this was going to end up being some scam attempt. It wasn’t. I got the key out and she thanked me. But it’s a sad truth that all the actual scams makes one have to be so suspicious of everything.
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Right. It makes me sad that it’s necessary to be always susispicious. (And good for you for helping. I’ve had a few times with stuck key… it can get hard to remove when starting to panic.)
The scammers do prey on folks with a good heart. I heard about one case of recorded voice of a relative (which I think was probably was actress voice, not AI as the near-victims now complain) in need of money for medical care. I tell my parents, “If they call you… it’s a scam”.
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Just got this text:
Congratulations, you have been selected to work online part time for 1 hour per day with a minimum pay of $200 per day. (Requirement: 25 years old and above)
If you are interested please contact us via WhatsApp :+12703666304
Sender address is from @sayadcollege.nz, which appears to be a girls school. I know I did not apply for this position 
but it’s certainly a new kind of scam!
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Just a perfect example of “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”
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I’ve been getting these a couple times a week for a month or so.
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That’s some good $ for one hour a day and not having to wear high heels and booty shorts - oh wait, it doesn’t say you don’t have to wear those. Never mind. 
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One hour a DAY, and it doesn’t say when that hour is. Maybe it’s during the New Zealand work day, Oh, just looked at time conversion between NZ and SD; that could work…
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Oooh, a DAY! I edited my post! 
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Well that’s a little concerning re: Zelle - I dropped Venmo and started using Zelle to pay certain contractors. I’m unsure how people are scammed unless they are paying in advance for a product or service not yet received?
This is the first time I saw this text, and I admit I was scratching my head if it was real. I don’t have any kind of EZ pass myself but younger S’ I think is still in my phone number, and they just got back from a trip. Google shows sunpass is in Miami. I actually was there last summer, but google also shows that they wouldn’t contact me by text this way. Texts would come from the number 786-727
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Great catch! That is easy to fall for.
I looked up the domain and it’s definitely a scam website.
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