Scammers

I’ve had to scam calls in 3 days. I used to never get any junk calls on my cellphone, none, now I get weird calls all the time, sales calls, some kind of robocalls in languages I don’t speak, and scams. Gods, I HATE the scams.

My sweet husband is and IT professional so I tend to know a scam when I hear it or read it in email. A really good one will earn a split second of doubt… “shit, what if this is REAL?” but before I complete the thought I’m already wearing my most cynical face and wishing for the scammers exactly what they deserve. Monday, while I was at work I got a robocall that said something along the lines of “this is the something office at visa-mastercard, we’ve been monitoring your credit activity for 6 months. CONGRATULATIONS! Due to your excellent payment record you qualify for ZERO percent interest! Simply….” *click* I hung up laughing that they thought they could get me with that and then I got angry because there are desperate people out there. There are people desperate enough to hear that and think that they have been paying on time even if they were minimum payments and FINALLY, someone noticed how hard they are trying and there IS a reward. They think they are finally getting a break, some light at the distant end of the tunnel and then they get utter screwed over by gutless thieves.

Today I got a call, another robocall, that informed me my social security number was involved in criminal activity and to avoid arrest I must immediately press one to speak with an administration investigative officer to straighten it out. The call literally threatened me with incarceration if I did not comply. Imagine some elderly person living alone, not keeping up with things too well, no one to rely on or bounce things off of getting this scary call. They would press one, they would, because they want to make sure they don’t get arrested. They are scared, someone must have stolen their identity and committed crimes and now they’re in trouble for it. They heard something about this, innocent people getting their lives ruined by this kind of thing. Oh no, oh no, oh no! So they’d press one and when the “investigator” on the other end says, “Of course I’ll help you, hopefully we can just straighten this out on the phone and you won’t have to go to COURT or be ARRESTED. To make sure it’s really you, I need some information, can you confirm your social security number, birthdate, etc?” And then they’re screwed.

There are a million scams out there casting wide nets to catch the unwary, beating the trees to gather ripe fruit, and mostly they snare the most vulnerable among us. They catch the desperate with promises of a prize or a break at last, they catch others by making them fear arrest, audit, or civil actions, some even fall prey to scams claiming a family member is in grave trouble and needs money immediately or, shockingly, that some wealthy someone needs their help for some mysterious reason to access their own funds. And some lonely people get catfished by someone pretending to be a friend who scams them out of money, gifts and giftcards. And those who already can’t afford to pay their bills lose money, have their credit destroyed etc, those who are fearful have lose money and have their fragile trust in further smashed, and some lose money and their faith in humanity, their faith in themselves. Lonely people hoping for love get nothing but broken hearts and betrayal.

I report these calls to the police, they tell me thanks for calling but they already knew about this latest scam, they posted on FB warning people about it, what else can they do? Scams are everywhere. The dispatcher told me they get those call there, in the barracks, wow. I wish for the scammers to get what they deserve, I wish for those scammed to learn from their mistakes and also to have their funds and reputations restored. Make sure your parents, friends, kids, neighbors know never to give out their information. Make sure you know the signs that something is likely a scam. Here are a few links: https://www.nextadvisor.com/7-signs-youre-being-scammed/ https://www.thebalance.com/warning-signs-of-money-scams-315824 https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-are-some-classic-warning-signs-of-possible-fraud-and-scams-en-2094/

Be careful there are some awful people in the world.