+- IOPList.Org (https://www.ioplist.org)
+-- Forum: Enter At Your Own Risk (https://www.ioplist.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=12)
+--- Forum: Scam Pharmacy Forums (https://www.ioplist.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=30)
+--- Thread: new scam (/showthread.php?tid=8293)
new scam - Charon - 09-07-2024
Read on blog or Reader
Site logo image Scamicide
Scam of the day – September 7, 2024 – You Can’t Trust Alexa
By Steven Weisman, Esq. on September 6, 2024
Alexa is tremendously helpful for so many things. If you need to know the score of last night's baseball game, if you want to know what the weather will be today or even to turn down your thermostat. for you. And it is not just Alexa. Siri or Google Home will do the same tasks for you. However, there is one task that you should not trust Alexa and the other devices to perform. You should never ask it to call a tech support or customer service number for you.
For years I have warned you about phony tech support scams done by scammers who establish bogus tech support websites for your favorite tech companies, such as Facebook and Instagram. By manipulating the algorithms used by Google and other search engines, the scammers manage to get their bogus websites into top positions in Google and other search engine searches. These phony tech support websites are used to scam you out of money or personal information which they use to make you a victim of identity theft. Scammers also use similar tactics to scam people looking for help with the repair of common household appliances, such as refrigerators and washing machines.
People looking through a search engine for a telephone number for customer service or a company's warranty center are often taken to one of the phony websites and when they call the telephone number found in the phony website they are told that they can set up an appointment for a repair person by merely providing their name and location. Then they are often told that they need to pay a small fee which they can do by credit card or debit card for a speedy next-day expedited service call. Unfortunately, this is all a scam. No service person comes the next day, however, your credit card, or even worse, your debit card is used by the scammer. But it isn't just people who are taken to these phony search engine listings. Alexa, Siri and Google Home are susceptible to being scammed by merely picking the top position in a search engine search and putting you in touch with a scammer.
TIPS
Don't bother Alexa with looking up and calling tech support or customer service numbers. The best place to look for a telephone number for tech support, customer service or warranty information is on the company's official website, on your bill or in the warranty documents that came with your appliance or device. Also, be careful when you call the real number for tech support or customer service. Clever scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists purchase telephone numbers that are a single digit off of the legitimate phone numbers for many companies' tech support or customer service numbers in order to take advantage of common consumer misdials.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/
RE: new scam - Charon - 09-08-2024
scam
Read on blog or Reader
Site logo image Scamicide
Scam of the day – September 8, 2024 – Brushing is Still a Problem
By Steven Weisman, Esq. on September 7, 2024
I first told you about "brushing" in August of 2020 after many people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom reported receiving unordered packages of seeds sent from China. A wide variety of conspiracy theories quickly surfaced to explain what was happening, but the truth was that it was an example of a scam called "brushing." Brushing is the name for using false orders for products to boost the prominence of an online vendor.
Vendors pay brushers to make large orders of their product and ship them to strangers to make the sales appear to be legitimate. The brushers follow up on these purchases by posting glowing reviews of the vendor's product. This combination of increased sales volume and positive reviews will, in turn, result in the increased prominence of the vendor in online marketplaces and result in increased sales. Brushing is illegal in the United States and China, however, it is quite commonly used by Chinese companies. Now we are seeing a resurgence of this scam with people receiving a wide variety of inexpensive products that they never ordered.
TIPS
The good news is that while "brushing" is a scam, it does not directly threaten you. The bad news is that this incident emphasizes the fact that you cannot truly trust online reviews and sales figures when determining whether you wish to purchase a particular product. People who have contacted Amazon and other online retailers are generally told that they can either keep the products, get rid of them or donate them to a charity. The primary takeaway, however, is that you don't have to be concerned that you have become a victim of identity theft or some other scam if you receive an unordered item. In order to make sure that someone has not used your credit card to order the item, you should always confirm with the seller that your credit card was not used.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/
Scamicide © 2024.
Manage your email settings or unsubscribe.