Latest Scam

[oldrem]

Received a call at work with an 800 number to call because our utilities were going to be cut off in 30 minutes. Calling the number, they answer as "WE Energies" which is our provider. They want you to pay by CC to avoid interruption of service.

After a hang up, we called the real WE Energies to find out this scam is wide spread right now and they've been getting bombarded with such calls.

Just wonder how many fall for it.

 

[redneck joe]

alot, or it wouldn't be widespread.


I posted on CL the other day, had about 10 of these within a couple hours:

Updated July 8, 2019

The scam:

1. You put your own personal telephone number (mobile or landline number) out in public somewhere (on a classified ad, or a dating website, or wherever).
2. Some scammer contacts you via text or email about your ad. They tell you a story about how they need you to prove you are real person, or a legitimate seller, not a bot, and that they are using a special phone service that requires that you give them the six-digit code number that will be played to you by an automated verification call or text message you will receive from Google.
3. The scammer is, in reality, going through the Google Voice setup process. They tell Google Voice to call your personal number, and then the call speaks the code, or the text message supplies the code, along with a warning to not share the code with anyone. Somehow, you ignore that explicit warning and give the scammer the code number. When you do that, THEY, not you, are issued a Google Voice number, using your personal number as the forwarding number for their account.

The fix:

1. You must take your personal number back, away from their Google Voice account. Detailed instructions are below.
2. You do that by (re)adding your personal phone number to either your own existing Google Voice account, or, if you don't have a Google Voice account of your own, then
3. You need to create your own Google Voice account, and add your own, personal phone number to it as a forwarding phone number.

At no time do you enter a Google Voice number as a forwarding number.

In many cases, the scammer has already removed your forwarding phone number from their account already. Their goal is not to forward calls to your personal phone number, but merely to use it as an "admission ticket" to get their own Google Voice number, use it to scam others, get rid of that number, and then repeat the scam over and over.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

There are new scams everyday and some that continue after the scams have been discovered and the public educated. The most annoying one here is a call from a US area code and it's all in Chinese, some days 4 or 5 times. I don't even know what they want, my Chinese is scetchy. They change the area codes somehow everyday. If the number isn't in my phone already I don't answer it but it's still a pain. What really incenses me are the scammers targeting our Sr. Citizens. They are vulnerable and everyweek I read in our local rag some Sr. is bilked out of their pension money. I really had to try hard to educate my 88 year old Mom and 92 year old Father not to ever give any personal info over the phone. They did once but with Mom's poor eyesight gave them the wrong Visa number. They had the orbs to call back.