The internet is an amazing place. It wasn’t all that long ago that scammers came from Nigera in the form of “Princes” who wanted to bequeath some unsuspecting “sucker” a huge sum of money. Things have gotten more complex these days, and the scams come from all sorts of places one might not expect. Those places can range from India to Turkey and include a special NEW kind of scammer, namely, “The Good Samaritan Helper”. Internet connections have allowed these scammers a free hand at getting to your information, even from an advertising standpoint, so that they can have not only your phone number and address, but information on just what might “hook” you based upon your internet use.
Recently I did an info gathering exercise with a scammer company who amazed me at the lengths they went to to get some money that really was a drop in the bucket of what they have the potential for, in my humble opinion. I’ve seen the YouTube videos of people mocking these scammers in real time, but I wanted to walk the path to see just how far things would go, and then I would have something to write about.
My recent scam came from a company that said they were located in New York, but really it could have been anywhere considering I used to have my phone number on my Facebook account. They said they were from the National Grant council and I was to be awarded 950,000 dollars in grant money, um, because I’m such a good bill payer. Hehe.
They had multiple phone numbers, of course, listing their calls from multiple states when I did hear from them. I spoke not only to the usual “foreigner” sounding representative, but also some people who said they were lawyers working with the World Bank. Knowing full well that Grants aren’t just GIVEN out for no reason, I bit anyway and received a number for confirmation of my account money in the World Bank. This number, along with my “contact” number, changed often and was “out of order” on more than one occasion. Eventually, after several weeks, I could find no one who could tell me how to retrieve my money. Interestingly enough, the money was referred to by World Bank employees more than once as “Publisher’s Clearing House” winnings. Scammers! They have a problem keeping the story straight.
So it all came to nothing for several weeks, and then the next step happened. The “Good Samaritan”. I was contacted by someone from India, I believe, who said their name was ODO... yes, ODO. They were concerned that I had not been able to retrieve my Grant Money because the time was running out on its viability. In order to open the account to me I would need to send a service fee for legal work which would be reimbursed once my money had been transferred. This amount over a two week time period went from $26,000 dollars to $1,500 dollars to $350.00 dollars. It would, of course, have to be sent to Costa Rica, by Money Gram or Western Union to some guy who would pick it up at a Walmart. Very governmental, eh? We’ve gone from $950,000 dollars and the World Bank to 350.00 dollars and some unknown person at Walmart in Costa Rica. Funny stuff.
Well, Money Gram already has protections set up against these scam money sends, despite your telling them that you know the person, the system will cancel the transaction. You’ll have to get a refund anyway. Western Union is very specific about giving back refunds, and they may not give you one at all. But usually you have to go back to the very place you sent money from in order to get the refund. Scammers are a little “brain dead” in demanding that the system work this way. I send money across the globe all the time by way of PayPal and never have these problems. When I suggested this, I was ignored. Their loss.
Despite their insistence that Money Gram’s claim that they were scammers was false, the phones quickly went dead and contact could not be re-established. That is, until two weeks later when the same voice of ODO called me again as an IRS agent telling me my tax returns had been “mis-calculated” and I would need to set up payment or face violations. His name was now Steve Foster, with and Indian accent. The problem is, I file every year and they have my address current for all filings. The address they had was five years old and they could not explain to me why they still had an old address. Go on YouTube and see the funny scammer calls for IRS agents that people have done as they screw with the scammers.
I do have to caution you though, I once butt dialed a number on my phone which had come from a scammer and I didn’t realize it had happened at first. I heard a voice in my pants and didn’t know who it was, when I picked up the phone to listen, my life was being threatened. I was told that if I ever called the number again I would be hunted down and my wife would be raped. They’re nuts, okay, so don’t screw with them too much.
I also receive mail from Turkey these days. Psychics who have never met me are canceling important meetings with Illuminati members just to send me a commercially produced mailing about how they want to give me 19 million dollars and a special magic “occular” that will turn this money into BILLIONS. Of, course, the “Occular” needs 20 dollars for shipping from the Middle East. This occular is a magnifying glass that might cost $2.00 dollars at the 99 cent store.
The next step was the “Good Samaritan”. I then received a mailing from another psychic wanting to defend me. They knew I was scammed by a psychic and never received any money I was promised, and for 40 dollars, they would reverse the bad magic the psychic had sent me and I would then receive my millions. That’s the new scam folks, the Samaritan who wants to help you out. It’s just part TWO of the whole scam.
I’m also a DRUID now. Druids want to send me a secret key for a sacred book that only I will be able to open, and I’ll be given 11 million to keep this key, for only 30 dollars. I’m still waiting for ANYTHING to show up on this one, whether key or next step in the scam. Nothing has happened yet after a hand full of months. Funny thing is, the Turkey address for the Psychic and this druid thing.... are the same.
There are a few others as well, different versions of the same thing, but hell, if I sent out 5 million mailings that cost me .50 cents to produce and only 10 per cent responded with 40 bucks a piece (cost: $2,500,000 income: $20,000,000), that’s a scam that could go on forever.
Well, that’s it folks, for now. Don’t be greedy, bad people love to feed your greed and take you for your money.
Hubie
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