Yesterday I was very surprised to hear from my old friend Robert on facebook. It all began with a friendship request. I instantly clicked to accept!
I hadn't heard from Robert for ages, so I immediately thought he must be delivering bad news.
He started by mentioning 'dhhs'; I had no idea what this was, so asked. My words are in BLUE.
He mentioned a Dep't of Health and Human Services; I don't even know if there is such a Dep't.
My suspicions were instantly aroused.
Then his answer confirmed what I'd imagined, and I stopped the conversation. Amazingly the scammer also stopped!
Be aware. These scams are everywhere, and come in all shapes and sizes. This one was new to me, and claimed to be from an old friend, but it contained many grammatical faults that my friend would never have made. It wasn't that difficult to see that it was phony.
When you get a friend request, the FIRST thing to do is check your friend list...
ReplyDeleteThen if they are already there, back to the request, click on the new one without accepting...then the three dots on the right and choose report...choose pretending to be someone..it will ask who, choose 'a friend' and it will ask you to put the name in.
Report it as then they will investigate.
Delete the false request.
You don't need to engage with them atall
He was a good friend but not on my Facebook list (I have very few). I immediately thought he was contacting me about his brother; expecting bad news. I did report the exchange, but doubt if these people can get caught. My wife had the same friend request that evening.
DeleteDear Cro, I have discovered that you are entitled to a refund of every pound/euro that you have paid in tax over the past 40 years. If you send me your bank details I shall arrange payment forthwith.
ReplyDeleteMy full bank details are in the post. I look forward to receiving the payment
DeleteYou think JayCee is a scammer, I'm offering to add interest at 10% to all your tax payments.
DeleteThe biggest scam is tax. No reason for it to be anything like it is. It pays for tier after tier of local and national government, pitiful education, hit and miss medical treatment and the defence of the nation. Looking at the results a positive return on the amount collected of 10% is generous. Not all is wasted a large percentage is stolen by the very folk we pay to maintain standards.
We get loads of scams via email. Some of them look as though they're from the Greek govt. We are suspicious of any official email. Our daughter deals with all our official stuff thank goodness. Good having an accountant in the family.
ReplyDeleteMostly mine arrive via Email, so this one via Facebook was new to me. I'm used to them now, and delete as soon as they arrive. One still has to be vigilant.
DeleteThere should be prisoner of war camps for proven scammers. They'd be brought in on old army lorries and made to count the pebbles on Brighton beach.
ReplyDeleteI think they should be stripped then thrown into a field of hungry XL Bullies (in Yorkshire).
DeleteWe've only got whippets and Yorkshire terriers up here. Besides, spending time in Yorkshire would seem like a reward to those dirty no-good scoundrels.
DeleteIf they were let loose on Brighton beach, they'd simply swim to France and back.
DeleteI don't "do" Facebook or any of the other social media sites - it seems an alien way to go about getting "friends"!
ReplyDeleteThis scam makes a change from the usual ones of being a daughter/son of some Potentate in some mythical African kingdom who wants your bank details so that they have somewhere safe to deposit the billions of pounds coming to them.
These days the scams are more sophisticated, and I see Jaycee is trying something similar!
I have just 12 friends on my Facebook page, where I exchange photos and news with close family and friends. However I do know people who assess their own 'popularity' by the hundreds of unknown friends they have collected over the years. Crazy.
DeleteGood for you stopping it.
ReplyDeleteIt was just plain badly conceived. A scam should at least be logical and well written.
DeleteOne has to be so diligent .... I like to think I'm really good at spotting scams but I had one just before Christmas from DHL saying I owed 1.85 euros for import duty .... I did hum and haw over it then remembered I had bought a couple of things for Christmas presents from abroad. I paid it and within seconds I had an email from my bank asking if I had just paid £1,500 .00 .... they refused it and I had to have a new card. I just let my guard down and wasn't on the ball at that moment and was so cross with myself ! At least I didn't lose any money but we have to be so diligent don't we ? XXXX
ReplyDeleteGosh that sounds awful. How do they do that??? Whilst writing this I've had two Emails about parcels awaiting re-delivery. They never stop.
DeleteI would have pulled out on reading, "doing pretty good."
ReplyDeleteThat was the first pointer. My friend Robert would never say that.
DeleteSadly, these scams are common today. Even the banks are seeing problems. Thankfully, banks are diligent. My bank got hacked and my account was suspected at risk. The bank notified me of the security risk, froze assets for a day and issued me a new card. Nothing was lost. Thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteBut the scammers often pretend to be your bank, saying your account has been hacked. Who do you believe?
DeleteI don't seem to get any email scams at all, I don't know why that would be though. Our's are mainly dubious phone calls. If they're not on our contact list in the phone we just don't answer them. If they're desperate to contact you and are genuine they'll leave an answerphone message.
ReplyDeleteWe get plenty of phone calls too. My wife has a way of dealing with them! I'm not getting any spam on this (Blogger) page at the moment; I think they've forgotten me.
DeleteThe 'friend request' is such a give away these days - especially when they are already a friend and there is only one person on their friend list.
ReplyDeleteWe always communicate by Email, so he wasn't on my Facebook list. I wonder why, or how, they chose him?
DeleteYour scammer's origin was clearly in the US. DHHS is a common abbreviation for Department of Health and Human Services which is usually the individual state agency that dispenses food assistance $$ and Medicaid health insurance. They generally don't mail checks any more though but give cards that are replenished monthly. That and "doing pretty good".
ReplyDeleteHe did indicate that they were handing out cash to worthy cases, but why either Robert or I would have appeared on their list is crazy. Good to know the origin of DHHS; thanks.
DeleteAny calls coming to my phone have the caller's name showing, so calls that have only a city or country showing don't get answered at all.
ReplyDelete