New 2 me scam

[Condor]

Over the last 20 years or so on the internet I've been hit with a lot of email scams, but this is the first time they've tried it by phone. So I get this call this morning from someone professing to be my Granddaughter Jenna. She tells me she's in N.Y. with a good friend lending support at a funeral. After the funeral they go for a ride with her cousin and gets pulled over and doesn't have a current drivers license. They search the car a find a large bag of meth along with smaller bags of the stuff. So they arrest all of them. She and her cousin end up having to appear in court to get the charges dropped, but need $2500 for court costs, and could I help her. All this while asking that I not tell anyone. I ask her why she's calling me instead of her husband or mom and dad?? The phone goes dead.

 

I gotta admit she had me going there a bit, but a lot of things didn't add up. The story was convincing, and she was good. Just to check I called my GK and she was at home. So fair warning if this ever happens to you, be highly skeptical....

[pbjman]

Thanks for posting. The more people hear about this type of scam, the less the scumbags will have success with it.

[eagleeye]

Wow, that's ballsy. Glad to hear that you called the bluff

[ReinyRooster]

My mother got one similar saying it was my SIL and he had been in a crash and needed a large pile of cash....luckily someone else was there to steer my mom clear or she would have fallen for it. They seem to get just enough information about names and places to be convincing, and tend to prey on the elderly.

[Prairiehammer]

Over the last 20 years or so on the internet I've been ...

 

The Internet is that old?

[Condor]

The Internet is that old?

 

Time flies when you're having fun.....

[Guest divey]

It's called the Grandparent Scam or the Emergency Scam. It's been around forever and sadly, many elderly folks fall victim to it because these scum bags prey on their heart strings. After all, what grandparent wouldn't do anything to help a grandchild. Glad you picked up on the scam Jack. Doug

[SilvrT]

So glad I don't have a Granddaughter named Jenna ... I'll not get caught in that scam

[bongobobny]

Gee, the usual scam is they got mugged in NYC...

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

Neighbor got caught by the "click here to confirm your info" from what looked like it was from her internet provider. I am unsure if she has any out of pocket but her email is now closed by provider after sending out over 3500 spam mails.

 

Don't click the link!

[SilvrT]

Neighbor got caught by the "click here to confirm your info" from what looked like it was from her internet provider. I am unsure if she has any out of pocket but her email is now closed by provider after sending out over 3500 spam mails.

 

Don't click the link!

 

Similar thing almost happened to me when my daughter clicked on some link while connected to my Internet. Provider sent me a warning which I was able to rectify on her computer.

 

Don't open emails you're not sure of.

Don't click on links in emails unless you're absolutely sure it's coming from a reliable source. (sometimes this requires you to verify it beforehand)

Get a good anti-virus program that scans email.

Ensure your computer is set to automatically create regualar restore points.

[MikeWa]

The Internet is that old?

 

Yes. It was invented by Al Gore while he was still in college.

 

Mike

[SilvrT]

The Internet is that old?

 

 

On 6 August 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available.

Yes. It was invented by Al Gore while he was still in college.

 

Mike

 

INVENTED ... Really???

 

Some info for "HIS" Internet...

 

Al Gore served as the Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is the co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In the 1980s and 1990s, he promoted legislation that funded an expansion of the ARPANET, allowing greater public access, and helping to develop the Internet.

As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high-speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship [...] the Internet, as we know it today, was not deployed until 1993. When the Internet was still in the early stages of its deployment, Congressman Gore provided intellectual leadership by helping create the vision of the potential benefits of high speed computing and communication. As an example, he sponsored hearings on how advanced technologies might be put to use in areas like coordinating the response of government agencies to natural disasters and other crises.

 

1. The first workable prototype of the Internet came in the late 1960s with the creation of ARPANET, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Originally funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, ARPANET used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network.
    
   The first workable prototype of the Internet came in the late 1960s with the creation of ARPANET, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Originally funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, ARPANET used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network. The technology continued to grow in the 1970s after scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, a communications model that set standards for how data could be transmitted between multiple networks. ARPANET adopted TCP/IP on January 1, 1983, and from there researchers began to assemble the “network of networks” that became the modern Internet. The online world then took on a more recognizable form in 1990, when computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. While it’s often confused with the Internet itself, the web is actually just the most common means of accessing data online in the form of websites and hyperlinks. The web helped popularize the Internet among the public, and served as a crucial step in developing the vast trove of information that most of us now access on a daily basis.
    
   

[Sailor]

It is a fairly common scam in this area.

 

Condor...like the frog said " time is fun when you are having flies"

[Rick Haywood]

history of the internet. First used in 1969

http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html

[naturbar]

My Visa debit card has been hacked two times recently ...once on Thanksgiving day and again on dec.1st. I shut my card down on the day after Thanksgiving but the bank says many times the hackers get another pre approved charge. Both charges came from the same computer store in India. Scams suck....

[KIC]

My father got a call supposedly from my older brother with a bad phone connection from jail. An "Attorney" then got on the phone. My dad was told that my brother was in an accident with a Consulate vehicle from Latin America. There was $2500.00 in damage. If he paid for all of the damage he would be released from jail with no charges. The money had to be Western Unioned to the "consulate" by 4pm or he would be held over for trial. He went and got the money and almost sent it until I found out about it and asked him if he had called my brother's phone. My brother was at home and had not been in an accident. My dad really thought he was talking to my brother as they knew personal information about my brother and my dad's name including my brother's nickname.

 

The attorney called twice to make sure the money was sent. My dad told him "Yes". The third time he called he said they could not find any record and asked if he really did send it. He then told them no, and they were interrupting his dinner with his son. The cussing started and he said the police wanted to talk to them. Click... dial tone.

[tucson_sailors]

A handy reference for anytime you get an email you want to check is http://www.snopes.com. The site has lots of info on common scams, email and otherwise. Can also be a free-time blackhole as there is *tons* of other stuff to get lost in reading.

 

Glenn in Tucson

[saddlebum]

If anyone remembers, Apparently my e-mail got hacked and I ended up posting that know one open this particular link if they got any email from me. It was a link connected to a legitimate e-mail coming me. When you clicked on what you thought was a legitimate link your address book got hacked and everyone in it got the same email coming from a person they knew. My daughter, Brother and some of my friends thinking it was from me and also legitimate also clicked on the link which escalated the situation. . I have since, with Microsoft's help got my email fixed and had to reset a new password. so far everything has been good.

Edited December 4, 2014 by saddlebum

[tazmocycle]

back a few years, my daughter let her best friend use my computer, she opened up an e-mail and gave out my password, to AOL but it wasn't them, i found out when Freebird sent me an e-mail of members getting spam from my account. it took me awhile to convince Aol that i didn't send the spam out. had to change everything, and nobody get my paswords anymore, not even my daughter. that's one reason i went to bellsouth.