# I've been scammed



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

Well, this could get to be a long post but I'll try to just hit the high points.   Last Wed. I got a messenger that & old friend I worked with for some 20+ years wanted to talk.  So I got on & was talking to her & she knew all our old past workings together. 

  She then said she has a friend that can get me Federal grant money of 50,000.00 up to 100,000.00  Told me to click on this woman in the messenger chat with us.  So I did.  She set me up with $75,000.00  all I had to do was pay for the document rendering of $2,000.00  So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards & sent them to her through my C.P.

Well, a day later she was back saying that I now have to pay the 3,000.00 for IRS taxes on this grant. So again more gift cards. Finally yesterday she said the CIA was holding my FedEx package at the border.  That's when I got worried.  I called this woman I worked with & she said oh my God They got you too?  She said I'm not on Messenger & that is not me.

  So I called the sheriff & put in a scam report. Then DIL came over & she put in more scam reports to Facebook & other places.  I called all my credit card phone numbers & they locked all accounts down. They are sending me new cards by FedEx today.

  So if you are on F.B. or messenger with a friend & you get a request to talk with this other person.  Call that friend first to make sure it's actually them your talking with on Messenger. I'm out possibility $5,000.00  My Bank card says they might get my $3,000.00 back from them as the woman had not cashed the gift cards yet & Kim locked that account so she can't get the money.  Kim said you also have insurance on that card through our Regions bank here.  

  Just be very careful this time of year.  Scammers go after older people.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Nov 27, 2021)

So sorry this happened to you!!


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 27, 2021)

OMG...!!! I've heard of this type of thing happening, never known anyone have it happen to them personally.. Horrendous , may these scammers rot in hell... 

I just want to know, it's one thing to steal someone's ID and pretend to be someone else to draw you in... but how on earth could this scammer know all the details of where you worked and the people you worked with ?.. Surely when you were chatting to the 'workmate'  they couldn't know details of situations that you both knew from your own work environment .

When this woman said '' they got you too ''.. what did she mean ?.. had she been robbed from them ?..how ?... who did they pretend to be when they were scamming_ her _


----------



## Smiley Holly (Nov 27, 2021)

So sorry this happened to you. We do have to be careful and aware of these scammers as they are out all over the place.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> OMG...!!! I've heard of this type of thing happening, never known anyone have it happen to them personally.. Horrendous , may these scammers rot in hell...
> 
> I just want to know, it's one thing to steal someone's ID and pretend to be someone else to draw you in... but how on earth could this scammer know all the details of where you worked and the people you worked with ?.. Surely when you were chatting to the 'workmate'  they couldn't know details of situations that you both knew from your own work environment .
> 
> When this woman said '' they got you too ''.. what did she mean ?.. had she been robbed from them ?..how ?... who did they pretend to be when they were scamming_ her _


Holly,
  This woman I worked with was also scammed. last year, They got her info the same way as they got mine. When you fill out the info for the grant you give them your address, phone number, age, male or female, Also send a selfie to them for government use.  

  So as this woman said that's how they got all her info & also a lot of it is on F.B. under your ?? that tells where you worked & who your friends are on F.B.    She got taken for $5,000.00 but she did get $2,500.00 back.  

  As the sheriff said when he remotely connected to my computer & was talking to them these people are in another country from what I can trace he old me on the C.P.  

  Kristi, my DIL knows a lot about scams as she use to work for the sheriff's dept. So she got on my F.B. & locked down a lot of my information or removed it.  So no one can see where I worked or who my friend's list is.


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Holly,
> This woman I worked with was also scammed. last year, They got her info the same way as they got mine. When you fill out the info for the grant you give them your address, phone number, age, male or female, Also send a selfie to them for government use.
> 
> So as this woman said that's how they got all her info & also a lot of it is on F.B. under your ?? that tells where you worked & who your friends are on F.B.    She got taken for $5,000.00 but she did get $2,500.00 back.
> ...


Just absolutely horrific... ..if only these scammers got a life sentence when they're caught, they might think twice about this crime


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

This woman was so good at words & the English language that nothing she wrote set off alarms till she talked about the CIA at the border holding my cash.  So be very careful.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> Just absolutely horrific... ..if only these scammers got a life sentence when they're caught, they might think twice about this crime


They can't do anything with them per my sheriff, as they are out of the country, so our laws don't pretend to them.  They can track them but when it goes out of the USA then there is nothing that can be done.


----------



## Pepper (Nov 27, 2021)

Scammers work off of our own Greed.  We should all know by now if it's too good to be true, it's not.  Can't get something from nothing.


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 27, 2021)

Pepper said:


> Scammers work off of our own Greed.  We should all know by now if it's too good to be true, it's not.  Can't get something from nothing.


Eggs-actly!


----------



## JustBonee (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> This woman was so good at words & the English language that nothing she wrote set off alarms till she talked about the CIA at the border holding my cash.  So be very careful.



At the first mention of any money,  I would think  SCAM...


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

What's bad is the news on TV is talking about "Free" grant money coming to States.  So a person then thinks this is true.


----------



## horseless carriage (Nov 27, 2021)

Aneeda72 said:


> So sorry this happened to you!!


So am I, how the lowlife sleep at night is beyond me.


----------



## bowmore (Nov 27, 2021)

*Note to all: Any time you are asked to pay something in gift card, money orders, or any non traceable financial vehicle RUN!!*
Yesterday I got and e=mail that they have $ 25 mil waiting for me in a Nigerian bank,  The other day I got an e-mail from someonr in Portugal with the response sent to Gabon in Africa.
In my Outlook Junk account I am always getting stuff from banks where I have no account, or Costco, Lowes, etc for a survey or gift card


----------



## bowmore (Nov 27, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> So am I, how the lowlife sleep at night is beyond me.


They sleep very well on his $ 5K


----------



## Don M. (Nov 27, 2021)

Any "offer" that requires any payment, Up Front, is a Scam.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

bowmore said:


> *Note to all: Any time you are asked to pay something in gift card, money orders, or any non traceable financial vehicle RUN!!*
> Yesterday I got and e=mail that they have $ 25 mil waiting for me in a Nigerian bank,  The other day I got an e-mail from someonr in Portugal with the response sent to Gabon in Africa.
> In my Outlook Junk account I am always getting stuff from banks where I have no account, or Costco, Lowes, etc for a survey or gift card


Very true.  But this one of mine was on a US government grant.  I know a lot of kids going to college that gets State & Federal grants for their college fee.   

  I guess I was in so much pain on my right leg & knee & the meds I'm taking I could not think straight.   Oh well, an expensive lesson learned.  If I see any more of them I'll call DIL to come to take care of them.  It's really hard to think straight when your pain level is over 10 & meds don't bring it down.


----------



## Kaila (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> So if you are on F.B. or messenger with a friend & you get a request to talk with this other person. Call that friend first to make sure it's actually them your talking with on Messenger.


Excellent advice, there!

That is awful, what happened to you.  It's very important to alert others, though. Thanks for that.
Even though we all think we wouldn't go for it, you explained very well, that you had a lot of reason to think the person you knew for years was legit and interacting with you. And the first amount of money seemed lower than a scammer would request, too.

I hope you can get the best outcome possible, but I'm sorry this happened to you, Tom.
And that these scams are as successful and ongoing, as they are.


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> It's really hard to think straight when your pain level is over 10 & meds don't bring it down.


You're darn right.

So sorry this happened to you Tom, I hope you get more of your money back.

I believe there is nothing free on or from the Internet. Zip Nada Nuttin.

Hoping you heal quickly!


----------



## Kaila (Nov 27, 2021)

Being asked to click on anything , any link, any other person, was a red flag, for any of us to remain aware of;
as was the request to do the financial transaction with gift cards. Huge red flag, there.

But the difficult and most confusing thing, in this example;

 was that it seemed extremely believable in the first place, that the communication was with a person known from the personal past, and then,  someone very good with English, as well.


----------



## Kaila (Nov 27, 2021)

bowmore said:


> I am always getting stuff from banks where I have no account, or Costco, Lowes, etc for a survey or gift card



So many Surveys!! And some people I know, think it's _polite to reply to Surveys, and that it will help , in some way, to give and share info, only if it is in *surveys!  *_


----------



## Kaila (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I guess I was in so much pain on my right leg & knee & the meds I'm taking I could not think straight.



So sorry, Tom.  

Yes, that's another reason why you , and many others of us, could fail to think fully well, at some moments, when we unexpectedly hear from someone we think we know.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

I just hope this thread will keep others from getting scammed. As my sheriff said when going through 3 days of conversations This woman was good to know all Evelyn's & your background. 

  Take a moment step back & go through the messages really well.   Make sure all your F.B. is secure so no one can get into it & steal your information. I had a lot of mine set to "public"  DIL came & said wow there's how they got your information.  She changes that to "just me"


----------



## Kaila (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I just hope this thread will keep others from getting scammed. As my sheriff said when going through 3 days of conversations This woman was good to know all Evelyn's & your background.
> 
> Take a moment step back & go through the messages really well.   Make sure all your F.B. is secure so no one can get into it & steal your information. I had a lot of mine set to "public"  DIL came & said wow there's how they got your information.  She changes that to "just me"


You are right, and so is that sheriff. Some of the scammers are excellent at what they do.
It's very good that you told us about it, Tom.  
You might truly prevent someone else from repeating your mistake.

I also think that you and many people, use that "_public" _option, because you wanted it to be available to any of your actual friends and contacts, which is very understandable, but it isn't actually wise for any of us to do it that way.


----------



## Jackie23 (Nov 27, 2021)

I'm so sorry this happened to you, Tom.

I can't help but place some blame on Facebook, they should have some means of preventing scams like this.


----------



## Happyflowerlady (Nov 27, 2021)

I had this happen before, too; but I didn’t fall for the scam.  The scammer had cloned a friend’s facebook account, and then sent me a message that looked like it was from Chester.  Since he was able to read my facebook page (he also sent a friend request in Chester’s name), he did know some things about me, but mainly just asked superficial questions (how are you doing, etc). 

When he started saying that I could get a grant, that seemed really strange to me.  Chester was a friend of ours who ran a Christian food ministry, so that he would have received a grant made sense to me, but I could see no way that I could be eligible. 
After I realized this was probably not our friend, I contacted him and he said he had no idea what any of it was about, so I let him know that his account had been cloned and to report it to facebook.


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 27, 2021)

Watch this guy catch the scammers on their own webcam


----------



## feywon (Nov 27, 2021)

So sorry this happened to you Tom.

i have had several people try this with me either 'new' friends (thanks to long time friends who who accept requests from anyone) or hackers who clone the legit friend's info. 

Years ago on Eons a very smart woman said something i adopted: Take what people say online at face value (unless clearly contradicting documentable facts) until they want love or money from me--then i investigate, and proceed with caution. 

If there's some kind of grant out there you or i could qualify for--we don't need a 'middle-man', go online and search, you'll find info of who's giving $$ away for what and how to get an application. But stick to the well know Agency and Company grants (some private companies offer them to fund education in their 'field', be it creative arts, tech or science.


----------



## John cycling (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> It's really hard to think straight when your pain level is over 10 & meds don't bring it down.



I had a dying tooth a couple of decades ago which the dentist wouldn't pull until the following week.  The pain was intense especially when laying down trying to sleep.  Finally in the middle of the night I got up and blended water with a big pinch of valerian root that I'd never used previously, strained and drank it all down.  It didn't seem to be working after laying down again but after about 45 minutes the pain was vanishing and I went right to sleep.  All through the next day I kept drinking valerian mixed with water, the pain never returned and I cancelled the appointment.  Valerian root used in this manner works throughout the whole system, and can also be used topically on the skin.


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 27, 2021)




----------



## Nathan (Nov 27, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> So am I, how the lowlife sleep at night is beyond me.


Lowlife's that do such things have no conventional conscience as we know it.   They likely sleep like a baby, even revel at their own cleaver evil.


----------



## Devi (Nov 27, 2021)

I don't even have my real birthdate on Facebook. If anyone were to see it, they'd know I'm 120 years old. <grin>


----------



## Judycat (Nov 27, 2021)

Don't feel bad. I got scammed by the veterinarian this week simply because I was worried about my cat. I've been using this guy since my old vet retired and I guess he finally decided he has a live one. Really soaked me for something simple and is stringing me along to see how much more he can get out of me. B_____d! He was normal for so long and then changed into con man extraordinaire just like that. I'd be disappointed, but this behavior doesn't surprise me anymore.


----------



## terry123 (Nov 27, 2021)

Sorry to hear this but I learned a long time ago not to fall for all that.  Too good to be true.


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 27, 2021)

RadishRose said:


> You're darn right.
> 
> So sorry this happened to you Tom, I hope you get more of your money back.
> 
> ...


hahaha...ever had a box of chocolates from an internet source at Christmas ?


----------



## mrstime (Nov 27, 2021)

RadishRose said:


> You're darn right.
> 
> So sorry this happened to you Tom, I hope you get more of your money back.
> 
> ...


That includes the telephone!


----------



## HoneyNut (Nov 27, 2021)

Judycat said:


> Don't feel bad. I got scammed by the veterinarian this week simply because I was worried about my cat. ...Really soaked me for something simple and is stringing me along to see how much more he can get out of me.


That happened to me with my cat last summer, now I don't trust the vet office even though I've used them for years.


----------



## HoneyNut (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards ... now have to pay the 3,000.00 for IRS taxes on this grant. So again more gift cards.



You did good to get suspicious and stop it when you did.
I like to watch YouTube videos of scammers getting stopped.  In the videos lots of times the stores selling the gift cards will try to caution the person buying the cards.  Though maybe this time of year the store would think it was for holiday presents.

Maybe you could talk to CVS and any other place you bought the cards, and ask them to always caution people against scammers if a person is buying thousands of dollars of gift cards.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

HoneyNut said:


> You did good to get suspicious and stop it when you did.
> I like to watch YouTube videos of scammers getting stopped.  In the videos lots of times the stores selling the gift cards will try to caution the person buying the cards.  Though maybe this time of year the store would think it was for holiday presents.
> 
> Maybe you could talk to CVS and any other place you bought the cards, and ask them to always caution people against scammers if a person is buying thousands of dollars of gift cards.


DIL & I went to our CVS & told the manager what had happened.  He said he was so sorry but this time of year so many people are buying gift cards to send to relatives & the cashiers are so busy they don't even think when a person buys $2,000.00 worth of cards or have time to explain all this to people.  

  He did say he would get a big sign & put it next to the card rack to warn people about scams this time of year.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 27, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> hahaha...ever had a box of chocolates from an internet source at Christmas ?


No, I never have. I've ordered some to give to friends.  But it's from a legitimate chocolate factory.


----------



## palides2021 (Nov 27, 2021)

Sorry you went through this Tom86! As everyone else has said on here, if they start talking about money, run!!!

I almost got sucked into it a few months ago. A friend from the orchestra, who is in his 70s, supposedly contacted me through the same method - FB messenger. At first, I was happy because I had not heard from him during the pandemic. When he asked "How are you doing?" I thought nothing of it. I responded by telling him my news. But when he started talking about money, I realized it was not him and I got so angry that I had just shared my information with him.  I wrote back with a scathing: "You are not (friend's name)...! Get off immediately or I'll contact the FTC and report you!"  I never heard from that person again. I then went on FB and warned my friends about stuff like this. Then, I changed my password on FB, just to be sure.

I also have had many "phishing" emails purporting to have all these millions that I supposedly inherited. Poof! I just delete them.


----------



## SeaBreeze (Nov 27, 2021)

Bonnie said:


> At the first mention of any money,  I would think  SCAM...


Yes, I'm more suspicious and less trusting these days than I ever was in my life.  I've heard about these gift card scams, and someone tried to pull an IRS scam on me over the phone.  I knew he was full of it, but just let him keep talking to see how far he would go.  When I had enough, I told him off and threatened to put him behind bars for trying to steal from people.  We all have to be alert, Like Pepper said, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.


----------



## SeaBreeze (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Well, this could get to be a long post but I'll try to just hit the high points.   Last Wed. I got a messenger that & old friend I worked with for some 20+ years wanted to talk.  So I got on & was talking to her & she knew all our old past workings together.
> 
> She then said she has a friend that can get me Federal grant money of 50,000.00 up to 100,000.00  Told me to click on this woman in the messenger chat with us.  So I did.  She set me up with $75,000.00  all I had to do was pay for the document rendering of $2,000.00  So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards & sent them to her through my C.P.
> 
> ...


Sorry this happened to you.  Just consider it a lesson, and be more wary in the future.


----------



## chic (Nov 27, 2021)

Aw, Tom I am SO sorry this happened to you. I was nearly scammed last summer but saw through it in time. Be super careful on social media sites. Scammers use them to get information about you so they can successfully scam $$$$ out of seniors. Change your personal info at FB and make it completely private, ie. visible only to you! Delete your locations and hide your list of friends.

I hope you will feel better soon.


----------



## PamfromTx (Nov 27, 2021)

I'm so sorry this happened to you, Tom.


----------



## Pauline1954 (Nov 27, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Well, this could get to be a long post but I'll try to just hit the high points.   Last Wed. I got a messenger that & old friend I worked with for some 20+ years wanted to talk.  So I got on & was talking to her & she knew all our old past workings together.
> 
> She then said she has a friend that can get me Federal grant money of 50,000.00 up to 100,000.00  Told me to click on this woman in the messenger chat with us.  So I did.  She set me up with $75,000.00  all I had to do was pay for the document rendering of $2,000.00  So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards & sent them to her through my C.P.
> 
> ...


Yes older people are perfect  for scamming.  Anything asking for money or putting something of value at risk just by talking,  is an effort to separate you from your hard earned money. TRASH THE MESSAGE 

SORRY you fell for this.  What a tough lesson


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 28, 2021)

As I've said before, I hope this thread helps others not make my mistake.

  Yesterday, I was on the C.P. with another friend I worked with years ago.  We email each other a few times a week. He got scammed also, but for $15,000.00. He was telling me they *called *him & they wanted a bank draft to get his son out of jail & out of this country.  He said this woman knew all his & his son's information.  Neither one are on F.B. or messenger.  

  He said his son does travel to other countries for his work.  He was wise to contact his sheriff & the sheriff helped him get the bank draft that had a tracking number.   He sent it electronically (like I did) to this person.  Well, long story short the woman was in bangash & as she tried to cash the draft, the bangash police were there.  

  As it stands now, the bangash police have his bank draft & they are keeping it to prosecute this group of people they found in this building.   This happened last week also.  As his sheriff said, this time of year, the scammers are running wild because people are all thinking of Christmas & tired also not thinking straight.  

  John said he's about ready to quit emails as we talked about many things of what happened at our plant in our emails.  He lives in another State, so hard for us to get together & talk.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 28, 2021)

Pauline1954 said:


> Yes older people are perfect  for scamming.  Anything asking for money or putting something of value at risk just by talking,  is an effort to separate you from your hard earned money. TRASH THE MESSAGE
> 
> SORRY you fell for this.  What a tough lesson


I can't trash the message yet, as F.B. & my sheriff wants it for proof.


----------



## Rainee (Nov 28, 2021)

I am so sorry too to hear this has happened to you Tom I read about things like this but don`t ever take any notice of them, grants or money to be had over here are usually letter forms or emails not on messenger page .,. but it pays to be wary doesn`t it .? always can be a first time.. thanks for sharing this and for us all to be careful too ..


----------



## OneEyedDiva (Nov 28, 2021)

I'm so sorry that happened to you! Another red flag that something is a scam, in addition to things already mentioned, is when "they" ask for payment via gift cards. No legitimate agency or company is going to want to get payments in that manner. Thank you for the heads up about the scam.


----------



## Liberty (Nov 28, 2021)

Just remember, no matter where its coming from - "if it sounds too good to be true, guess what - you can bet it is"!

When grand daughter was in Hawaii got a call that she was in jail and didn't want "dad" to find out about it...long tear jerking story...send $2,000 right away to get her out.  Call this lawyer's number and give them a credit card #.

Called "dad" instead and he said he had just talked to her and she was fine.  Someone had rifled through her purse, and found her phone with our number in it while she was in a yoga class on the big island.

Gotta be watchful these days.


----------



## Judycat (Nov 28, 2021)

These police and IRS scammers have the shtick down pat don't they. Someone with a direct, baritone voice is ordering you to press one now to avoid further legal action. If it was only that simple eh? That's what I usually say before hanging up.


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 28, 2021)

Forgot to mention that John even "tried" calling his son's C.P.  But he could not get an answer just to make sure he was ok.  So like me, he thought this was legit.  When he got to talking with his sheriff in his house.  He said Tom You will not believe all the scams that are out there and as his sheriff said they are getting smarter every day. They had a way to "block" his international C.P.  He said here in the states they can't block them so much as the carriers have lots of protection built into the towers.

  This morning in our Sunday paper there were 5 people that have gotten scammed this past week in different ways.  So they are trying to warn people to be very careful this time of year. 

  I remember on our old "Seniors Playground" form back about 7 years ago we got hit with a lot of people's info that was stolen.  So the owner knows computer & worked for the government before he retired.    He said this will stop.  so he locked down the form.  When you looked at the web address it had HTTPS so the (S) said secure.  The only way to get into it was by invitation & then the owner did a lot of checks on that person.


----------



## CarolfromTX (Nov 28, 2021)

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. The first red flag should have been the gift cards.


----------



## Colleen (Nov 28, 2021)

Our local news (Phoenix) has warnings ALL THE TIME about these scams and how "older" people are being targeted and falling victim to this. They warn that if it involves buying gift cards...BEWARE. If making money sounds too good to be true, then it's a scam. Sorry you got caught up in this. I no longer belong to Facebook or any other social media group. It's too dangerous.


----------



## HoneyNut (Nov 28, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> He got scammed also, but for $15,000.00. He was telling me they *called *him & they wanted a bank draft to get his son out of jail


A similar scam was tried on my daughter's paternal grandfather.  He got a call that she was in jail in another state and had a broken nose.  The paternal relatives didn't send the scammer any money but they spent hours contacting jails and arranging a plastic surgeon for her nose.  They finally decided to try my daughter's cell phone, and my daughter, who was getting her nails done in the college town / state where she should be, answered and had no idea what they were talking about!


----------



## ManjaroKDE (Nov 28, 2021)

I'm a scammer's worst nightmare.  (*I answered and tried to solve tech problems for 35 years @ work)*. My hearing went bad, have dual aids but the phone creates a whistling noise so I seldom answer. I now have *only* an emergency flip phone that's usually turned off. If and that's a big if I even answer in the 1st place the caller needs to speak English and enuciate clearly, if not I simply hang up. Being old, tech experienced and retired has it's pluses.


----------



## Jules (Nov 28, 2021)

A fellow & I email on the rare occasion.  I noticed some fake emails with an address similar to his and just deleted them.  When I final got around to telling him, he said he got scam emails from me too.  Now we have a code in the message line so we know that it’s safe to open.


----------



## StarSong (Nov 28, 2021)

I'm so sorry you were scammed.  People really suck sometimes, can't they?


----------



## Pauline1954 (Nov 28, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> I can't trash the message yet, as F.B. & my sheriff wants it for proof.


I understand. You can put it in a folder to save it.  This way its not actually in your email endbox list.   Any new ones coming into your email asking for anything just trash it.  If you dont buy anything online you know its someone trying to get your money.  If you have any questions post it with a title like "Is this spam and scam" . This way others can learn about it as well.   I may start one myself with a spam email I got.  Well, I had blocked and deleted the last ones I got last week. Anyway, post it somewhere here so others can help out


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 29, 2021)

My DIL put it in a ?? file on Messenger so it would not be seen but available to the sheriff.

  Now the kicker.  She is back on my messenger asking for the $3,000.00 I promised.  I guess my bank did shut off $3,000.00 before she cashed them. 

  She's threatening to send the police to my house.  I'm not answering any of her posts on my messenger.  My DIL is coming over very soon to take care of her.  DIL lives about 500 ft from me.


----------



## mellowyellow (Nov 29, 2021)

Thanks you so much for this post Tom, I'm sure it will help many other seniors to beware of these despicable thieves.  They have been using the same tactics in Sydney for years and our seniors have lost thousands of dollars.


----------



## JB in SC (Nov 29, 2021)

Very common scam, never take anything coming from the internet as factual. Set your privacy level as high as possible and take into consideration FB accounts are hacked by the thousands every hour. I do use it  but don’t have my personal info like— where I live, birthday etc available for anyone to see.

One piece of advice is to put a permanent freeze on your credit, you can unfreeze it for a few days if you need to borrow money from a new lender. Your current financial institutions can access your history but no new credit will be approved. That means no one can scam an insurance company using your info, for instance my late FIL gave out some info in a phone call from a scammer. Next week his name, SS number, and identity was used to issue a policy on a car. If we weren’t well versed in how to handle it from a previous incident of identity theft, no telling what may have happened. If a drivers license is involved get the number changed immediately. It took four months to get it cleared up.

Be vigilant!


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 30, 2021)

DIL took care of it real fast.  Don't know what she did but she sure did a lot of typing at different sites.  

  I've had all three credit places frozen about 15 years ago. So they can't get anything there. 

  DIL said I should tell people here on this site that They might be next since I've put so much info about myself on here.   So PLEASE do all you can to protect your $$$


----------



## Pauline1954 (Nov 30, 2021)

Tom, im very sorry you've had to deal with this crook. But great thing is your DIL is a life saver.

Also, just a heads up scammers use Amazon as well.  I just got one this morning.    I never click if there is a question to its validity and safety of the link.

We can never be to careful with clever crooks .


----------



## JustBonee (Nov 30, 2021)

Pauline1954 said:


> Tom, im very sorry you've had to deal with this crook. But great thing is your DIL is a life saver.
> 
> Also, just a heads up scammers use Amazon as well.  I just got one this morning.    I never click if there is a question to its validity and safety of the link.
> 
> We can never be to careful with clever crooks .




Something to check on Amazon every once in a while is your profile settings  ...  Make sure it all looks correct.  

I'm the any person on my Amazon  account,    and yet when I've checked my settings,    I have had  a  "Jim"  listed under my name once,  and another time it said "child" ....


----------



## bowmore (Nov 30, 2021)

Bonnie said:


> Something to check on Amazon every once in a while is your profile settings  ...  Make sure it all looks correct.
> 
> I'm the any person on my Amazon  account,    and yet when I've checked my settings,    I have had  a  "Jim"  listed under my name once,  and another time it said "child" ....


Thanks for the heads up. I just checked my profile and my wife's and they are both OK.


----------



## JustBonee (Nov 30, 2021)

Have to always be looking for anything suspicious I guess.


----------



## Colleen (Nov 30, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> My DIL put it in a ?? file on Messenger so it would not be seen but available to the sheriff.
> 
> Now the kicker.  She is back on my messenger asking for the $3,000.00 I promised.  I guess my bank did shut off $3,000.00 before she cashed them.
> 
> She's threatening to send the police to my house.  I'm not answering any of her posts on my messenger.  My DIL is coming over very soon to take care of her.  DIL lives about 500 ft from me.


Just a suggestion...maybe you should get off of Facebook or at least turn off Messenger.


----------



## Colleen (Nov 30, 2021)

Several months ago, I turned on to Netflix and someone else's name was in the profile! They had rented a movie so I called Netflix and they told me how to fix it and I deleted my account and started over with a new CC. Now I have a password to sign on. How did someone get into my account???


----------



## Tom 86 (Nov 30, 2021)

Colleen said:


> Just a suggestion...maybe you should get off of Facebook or at least turn off Messenger.


My DIL did that last night so no more messanger for me.  My Facebook is so locked down from all the things she did to it she said now your like Ft. Knox. 

  I did get to call my bank about my $3,000.00.  took me about 1/2 hr talking to 2 different men about what happened. They both took a lot of info about the vanilla gift cards.  glad I had saved them to my phone & also into my picture file here on the computer.  As they wanted pictures of front & back of all the cards.  easy to do.

  When the last man said you WILL get your $3,000.00 back but it could take a month, & he issued me a fraud account number just for my case.  He told me to go ahead & pay that off like I usually do every billing cycle so I don't have any interest to pay.  
They will contact me about a week before the funds are put back into my C.C. account so I can be watching for them.

They both showed me a video way to "Lock it" as they call it from my C.P. so if I ever lose or my card gets stolen then I whip out my C.P. get into my bank account with my fingerprint then go to C.C. & hit "lock it" & no more charges can be added to it. They helped me set up my C.P. security so no one can ever get into it without my fingers (won't say which ones).


----------



## Shero (Nov 30, 2021)

So sorry this happened Tom - some good advice on this thread. Scammers get their karma sometime.


----------



## Tom 86 (Dec 21, 2021)

*Update on my scam.*
My Attorney General has now got the case & gave me a case number.  My DIL sent a bunch of PDF files & pictures this woman used.  She is in the USA so they can prosecute her. 

  I got a printout of what the gift cards were used for & DIL sent to A.G.  Some went to "Tory Burch" on PayPal with a Paypal number that can be traced according to my A.G.  Some went to Nordstrom again with a tracking number on them.

  So this woman was either a first-time scammer or stupid according to the A.G.  They will get her now with all these purchases that can be traced.  A.G. said I might or might not get my $2,000.00 back from the ones I bought at CVS But she will try very hard.
This is what my DIL wrote to the A.G. sent it yesterday & I got a replay back this afternoon.
=================================================

*Good afternoon -*
*
Please find attached the information you requested about the case referenced as to how I was scammed.  My daughter-in-law is typing this information for me. 

On Nov 26th I was contacted on FB Messenger by who I thought was a friend, but it was a fake account.  Please see attachment "Evelyn Beaver".  The real one is a friend of mine, but someone created a new account in her name.  She told me a "Beverly Page" would be contacting me to get me a government grant for 175K for free.  So then Beverly contacted me.  Unfortunately, I deleted that entire string on messenger.  But "Beverly" convinced me that she needed ALL sorts of information, name, address, DOB, monthly income, etc.  And I gave it to her.  She then said I was approved but had to go buy $2,000 in gift cards at $500 each and send her all of the card numbers.  Pictures are attached.  Then she wanted another $3,000 and I couldn't get any more at CVS, so they told me to get them on the Vanilla website, so I did.  Attached are those cards as well as the transaction records.  I noted that on the "Vanilla Gift Cards" attachment a "Tory Burch" Paypal is on those receipts as taking the funds off of the cards.  I sent them copies of the receipts so I have canceled my credit cards so those numbers can't be used. 

There are also pics attached of the pics they sent me telling me that the FedEx truck that had my money was being held so they needed more $ and they continued to try to reach me for many days after.  Unfortunately for them, I had my daughter-in-law come over and she helped get everything is taken care of so they don't get any more $ from me.  I did call the Clinton County Sheriff's office and the incident # is S21-09847.  I don't know if there is anything else that you can do.  I'm 86 and on a fixed income and I certainly got taken for a ride with this scam. 

I can be reached at ***-***-1414 or ************* Thank you so very much for your help and hopefully, you can catch them!!!
*
*Thomas Marcinko*


----------



## Jules (Dec 21, 2021)

If nothing else, they will catch and punish this woman.  Glad the AG is on this.  

Being that she was so stupid, she may try to say that someone else used her identity or sold her the cards and she was a victim too.


----------



## Tom 86 (Dec 22, 2021)

Jules said:


> If nothing else, they will catch and punish this woman.  Glad the AG is on this.
> 
> Being that she was so stupid, she may try to say that someone else used her identity or sold her the cards and she was a victim too.


Not really.  As those cards can be traced to where I bought them & sent to her.  Even though I deleted the messenger texts that's not to say the A.G. or government can't resurrect them.  Nothing is truly deleted.


----------



## Tom 86 (Dec 22, 2021)

Whoopee, I just checked my bank account this morning.  They put back the $3,000.00 into my credit card. Nice Christmas gift.  So I at least got that much back.

  I always check my credit cards & bank accounts every morning.  Just to make sure nothing has been added to a credit card or removed from my bank account.  My Accountant got me doing this 10 years ago when I had my I.D. stolen & people "tried" to buy stuff on a credit card they opened on my account. I had all my Credit reporting places already freeze my info so they could not get a new card without a credit check. 

  Man, that was a mess to cancel everything & start fresh.  took me about 8 months to get this all straightened out.


----------



## Packerjohn (Dec 22, 2021)

Tom 86 said:


> Well, this could get to be a long post but I'll try to just hit the high points.   Last Wed. I got a messenger that & old friend I worked with for some 20+ years wanted to talk.  So I got on & was talking to her & she knew all our old past workings together.
> 
> She then said she has a friend that can get me Federal grant money of 50,000.00 up to 100,000.00  Told me to click on this woman in the messenger chat with us.  So I did.  She set me up with $75,000.00  all I had to do was pay for the document rendering of $2,000.00  So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards & sent them to her through my C.P.
> 
> ...


This is an old story.  Anyone who asks to send gift cards is a crook.  I am not on any social media site, except here, and I certainly wouldn't send any cash or gift cards to anyone.  Sorry to hear about your misery but learn from this.  It's an old truth, "If the deal is too good to be true, it is too good to be true."


----------

