Scam

[ElectricWoodie]

Received a whatapp message asking about a rental property that I never owned. Then proceeded to call me on whatsapp. I blocked and reported the number. The area code was +974 according to whatapp.

Also receive the usual message in Mandarin Chinese that I am in trouble with their government...

Voicemail from "UPS" pertaining to a shipment...

Very annoying. Stop the insanity!

 

[licks2nite]

Easiest way for a private line, mark any unrecognized number as spam. Accumulated huge list. Voicemail waste of time. Telus sent me text thanking for spam reporting.

 

[westwoody]

Also receive the usual message in Mandarin Chinese that I am in trouble with their government...

Weird.
I get a lot of recorded messages in Chinese with music in the background. Maybe a Chinese infomercial?

 

[islander1-1]

Sometimes when I have one of those days, when us old pharts have SFA to do.... I play along with the scammer.... Specially when its an online scammer, mostly email.... I get them really going, and thinking they are making headway.... only to catch them.... I think on,,, several years back Just after a Brits car I was selling fell off craigslist... I get this nice lady from Britain offering me full price for it. Plus she would pay the shipping. I was supposed to send $1200 to the shipper and she would send me all the monies. After must be 20 emails back n forth,,, I suggest she go look at some further pictures of the car I had just posted on my website. Sent the link, 1o min later go to my server and look up who has visited that page.... only one visitor of course... BINGO GOTCHA... I email the jerk back... Is this your IP address... (it was in Nigeria) ...... Silence...

 

[Newb808]

The Mandarin scams are ruthless. A Taiwanese coworker friend almost got duped by one a few years back. I don’t know what info of hers they had to begin with, if any, but through social engineering the fraudsters got her full name, home city in TW, and information about times she’d been to mainland China, among other bits of information. She had been in a great mood at work then got this phone call which lasted about 20 minutes and looked like a ghost after. Didn’t want to say why but she had to leave early. It was obvious that the phone call spooked her and she eventually confided that she had been speaking with a “cop” from the Chinese consulate (they spoofed the phone number and had a bs website with pictures of real government personnel) who informed her she had committed fraud and was liable to be prosecuted and fined. Of course the obligatory don’t talk to friends and family as well. I’m pretty sure something like this
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chinese-visa-students-kidnapping-scam-1.4525603
would have plaid out had she gone home and kept following along. Poor girl was legit scared for a few days even after reading about these scams and calling the consulate and them saying it’s a scam lol.
If you’re in trouble, the man either comes and finds you or sends official notice in the mail.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

And of course we have all been contacted by the Nigerian Prince. I guess he died a while back and left a few billion $'s to his cat. He tried to give it all away but no one would reply to his emails.

 

[Larry's Torch]

I recently received a call from Rogers (I'm with Telus/Koodo) telling me that my Social Security Number has been locked! Evidently I owe a ton to CRA and they're on the way to arrest me! Fortunately I have a credit with Amazon (really?) and it'll cover what I owe. In order to access the credit I need to buy Amazon gift cards and then contact Microsoft Support and give them the card numbers.

Definitely a shot gun approach.

 

[Crookedmember]

If y'all don't see ol' Crooked for a spell, it's because I'm in the slammer.

 

[EuroSZabina]

The Mandarin scams are ruthless. A Taiwanese coworker friend almost got duped by one a few years back. I don’t know what info of hers they had to begin with, if any, but through social engineering the fraudsters got her full name, home city in TW, and information about times she’d been to mainland China, among other bits of information. She had been in a great mood at work then got this phone call which lasted about 20 minutes and looked like a ghost after. Didn’t want to say why but she had to leave early. It was obvious that the phone call spooked her and she eventually confided that she had been speaking with a “cop” from the Chinese consulate (they spoofed the phone number and had a bs website with pictures of real government personnel) who informed her she had committed fraud and was liable to be prosecuted and fined. Of course the obligatory don’t talk to friends and family as well. I’m pretty sure something like this
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/chinese-visa-students-kidnapping-scam-1.4525603
would have plaid out had she gone home and kept following along. Poor girl was legit scared for a few days even after reading about these scams and calling the consulate and them saying it’s a scam lol.
If you’re in trouble, the man either comes and finds you or sends official notice in the mail.

I always say if I haven't done anything wrong, not a criminal and I pay my dues to where it should go, nobody can scare me with a phone call.