There was a recent news report about an individual here in North Dakota who got scammed out of $100,000. That’s a lot of money and even though you would think a criminal mind could get a loot like that and run, it appears they can’t resist the urge to come back for more.
People being “taken to the cleaners” has been around forever, but in this day and age, the people behind the scams are getting quite clever and that’s why we have to be on our toes.
We’ve heard of these “romance” scams that happens to people, especially widowed elderly people who are looking for companionship. If you check with the attorney general’s office, you’ll find there have been plenty of those types of scams across the state in the past 10 years and tens of thousands of dollars have been lost.
Couple that with the fact that we (North Dakotans in general) are a trusting group of people, so when we meet someone who appears genuinely interested in our life situation, we tend to let our guard down. Unfortunately, that’s when the bad guys go to work.
In the past year, I’ve been the target of numerous scam attempts. The most obvious has to do with “Amazon” and a laptop computer. Twice now, months apart, I’ve received a text message telling me that I need to call the number listed to confirm a charge of $1,500 for a new Macbook Pro.
Now, to break that down, I recently purchased a Macbook Pro so initially, I thought I was getting charged a second time or something went wrong with paperwork. It seemed legitimate. And as I looked at the number, thinking I should call to not get charged twice, the investigative reporter in me took over. I attempted to trace the phone number.
I found it! The number was registered to a telemarking firm in Boulder, Colo. That told me almost immediately it had nothing to do with Amazon or Apple. That was the first time. The second time I read the message and deleted it.
In another case, my wife and I were on our way to Rapid City one day and I got a text message asking me where I am right now? I recognized the area code as coming from southern Ontario (excluding Toronto), so I assumed it was a friend I have in Brantford, Ontario.
Should I respond, but then why would my friend in eastern Canada be concerned about where I am late on a Saturday morning. My next thought was OK, I’ll wait until we get to Rapid City to sort it out. But before we got there, another text came.
“Quick, you need to get here, my dog is sick and I don’t think he’s going to make it. There are no other vets available today.”
The point here is these people are going to throw anything at the wall hoping it sticks. And, in those two text messages, there was a bit of information that I had to consider, and that was to recognize where that number originated.
Often times that’s what happens when people get hooked into these scams. These people have a playbook, just like a football coach. My guess is they have hundreds if not thousands of possible scenarios they will use to get you interested. Then, if several, or numerous parts of that conversation add up, you may seriously consider responding. I’m obviously not a vet and I don’t live near Brantford so that got shut down right there.
But what if I was a vet. I recognized the number, I know people there, and someone has a sick dog. You see what I mean? The more information on that string that is correct, the more we’re apt to respond.
Emails can be deceiving too. Scammers are using company logos, they’re using language and page layouts that mimic the original. So had my first text message been an email; I would have seen the Amazon logo, I would have seen the Apple logo; it would have been very convincing.
It’s amazing the extremes that bad people will go to screw you out of a dollar. If they would use their minds for something productive instead, they’d probably have far more money from a good income than trying to rip off their neighbors.
Stay vigilant!
