Reduce your debt scam by snail mail

If you owe a credit card and it was then sold to another company, chance are you will be getting letters from companies who purchased the note that is owed.

The scam goes like this:

You will get a letter from a company you owe money from such as capital one lets say for 1000 dollars.

In the letter, they will tell you that they will settle the amount owed for less money such as 400 dollars if you pay within a certain time.

Sometimes these offers can be real but normally these types of notes are public information if they are put up for sale by collection companies.  Meaning good and bad people can see this information.

So what to do?

The best thing you can do is call the lender where your note was from to determine if you can negotiate a way to pay off that amount owed. Remember always question and never take things you get in the mail or by email at face value.

OK Cupid Scam and how to prevent yourself from becoming a target

You know sometimes you wish you could make these up but you can't . Single users beware of the online threat by would be scammers. 

The Scam:

As with anything a scammer will post pictures of what looks like a person you think you are talking to. Many of these pictures can easily be lifted by via facebook since from profiles. 

Essentially once the scammer has enough photographs of what looks like to be a real person the conversation begins. Normally this scam is targeted to men since lets face it guys we then to be the horny ball type. 

The conversation will go offline with the user only to get into some steamy conversations.  The scammer will then ask for a nude picture of the user. This is where it can get ugly, the user sends the picture to the scammer. Then a few mins later the scammer will then tell the user that they have uploaded a private message and have tagged all his residence and will send the file to all of them unless they get payment. 

They then send a place where to wire the money and its normally a money gram. 

What to do if it happens

So what to do if this happens? Well for one you can call the bluff by not answering the message. Last thing you want to do is piss off the user on the other end. Report it.  Next let those who will be sent the file to delete the message and I hate to say own up to it. 

Block the user if your on skype or messaging platform. Temporary go offline if you can on facebook.

Report user to authorities if possible.

What to do to prevent this from happening?

First you will want to start off with your facebook account. Make sure all your privacy settings are set. The mistake that was done above is that his facebook friends list was open so the scammer was able to view all of his contacts.  This is why I really don't like linkin because of that reason.  The good news is that facebook has an option to restrict who can view your friends list but for me I set it only to myself so that no one can see who I am friends with. 

Second thing is not to send pictures of your Wenner , I mean really who is to say that the person you are cyber sexing with is who they say they are. 

Rule of thumb when online dating, try to get the conversation from texting to the phone where you can hear that persons voice and take that next step and meeting. Meet in a public place. 

Email virus from a friend and simple things to prevent it from happening to you

A few days ago a friend of mine sent me an email which at the time I thought was an article to what we had recently talked about. Only to find out later he emailed me letting me know that his computer had gotten a bug. I didn't click the attached document (which I almost did)

Here is a simple tip to prevent any viruses showing up on your computer.  If a friend sends you an attached document make sure to reply to your friend and ask them if they sent you something for you to open or even a link.

This way you get some confirmation that the sender did send you the appropriate document.

It can be a pain in the ass I know but we can't rely on antivirus software to catch all of them. It just does not happen.

North Dallas Gas Pump Skimmers found

If your by the Dallas area up North. Techy theives are using skimmers and placing them inside the gas pump machines. You will never know your information is being taken. Add insult to injuiry the devices have blue tooth so the information can be downloaded remotely without opening the gas pump.

Word to the wise pay inside or use cash

17027473188 bad number

Another call with the same ladies voice calls and leaves a voice message saying your social security has been flagged and to press 1. Never ever press 1 or any number.

This number 17027473188 is a scam.

Now targeting my phone number 844-853-6868

Seems we got a new number calling with legal threats. They never say who the party they are trying to contact and state they have a legal summons 844 853 6868

I would just disregard and post as spam . Its been post also on who the who called list. 

Word of advice don't call back. Anyone posting a summons on you will send you a stamp letter from a lawyer not a silly phone call.

Keep in mind for seniors because this may seem pretty scary if they receive a call like this.

The contact is

Priority Legal  claiming they are collecting on a debt.

18182808460 scam number

New number now this scam number is now coming from North Carolina. Its a lady that refers her self to Stevens which in previous numbers referred herself to someone else.

(971) 701-2545 new scam number

It seems like another scam using the same lady who states she is an investigator is going to put some legal action. The last message was a lady name stacy grant who is the same person as the message below now is called investigator stevens.

Never says who its for, or who it is directed to. Word of advice don't dial the number. Chances are they will have some type of caller id and when you call it will give that name to the other person who is pulling the scam.  They will then say the users caller id name that they have a lawsuit.

This was the transcription

"This is investigator Stevens with locator Services calling to inform you that there has been a locate and serve action placed on you. Enforcement are scheduled to visit the address on file with there was no contact made the next step will be to help you watch Ross dot your last known place of employment. Now I am required by law to provide you with a point of contact information to answer any questions that you may Health. I need you to do so by pressing one and you will be directed to a case manager." 
... more. Please listen to your voicemail for the remainder of this message. 

971-701-2545

Netflix Scam

I got this from a friend of mine. Not really sure the validity on this scam but it seems that the would be phishers are sending out what looks like an authentic Netflix payment failed by email to gain access.

Here is what the message looks like at the bottom. When in doubt go to netflixs directly and never click any links from the email.

20 dollar scam fake

I saw this on a Facebook board where a couple got 2 fake 20s   . Its not noticeable from the picture but there are a few indications on these being a fake. Can you spot them?

If you notice both bills have the same serial number. The way the bill was cut as you can see is pretty sloppy.  It seems that 20s and above bills are those that are targeted to slip by as real money.  Just a word of warning. The fake pens are not 100 percent proof so always look for the watermark when handling these bills.

15208276828 phone number scam

A friend of mine got a voice mail which has been transcribe below. I went ahead and looked up the number online. This was a dead give away on how to phish someones number and possibly get them to give sensitive information.

My theory is when the person calls to the number, it will give the phone numbers name if it is listed which is how they are able to say they have you on file.

The message starts off with a name called stacy grant who is an investigator but never makes reference which company or organization she works for.

Phone number

From	: Superior AZ (15208276828)

Urber Scam Beware

I thought this was an interesting one but apparently if you plan to use an Uber service beware.

Seems that some Uber drivers are trying to make a few hundred by claiming that the client had one to many drinks and puked in their car. The driver sends the photos to Uber and Uber intern docks 100 dollars for cleanup.

So the lesson here is if you plan to use an Uber service, take pictures before you leave as evidence you did not leave a mess in the car or you may have to try to prove to Uber that the puke was not yours.

How not to sell tickets online

I had posted an example a week ago on a ticket sold online and low and behold it had the information all for people to see. Now I understand that the users intention was to validate that the ticket was real but when you buy a ticket via online, you can invalidate that ticket.

What I mean by this is that anyone can use the bar code of the ticket and re-purpose it to resell. What happens is you get a duplicate ticket which is not good if your an honest person trying to get rid of tickets he or she couldn't use.

For an example of what the ticket looked like visit Things you should never buy on facebook.

Things you should never buy from a facebook group.

First and for most, if your going to buy anything from a facebook fleamarket or from craigslist, go to a safe location. Some cities will allow you to go to your local police department to make your transaction.

1) Don't buy tickets from facebook or craigslist groups. The reason I strongly suggest against it is that there really is not a way to check if the tickets were purchased legally or if they are just fakes.

(Another tip, don't place the ticket number online. This will easily be ripped off by having someone print it because the bar code is right there.) I took the user name and bar code of but just to give you of idea how it can easily be taken online.

2) Electronics should not be purchased unless you test the dam thing. What could be worst is going home only to find out the electronic you purchased didnt work.

3) Cell phone. This one is the worst you can buy online. You take a real crap shot if you but one from an online group. Sometimes these are stolen phones which are locked and you end up with a brick for a phone that does not work.