Back to Scam Patrols Homepage

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

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.


Wednesday, August 10, 2016

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. 





Tuesday, August 09, 2016

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.

Friday, August 05, 2016

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