A new twist on an old con

[po18guy]

In the email arrives a letter from "Norton/Lifelock" indicating that I have agreed to automatic $399 renewal of services. Examining the email, I was shocked to see that such a major international corporation could not hire better billing department staff. I mean, who could doubt this:



But Joe Biden has made me very suspicious, so I did a little digging. OK, a can of duster on my screen. But then the thought hit me: "Hey, wait a minute! I don't have LifeLock!" It all began to sound like an infrasrtructure bill in the Senate. The way to see who sent it is to click on reply (but not to reply). Turns out this is a very inept scammer, as "Norton/Lifelock" seems to be:
Norton-LifeLock-Billing<jaspercliftonb362 @ gmail.
Jasper Clifton eh? Sounds legit. I was tempted to send "Jasper" a few bucks for ESL classes, but thought the better of it.

The only surprising fact was that he did not offer IN STOCK .223 @ $5.99/20

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[Cavedweller]

I was tempted to send "Jasper" a few bucks for ESL classes, but thought the better of it.

I have been told by an individual working for BigTech that poor English grammar is part of the scam. The idea is that if you are not smart (or educated) enough to recognize the errors, then you are an easier mark and therefore more worthy of the scammer's attention. Whereas, if you spot the errors and do not respond, the scammer will not waste his time with someone who is unlikely to fall for the scam anyway. Sort of a pre-screening method.

I dunno, just what I heard. Kind of makes sense in a way.

 

[po18guy]

I have been told by an individual working for BigTech that poor English grammar is part of the scam. The idea is that if you are not smart (or educated) enough to recognize the errors, then you are an easier mark and therefore more worthy of the scammer's attention. Whereas, if you spot the errors and do not respond, the scammer will not waste his time with someone who is unlikely to fall for the scam anyway. Sort of a pre-screening method.

I dunno, just what I heard. Kind of makes sense in a way.

Frosting on the scam cake.

 

[Flopsweat]

I have been told by an individual working for BigTech that poor English grammar is part of the scam. The idea is that if you are not smart (or educated) enough to recognize the errors, then you are an easier mark and therefore more worthy of the scammer's attention. Whereas, if you spot the errors and do not respond, the scammer will not waste his time with someone who is unlikely to fall for the scam anyway. Sort of a pre-screening method.

I dunno, just what I heard. Kind of makes sense in a way.

Frosting on the scam cake.

Well, yes and no. There are scammers smart enough to recognize something like that, but from following the scambaiting community for a while a couple of years ago, I've found that most of them speak very poor English. You'd have discovered that if you replied to his email (but don't - you'll get on another list). It just simply works because it works. The more polished ones are not wasting their time on $400 scams. That said, some domestic telemarketing companies do something akin to that, but without breaking the law. Adspec would be a good example.


I also work for Big Tech so now you have to believe me too.


Just teasing. I'm sure your friend was telling you something his friend told him, and so forth.

 

[Cavedweller]

Well, yes and no. There are scammers smart enough to recognize something like that, but from following the scambaiting community for a while a couple of years ago, I've found that most of them speak very poor English. You'd have discovered that if you replied to his email (but don't - you'll get on another list). It just simply works because it works. The more polished ones are not wasting their time on $400 scams. That said, some domestic telemarketing companies do something akin to that, but without breaking the law. Adspec would be a good example.


I also work for Big Tech so now you have to believe me too.


Just teasing. I'm sure your friend was telling you something his friend told him, and so forth.

Do I say I believe? I only say I hear so much. I will prove my trust to you. Just you send your bank account numbers to me and I give you $500. I want nothing, just you be my friend.

 

[Flopsweat]

Do I say I believe? I only say I hear so much. I will prove my trust to you. Just you send your bank account numbers to me and I give you $500. I want nothing, just you be my friend.

I only deal in Target gift cards. DM me with your address and my associate will come pick them up. He lives right near you.

 

[po18guy]

Even though India generally speaks English from the colonial days, it might not be very good English. I might reply using a throw-a-way email. Will be fun to see what a "Lifetyme" membership costs.

Temp Mail - Disposable Temporary Email

Keep spam out of your mail and stay safe - just use a disposable temporary email address! Protect your personal email address from spam with Temp-mail

temp-mail.org

 

[Alexx1401]

I only deal in Target gift cards. DM me with your address and my associate will come pick them up. He lives right near you.

We often joke about this but, I saw first hand not long ago why it still works. Family member who is "tech savvy" enough to work from home got nailed. Her employer owned PC got hacked by something she did. Then to unlock it she actually went to the damn store and bought several hundred in gift cards and gave them the codes.
They then of course demanded more and damned if she did not go and actually start to buy more. Finally this time after buying the cards she talked to someone else who told her STOP! She told her employer who just locked the Laptop and gave her a new one.

 

[arakboss]

Even the "smart" ones can fall for scam.

San Diego woman sentenced for nearly $400M Ponzi scheme

A San Diego businesswoman who bilked hundreds of people out of nearly $400 million has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison

www.google.com

 

[Alexx1401]

Even the "smart" ones can fall for scam.

San Diego woman sentenced for nearly $400M Ponzi scheme

A San Diego businesswoman who bilked hundreds of people out of nearly $400 million has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison

www.google.com

At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns noted that some victims were friends she had known for years, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Whats the old line, with friends like this who needs enemies? If the woman was bilking people who thought of her as a friend I guess she can have fun making all new fiends in the big house now.

 

[Mikej]

In the email arrives a letter from "Norton/Lifelock" indicating that I have agreed to automatic $399 renewal of services. Examining the email, I was shocked to see that such a major international corporation could not hire better billing department staff. I mean, who could doubt this:

View attachment 1122809

But Joe Biden has made me very suspicious, so I did a little digging. OK, a can of duster on my screen. But then the thought hit me: "Hey, wait a minute! I don't have LifeLock!" It all began to sound like an infrasrtructure bill in the Senate. The way to see who sent it is to click on reply (but not to reply). Turns out this is a very inept scammer, as "Norton/Lifelock" seems to be:
Norton-LifeLock-Billing<jaspercliftonb362 @ gmail.
Jasper Clifton eh? Sounds legit. I was tempted to send "Jasper" a few bucks for ESL classes, but thought the better of it.

The only surprising fact was that he did not offer IN STOCK .223 @ $5.99/20

I've been getting this kind of stuff for months now.

Let's see...
A $4.000.00 lap top coming to me from amazon.
Then there's the extended coverage for my computer through "Geek Squad".
A couple others I don't recall now.

And I believe it's been the Norton thing too. Something like $238.75 for another year of coverage. Of course if there's been any mistake, there is the convenient suspicious 8## number for you to call and straighten things out with all of these.

 

[TTSX]

Spam and scams outweigh real material 10:1 many times. What bugs me is as soon as I bought my house, without going through an agent, I was getting calls from firm after firm to buy it. FFS, guys, the ink is still wet. And apparently, I'm a retired person because AARP, macular degeneration and other old people stuff have been in my mail more often than bills. I'm not even blanking 40 yet!!!!

 

[Flopsweat]

We often joke about this but, I saw first hand not long ago why it still works. Family member who is "tech savvy" enough to work from home got nailed. Her employer owned PC got hacked by something she did. Then to unlock it she actually went to the damn store and bought several hundred in gift cards and gave them the codes.
They then of course demanded more and damned if she did not go and actually start to buy more. Finally this time after buying the cards she talked to someone else who told her STOP! She told her employer who just locked the Laptop and gave her a new one.

"Tech savvy" and "street smart" are not only not the same, but practically opposites. Not everyone who's "good with a computer" is necessarily all that smart either.


edit: Removed unrelated quote. Must have spazzed or something.

 

[Alexx1401]

"Tech savvy" and "street smart" are not only not the same, but practically opposites. Not everyone who's "good with a computer" is necessarily all that smart either.


edit: Removed unrelated quote. Must have spazzed or something.

I get what you mean. I just had thought surely only those who are "new to the net" and such would still fall for this crap. The one who got taken has been online long enough to work from home and seems to know more about how it works than I do. Yet still got taken
I know them well enough to actually be shocked they fell for it once and almost let the scammers get them again. I guess its why the damn people are so plentiful. Lot of low hanging fruit out there.

 

[Flopsweat]

I get what you mean. I just had thought surely only those who are "new to the net" and such would still fall for this crap. The one who got taken has been online long enough to work from home and seems to know more about how it works than I do. Yet still got taken
I know them well enough to actually be shocked they fell for it once and almost let the scammers get them again. I guess its why the damn people are so plentiful. Lot of low hanging fruit out there.

Good point. We all have our "what was I thinking" moments. I don't know your friend and can't speak to this particular incident.

 

[Alexx1401]

Good point. We all have our "what was I thinking" moments. I don't know your friend and can't speak to this particular incident.

I didn't want to rub salt in the wound but it was REALLY hard for me to not ask them, WTF? The next time I saw them.
I'm sure they had to be over the top embarrassed, and was probably scared of getting fired at first. Which I "guess" was maybe why they thought the first thing to do was pay the damn ransom rather than admit it to the employer???? I am still left shaking my head when the Wife brings it up again that they did this. On my work account they regularly send out "test" e-mail to everyone to see who bites on stuff. If they do they get a pop up telling them watch out this is what a scam looks like. I used to think it was a bit much how often they do it. Now I guess it makes more sense. I know I am VERY damn careful what I use the work terminals for. If they sent me home with a laptop I sure as hell would NEVER be using it for anything on the net other than work since the damn things are so cheap now. I am kind of curious what exactly sites they were going to when they got in trouble with that machine. I just can't bring myself to ask as I know they must be wanting desperately to move past this now.
I have never had a real problem on one of my personal machines but Wife has a couple times. There has been a couple or more times she clicked on god only knows what on one of hers that I had to just format the damn thing and tell her its now wiped clean. Maybe I should check her browsing history now and them

 

[po18guy]

A fine line between prudence and greed. Greed wants to steal our money. Our avaraice wants to get more stuff for less money. Two human weaknesses. The crime is when the two meet. Here is a simple internet decision-maker. The red zone refers to the risk you take. Good deals in your presence are just that. Good deals outside of your presence are in the red zone for a reason. Choose wisely.

 

[Flopsweat]

I didn't want to rub salt in the wound but it was REALLY hard for me to not ask them, WTF? The next time I saw them.
I'm sure they had to be over the top embarrassed, and was probably scared of getting fired at first. Which I "guess" was maybe why they thought the first thing to do was pay the damn ransom rather than admit it to the employer???? I am still left shaking my head when the Wife brings it up again that they did this. On my work account they regularly send out "test" e-mail to everyone to see who bites on stuff. If they do they get a pop up telling them watch out this is what a scam looks like. I used to think it was a bit much how often they do it. Now I guess it makes more sense. I know I am VERY damn careful what I use the work terminals for. If they sent me home with a laptop I sure as hell would NEVER be using it for anything on the net other than work since the damn things are so cheap now. I am kind of curious what exactly sites they were going to when they got in trouble with that machine. I just can't bring myself to ask as I know they must be wanting desperately to move past this now.
I have never had a real problem on one of my personal machines but Wife has a couple times. There has been a couple or more times she clicked on god only knows what on one of hers that I had to just format the damn thing and tell her its now wiped clean. Maybe I should check her browsing history now and them

About every two years I get an email from a friend saying, "click this cool link" or "help I'm stranded". I text him and he replies back "no, that's not me". I tell him "You've been hacked again" and "Go change your email password". It's been a while so maybe he's turned on 2 factor authentication.