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There is a YouTube channel maintained by a man calling himself Jim Browning. His specialty is destroying scam callers from India and elsewhere. He uses an amazing knowledge of computers and great investigational skills to shut these thieves down whenever he can. Occasionally, he reverses the scam and renders their computers junk - after downloading their entire database to assist banks with victim lists! Pretty cool.

Anyway, case in point: Recently the scammers have been sending fake emails purporting to be from PayPal and suggesting that a fraudulent payment ($500 or so) has been made to "Springfield Armory." I find the scammers choice of businesses to be odd, to say the least. Anyway, in case you get one of the emails...

 
I got one from Apple claiming that I bought something using iPay when I didn't. Reported it to Apple. And Apple Security was NOT too concerned about it.

Aloha, Mark
 
I got one from Apple claiming that I bought something using iPay when I didn't. Reported it to Apple. And Apple Security was NOT too concerned about it.

Aloha, Mark
Yeah, these sociaiopaths make the banks their ultimate victim, as "normally" in fraud cases, the victim 'may' recover from the bank. "Normally" but certainly not always. They target the elderly and I think hell has a special corner for them.
 
bubblegum PayPal! While I was deployed OCONUS in 2012-2015, I had two hits for a coupla dollars each show up when I checked my account online one day. I knew I didn't buy anything, cuz I didn't even have a PP account! I let it languish for a week or so, cuz I was busy working 7-12s and didn't have the time to worry about it. Then, a $2,200+ hit from PP comes through. That got my attention real quick! Long story short, I got my money restored, but I asked my credit union how they were going to get theirs back from PP. They said that PP would reimburse them. So I asked, "Who reimburses PP?" Answer: They just have to go back to find out who the merchant was...

Moral of the story for me: I won't use PayPal or any of those "middlemen" for monetary transfers. Since 2013, I transact directly with the merchant.
 
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I get hit with phishing attacks all the time. They are very easy to spot. No big deal. Never respond to any email from bank, credit, paypay, Social Security, etc.... Go straight to the website for those if you think it might be legit.
 
Yup...unfortunately or fortunately.....some online stores will only accept payments through PP or whatever card. Then, what about the particular store or in the case of AMAZON? Yup......remember that scam from the freeze dried emergency food seller that some of us here were caught in?

Anyway...I got my money back.

Aloha, Mark
 
Yup...unfortunately or fortunately.....some online stores will only accept payments through PP or whatever card. Then, what about the particular store or in the case of AMAZON? Yup......remember that scam from the freeze dried emergency food seller that some of us here were caught in?

Anyway...I got my money back.

Aloha, Mark
If they won't take my money through any other method other than PP, then they just don't get my money. Period.
There's a plethora of other merchants with whom I can do business with to get the same thing a payment-by-PP-only merchant sells.
Those will be the merchants to whom I give my money.
 
Had a friend truly F over a guy in Egypt a while back. He was playing along with a guy for a laptop he had on sale on Craigslist. Scammer worked out the whole fake payment thing and even went as far as to cover "shipping" by going through some random customs firm that ships to Africa.

Buddy took his old washer, filled it with concrete, put it on a pallet and had the delivery company pick it up. He estimated it would cost the guy on the other end a few grand or more in shipping and customs.

Guy was apparently very upset when his laptop didn't arrive, naturally! Buddy left a bogus return address and canceled his email account after messing with the guy a bit after it arrived in Egypt.

He would blind cc me on an occasional email. Stuff was of legends.
 
I get hit with phishing attacks all the time. They are very easy to spot. No big deal. Never respond to any email from bank, credit, paypay, Social Security, etc.... Go straight to the website for those if you think it might be legit.

I had two four illegitimate charges to my checking account, just a week ago wile trying to purchase JIS impact driver bits from Canada. The card was interrupted or stolen is a better word during the transaction. The charges were from Singapore.
 
I had two four illegitimate charges to my checking account, just a week ago wile trying to purchase JIS impact driver bits from Canada. The card was interrupted or stolen is a better word during the transaction. The charges were from Singapore.

Well, I was specifically addressing the email scams in the OP. These scams are known as "phishing" attacks. What you experienced is different. Yes, I have had my credit card info stolen and used overseas at a Walmart in the UK to buy expensive video games. Capitol One caught it.

The charges were to your checking account? You used a debit card online???
 
Not too long ago, my bank reported the typical two $.01 charges that a vendor will make to establish direct withdrawal. I immediately called them and they said it was a mistake of their system. WTF??? How does THAT happen?
 
bubblegum PayPal! While I was deployed OCONUS in 2012-2015, I had two hits for a coupla dollars each show up when I checked my account online one day. I knew I didn't buy anything, cuz I didn't even have a PP account! I let it languish for a week or so, cuz I was busy working 7-12s and didn't have the time to worry about it. Then, a $2,200+ hit from PP comes through. That got my attention real quick! Long story short, I got my money restored, but I asked my credit union how they were going to get theirs back from PP. They said that PP would reimburse them. So I asked, "Who reimburses PP?" Answer: They just have to go back to find out who the merchant was...

Moral of the story for me: I won't use PayPal or any of those "middlemen" for monetary transfers. Since 2013, I transact directly with the merchant.

Watch for those small deposits/debits. That means that someone has your bank routing # and account # - it is customary for direct deposits or debits to do these trial transactions, then they roll those back and do the main transaction. If the small transaction goes thru then they know they have a valid account and that it will got thru.

Sometimes it is a valid transaction, sometimes not. It depends on whether you have given someone your banking info (I recently gave mine to Oregon UI for UI benefit deposits).

I check my checking account transactions weekly.

I removed my banking info from PayPal. I use a credit card instead. I use PayPal maybe twice a year. I have immediate texts when any amount, no matter how small, is charged to my one and only credit card. If there is a bad charge from PayPal then I can recover it from the CC company. Ditto with Amazon which is the only fraudulent charge I have had in years - I caught it within minutes and called the card company and they reversed it.
 
Well, I was specifically addressing the email scams in the OP. These scams are known as "phishing" attacks. What you experienced is different. Yes, I have had my credit card info stolen and used overseas at a Walmart in the UK to buy expensive video games. Capitol One caught it.

The charges were to your checking account? You used a debit card online???
You used a debit card online??? No, Never, the charges were to a credit card with no bank balance.
 
Not too long ago, my bank reported the typical two $.01 charges that a vendor will make to establish direct withdrawal. I immediately called them and they said it was a mistake of their system. WTF??? How does THAT happen?
They are testing to see if you are paying attention. Wait a few days and then hit the account.
 

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