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Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

hunck said:
Fifteen years & they never met..

Conned volleyball star spends £600,000 thinking he was dating Brazil model for 15 years

Former Italian national volleyball player Roberto Cazzaniga was convinced he was in love and engaged to long-distance fiancé ‘Maya’ but he was the victim of an elaborate scam using a photograph of the Brazilian Victoria’s Secret supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio
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I wouldn't say that the scam was that elaborate really. But then scams don't have to be, when they find a victim wholly lacking in brain cells like Mr Cazzaniga.
 
EnolaGaia said:
This alleged scammer didn't appear in court as ordered. His lawyer had received a suspiciously informal death certificate indicating his client had died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Scammer gone, or scam taken to the next level? You decide!
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"The 45-year-old Masesa was arrested in 2019 and pleaded not guilty, and posted a $25,000 bond using a Florida address, . . . "

OMG! He's also a Florida Man!!!
 
New to Ms P's mobile recently was the " Someone wants to pay $600 into your account through Western Union. Press 1 to find out more". Jeez can't these scammers come up with anything novel? At least it would be a mental challenge to work out how it works.
 
If it works, why change? :dunno:
 
Idly perusing an old newspaper yesterday, there were 2 separate articles about women being conned out of cash over a period. In both cases their bank had contacted them to say they were being scammed, but both insisted on continuing to make payments. Of course now they are insisting that their banks reimburse them for their losses.:loopy: One victim involved that paragon of virtue, Katie Price, who was promoting a finance scammer on her Instagram page. Apparently she was getting £3k for every post. Work that one out.
 
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Using Jesus to con the elderly.

To his listeners, William Neil "Doc" Gallagher was known as the "Money Doctor" - a charming financial guru who advertised his services on Christian radio, broadcast all over the American conservative 'Bible Belt' that stretches across North Texas.

His adverts often concluded with a familiar slogan: "See you in church Sunday."

"Doctor Neil Gallagher is a premier true American, with integrity in all his pursuits," a narrator says in a corporate video posted to YouTube. "His life's passion is to help people retire safe, early and happy."

The three-minute video goes on to extol the benefits of the octogenarian's "visionary style", claiming he had guided more than 1,000 people to financial independence through his firm, Gallagher Financial Group, while also publishing a book, "Jesus Christ, Money Master".

In reality, Gallagher was anything but. Instead, he was a fraudster who amassed $32m (£24m) in a Ponzi scheme that mostly targeted retired victims between the ages of 62 and 91.

According to court documents, Gallagher had been defrauding people through a Ponzi scheme since at least 2013.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59327131
 
A friend of mine is getting a letter of recognition from the local police for stopping a senior being scammed. She works in a bank and a senior came in to make a large withdrawal because "her grandson was in jail". My friend, upon questioning the person's reason for withdrawal, immediately called the police to report it and to prevent the scam from going forward.

The police told my friend that she is one of very few people who step in like this. So most banking employees don't question when they see this happening? I thought that bank employees get training on how to spot someone who is possibly a victim of a financial scam. Very disappointed in this apparent lack of sense of duty.
 
A contributor to a local web site reported that she paid cash at a private pay and display car park. There is the opportunity to pay online but she chose cash. Two weeks later she got a £100 fine from the people who manage the car park for non payment. Luckily she still had the ticket in the car, appealed the fine and won.
Her post opened the floodgates from locals who have also been scammed. It appears that it is only those paying cash who get the fine and seems widespread. If you don’t keep your ticket you have no proof of payment. Tough shit, pop goes £100, or £50 if you pay within a week or so.
 
Tempest63 said:
A contributor to a local web site reported that she paid cash at a private pay and display car park. There is the opportunity to pay online but she chose cash. Two weeks later she got a £100 fine from the people who manage the car park for non payment. Luckily she still had the ticket in the car, appealed the fine and won.
Her post opened the floodgates from locals who have also been scammed. It appears that it is only those paying cash who get the fine and seems widespread. If you don’t keep your ticket you have no proof of payment. Tough shit, pop goes £100, or £50 if you pay within a week or so.
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Hopefully there is a new company running the car park.
 
brownmane said:
Hopefully there is a new company running the car park.
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Still the same management company. They manage a couple of car parks near the Meadows centre in Chelmsford and the same problem is materialising at both. Folk are being advised to photograph their tickets as proof as the company are putting it down to a ”computer error”
 
Tempest63 said:
Still the same management company. They manage a couple of car parks near the Meadows centre in Chelmsford and the same problem is materialising at both. Folk are being advised to photograph their tickets as proof as the company are putting it down to a ”computer error”
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A"computer error"? Really? And this computer error only hits cash paying customers? Suuuure. And I was born yesterday:bs:
 
Tempest63 said:
Still the same management company. They manage a couple of car parks near the Meadows centre in Chelmsford and the same problem is materialising at both. Folk are being advised to photograph their tickets as proof as the company are putting it down to a ”computer error”
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It's not a computer error - they have an employee or several who are skimming. Very stupid thing to do if the system requires that the customer receive a receipt and you actually give it to them.
 
Lb8535 said:
It's not a computer error - they have an employee or several who are skimming. Very stupid thing to do if the system requires that the customer receive a receipt and you actually give it to them.
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Apparently cameras record your number plates as you enter the car park, you then enter your registration on the pay machine and use cash or your debit card. The company are claiming that the computer error is somehow not registering all the cash payments.
One lady on the forum got fined as she inadvertently put in an O in place of a zero. When she appealed they quashed the fine but still charged an admin fee of £20.
 
Tempest63 said:
Apparently cameras record your number plates as you enter the car park, you then enter your registration on the pay machine and use cash or your debit card. The company are claiming that the computer error is somehow not registering all the cash payments.
One lady on the forum got fined as she inadvertently put in an O in place of a zero. When she appealed they quashed the fine but still charged an admin fee of £20.
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Shifting my ground, if it's automated then likely they programmed it to forget one out of 20 cash payments. Still very stupid, as people will complain and the receipt is still there. The methods of this kind of fraud are unlimited,
i could tell you stories...
 
Here's a new one: having your drink spiked and your phone apps used to fleece you.

Today's edition of the BBC's Money Box programme -

'I had £18,000 stolen after my drink was spiked'

A 26-year-old believes his drink was spiked on a night out and his finger print used to unlock his smart phone allowing thieves to steal £18,000 from his bank accounts.
A leading anti-fraud campaigner warns that criminals appear to be adopting the "sinister" tactic of spiking drinks to get money.
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Austin Popper said:
I never use my phone for banking. That's just asking for trouble! I only use a private browser window on a computer I own.
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Yes. I have never used my phone for banking. Just my home computer. I also don't use many apps. I don't trust what the app is really doing. Don't know if you become more paranoid about things as you get older, or if you are more aware of how much you don't know about things.
 
maximus otter said:
That just sounds to me like a convenient get-out.

l am deeply sceptical of the spiking/injecting meme.

maximus otter
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You think people are lying by saying they were spiked and taking the money themselves?.
 
Swifty said:
You think people are lying by saying they were spiked and taking the money themselves?.
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Among other things, yes. l posted about this sort of thing back in October, quoting a previous sceptical post of mine from 2018.

lt’s the perfect excuse for 21st Century man: exculpate yourself, and turn yourself into a victim deserving of sympathy, and all at zero cost.

You have very little chance of being challenged, much less having your story probed.

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
That just sounds to me like a convenient get-out.

l am deeply sceptical of the spiking/injecting meme.

maximus otter
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According to the Sun (so it must be right) an elderly git has just been convicted of spiking drinks, so I guess it does happen - possibly. I'm guessing that the excuse will be used by scammers conning banks and by other idiots as a means of avoiding responsibility for stupidity.
 
PeteS said:
According to the Sun (so it must be right) an elderly git has just been convicted of spiking drinks…
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l’d be interested to see a link to the case.

Remember: just because an evilly-intentioned man might put something into someone’s drink, it doesn’t mean that the substance will have the desired effect. As l posted a few weeks ago:

“Pervs and crims are just as much of a mixed-ability group as the general population, and just as susceptible to bullshit ULs.

See also - for just one example - “smoking banana peels gets you high, man!”

I’d bet that if we started a UL about blue Smarties containing a “date-rape drug”, within days girls would be staring in bemusement at the azure croutons bobbing about in their Porn Star Martinis.”

maximus otter
 
brownmane said:
A friend of mine is getting a letter of recognition from the local police for stopping a senior being scammed. She works in a bank and a senior came in to make a large withdrawal because "her grandson was in jail". My friend, upon questioning the person's reason for withdrawal, immediately called the police to report it and to prevent the scam from going forward.

The police told my friend that she is one of very few people who step in like this. So most banking employees don't question when they see this happening? I thought that bank employees get training on how to spot someone who is possibly a victim of a financial scam. Very disappointed in this apparent lack of sense of duty.
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The comments made by the Police sound implausible to me. Banks are more and more involved in preventing fraud. Husband of recently deceased relative went into his bank to close their joint account. Just after getting home he had a call from the local Police fraud squad, they having been contacted by the bank to confirm what was going on.
I continue to despair at people who continue to pay out money to crooks after having been warned by banks that they are being scammed, only for them to whine to newspapers about their ordeal.
 
maximus otter said:
l’d be interested to see a link to the case.

Remember: just because an evilly-intentioned man might put something into someone’s drink, it doesn’t mean that the substance will have the desired effect. As l posted a few weeks ago:

“Pervs and crims are just as much of a mixed-ability group as the general population, and just as susceptible to bullshit ULs.

See also - for just one example - “smoking banana peels gets you high, man!”

I’d bet that if we started a UL about blue Smarties containing a “date-rape drug”, within days girls would be staring in bemusement at the azure croutons bobbing about in their Porn Star Martinis.”

maximus otter
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What - you're doubting the Sun? :chuckle:. I don't know if there's a search function to provide a link. I suspect it does happen but it's rarer than gold plated hens teeth, and nowhere near as prevalent as the scare mongering press would have us all believe.
 
Heh, he was named Innocent!

A Rwandan court has sentenced to five years in prison a former director of Kigali's main prison for stealing money from a British inmate.

Innocent Kayumba, who was sentenced on Friday evening alongside his former deputy Eric Ntakirutimana, has appealed against the judgement, a court document shows.

The court acquitted an IT specialist inmate who used his skills to hack the victim’s Visa card after telling the court that he was forced by the prison director to do so.

He said he was asked to "decode" the card kept by the prison authorities after they realised that the bank account linked to it had a large sum of money.

A British-Egyptian inmate had told the court that more than £7,000 ($9,300) was taken away from his account using his card last year without his knowledge.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452
 
Tempest63 said:
Apparently cameras record your number plates as you enter the car park, you then enter your registration on the pay machine and use cash or your debit card. The company are claiming that the computer error is somehow not registering all the cash payments.
One lady on the forum got fined as she inadvertently put in an O in place of a zero. When she appealed they quashed the fine but still charged an admin fee of £20.
Click to expand...
If the computer isn't recognising the payments,but the system is number plate recognition - how come the barriers are raising to let them out of the car park? Our local number recognition car parks won't lift the barrier until your payment is made and linked to your registration plate.
 
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