Florida and Carolina's Members Beware...

[swampgrizzly]

I'd like to warn all our members from Florida and the Carolina's to be very alert to fraudulent applications in your name to the U.S. Small Business Administration, FEMA, and numerous Credit Card issuing banks inside and outside of your state. After Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana last year I, as well as, many thousands-maybe millions in Louisiana were victims of such fraudulent activities. Local sheriff offices got inundated with reports of such fraud.

My personal experience with hurricane fraudulent activity after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana started with a notice from the U. S. Small Business Association about my application for assistance. I live in a different part of the state that hardly got impacted by Hurricane Ida. We had a little rain, light wind, a few small tree branches to pick up, and didn't even loose electricity! I also received notices about my new credit cards that were coming to me in the mail, awaiting my activation to use them. I had made no such applications to U. S. Sm. Bus. Admin., nor to any banks for new credit cards. I even received a post card notice from the U. S. Post Office acknowledging my change of address request! Fortunately, I live in a small rural community where the post master knew me well and had already cancelled the change of address request for me as well as for countless others in my community before I was able to reach her about the fraudulent notice! Apparently at least one of the schemes involved having my mail, including the new credit cards that would be forthcoming, forwarded to another address where the crook could activate and start using the new credit cards un beknown to me!

I put a freeze on my credit with all 3 credit reporting bureaus as well as fraudulent activity notices with all 3 bureaus. I also filed a report with Identity Theft .Gov. I never could get through to the U.S. Small Business Administration via their 800 numbers, so I ended up dealing with them via email.

I received about 8 different fraudulent credit card attempts made in my name. My immediate family "deceased relatives" also had fraudulent credit card applications filed in their names. My deceased brother just got another one in the mail last week, a year after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana! The majority of my neighbors were victims of these fraudulent activities as well as many people in surrounding parishes (counties).

It ends up being a very time consuming effort to deal with these fraudulent crooks! My advice to you folks in Florida and the Carolina's whether you had Hurricane Ian damages or not is the put freezes on your credit, notify your post master that only you is allowed to "file a Change of Address notice and it needs to be carried in to the P.O. by you" and that no electronically submitted C.O.A. notices are to be accepted! Also, relentlessly open all mail from financial institutions even if you never did business with them before and think it's junk mail. One fraudulent attempt against me was being issued by a Florida bank for instance! Don't assume unfamiliar financial institutional mail is junk mail in the coming weeks and months ahead!

I hope all of our members faired well with Hurricane Ian and that you are also spared fraudulent activities in your name regardless of where you may live in Florida or the Carolinas!

 

[Chaukisch]

That's pretty disgusting right there. How low can you get?
Have a bump up.

 

[mikethompson]

That is pretty low to take advantage of people in that situation. I do believe that you reap what you sow however.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

How can you be scammed unless you click on something or fill something out?

 

[telescopes]

How can you be scammed unless you click on something or fill something out?

In order to be scammed you need do ABSOLUTELY nothing.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

In order to be scammed you need do ABSOLUTELY nothing.

Please explain how that works

 

[captpat]

It may be low and disgusting but folks who are already stressed out and distracted by dealing with the aftermath of the storm present a target rich environment to scammers and grifters. Before long we'll start hearing about fly-by-night roofing firms...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Please explain how that works

There was an AE documentary on this the other night. Call centers set up outside the US give access to your information to CS reps in India, Pakistan, and Jamaica. These call centers are very large rooms full of workers on the phone simultaneously working for up to 20 different companies. Local thugs contact these employees and pay them for these lists of customers and their information. Then the thugs will have their own call centers set up networking scams and creating accounts in those customers on the lists.

When you get a notification from your bank, or insurance, or whatever form of credit you may be using that your information has been compromised... it most likely means that they have discovered one of these call centers has leaked your information to these scammers. However, most people in the US feel that when they get these notifications that merely changing their passwords is enough... but it isn't. They already have your numbers.
Yes, most of the time, the scammers get intervened in the process of securing credit or loans in your name, but the 5% that don't, make it worth while for these scammers to keep on plugging away.

I also keep all three reporting bureaus locked down, to prevent this from happening.

 

[solideogloria86]

Please explain how that works

Because of hackers and data breaches at some point with almost every major company in the world. (Google, Facebook, credit card companies, banks, the list goes on) There's a 99% chance that your social security and credit card numbers are already on the dark web and available for sale. The only way to be 100% protected is to have absolutely none of your information online, which is almost impossible because even if you don't go online, your Hospital and Bank and Credit Card company all do, and your info is available to a hacker with the knowhow.
Most victims of identity theft are selected completely at random, because personal info is harvested in batches.

 

[telescopes]

Please explain how that works

Easy - scammers can get your public records off the internet with ease. They all have subscription services to address and information collection so it really cost them nothing. Once an address is set up, they can take whatever information they have collected from the dark web - where I can almost assuredly state that everyone's information has ended up at sometime, and there you have it. With a little bit of effort, accounts are set up and often enough for them, they can succeed enough to make a profit before they move on.

You have done nothing, are unaware, and haven't pushed or opened a single email or text.

About the best you can do to protect yourself is freeze your credit. It creates a pain for me, but it works.

The problem we all have is that so many major institutions have been hacked - ones where your SS# was a part of the hack. This information is for sale in packets of tens of thousands of addresses to anyone who wants to purchase it. All that is needed is a crook, a little effort, and the crosshairs of misfortune to align on your information rather than others in the herd.

We live in a society where we can take steps to protect ourselves - such as not opening or clicking on unfamiliar email or even texts or even saying yes on a phone call when asked if you are available to talk.

All I am suggesting is that, yes, take proper precautions, but when someone is victimized, don't blame the victim or suggest they could have done more. Death comes for us all.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm sorry, I was wrong, National Geographic did the documentary, not A&E. Here is the link. It was a scary but enlightening documentary. I suggest everyone check it out. REVIEW: Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller – [art]seen - http://artsatmichigan.umich.edu/seen/2020/12/14/review-trafficked-with-mariana-van-zeller/

 

[bullet08]

All these information has been available for decades. Crooks are just getting innovative with aids of internet. Voter registry has almost everything they need to screw everything up without you ever knowing it. Or I'm told.

 

[telescopes]

There was an AE documentary on this the other night. Call centers set up outside the US give access to your information to CS reps in India, Pakistan, and Jamaica. These call centers are very large rooms full of workers on the phone simultaneously working for up to 20 different companies. Local thugs contact these employees and pay them for these lists of customers and their information. Then the thugs will have their own call centers set up networking scams and creating accounts in those customers on the lists.

When you get a notification from your bank, or insurance, or whatever form of credit you may be using that your information has been compromised... it most likely means that they have discovered one of these call centers has leaked your information to these scammers. However, most people in the US feel that when they get these notifications that merely changing their passwords is enough... but it isn't. They already have your numbers.
Yes, most of the time, the scammers get intervened in the process of securing credit or loans in your name, but the 5% that don't, make it worth while for these scammers to keep on plugging away.

I also keep all three reporting bureaus locked down, to prevent this from happening.

Cosmic, great example. I'll check out the documentary in the link you provided.

 

[mso489]

I'd say half the phone calls we receive and about twenty percent of the snail mail are scam operations. Current technology allows crooked outfits to contact thousands of prospects so that if three percent bite, the crooks can make a handsome living. A lot of phone calls are just phishing for your data. Medical insurance promotions arrive in envelopes with no return address and no corporate name or contact on the inside letter. Many impersonate or are loosely vague about not being a government agency, hoping you will think they are.

One small example is the phone call that tells you that Amazon has received a payment on your card for some expensive item -- a computer typically -- and instructing you to call their number to confirm or rectify an unauthorized charge. Amazon does not phone about these, so all of these calls are scam operations. Other scams offer to reduce your credit card debt (to get your credit card numbers) etc. etc.

The safest thing is to assume a call is a scam. Hang up and call the organization that was used as the cover to see if they contacted you. They didn't.

Do not cash a check sent to you by an organization you do not know for a purchase you do not recall, no matter what their story is. Be certain this is nothing that is owed you, then destroy the check. Do not pay for "subscriptions" you do not remember ordering; hang up or tear up the solicitation.

Sadly, this is a battle we all fight, all the time. Current law enforcement isn't up to the task. The financial institutions are a little better, the credit card companies are pretty good. But you have to take the lead in repelling these scams. Daily.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

There was also a news bit about court documents being uploaded to these dark websites. Most lawsuits and divorces will have social security numbers on the rulings, some even mention other family members, so that maiden names become obvious. All Court rulings and documents are public property and transparent, and can be gotten by anyone with a visit to a courthouse or by just requesting it online for a small price. Some states will have more than just SSNs on all of them. Then, someone can just make them available online for a price. Vindictive exes, crazy people, etc... just get them and post your info. The news bit was about someone in Courthouse records wholesale posting people's info to these dark webs to be sold.

Caller scams and phishing emails take advantage of the gullible. These other things take advantage of all of us, without us having ever lifted a finger.

 

[cigrmaster]

I used to be a freak about my credit and my credit score. Then I had an incident where Experian tried to fuck me so I dumped them and every other company like TRW and the rest. This was well over a decade ago and I have not had one incident of people trying to rob me.
I don't need credit anymore so I don't even pay attention, but I do hear the horror stories and feel badly for people who have to go through it. I have taught my kids that paying interest on a credit is the worst thing you can do. These pricks charge 29 percent which is what a shylock would charge for maybe a 1 week note.

 

[georged]

Call centers set up outside the US give access to your information to CS reps in India, Pakistan, and Jamaica. These call centers are very large rooms full of workers on the phone simultaneously working for up to 20 different companies.

And we know exactly which buildings house them. Counter-hackers have observed and recorded what goes on from inside using spyware.

Buildings are locatable within about a meter anywhere on Earth using orbital satellite triangulation technology.

Cruise missiles are accurate within six feet.

Cruise missile warheads use high brissance explosives that reliably turn soft organic materials into vapor inside their blast radius.

America has a stockpile of cruise missiles.

You do the math.

 

[swampgrizzly]

How can you be scammed unless you click on something or fill something out?

In my warning to members who live anywhere near to where the latest hurricane passed I mentioned that even some of my deceased relatives had credit card applications made in their names. Do you think my deceased brother and deceased niece clicked on something or filled something out?

 

[anotherbob]

not a fan of scammers but that's just a whole nother level. I think the fitting punishment would force them to do risky front line work during active disasters.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Easy - scammers can get your public records off the internet with ease. They all have subscription services to address and information collection so it really cost them nothing. Once an address is set up, they can take whatever information they have collected from the dark web - where I can almost assuredly state that everyone's information has ended up at sometime, and there you have it. With a little bit of effort, accounts are set up and often enough for them, they can succeed enough to make a profit before they move on.

You have done nothing, are unaware, and haven't pushed or opened a single email or text.

About the best you can do to protect yourself is freeze your credit. It creates a pain for me, but it works.

The problem we all have is that so many major institutions have been hacked - ones where your SS# was a part of the hack. This information is for sale in packets of tens of thousands of addresses to anyone who wants to purchase it. All that is needed is a crook, a little effort, and the crosshairs of misfortune to align on your information rather than others in the herd.

We live in a society where we can take steps to protect ourselves - such as not opening or clicking on unfamiliar email or even texts or even saying yes on a phone call when asked if you are available to talk.

All I am suggesting is that, yes, take proper precautions, but when someone is victimized, don't blame the victim or suggest they could have done more. Death comes for us all.

I can see that, thanks for the explanation. In my case, I'm not too worried. Aside from an Amex Black, no credit cards and zero debt. Not saying that makes me invulnerable but I'm guessing it does make me a bit more difficult. I'm guessing the scammed are looking for low hanging fruit.