Scam - Distractions, ATMs, Phone Calls, and Lottery

[Hawke]

I got the following from my local LAPD neighborhood watch meeting.

The Distraction:
Dresses up as the gas company, fix it man, or concerned stranger and gets you out of the house. While you are outside looking at the gas meter or talking on the front lawn someone else comes in and robs you.

The salesman talks to you in front of the house to sell a magazine, candy bars, discount coupon books. The salesman job is to keep you busy and focus on him while his buddy goes around back and cleans you out.

Some confidence men (con men) can be cruel. They knock on your door and ask to use your phone because their car broke down in front of your house. If you open the door they are now inside your home.

ATMs
You walk up to an ATM and your card doesn't work. A helpful person comes up and says that he might be able to help you out. He holds down on the CANCEL button and asks that you punch in your pin number. He might even ask that you try again. He then tells you to come back tomorrow and talk with the bank tomorrow. After you walk away he pulls out your card and now has your pin number. If you see an ATM with plier marks or scratches, go find another one (police stations usually have one inside or go to a grocery store by the checkout clerk).

Phone Calls
If you see an area code you do not recognize do not call that number. Research the area code before dialing. A LEO handed me a sheet he got from AT&T. The area code listed are 809, 284, and 876. They say something that you won a prize and please call. If you call 809 (British Virgin Islands, Bahamas) you may get charged. This old scam appears to be on the rise again (los angeles).

Lottery
A person approaches you and tells you they have the winning lottery number. He wants to sell the winning ticket to you because he is an immigrant. Another stranger walks by and the immigrant asks him to call for the winning lottery number, which just happens to be the same numbers you are holding in your hands.


I used to this website to verify the scams the LAPD were mentioning (just to make sure they were not being mislead):
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/fraud.asp#fraud

 

[Hawke]

This is from the Red Cross.

Source:http://www.redcross.org/pressrelease/0,1077,0_113_6732,00.html

People are pretending to be the Red Cross to get personal data from military family members.

The American Red Cross representatives typically do not contact military members/dependents directly and almost always go through a commander or first sergeant channels. Military family members are urged not to give out any personal information over the phone if contacted by unknown/unverified individuals, [including] confirmation that your spouse is deployed.

In addition, American Red Cross representatives will contact military members/dependents directly only in response to an emergency message initiated by your family. The Red Cross does not report any type of casualty information to family members. The Department of Defense will contact families directly if their military member has been injured. Should any military family member receive such a call, they are urged to report it to their local Family Readiness Group or Military Personnel Flight.

 

[Carol]

Phone Calls
If you see an area code you do not recognize do not call that number. Research the area code before dialing. A LEO handed me a sheet he got from AT&T. The area code listed are 809, 284, and 876. They say something that you won a prize and please call. If you call 809 (British Virgin Islands, Bahamas) you may get charged. This old scam appears to be on the rise again (los angeles).

A further explanation as to why this is a scam:

Many parts of the Carribean follow the North American Numbering Plan which is telco-geek speak for the (NPA) NNX - XXXX
format of the telephone numbers that everyone in the U.S. and Canada are accustom to seeing.

However, just because a number fits that format does NOT mean the call terminates in a state/province/territory of the U.S. or Canada.

The reason why this is significant:

The U.S. FCC and Candian CRTC has ruled that within US/Canadian bounds, a specific area code is to be used for that result in an exhorbitantly high connect or per-minute fee: the (900) area code.

Areas outside of FCC/CRTC regulation do NOT have to put such calls in to the (900) area code.

Therefore, a person could be stimulated to call a Carribean destination and not realize they are calling the equivalent of a (900) line...and end up with a $25-50 charge on their bill.

This does not apply to all destinations in the Carribean. Calling Aunt Marie at her home in the Bahamas isn't going to result in these kind of charges. Making a reservation at the Sheraton in Santo Domingo won't result in these type of charges either. But if you don't know anyone in the Carribean and get a notice to call a Carribean number because of an overdue account or a prize or a free vacation........................don't do it.

 

[MA-Caver]

I get e-mails on my bogus account saying I won this or that lottery. How I must contact them asap and bla bla bla fricken BLAAH!

Amazing how I can simply win stuff without entering.

As for "let me into your home" scams... sales people don't last very long with a "not interested" and a door closed in their face. If they persist then it's a phone call to the police (they watch and know I'm not bluffing) ... (ok, ok, I really am but they don't know that I'm not bluffing... :lol: )

Common sense helps out on the rest... any illegal winning the lottery isn't going to be casually walking by looking for someone to sell it to. Especially a stranger... they'll find a (legal) amigo to help them out.

ATM's are again a thing of common sense. Never EVER punch in your PIN when someone else (you don't know) is around. I mean ... C'mon.

 

[jks9199]

Maybe in LA, there are ATMs in the police stations. In much of the US, based on my own travels and experience, there's not one in most. Or even necessarily near by. Other than that detail -- this looks like one of the few "be safe/live in terror" emails & posts that seem accurate & reasonable! Good job!

One other concern on ATMs... We've seen complete fake ATMs, which are solely designed to capture cards and PINs while appearing to be malfunctioning, and we've seen cameras and doubled readers attached. When you swipe your card, the doubled reader records the info on the magnetic strip, and the hidden camera (often in a pamphlet display attached to the ATM) records your PIN.

 

[Hawke]

I guess I take the ATMs inside the police station for granted. I didn't know other stations (out of state) didn't have them.

On regards to JLK post on ATMs.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/atm.asp

People are attaching a hidden camera with a double card reader.

Another ATM scam is a card reader attached to a laptop (hidden under/behind the counter). If I ever need to swipe a card inside a gas station I move the card reader to see if it's fixed or not. Some places have a laptop connected to the card reader to make copies and a hidden camera on top of the ceiling or to the side to get the pin number.