SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

[onetrack]

The celebrities are thoroughly sick of their images being used in clickbait scams, but it appears it's impossible to nail who's behind them. The scammers are being faciliated by the even bigger scammers - Facebook and other social media companies, and even Google.

 

If you see a scam ad on Facebook, you can report it, but they will invariably come back advising you that they can see no reason to take down the scammers profile. Pack of scumbags they are.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-06/celebrity-crypto-scams-kochie-wilkins/103061608

[red750]

Do not buy from KOGAN. They advertise products at cheap prices, and when you order they use you credit card numberto sign you up to Kogan First without your knowledge or approval, with an annual fee of $99.00. You won't know till the debit hits your credit card account. They provide no contact phone or email. Reply to any of their promotional emails and it bounces back "no-reply". I found their terms and conditions and it states, "If you cancel your account, we will not refund the membership whether you purchased anything or not." It's a downright scam.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Surely you can claim it back from your credit card issuer?

[onetrack]

Lodge a disputed payment charge with your CC provider, this scam of Kogans is definitely an infringement of consumer law. There were a heap of U.S. companies pulling this stunt some years ago, you had to scroll right to the bottom of 25 pages of T's & C's to find a "I do not agree" box to tick.

Of course, everyone missed it and got hit with charges - usually repeating monthly charges.

There was a massive outcry, and thousands lodged disputed charge claims with their CC providers, and the Govt cracked down on the scam - which is all it is.

I did read carefully and carefully avoided the Kogan First signup - but a lot of people probably wouldn't.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by onetrack

[old man emu]

Here's a new one:

My sister got a text  on the 17th of this month alleging that she had gone through a toll booth without paying on the day before. The toll booth was allegedly in Sydney. Her car was 450 kms from Sydney in her carport all day on the 16th.

 

Before she showed me the text, I told her that the toll mobs give you three days to pay, and if you haven't they send you a "penalty notice" in the mail. They don't text you the day after, even if they have your mobile number from your toll account. Then I had a look at the link she was supposed to open to pay the toll. The words of the address were gobbledygook.

 

These scammers work on the principle that if you throw out enough hooks, you'll catch something.

[willedoo]

3 minutes ago, old man emu said:

These scammers work on the principle that if you throw out enough hooks, you'll catch something.

It's long lining as opposed to fly fishing.

[red750]

I got a text saying my toll account was being cancelled due to unpaid tolls. All my kids cars are registered on my account - my late wife worked for Transurban for many years. My bank account is charged by direct debit every couple of days for the tolls incurred by my son going to the office and he repays me on payday, so I knew there were no outstanding tolls. I sent a reply text saying "Piss off scammer."

[facthunter]

That'll teach  them..  Nev

[onetrack]

By replying to scammers, you're only confirming your number is good, and they then start to get more cunning with their scams.

[red750]

My daughter received a call on the house phone and they asked to speak to my wife. They hung up when told she passed away over 18 months ago.

[facthunter]

They felt embarrassed no doubt. IF they'd known they would not have asked to speak to her. Some answering services still have the deceased person saying "We are not available to take your call but... leave a message".....Nev

[spacesailor]

I DO Like that .

But how to put that ' voice message ' onto a " smart phone " surly it Will know

I'M not taking calls . LoL

spacesailor

[old man emu]

Over the past close to two years, I've made purchases of building materials etc from Bunnings and as often I as could remember, I scanned my Flybuys card. According to my records, I spent several thousand dollars so far. So today I thought I would convert my points to cash and buy something else at Bunnings.

 

Imaging my chagrin when I checked my point balance only to find out that I needed to spend another $350-odd to qualify for $10 in credit. You need 2000 points to get $10. That means that one point can be redeemed for half a cent. So for every one dollar I spend I get a credit of half a cent. Then I read further to find that the points don't accumulate. You have to cash in every 12 months.

 

My Flybuys card now has flown to join the contents of my incinerator.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks OME. I never tried to use a rewards card but now I know the check the fine print really well.

I'm surprised that the expiry business is legal.

[old man emu]

16 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I never tried to use a rewards card

As far as I'm concerned, the Woolies card is the only honest one. Four cents off per litre, and accumulate 1000 points for $10 off your shopping. That's what creates customer loyalty.

[onetrack]

Don't get me started on this corporate theft "expiry date" rorting. It's the reason I no longer fly Qantas. Build up many tens of thousands of FF points - then have them cancelled, just as you go to use them!!

 

At least with Virgin, your points don't expire. Another outright piece of corporate theft is the expiry date on gift cards. They got the money, yet somehow it expires?? What a bloody scam, I'd love to see someone take them to court over this.

 

The amount of money the corporations rake in with this great little scam makes the real scammers look like amateurs.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by onetrack

[red750]

Woolies Gift Cards don't have an expiry date, either. Others used to, not sure if legislation changed. I haven't bought a Woolies Gift Card yet, but was going to, for petrol purchases at EG Petroleum (formerly Woolies) who accept Woolies petrol discount vouchers. 

Discount voucher   -   4c per litre off

RACV membership  -   5c per litre off 

Total discount          -   9c per litre off

Woolies gift card     -    5% off adjusted total. 

[red750]

[Jerry_Atrick]

2 hours ago, red750 said:

Woolies Gift Cards don't have an expiry date, either. Others used to, not sure if legislation changed. I haven't bought a Woolies Gift Card yet, but was going to, for petrol purchases at EG Petroleum (formerly Woolies) who accept Woolies petrol discount vouchers. 

Discount voucher   -   4c per litre off

RACV membership  -   5c per litre off 

Total discount          -   9c per litre off

Woolies gift card     -    5% off adjusted total. 

That looks like you're doing the scamming, Red 😄 Those poor large corps... how will they ever survive?

 

I am sure I was working for Coles Myer at the time Fly Buys came out. At the time, it was only for Coles Myer businesses as I recall. The large spend to accumulate points was based on their margins, which are (or were) wafer thin in percentage terms - something around grossing 4% and netting less than 1% before tax. So making them generous would have big consequences on their bottom line. However, obviously times have changed (for example, there weren't generally servos as part of the business, etc.

 

Maybe you want to check Amazon gift cards; they don't expire here.. but come to think about it, I don't think gift cards here generally expire anyway. There is nothing that prevents a term of the contract that effectively extinguishes a debt owed by the company after a period ofd time, and I get why this does happen.. Companies have to provision for them as short term credtors and once a company breaches a threshold of short term creditors that can call their debts in at any time, they have to hold back a certain amount of capital to be able to service it - in the same way banks have to hold back capital. It doesn't justify it, still, expecially in high inflation and interest rate times as it equates to an interest free loan to the company while the creditor (gift card holder) is losing value on it unless it is spent relatively quickly.

 

 

Over here, the supermarkets have their own gift cards (except Sainsbury's, which uyses Nectar cards). Those clever clogs mean I now have about 5 of them, as these days most of their specials are only available to their loyalty card holders. I hardly ever use the points and yes, they do expire. Apart from the Co-Op, which is a true cooperative, the only reason why I have th eother cards is to get those specials. I did learn a neat trick though when one forgets their card - just ask th eperson behind you if they will swipe theirs on your bill. Yeah - they get the points, but you get the discounts..

[Jerry_Atrick]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Over here, the supermarkets have their own gift cards (except Sainsbury's,

Sorry - that should read loyalty cards.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well.. if you think about taking yhour computer to a computer repair shop.. think again. The last shop was trying to scam him:

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[red750]

Thousands lost in invoice scam.

 

A number of people have lost vasts amounts of money to an invoice scam perpetrated against buyers of new Mercedes. The person arranges to buy a new car and the dealer sends the invoice by email. The buyer receives the invoice and makes the deposit payment to the bank account provided. Except that the dealer never receives the money. The scammers intercept the dealers email and alter the bank account details on the invoice, so the money goes to the scammers account. The scam is not detected until the dealer contacts the buyer a week or so later saying they are waiting on the deposit.

Mercedes claim their emails have not been hacked and the problem lies with the buyer.

[onetrack]

Most Mercedes buyers wouldn't miss the money they've been scammed out of - and that's what a lot of scammers work on.

[spacesailor]

My neighbours sister just bought a Mercedes 4X4 . Hope she didn't get scammed .

spacesailor 

[red750]

A scammer was raided in Melbourne where police found a number of SIM machines holding dozens of SIM cards. The equipment was capable of sending 150,000 text messages per day, pretending to come from companies like Australia Post and Linkt, with messages like "Your parcel could not be dlivered. Click on the link below to update your delivery address." I received one of those messages at 3:45 am this morning.The tone woke me up.

 

The 36 year old is out on bail, but his equipment wa seized.