Phone scammers…

defilerwyrm:

othersidhe:

defilerwyrm:

Ya boi just took some asshole for a ride. Some schmuck called me from a (spoofed) DC number with some cockamamie story about how he’s with the Federal Government and they’ve randomly selected me to receive a $7000 grant, oh and I’ll have to go pick it up at any of several chain grocery stores. Keeps using theseĀ ā€œcheck-inā€ phrases that are meant to prompt you to say yes.

But see, joke’s on him: I’ve heard of this scam, and I don’t talk like most people. When I answer the phone and someone asks for me by name, I sayĀ ā€œSpeaking,ā€ notĀ ā€œYes.ā€ So every single time this assclown tried to get me to sayĀ ā€œYesā€ I’d say something likeĀ ā€œUnderstoodā€ orĀ ā€œGo on.ā€

You see, the scam is, they trick you into sayingĀ ā€œYes,ā€ and bonus if they can get you to repeat numbers (esp. 0-9) and/orĀ ā€œI agree.ā€ What these low-lives do is record your voice and then use the sound bytes to make fraudulent charges in your name.

So fuck this guy right off the bat.

The more I dicked him around, the more frequently he started trying to goad me into saying the y-word. The funniest part came when he was going toĀ ā€œgive me a confirmation number.ā€

Him: The confirmation is seven, one, three…

And he just STOPS. TheĀ ā€œthreeā€ was pitched up to indicate there’d be more. I wait. He waits. I say,Ā ā€œGo on.ā€

And this bitch goes,Ā ā€œYes, the confirmation number is seven, one, threeā€¦ā€

And he STOPS AGAIN. I wait. He waits. I say,Ā ā€œGo on,ā€ again.

And he STARTS! OVER! AGAIN! He did this TWO MORE TIMES before giving me theĀ ā€œfull confirmation numberā€ and aĀ ā€œnumber to call,ā€ which together JUST HAPPEN to include all ten digits, 0 through 9.

This entire time I haven’t said a single word that could be construed as agreement. So he asks me to repeat the numbers back to him. I decide I’ve had enough at that point. I tell him to get a better job, hang up, and block the number.

AnotherĀ ā€œDCā€ number immediately calls me. I reject & block it.

And then I filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission. :3

BE WARY. Get yourself on the National Do Not Call Registry. If a number you don’t recognize calls you, DON’T REPLYĀ ā€œYESā€ OR ANY OTHER GENERIC AFFIRMATIVE TO ANYTHING THEY SAY OR ASK.

The original scam is a robocall that starts off withĀ ā€œCan you hear me?ā€ The most correct response is to hang up and report it to the FTC. The second best isĀ ā€œI can hear you,ā€ if you’re not sure or if you forget. But get into the habit of using responses other thanĀ ā€œYesā€ on the phone. These fuckers are everywhere.

It gets worse, OP. Your voice can be spliced to sound like you agreed to something. You may have given them enough to do that with. Like those Microsoft Windows people that call and want your ā€˜important numbers off your computer’ I talked to them for far too long and only found out after the fact that they could make fraudulent charges just by splicing some of your words together. They were after something different, but it amounts to the same thing in the end. Also there’s the common ā€˜press 1′ people as well. It’s best to just hang up. The Attorney General says to get an answering machine and they can’t really do anything about them because they’re constantly spoofing numbers. Neither can the phone company, and they Charge You Money for reporting them!

Oof. Reblogging for additional warnings. I’ve already made my report to the FTC, so I’ll just be keeping a close eye on my finances for a while. (Like I’m not already given my situation.)

see this shit? this is why i don’t answer my phone if i don’t recognize the number. if it’s important they’ll leave a message

Amazon Alternatives

princessnijireiki:

closet-keys:

mellomaia:

po-tato-girl:

in light of the Amazon strike, I wanted to offer some alternative online stores you can use INSTEAD OF Amazon for the upcoming months until the employees at Amazon are granted some basic common decency šŸ™‚

rakuten.com – has nearly everything Amazon has

ebay.com – just be careful for scams!

newegg.com – for electronics/technology

emusic.com – music for as little as $1!! They also have a membership program where you can get music for even less!!

barnesandnoble.com – they have collectible items and childrens toys too!

This is great!

indiebound.org – books, and they make it easy to locate and purchase from local independent bookstores near you who Amazon would otherwise be putting out of businessĀ 

Addall also lets you search for the lowest price on books via multiple websites & sellers worldwide (doesn’t include eBay, but it has most of the other big online book sellers)— and Open Library has free ebook rentals (all legally above-board!), including a bunch that don’t ā€œtechnicallyā€ have ebook releases, because OL also pulls from Google’s log of digitized/scanned analog books as well.

Don’t overlook traditional libraries right now, either; a lot have digital rental & streaming media services included with your membership now, like Hoopla & Overdrive.

Just Watch also lets you search for movies & TV shows by title and see where you can (legally) watch them streaming, including labeling if they’re free, have ads, and listing prices for pay rentals & purchases. It won’t include those library services, but like Addall, it covers most of the big hitters.

irresponsible-black-unicorn:

awyren-drosymor:

irresponsible-black-unicorn:

irresponsible-black-unicorn:

irresponsible-black-unicorn:

irresponsible-black-unicorn:

Me: ā€œThis was such a long week!ā€

Coworker: ā€œYou realize it’s only Wednesday right?ā€

Me:

I have been reminded that Wednesday is half price wine slushie day at a vineyard nearby so….

I have arrived…this is not a drill

Peach Mango Wine Slushie… My lawd

Fun fact… my fiancee and I were there too and she and I both had a moment of ā€œis that.. irresponsible-black-unicorn?ā€ And we just had a laugh because we were right.

WHAT REALLY? ……so when are we going next? …. tomorrow is also a wine slushie night