SCAMMER Warnings Information

[Garry]

Hi Good People,

Those that know me are aware that I contribute buckets of stuff for Simmers all over the world to use for FREE for nearly 20 years

However, I am on a bit of a crusade against SCAMMERS at the moment - I am a member of the Cardiff NSW Returned Services League (20 years in the RAAF - 1970-1990) - also their web site developer. Lots of senior citizens (ex service men and women) are members and over the last few months several of them have been sucked in by internet, letterbox or phone scammers

One dear old lady (served as a Navy Nurse in WWII) re-mortgaged her house to buy into a SCAM Scheme - simply because she was not aware of the dangers of being SCAMMED. She has now lost her future of independence and in a situation that she will have to sell her house and become a burden on her children for accommodation and sustenance for the rest of her life. Her guilt, distress and remorse was obvious. Her only fault was to be trusting in the hope that she would leave her family a nice nest egg when she passed away.

Just one of the many thousands out there that are being SCAMMED and having their life and future destroyed.

That got me wound up

Just far too many people out there who are ignorant of SCAMS and easily fooled - yes in some cases it is greed, but there is a bit of that in all of us sometime or other - however many other types of SCAMS also rely on ignorance of the many methods used to steal money from their victims. The natural trust of many people and particularly Senior Citizens make them very vulnerable to SCAMS.

I set up and gave a lecture to all members about the hazards - researching SCAM enabled me to created a document for distribution to all members. From that I ended up creating a Layman's Guide to all of the types of SCAMS that are out there with a lean towards making it as clear and as easy to understand as possible.

I have added the Scam-Information web page with tons of details to the Cardiff RSL Web site and it is actually very popular with over 23 thousand visitors since I posted the page several months ago. But still a tiny number in comparison to the reach of the SCAMMERS.

That's the background - now to the nuts and bolts.

The Scam Information web page I created contains information that is applicable world wide and I have been trying to come up with different ways to spread the word to as many people as possible to try and help save them the heartache of being scammed.

I have added images and links to just about all of the sites that I manage to try and spread the word but that is only a "Mickey Mouse" push in reaching out.

I would like to know if you would be interested in making the information available on SCAMS prominent for your patrons and visitors with a prominent link to the current Scam Information page somewhere in the main forum or on the SIMVIATION Web site.

Please Note: this is not a push to highlight the little Cardiff RSL web site - it is just the most appropriate web site (under my management) I could use to warn visitors and members about SCAMS.

I have absolutely no problems if you wish to "plagiarise" the entire contents and place it on your site as your own civic duty effort - my goal is to spread the word to protect innocent people - personal cudos is not an issue for me in this venture.



Link: http://www.cardiff-rsl.com/scam-information.htm

It has a little bit of Australian flavour (because that was my original focus as an Aussie) in some parts of the comments and some images (Aussie dollars etc) - but overall all of the scams highlighted affect everyone on the planet.

Anyway - just an enquiry to see if you would be interested in doing some civic duties through Simviaton in some way. It could help to save some or many from these SCAMMER vermin.

Regards - thanks for your time in addressing this issue - appreciated.

Garry J. Smith - aircraft texture tinkerer and scenery maker

[Tonydb]

Great Idea, I receive two or three scams a month, mainly from the fake financial sector

[pete]

I must receive 10-50 scam emails everyday for 15 years. Some are plain dumb but many look like they are from paypal or a bank or some other genuine company.

I often think there will be people out there taken in by these criminals. I am looking forward to the day they can be tracked down whereever they are in the world and given the 20 years plus they deserve as well as having all the money they scammed returned - not matter what it takes!
There should be government sponsored information in all countries warning people about this on TV, internet ads etc.

NEVER reply to any email about your finances. If you are concerned - log in the normal way - NOT by replying or clicking on the email link!

Also -- keep your good anti virus and PC security updated at all times.

[Fozzer]

The trouble is, the World is full of very gullible people.
Give them access to a Computer and the Internet, Social Media, etc, and no matter what precautions are taken, they will always be drawn into doing something which most folks would consider to be very silly, often with dire results.

There is no cure for gullibility and stupidity.

For the rest of us, in the words of Judge Judy;...
"If something doesn't make sense, then its nonsense!".

Paul.... ....!

[Garry]

Paul,

I concur - yes there are some gullible people out there - and some people, no matter what you do to try and warn them will still fall for a SCAM.

However, the majority get drawn into a SCAM because of IGNORANCE - just do not know the plethora of ways that they can be SCAMMED and really do think it is a genuine contact.

The computer smart people, hear the stories and are mostly SCAM Aware - even then some get caught by the even smarter and devious methods now being used by SCAMMERS.

Recently read a report where Phone Scammers worked their way through an entire Retirement Village with the TAX OFFICE (you owe money and pay now) SCAM in one day. Several pensioners were terrified by the Scammers and paid up before they even had a chance to discuss it over community Dinner that night.

Family or friends help their parents or grand-parents set up a social media web page so that they can keep in touch with the family - but fail to warn them about SCAMS and they are prime victims of SCAMS.

The Phone and letterbox Scammers however attack people out of the blue - many who do not even have internet access and they are totally ignorant of SCAMS and trust the call or letter to be genuine.

Only family and friends can help prevent victims being scammed by letting them know about SCAMS by word of mouth.

Easy for us, the ones that are already aware of SCAMS, to sit back and declare - "how dumb to pay a SCAM, everyone knows about SCAMS and more fool them". But unfortunately, because of the lack of the PRESS and TV NEWS media focus or highlights of SCAMS the ignorant will always be easy victims of SCAMS.

Again I agree there are some people, no matter what you tell them, will fall for a SCAM - sometimes repeatedly. but the vast majority are first time victims through ignorance and many forfeit everything because they just did not know that such vile people are out there with insidious intentions.


All I am trying to do is at least get the information out to as many people as possible - at least give them a chance to be aware of the methods being used to steal their money and destroy their lives.

Regards mate.

[OldAirmail]

I get very few email ads or scams.

How? Very few websites get my real email address.

For all of the website and download programs that insist on an email address, I use a fake first name (Ricardo), and a GMAIL account. If I should ever see Ricardo, then it's trash time. No reply, just trash it.

Unless I'm expecting to be contacted immediately after signing up, I never check that GMAIL account. I have no clue what's there, and no intention to check.

[Garry]

That's a clever idea - if you don't want to get any e-mail

Unfortunately many people give their e-mail address out because they actually want e-mails from family, friends, associates and of course the many businesses etc that they deal with.

Using false e-mail addresses would be a bit pointless for those that need to get responses from legitimate contacts the curse of course is that the scammers will use it as well.

And of course people also use various Social Media applications that are also avenues for SCAMMERS.

Hence the need to warn people about the negative aspects of the plethora of ways they interact via the internet.

Regards.

[Fozzer]

Fortunately, my e-mail server is very clever at recognising mail that I don't want, and directs it straight into my Spam Box for me to delete at a later date.
The rest of the stuff that gets past, is easily recognised for what it is, and immediately deleted by me....never open it!

Overall, I rarely get any spam mail!

The trick: NEVER CLICK on dodgy stuff to examine it.....The spammers instantly recognise you as; being-at-home!.... ....!

Paul.... ...!

[Garry]

I also use SCAM Filters on my various servers and also run a special Mail Pre Reader program (Mailwasher Pro) that allows me to safely view and filter out the obvious scams - works well for about 80 to 90% of the junk, spam and scam stuff.

The rest of the filtering is, as you say, vigilance by the receiver - and safely dealing with what you open or click on - but knowing what is "safely" can only come with knowledge of what is not safe, therefore I come back to my recommendation to read the information I have made available to be at least aware of some of the unsafe or dangerous stuff you get by e-mail.

But e-mail SCAMS are only a part of SCAMMING - there is also the risks of PHONE SCAMS, LETTERBOX MAIL SCAMS and SOCIAL MEDIA (Facebook, Twitter, Dating Sites etc) SCAMS which are trawling grounds for hundreds of SCAMMERS.

I address most of these methods in the Scam-Information page.

Regards mate.

[Garry]

Your not going to believe this scam - it is the first scam that I actually enjoyed a long belly laugh about. I don't think there is a person on this planet that would fall for this scam - however, a criminal or other very bad person might have a bit of a fright and pull out the stolen credit card details or fake cheque book.

SMS Phone Message from a Hit Man
This is a new one for you all to be afraid about, very, very afraid. Some idiot of a scammer is sending SMS messages to mobile phone accounts advising you that "A contract has been taken out to kill you", however, the sender adds that he/she will not kill you if you pay several thousand dollars NOW.

This has to be the most moronic and stupidest scam that I have ever seen. From a Hit Man that is prepared to take a bribe to not do a hit. - certainly not a sharp pencil this one......

Sorry had to list this here because I had heard about this a couple of times recently but did not believe anyone could be that dumb, but my partner actually got that SMS message today. I graciously offered to help her out with 10% of the bribe money - now I have no doubt that I really am under threat of physical harm, she can punch real hard....

Better not push the issue any further - might end up with a contract to kill me being raised.

Hope this post adds a bit of a laugh to ease some of the worries about scammers - however, as always - be aware and be alert to scammers.

Regards - still having a good chuckle about this one........

[Fozzer]

... ... ... ...!

But He/She is clever enough to know that there are zillions of; "6-packs" out there that are short of a few; "cans", and will take the "threat" seriously, and fork out loads of cash..... for whatever reason...

...'cos its what they do in their simple minds....

Me?....

I lose patience with them, and go back to sleep again!

Paul.... ... ...!

[H]

Oh, my! Are you sure it was a fake call? I wasn't really thinking about a scam -- I just don't like needless calls from those I don't know in the first place. I kept talking over him and asking who he was trying to call, finally informing that I'd just gotten this phone number and I was [fake name] and he had the wrong number. Then I hung up. Then I worried there's someone out there with the name I gave and hoped I didn't get them in trouble... did you just relieve a worry...

[Garry]

Good retort - fob them off to a fictional other.

My favourite response to Phone Scams is go along with them for a bit - let them run their spiel and appear very concerned - then when they feel like they have a sucker on the hook I hit them with "Does your mother know that you steal money from other people for a living?" and hang up denying them the opportunity to react.

Occasionally they ring me back to try and abuse me - being an old dog I can banter abuse at a more stinging level back at them for hours if they want - got a lot of free time when it comes to an opportunity to abuse SCAMMERS .

At least that is even more time wasted by them and not time being spent on stealing from others.

[Garry]

Here is a couple of images for you to keep in mind next time your dealing with that nice person who wants to give you money - as a gift, lotto win, inheritance, secret bank deal or the plethora of other SCAMS:



SCAM workshops - full of those nice people who really want to help you.... (in giving your money to them)

[SG-19]

Great work Garry keep it up, Oh by the way thanks for all those fantastic repaints for my vintage air fleet.