My baseline assumption anymore is that everything is a scam.
Every phone call
Every text message
Every email
Every advertisement
Everything
And everything in the news is a lie
Same here. And I don’t answer them. They just get deleted.
It’s a safe place to start.
Trust no one. Presume all they are interested in is your money.
I had a strange call last week that snuck through Robokiller..
A strange accent that was hard to understand (not a red-dot) was asking me to do a survey on my recently purchased Mercedes something or other.. I have never owned one.
I hung up on him and he called right back.
I told him that he is a scammer and I wouldn’t waste my time with him and hung up.
He never called back.
Every phone call
Every text message
Every email
Every advertisement
Everything
Not just online, 90% a scam or all lies, in-person face-to-face conversations. I always wait before taking action because Truth always eventually leaks through then destroys their setup.
I absolutely hate being forced into being this sinical. I feel like I'm on the wrong planet.
Every politician. Every diplomat. Every Bureaucract, advisor, NGO president in washington DC.
I sort out emails that I expect to get. Everything else is suspect. Anything that comes in at random, I do a who.is domain search on the Return Path address and the unsubscribe URL found in the email source code. I usually find that the domain is listed as being form a foreign country and is less that 24 hours old at the time the email was sent. Sometimes I will run the email header through an online analysis tool to find other questionable things like the SPF Authentication or the DMARC Record status. I get sometimes about a dozen a day. Those emails are usually about giving me something free or heavily discounted, a package tracking or something of that nature.
For scam emails that are spoofing an actual company, I take the time to report them to the abuse email at the real company.
I usually let call roll into voice mail but if I have time, I answer unknown numbers in Chinese. If I have a lot of time and I am in the mood, I answer and talk them in circles for as long as possible. Usually they will get to a point and hang up. However, a few times I got them to scream swear words at me as they hang up. When that happens, I know I have done my part.
“My baseline assumption anymore is that everything is a scam.
Every phone call
Every text message
Every email
Every advertisement
Everything”
Exactly. Just had someone send me a “PayPal” message thanking me for contributing “x” amount of bitcoin. If I did not do that, please call this number for a refund. One problem…I don’t have an active PayPal account. I also checked my bank accounts and it showed no activity. Trust NOTHING you receive online unless you initiated the contact, and then be wary of that.
“My baseline assumption anymore is that everything is a scam.”
Good starting point! :>)
When I find it’s a scam.
I forward scam emails as an attachment to abuse(at)cox.net. My banks and other institutions have similar addresses for phishing emails. It may not do any good but.......
I have a “hobby” of reporting scam posts on FB marketplace. They are easy to spot.
>An unbelievable low price.
>The same item/pictures in multiple cities.
>”Is this item available” requests direct you to the aunt they are selling it for at a gmail address.
I get 2 types of calls all the time:
“GRANDMA-—I’M In JAIL”
“We want to buy your house.”
I am now proficient in yelling & swearing rather quickly.
I HAVE NO KIDS-—or GRANDKIDS
MY PROPERTY IS NOT FOR SALE.
Of course it is a scam,
they would not be making calls all day except to make money - yours that is.