- I remember calls from “boiler room” investment salesmen back in the 70s.
- How about “airplanes”? Those chain letter type scams. I actually fell for one of those. I felt so bad that I refunded the people that got in below me.
- The Iraq Dinar? I know two people who have died waiting for the currency to revalue, and another guy who still believes it’s going to happen.
- The Nigerian Prince scam. A friend of mine lost a couple $k on this one. She was afraid to tell her husband. I don’t blame her.
- The Grandson Scam. One of my sweetest widow clients lost about $25K on this. She may have been old, but she was not someone who I thought would be vulnerable. She explained to me in minute detail how the scam unfolded. You think you are not vulnerable? Think again.
- Various Romance Scams. A friend not much older than me, somehow was befriended by a beautiful South African girl (he showed me texted pictures), who inherited gold bars from daddy. She just needed some cash to get them out of storage. She would then send them to his local police department, in care of him, and then fly into the USA to live happily ever after with my pal. Even after I showed him evidence and history of the fraud, he didn’t believe it. His daughter got hold of his phone and deleted its history, but he eventually found his South African girlfriend. The only consolation is that he has no savings to get scammed out of, just what he can spare from his SS.
- Fake law enforcement scams, IRS agent scams, turnpike toll scams, hacked computer…….
- Possibly the most common scam of all; theft by family members.
It’s a never ending battle. I feel like we’re chasing our tales. But me, I’m way too smart to fall for any of it. NOT.
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I found this quite lengthy description of one of the phone numbers that keeps calling my mother.
From just 1 phone number, amazing!
I could have been scammed, but never got a reply for more information, so I never pursued an investment with this firm. Unfortunately, about 300 people lost an average of $500K totaling about $140 million. Most of the victims would learn about this smooth talking person from an ad he had on a syndicated radio show. and was referenced as a good christian. Many of the investors had a good portion of their retirement invested in the Ponzi scheme. The whole con-job is still under investigation.
Even my brother that passed away last month was scammed out of $40K via Facebook. He was widowed and thought he was making a friend connection with a well known actress that needed money. Sad!
Many articles recently regarding the innocent looking QR code that begs you to scan it for “further info, etc.” These are just another form of a link in a text or email that possibly directs you to nowhere good (at least not for you and me.)
Two of the scams I think can victimize many people are (1) fake emails with false wire instructions from title companies in real estate closings; and (2) title theft (where scammers transfer title of mortgage-free properties ). The first scam can be avoided to some extent by calling a contact you know at the title company (at a number you have independently obtained) to verify the wire instructions. The second is tricky–I have heard some attorneys recommend placing your home’s title in an LLC [I’m not sure why that works & how that impacts homestead exemptions]. I’d be interested in knowing if Forum members have suggestions on preventing title theft. TIA
The National Association of Realtors posted a few articles on Title Fraud and prevention. Consumer protections: good title insurance, good credit monitoring and anti ID theft measures. Mortgage lenders, tax assessors also monitor for any change in the title.
Dan, kudos to you. The more we talk about SCAMS, the better because there are new ones every day, and with AI they will become almost seamless. I only answer calls from my contact list, and if a call is useful, like a doctor or the like, they will leave a message that you can associate with. When it comes to emails, click on NO URL’s, you can always go to the website directly. Thanks for all the reminders. Tip, pay anything you buy with a credit card, as you can always dispute the charge.
William, many people don’t know that they can put all calls from anyone not in their contacts straight to voicemail. Everyone who is anything to me is in my contacts, everyone else can leave me a message.
Dan – the one exception to that, as far as I can tell, is medical practitioners. Over the years I’ve had a few outpatient procedures. All involved receiving calls from medical professionals using phone numbers that are not in my contact list. Then they leave a number to call (and no one answers) that is different from the number they called from. My only solution is to temporarily suspend the “straight to voicemail” option on my iPhone. But the moment I do that, other calls right through. It’s a frustrating process. 🙁
I’ve had even more frustrating stuff from medical services. Because of “patient confidentiality” they sometimes won’t even leave a message. This is despite me telling them it’s my personal cell. Best case you get engaged in a multi hour game of telephone tag all because you couldn’t drop everything to answer them the moment they called unscheduled.
Doctors office, Nurse help line:
“Leave a message and we’ll get back to you within 48 hours.” Yes, but which of the 48 hours? I was already returning a call to them from a message they left me an hour ago!
Jeff, yes, I do the same at times when waiting for a call from a doctor, or perhaps a repairman or similar.
Thanks for sharing the list, Dan. I have no doubt the list will keep growing.
Scammers often play on the emotion of fear. It is a powerful motivator. Lawyers and insurance salespersons do it quite a bit. Be careful out there.
I was briefly in the insurance business and can say you are 100% correct. The same can be said of politicians.
Anybody bought a new car at a car dealership lately? The opportunities to be scammed by purchasing waaay overpriced add-on services and the modern equivalent of extra-protection body under-coating (remember that one?) (specifically, the current version is some kind of extra body paint protection) are abundant! These scam opportunities are presented by the finance manager (who gets a commission by selling them) after you thought you were done negotiating a price with the car itself from the car sales person.
That’s impossible. Here in South Carolina it is illegal for anyone but a dealer to sell you a new car. Why? Because dealers “protect” consumers. Really, that’s their rational. We build Scout vehicles here but since there aren’t any Scout dealerships the people who make the cars can not buy them. Crazy.
I recently leased a car and experienced the same from the finance guy.
Indeed it is the finance manager that you now have to be wary of, not the salesman. I bought a car in April and as he described what I thought was the certified pre-owned warranty it all became very confusing. As it turns out, he was describing the after market warranty as though it came with the car. Same dealership, different finance guy, literally told my son and I he had a quota to meet and asked if we could help him out on the after market warranty. At a Chevy dealer with my other son, when it became apparent my son would refuse dealer financing in lieu of his own, the finance guy became all gruff. “Sign here, sign here!” And then walked out without even a thank you. Sheesh!
1, never got one of those guys, have gotten peddlers of natural resource exploration companies (we’re investing in this miner or driller about to explode)
5, got a call like this, for my son, I’m such a skeptic, I asked questions immediately, they were good at trying to create an urgent feel, people really should be careful here
7, Oy the texts lately make me want to punch someone in the face
Don’t forget the house stealers, and credit card phishers
How about the Vacation Rental Scam. I know someone that was looking into a big beautiful vacation rental home near the beach in New Jersey.
It was expensive but it would be worth it for the family. A text was received with an email address that said everything about the house and that the VRBO fees could be bypassed is a certified check was sent directly.
OUCH !!! I admit it was me that got scammed and I’m still learning of VRBO and AirBNB
Oh, so sorry to hear that.
I also read of a person who also was scammed when paying with Venmo.
This morning’s New York Time’s newsletter had a piece on the increasing use of AI in scams, plus its use in defense. I suppose the good news is people are less likely to get kidnapped in SE Asia to work the scams, the bad news is that the number of attempts will sky rocket.
I believe I read the same article you mention and a few others on the rapidly increasing use and effectiveness of AI in scams. Quite alarming, actually. The scammers can be very patient, collecting bits of your info here and there over time (which is shrinking) and can then launch a variety of “attacks”. This includes phone calls from people that sure sound like the one you know and know enough about you to be convincing, for example.
Thinking that we’re going to implement the old spy school meeting phrase exchange for phone calls:
Caller: ”Hey, how ‘bout them Tigers?”
Recipient: “I prefer cricket.”
So we’ve got that going for us……
Those fake phone calls can include ones to your bank. Worrying article here.
Approximately 15 years ago, a theoretical physics professor at UNC traveled to South America to meet a bikini model who was “waiting” for him. He was duped into carrying a suitcase containing several kilos of cocaine once he landed for a connecting flight. It was an amusing story to read, obviously a scam, and I happened to know a UNC physics professor who added some additional details that weren’t in the local newspaper.
Great work, Dan. I’ve always felt that threads like this are among the most valuable on HD, at least for me — more so than any of the discussions on investments or taxes.
The only one I’m likely immune to is the grandson scam. Another of the many benefits of remaining childless.
Thanks Mike. The Pig Butchering post got me thinking about all the scams I’ve seen over the years, and I’m sure I missed many. There is just no end to the creativity of the criminals who would take our money. I’ve often said that if these people used their skills legitimately they’d be successful businessmen and women.
In the past 12 months, 34% of US adults have experienced a scam or financial fraud (without necessarily losing money). Over the course of a lifetime, 68% of US adults have experienced a scam. 30% have faced more than one type of scam. – Futurespace, Bankrate.com.
2.6 million Americans reported financial fraud to the FTC in 2024, and the losses were $12.5 Billion. Of that, $5.7 Billion was lost via investment scams.
Very little of that money is ever recovered and yet, we now have attorneys marketing “Senior Citizen Fraud Recovery”.
Beware of the opportunists. As is true of most things, prevention is the better approach.
“Over the course of a lifetime, 68% of US adults have experienced a scam…”
To which I would add, …and the other 32% just weren’t paying attention…”
🙂
My elderly mother was being pummeled by telephone scammers in the mid-2010s. I told her to give them the local sheriff’s phone number and tell them to pass along her regards to her son, the sheriff.
The calls ended. Fancy that.
(I’m not the sheriff)
Good article in WSJ yesterday about an elderly crypto scam. Getting scammed can happen to anybody. It did to me. Luckily on a small scale.
Yes, that article, along with the Pig post inspired my post. It is truly frightening.
I don’t know what the best protection is. I’ve agreed with my mother, who remains vulnerable as many older people are because she one of the last generation to retain a landline phone, that she never commits to anything and consults with me on anything financial.
None of that prevents dementia driven vulnerability of course. I guess ultimately the only protection there is to execute financial power of attorney such that another trusted person has control.
I’d also add the not necessarily direct scam but “routine overcharge” from many suppliers of services who will ramp up fees unless you actively and frequently complain or threaten to take your business elsewhere from insurance to telecoms to streaming. This essentially exploits customer “trust” and punishes inertia.
Until I sold my house to move to a CCRC I had both a landline and a mobile phone. I gave everyone other than friends and family the landline number and I turned off the ringers on the landline phones. Very, very few people left a message. I still get remarkably few scam calls and texts – I don’t know whether they are still going to the landline, or whether T-Mobile does a particularly good job of blocking them.
For a story for Forbes magazine in the late 1980s, I walked into a boiler room that was peddling collectable stamps at inflated prices. Customers were not expected to turn up in person. One thing that struck me: This was not a good-looking collection of salespeople. In fact, the guy I talked to had a huge scar across his face. I subsequently spoke to a police investigator, and he said that wasn’t uncommon–that’s why these folks were working the phones.
Now that’s some good investigative reporting done the old-fashioned way. Yikes, talk about walking into the lion’s den! Good work.
It was a little unnerving. Incidentally, I heard something similar about those who work in radio. An acquaintance who was a professional photographer took the pics at the wedding of a local radio host. He said there was a reason these folks, who all had wonderful voices, weren’t on TV.
“You have a face made for radio”
It is sad that good looks are so influential.
Agreed. Good looks and height are huge advantages in life. Wealthy parents can also come in handy.
Yikes!
So not the well dressed, hair slicked back guys portrayed in the movies. Interesting.