Jump to content

"new scam" - no - just back again - beware


dra007

Recommended Posts

A new scam is on the rise that uses sam tactics as known phishers:

This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm <http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm>

And here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp <http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp>

Yep! It's true

Please make sure and pass this on! Especially tell the elderly in your family, they are so easily confused, and they are the ones that are the easiest to pray on!! Thanks

moderator edit: updated title - not really new, but still needs to be noted as being important and dangerous -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A new scam is on the rise that uses sam tactics as known phishers:

Although the heads-up may be of benefit to some, if one was to factor in the amount of time involved for this to finally get to the level of attention that someone at the FBI decided to post the data you quoted, and that this was back in mid-2006 ... doesn't quite marry up with the word "new" as used in the Subject Title and initial part of your post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While the scam is real (and has been around for lots of years), I would definitely not be alarmed by the email. Whoever wrote the email can't spell any better than the scammers. I may 'pray' for relief if I have been dumb enough to fall for the scam, but the scammer 'preys' on the gullible and those afraid of authority.

Miss Betsy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This sort of thing is endlessly recycled - they acquire a life of their own, courtesy of those breathless correspondents we all have (they want so much to be relevant, bless 'em). I can't see any easily-found internet mention of the actual scam still being live but maybe it is. Guess these scams naturally ramp up as unemployment rises.

Certainly worth posting, all things considered, I think. Too many people give out details on the 'phone before their brain has a chance to wake up anyway. Mostly it's harmless (stupid charity workers etc., in this country at least - though I guess that racket is close to a scam in itself, in the cases of those using paid agencies). Anyway that's no excuse nor is it protection 'next time'. But no, evidently not new. The undead are restless. That's almost worse.

Gunna hafta change my sig - "Resident Curmudgeon" perhaps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't check the validity or history of this scam, it was forwarded to me by a friend and struck me as real and fresh..If indeed this is as old as some of you claim then that adds another parallel with spam: around for many years and still not stopped. Of course a scam that proves to be profitable to the criminals will re-emerge over and over, that makes it worthwhile discussing it anew and making vulnerable people aware...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If indeed this is as old as some of you claim then that adds another parallel with spam: around for many years and still not stopped.

Lots of stuff hangs around for years and isn't stopped...but assuming that you visited the Snopes page, you saw:

This helpful heads-up began appearing in inboxes in August 2005

So maybe someone could edit title of this topic, and you could alter the "A new scam is on the rise" at the beginning of your first post?

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...