Apparently people become more trusting in old age. I would say #5 is due more to that aging-related gullibility rather than simple technological illiteracy.
Maybe, but I'm lucky to not be a part of that statistic, if it's true.
Blows my fucking mind that some people can fall for these. It also saddens me that there are older people who don't even have someone they trust (ie. a family member) and can consult with before giving in to one of these scams.
If you ever get these guys on the phone there's 3 funny things I've learned:
1. They'll have a stereotypical American name like "Bob Jones" but a heavy Indian accent.
2. If you ask them where they're calling from they'll say a city in the U.S. This leaves the door open to fu** with them. Ask them local questions and they'll get confused.
3. They will remind you they are on a "Secure recorded line" sometimes they'll say "this is a press 1 secure line" whatever that means lol.
I had one on the phone yesterday with a Caucasian name. I asked where he was calling from and he said "Austin, Texas". Unfortunately I know nothing about that city but I acted nervous and asked "Is this a press 1 secure line?" and he assured me "YES it is!" as if that made the scam any better.
I work for a major credit card company and we get some many calls at tax time. People wanting to discourse charges because they fell for this scam and bought hundreds of dollars of iTunes gift cards. I personally spoke with a lady who bought $2,500 worth and there was nothing that could be done. And yes, nearly all of them were elderly.
Apple could do a lot more to prevent fraud when people use their gift cards. For a company that prides itself on security, they have left the door wide open to fraudsters.
Apple could do a lot more to prevent fraud when people use their gift cards. For a company that prides itself on security, they have left the door wide open to fraudsters.
How so? How would Apple prevent someone from giving gift cards away?
That is a terribly written admonition on the back of that card. It reads as if the Apple gift card won't cover sales taxes on purchases. There's no context for a person to think it's related to the prevention of an IRS scam. I seriously doubt anyone making it that far into being scammed is going to be deterred by a warning reads like that. It would almost be less confusing to have nothing at all.
I agree. If a person is stupid enough not to know how IRS works, that label in red will do NOTHING to fix that.. (and it should not)
That is a terribly written admonition on the back of that card. It reads as if the Apple gift card won't cover sales taxes on purchases. There's no context for a person to think it's related to the prevention of an IRS scam. I seriously doubt anyone making it that far into being scammed is going to be deterred by a warning reads like that. It would almost be less confusing to have nothing at all.
I agree. If a person is stupid enough not to know how IRS works, that label in red will do NOTHING to fix that.. (and it should not)
Yeah, I think you may have missed the intent of my comment. It's not meant as an insult to anyone. It's a criticism of how the warning is written. The sentence is awkward and it lacks any context regarding IRS scams.
Stupidity really has nothing to do with this. I think ignorance may have been the world you were looking to use (I hope). Being ignorant of a scam is not an indication of stupidity.
I work for a major credit card company and we get some many calls at tax time. People wanting to discourse charges because they fell for this scam and bought hundreds of dollars of iTunes gift cards. I personally spoke with a lady who bought $2,500 worth and there was nothing that could be done. And yes, nearly all of them were elderly.
A very close elderly relative of mine fell for a scam. Well over $100,000 worth of iTunes cards. She even took out a loan for $50,000 -- the bank saw every red flag but still gave her an unsecured loan for it. The scam was a call where someone pretended to be her son in law and was in jail and needed money for a lawyer. They were able to keep her from talking to the family about it by convincing her that the son in law needed to keep it secret.
Hey, people believe what they hear on Fox, so why shouldn't they believe this?
Let's not forget all the embellishments, falsehoods, things taken out of context or flat out lies that you get on MSNBC, CNN, Buzzfeed, NBC News, et. all. It amazes me how many times in the past 2 years they would float a bunch of garbage to try to get it into the public consciousness and then do a "page 6" retraction in fine print several days later when no one is watching. Way to go mainstream media.
Remember when NBC faked a gas tank explosion in a report about GM gas tank fires. GM sued NBC for $1 Billion and Jane Pauley had to go on air for a special segment to retract the entire report as false. The lefties always bring up Fox but the rest of them are just as bad, just as biased, maybe even more so these days. Bottom line is you can’t believe a word coming our of Rachel Maddow’s mouth or any other of the mainstream media talking heads. Walter Cronkite is spinning in his grave.
It's best just to turn it all off. I remember back in the day when we just had 3 OTA channels 3, 6, and 10, and no cable. The news meant something then. Now it's just a bunch of "for ratings" drama.
Comments
If you ever get these guys on the phone there's 3 funny things I've learned:
1. They'll have a stereotypical American name like "Bob Jones" but a heavy Indian accent.
2. If you ask them where they're calling from they'll say a city in the U.S. This leaves the door open to fu** with them. Ask them local questions and they'll get confused.
3. They will remind you they are on a "Secure recorded line" sometimes they'll say "this is a press 1 secure line" whatever that means lol.
I had one on the phone yesterday with a Caucasian name. I asked where he was calling from and he said "Austin, Texas". Unfortunately I know nothing about that city but I acted nervous and asked "Is this a press 1 secure line?" and he assured me "YES it is!" as if that made the scam any better.
I agree. If a person is stupid enough not to know how IRS works, that label in red will do NOTHING to fix that.. (and it should not)
Stupidity really has nothing to do with this. I think ignorance may have been the world you were looking to use (I hope). Being ignorant of a scam is not an indication of stupidity.