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Josef K. Sourdust
Jul 16, 2014

"To be quite frank, Platinum sucks at making games. Vanquish was terrible and Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was so boring it put me to sleep."

Recently I got a request to add a person on LinkedIn (remind me: why do I have LinkedIn again?). It is Michael Donnelly Foundation. Who's that? Guess it must be the grinning guy in the profile photo, the one where he's holding a giant payout cheque from a lottery. Nice! Lucky for him for him to have lots of money. Why would he want to contact me? Hey, do you think you think this is one of those....

....cons and scams - we've all heard about them - have even experienced them second or first hand. In this thread we talk about common scans, cons, stings and various tricks used to gain money, property and advantage. We're working on the basis that posters itt are not actually planning or participating in these activities. In this thread we can:

* Explain what common cons are and how they work.
* Ask for advice when we think we (or someone we know) are leaving ourselves open to a con. (On the basis that this what is posted itt isn't in any sense legal or expert advice on the subject. Always consult experts, organisations, charities, legal authorities or the police if you are victims of a crime. If you are being scammed by anonymous internet people don't ask equally anonymous bunch of internet people to help you out.)
* Tell us about the psychological factors that scammers prey on.
* Tell us your experiences of scams.
* Share press/internet stories of scams.
* Provide simple principles which will help us to avoid being victims of con artists.

So, for example I guess this Michael Donnelly is a real lottery winner and hence his story and photo is all across the press in whichever country he lives in. Presumably the scammers set up a fake account and LI/FB profiles and either offer money or wait for people to request money. Then I guess bank details get exchanged and...something? :shrug: Is it the Nigerian prince routine but using real public figures? What's the deal? I had it about 6 months before, with another lottery winner + "Charity" after the name, so I presume it's an established scam which targets mass numbers of targets at random.

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stringball
Mar 17, 2009

"Free trial" bullshits are something I hate with a passion

Usually how they work is: you give your info and they send you a small amount (its usually diet secrets doctors don't want you to know) and you give your credit card just to cover shipping and then they charge a stupid amount automatically without asking

They're usually almost impossible to get someone over the phone or email to cancel before the auto shipment and have some sort of "satisfaction guaranteed!" and still impossible to get a refund

Earwicker
Jan 6, 2003

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

We're working on the basis that posters itt are not actually planning or participating in these activities.

I would say assumption-making like this is one of the traits that scammers are attracted to.

Thin Privilege
Jul 8, 2009
IM A STUPID MORON WITH AN UGLY FACE AND A BIG BUTT AND MY BUTT SMELLS AND I LIKE TO KISS MY OWN BUTT
Gravy Boat 2k
Back in the late 90s- early 2000s they had those "buy CDs by mail, only 1cent each!" magazines. The catch was that shipping was like $20 per cd. I was a kid so I ordered like 6 CDs which ended up being $120. Once the CDs and bill came, and realizing what I had done, me and my mom told the company that some kids had stolen our mail and ordered them, so we didn't have to pay. Scam the scammers.

The p-p-p-powerbook was and still is the best scam-the-scammers thing

Summary, with pictures of the "powerbook"!: http://joi.ito.com/images2/thepowerbook.pdf

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1016390

Thin Privilege fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Feb 21, 2016

green chicken feet
Nov 5, 2015

spray-paint the vegetables
dog food stalls
with the beefcake pantyhose
Grimey Drawer
Years ago I knew someone who fell for this: a company orders to send $1,000 in coupons if you pay $50. Then when you receive the coupons, one of them is something you would never use, like $900 off a cruise that probably isn't even worth what they're asking for it anyway. Pretty crooked scam because technically it's not untrue. I wonder if it's even illegal. But it's misleading and preys on the poor.

Thin Privilege posted:

Back in the late 90s- early 2000s they had those "buy CDs by mail, only 1cent each!" magazines. The catch was that shipping was like $20 per cd. I was a kid so I ordered like 6 CDs which ended up being $120. Once the CDs and bill came, and realizing what I had done, me and my mom told the company that some kids had stolen our mail and ordered them, so we didn't have to pay. Scam the scammers.

Something similar happens with ordering flowers online. I have yet to see a company that wasn't guilty of this. "Don't miss this sale! Only $19.99!" Then you click through a bunch of pages, enter delivery address, etc., to find out that including a vase is $11.99, handling charge is $3.99, shipping is $7.99, and add $2.99 more if you want it on a certain date - which is the holiday. After this happens once you'll no longer be surprised, but it's an underhanded way to promote a product's price.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
Amway and MLM scams get my goat. They're like a cult the way they operate and brainwash people.

When I'm bored, I do a new thing with telephone scammers telling me I owe money or that my computer is infected with a virus or something and pretend to act really concerned and promise to send the money, etc. Then I pretend to get confused and not hear what they're saying or start telling them long drawn out stories just to waste their time and see how long they'll stay with it.

green chicken feet
Nov 5, 2015

spray-paint the vegetables
dog food stalls
with the beefcake pantyhose
Grimey Drawer

BiggerBoat posted:

Amway and MLM scams get my goat. They're like a cult the way they operate and brainwash people.

When I'm bored, I do a new thing with telephone scammers telling me I owe money or that my computer is infected with a virus or something and pretend to act really concerned and promise to send the money, etc. Then I pretend to get confused and not hear what they're saying or start telling them long drawn out stories just to waste their time and see how long they'll stay with it.

You might enjoy this, then. A guy made his own computer program designed to mimic a real person and mess with telemarketers. There's a Kickstarter linked within the article, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/02/16/if-you-hate-telemarketers-youll-love-this-robot-designed-to-waste-their-time/

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

BiggerBoat posted:

Amway and MLM scams get my goat. They're like a cult the way they operate and brainwash people.

When I'm bored, I do a new thing with telephone scammers telling me I owe money or that my computer is infected with a virus or something and pretend to act really concerned and promise to send the money, etc. Then I pretend to get confused and not hear what they're saying or start telling them long drawn out stories just to waste their time and see how long they'll stay with it.

One of the fastest way of getting rid of one of those, I've found, is to ask them what the name of their company is. Or what your name is.

To contribute, I'm curious about this really weird kind of spam I've been getting in the past few months. Basically it's some cam girl asking me to sign up, and saying that while you have to give CC info, it's just to authenticate your age, they won't charge anything. Pretty straightforward scam so far, right?

The twist is that they will also provide credit card information for you to put in. So... why do they need you? :confused:

green chicken feet
Nov 5, 2015

spray-paint the vegetables
dog food stalls
with the beefcake pantyhose
Grimey Drawer

Absurd Alhazred posted:

To contribute, I'm curious about this really weird kind of spam I've been getting in the past few months. Basically it's some cam girl asking me to sign up, and saying that while you have to give CC info, it's just to authenticate your age, they won't charge anything. Pretty straightforward scam so far, right?

The twist is that they will also provide credit card information for you to put in. So... why do they need you? :confused:

This is a wild guess, but maybe it is a stolen credit card and they use you to enter the transaction to avoid culpability.

Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010


I've made a huge mistake.

green chicken feet posted:

This is a wild guess, but maybe it is a stolen credit card and they use you to enter the transaction to avoid culpability.

...Man, that's clever. I like it.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

green chicken feet posted:

This is a wild guess, but maybe it is a stolen credit card and they use you to enter the transaction to avoid culpability.

That's weird, though; I mean, the money still gets put into their account, so it's easy to trace where it went. Yeah, you're implicated, but so are they.

Der Luftwaffle
Dec 29, 2008
My favourite has always been the guys selling X out of the back of their truck, usually AV equipment. Offering ludicrous deals on garbage in expensive boxes with the veil of dubious legality that used to draw people in like flies.

I thought they'd died out but a year ago I was flagged down by a guy claiming to be coming back from a jobsite with a bunch of extra projectors that "no one would miss". Of course the story falls apart when you try to check out the equipment or arrange a later meetup since you're not carrying cash. Points for tenacity I guess.

thrakkorzog
Nov 16, 2007

Absurd Alhazred posted:

That's weird, though; I mean, the money still gets put into their account, so it's easy to trace where it went. Yeah, you're implicated, but so are they.

Plausible deniability.

I have to assume that camsites have to deal with CC disputes as part of their business model. And BiRussianigirl17@gmail.com, never heard of her.

And if I was the type to steal some CC info, the best thing to do would be to put that CC info out there. After I buy a buy a big screen TV and a new X-box then there's a chance the cops might want to track me down. If 20 other other people are using the same credit card info, then that's like a 95% chance that the cops won't bother chasing me down.

thrakkorzog fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Feb 22, 2016

thrakkorzog
Nov 16, 2007

Der Luftwaffle posted:

My favourite has always been the guys selling X out of the back of their truck, usually AV equipment. Offering ludicrous deals on garbage in expensive boxes with the veil of dubious legality that used to draw people in like flies.

I thought they'd died out but a year ago I was flagged down by a guy claiming to be coming back from a jobsite with a bunch of extra projectors that "no one would miss". Of course the story falls apart when you try to check out the equipment or arrange a later meetup since you're not carrying cash. Points for tenacity I guess.

Heh, that takes me back, I actually worked as an Epson sales rep for a bit. I mostly focused on printer sales. But people kept stealing the fake projectors out of stores. The actual projectors were kept in a cage, since they were big ticket items.

The floor model was just an empty case that cost maybe $3 of plastic. And people just kept stealing projectors. It was rather annoying going around replacing projectors. loving meth heads kept stealing garbage.

thrakkorzog fucked around with this message at 10:21 on Feb 22, 2016

Josef K. Sourdust
Jul 16, 2014

"To be quite frank, Platinum sucks at making games. Vanquish was terrible and Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was so boring it put me to sleep."

Der Luftwaffle posted:

My favourite has always been the guys selling X out of the back of their truck, usually AV equipment. Offering ludicrous deals on garbage in expensive boxes with the veil of dubious legality that used to draw people in like flies.

I thought they'd died out but a year ago I was flagged down by a guy claiming to be coming back from a jobsite with a bunch of extra projectors that "no one would miss". Of course the story falls apart when you try to check out the equipment or arrange a later meetup since you're not carrying cash. Points for tenacity I guess.

I had that years ago (though I didn't fall for it). I guess the principle there is that scammers are selling rejects/display replicas/faulty material to people in a situation where they cannot test the item (on the street). The incentive is that buyers think that they are getting an expensive item for a discount price.


Please don't doxx my girlfriend. She's 100% genuine.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

green chicken feet posted:

You might enjoy this, then. A guy made his own computer program designed to mimic a real person and mess with telemarketers. There's a Kickstarter linked within the article, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/02/16/if-you-hate-telemarketers-youll-love-this-robot-designed-to-waste-their-time/

There's also Lenny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNykBjN3nCQ

Same idea, but instead of replying with affirmatives, Lenny is a senile old robot man who rambles on about his daughters and occasionally has to go shoo away a flock of ducks. The reactions he gets are amazing. This video is particularly funny because it's clear the telemarketers aren't allowed to break the call without his permission.

JiimyPopAli
Oct 5, 2009
Most scams/cons prey on one simple thing: greed. Don't underestimate the power of human greed. It's amazing, and it makes people overlook all sorts of glaring warning signs.

Common scams that I've come across:

1) White van speaker scam: guys selling speakers / home theater stuff out of the back of their van, usually because the shipper "put too much in their truck for a delivery" or something like that. They portray it as very high end stuff and have literature with them to back it up. It is total and absolute poo poo, according to online reviews. like to ask if I can buy 2, and that I'll be right back with the money after I go to an ATM. I leave and don't come back. I've had them follow me to the ATM a couple of times, and I just keep driving to see how long they follow. In at least one instance they followed me for about 10 minutes. Note: greed makes people overlook all sorts of warning signs and I pictured them in the van thinking "Well, maybe he's just looking for a certain bank".

2) Job scams: online jobs where you can make $1 to $2k per week from home! It's either filling out endless surveys (for about $0.50 each, if that) or cheque cashing scams where they send you a fraudulent cheque and you deduct an amount and send them the rest via western union. When the cops come calling, you're on the hook cause they're way overseas.

3) Romance scams: affects both men and women, the scammer is overseas and starts an online relationship eventually asking for money to come and see you. It doesn't prey on greed, but on your heart strings which is another powerful motivator. I've seen it tied in to cheque cashing scams, too.

4) MLM. Need I say more? Geometric growth is unsustainable. No, your system isn't "different".

These are the most popular ones I've come across. There's an old saying that says "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". Personally, I think that's somewhat false. How about "If it sounds too good to be true it always is, and if you're wrong then by keeping this in mind you won't get victimized and you'll save more money anways".

Actually, I'd add one more new one:

5) Not exactly a scam, but sorta. Sextortion. Hot women "friend" you on Facebook and ask if you want to chat on Skype. They convince you to undress and "perform" on camera for them. They record it, and since they're friends with you on FB they have all your contacts. They demand money from you or else they will send the video to all of them. They put it up on Youtube (as a private link) and send you the link to it to prove they have it. More info here: https://www.scamsurvivors.com

I haven't fallen victim to any of these but through my job I've spoken to lots of people who have. In the end, it's greed that makes them do stupid things. I suppose that holds true for the course of human history, as well.

the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe
There's a whole host of fraudulent business services whose business model consists of mailing out Very Scary and Official looking order forms that imply they're billings for services received, until you look closely and see THIS IS NOT A BILL buried in the small print.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug
I'm fuzzy on the legal details but some deregulation in PA has led to some odd scams. The short of it is that energy-related utilities have been deregulated a bit in order to "encourage competition." Though the electricity is still all generated by the same power plants as ever the suppliers can change. The idea is that you can choose your supplier so you can get the best rates. I'm not too keen on all the details but it's basically increasing the number of electricity resellers that can sell you electricity even though they all end up using the same infrastructure anyway. It's pretty stupid.

But it has let all sorts of scammers weasel their way into the system. Now we have to deal with fast talking people going door to door using pretty standard tactics to get your money. Basically they start with the scare; "your rates are going to go up!" is the common one. Now we all don't want to pay more for stuff so it gets peoples' attention. However, it's a huge red flag on its own because they're going door to door when you haven't gotten any mail based on rate increases. They talk fast and try to confuse you, sometimes ask to see your bills, or whatever. In the end it's always "here sign this and your rates will stay the same/decrease" but they won't let you see the details. Just "sign this right now or you'll have to pay more pretty much immediately." Another one is people selling "insurance" against rate increases. They almost always quote some new law that nobody has heard about yet that just happened to go through yesterday/this morning that will lead to massive rate increases unless you sign this paper right now. They act like they're doing you a favor.

What they don't tell you is that you end up signing a year+ long contract with an energy supplier middleman type thing. See, you can basically just buy power directly from the company that owns the plants anyway so why bother paying a middle man? They also lock you into rates that are waaaaaaaay higher than what you'd be paying even if rates go up. The "insurance" is pretty much bullshit.

How do you deal with this? If somebody knocks on your door and starts talking about electricity rates just tell them to gently caress off and shut the door. Don't sign anything, don't show them any of your utility bills, don't let them get any information. Just tell them go away.

faarcyde
Dec 5, 2005
what the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for!?
Used to run the cash register at a pizzeria. More than once people would do the quick change scam where they give you a large bill for a small amount and try to confuse you as to how much you gave them back.

I remember I felt bad one time because some girl gave me a $100 and claimed I didn't give her correct change. I was certain she was doing the scam but the manager counted down the till and turns out she was right. Oops!

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Speaking of change scams, I used to get people who would purchase hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards with stolen credit cards. Then later that evening they would turn up at a sister store and try to buy an armful of Blu-rays and game consoles with the gift cards. A quick and easy form of money laundering.

It didn't take us long to figure this out obviously, so we would keep the credit cards if their ID and signatures didn't check out, as well as call around to all our sister stores to warn them. There was always staff somewhere who were just too clueless or high to give a gently caress though.

Credit card security has gotten a lot better in the past decade but I'm sure there are still gift card scams going. Any situation where currency changes tender is an opportunity for money laundering.

A very common shoplifter/luggage thief's con is to have one person distract you with a bunch of stupid questions, while the other nabs the stuff. I saw this pretty often working retail, but was surprised to see the same tactic employed at a cafe recently, where there were a lot of unattended MacBooks and backpacks lying about. Rich students...

Obviously not every person with a bunch of silly questions is a thief. Just rely on your intuition. If something seems off, scan your surroundings immediately. Shoplifters and thieves aren't criminal masterminds, but they don't need to be. They rely on staff and targets being too busy, having tunnel vision or simply not caring about theft.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

Fruits of the sea posted:

They rely on staff and targets being too busy, having tunnel vision or simply not caring about theft.

It's mostly the last part combined with "too busy." Sorry boss, I'm not going to care much about theft when I'm getting $7.15 an hour with no benefits and expected to do 16 hours of work in 8.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

thrakkorzog posted:

Plausible deniability.

I have to assume that camsites have to deal with CC disputes as part of their business model. And BiRussianigirl17@gmail.com, never heard of her.

And if I was the type to steal some CC info, the best thing to do would be to put that CC info out there. After I buy a buy a big screen TV and a new X-box then there's a chance the cops might want to track me down. If 20 other other people are using the same credit card info, then that's like a 95% chance that the cops won't bother chasing me down.

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Thanks! :)

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

ToxicSlurpee posted:

It's mostly the last part combined with "too busy." Sorry boss, I'm not going to care much about theft when I'm getting $7.15 an hour with no benefits and expected to do 16 hours of work in 8.

From my experience in Canada I agree, although I've realized people here in socialist wonderland Scandinavia are also startlingly clueless when it comes to theft.

For my own part, catching thieves was arguably one of the most interesting and fun parts of an otherwise dull job.

Soylent Yellow
Nov 5, 2010

yospos
Greed is always a good way to scam people, especially if the scammer mixes in just enough of a veneer of false authenticity. My workplace has a small Argos (large UK retailer) concession tacked on. A few weeks ago, there was a spate of people coming in to various stores demanding a free iphone 6. It turns out that the scammers had circulated a fake news article on social media claiming that Argos had 1000 iphones which they couldn't sell due to damaged packaging, and were giving them away rather than return them to Apple at a loss. All you had to do was go to a website, enter your personal and bank details, then go to your local Argos to collect your free iphone. The story and supporting evidence were just plausible enough for greed to bypass common sense, and hundreds of people turned up. Some still insisted that they were entitled to a free iphone even after being told their credit card details were probably in the hands of the Russian mafia.

turbomoose
Nov 29, 2008
Playing the banjo can be a relaxing activity and create lifelong friendships!
\
:backtowork:
One that I heard about from my grandparents was this:

1. scammers look for old people, then try to find relatives (grandchildren) on facebook or what have you. This will give them basic info, name, where they live, etc.

2. scammers call old people and say hey we have <insert kid's name here> in jail and they need bail money. they're calling you because kid gets in trouble if they call parents. Sometimes they even have a younger person of the requisite gender get on the line and mumble about needing bail money. I think the scam that was used claimed it was jail in Canada or something.

3. Old people get confused because the name of the kid is right and it sorta sounds like them so they send money/give cc info

Sharks Eat Bear
Dec 25, 2004

my fiancee's parents recently were visited at their home in rural PA by a door to door meat salesman that was pushing an expensive monthly meat delivery service. was extremely bizarre, and fortunately they didn't give the salesman a chance to really make a pitch and put his hooks in. i tracked down the company afterward and wasn't surprised to see that they had extremely bad reviews -- apparently they would deliver extremely poor quality meat and when customers would try to cancel they'd just give them the runaround and keep charging them for as long as possible (presumably until CC companies got involved)

kind of a variation on a classic scam, but just seemed like the weirdest twist. expensive meat deliveries seems like a relatively difficult product to base the scam around

MisterOblivious
Mar 17, 2010

by sebmojo

Sharks Eat Bear posted:

kind of a variation on a classic scam, but just seemed like the weirdest twist. expensive meat deliveries seems like a relatively difficult product to base the scam around

Nah, it's not that weird, it's a classic hustle in it's own right. Some of them operate like you described. Some of them operate like the white van speaker scam: "We couldn't make the scheduled delivery and it'll unthaw before we get back to the warehouse so we're willing to let it go to you at a great price" etc.

Birb Katter
Sep 18, 2010

BOATS STOPPED
CARBON TAX AXED
TURNBULL AS PM
LIBERALS WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN A LANDSLIDE
The meat scam is the one I can't wrap my head around the most. I get cheap "hot" speakers or whatever but meat just seems like one of those things you'd want a trusted source of. poo poo speakers may not sound that great, poo poo meat can gently caress you up.

kaschei
Oct 25, 2005

Absurd Alhazred posted:

That's weird, though; I mean, the money still gets put into their account, so it's easy to trace where it went. Yeah, you're implicated, but so are they.
Do you have to do any kind of a captcha? I've heard of sites getting visitors to do those to automate spam, maybe they're using you to "automate" some illegitimate purchase?

Speakers out of the back of a van used to have a neat wrinkle - they'd buy an ad that looked like a review in actual audiophile magazines (which had tiny readership and gave zero fucks about screening ads) and show that to marks. Real magazine, glossy pages, actual articles on other pages (well, you know, only as "actual" as audiophiles get).

My great-aunt ended up going a bit crazy and sending about half her retirement out to various hucksters: you won the Canadian lottery (send us $1,000 to cover paperwork and we'll send you your $10,000 prize!), psychic readings (once you start forgetting stuff it's really easy to be impressed with someone's hot read when they call you back and tell you everything you told them), relics of dubious origin (her being a good Catholic and all). The psychic reading stuff wasn't the friendly sort either, I believe it involved a pair who sort of good cop/bad cop manipulated her with promises of good fortune and happiness or guilt, verbal abuse, and constant hassling (calling back over and over again if she didn't send money right away). All over the phone or by mail.

Saeku
Sep 22, 2010

Birb Katter posted:

The meat scam is the one I can't wrap my head around the most. I get cheap "hot" speakers or whatever but meat just seems like one of those things you'd want a trusted source of. poo poo speakers may not sound that great, poo poo meat can gently caress you up.

Not everyone needs a speaker, but everyone needs meat.

Similarly, in a city you'll see people walk up to you in public with a box of assorted small objects (eg: perfume, headphones, toys) and offer them to you for a cheap price. I struck up a chat with somebody who used to do it and asked what the deal is. They hook up with a wholesale liquidator, get stuff that nobody wants for dirt cheap, and then run around trying to talk people into buying it. It's not always an outright con, because they're usually selling what they say they are, they're just trying to talk you into buying mediocre/unpopular/useless products before you think about whether or not they're the best option.

Super-limited-time sales offers are almost always evil. Don't go for them.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

turbomoose posted:

One that I heard about from my grandparents was this:

1. scammers look for old people, then try to find relatives (grandchildren) on facebook or what have you. This will give them basic info, name, where they live, etc.

2. scammers call old people and say hey we have <insert kid's name here> in jail and they need bail money. they're calling you because kid gets in trouble if they call parents. Sometimes they even have a younger person of the requisite gender get on the line and mumble about needing bail money. I think the scam that was used claimed it was jail in Canada or something.

3. Old people get confused because the name of the kid is right and it sorta sounds like them so they send money/give cc info

Old people get targeted by scammers and salesmen something fierce because of Alzheimer's. It's sad and scummy as hell; because said old person might not realize they're having dementia issues yet they can be conned more easily and sign away everything they own without realizing it. When I was a telemarketer we were specifically told old people were the best calls to get for pretty much that reason.

...

I didn't stay a telemarketer much longer.

Omnikin
May 29, 2007

Press 'E' for Medic
Many moons ago working late night security in a big urban office building, I was standing out back with a janitor having a smoke. This random dude holding a full black garbage bag walks by, eyes us up, and says "Ten bucks and the bag's yours, no questions asked guys."

The janitor and I both turned it down and he just walked on into the night without even slowing down. I still wonder what was in that bag

Not a Children
Oct 9, 2012

Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

I'm gonna guess unsold fast food, or, like, grass clippings.

BarbarianElephant
Feb 12, 2015
The fairy of forgiveness has removed your red text.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

Old people get targeted by scammers and salesmen something fierce because of Alzheimer's. It's sad and scummy as hell; because said old person might not realize they're having dementia issues yet they can be conned more easily and sign away everything they own without realizing it. When I was a telemarketer we were specifically told old people were the best calls to get for pretty much that reason.

Even old folk without diagnosable dementia often "slow down" a bit mentally. They don't have the same critical faculties as they used to, and they don't realize it. They also get a bit lonely and bored at home, so they are more likely to hear out salesmen than say, a young mum with 3 toddlers hanging off her and screaming.

The_Book_Of_Harry
Apr 30, 2013

Omnikin posted:

Many moons ago working late night security in a big urban office building, I was standing out back with a janitor having a smoke. This random dude holding a full black garbage bag walks by, eyes us up, and says "Ten bucks and the bag's yours, no questions asked guys."

The janitor and I both turned it down and he just walked on into the night without even slowing down. I still wonder what was in that bag

Hahaha.

____________

Not really a con, but I made the mistake of lazily holding my phone while resting my eyes on the MARTA train.

While the train was stopped, a guy snatched the phone and bolted just before the train doors slammed shut.

Merry Christmas Eve, indeed

The_Book_Of_Harry
Apr 30, 2013

Oh yeah, a lot of people like to scam the self-checkout by ringing cans of soup weighing 16oz while dropping a steak of similar weight into the bag.

Maybe combine that with the scam where you buy one, steal one, keeping the receipt to return the one you paid for.

It's really low-rent, junky poo poo, but it's a quick way to make dope $

Berk Berkly
Apr 9, 2009

by zen death robot
A lot of chumps seem to think you can just hide poo poo in a cart, making a wall of 12/18/24 pack cans of soda/beer and in the middle a bunch of meat with a layer of dog food on top and just walk out like no one is going to even notice. Sometimes they do get away with it because the front is too busy/distracted and they don't notice that guy walking out between the kids and the old people. But that is hardly a scam, thats just straight up taking a shot at it.

Slightly more subtle scams are at the self-checkouts and customer-service desks, a few at the cashier as well, with things like people trying to abuse coupons(either in conjuction with other stackable discounts of some type)to get carts full of free or might-as-well-be for pennies stuff by doing multiple transactions over and over until a manager on duty has to shut it down.

Some folks will find/take the plastic bags either from outside, old purchases, or just off the rack, walk to something expensive, pick it up, take it to custom service in the bag, say they just want to exchange it for something similar because reasons, and walk out with the 'exchanged' one, which often works because just wanting to exchange lets you sometimes skip needing a receipt for the first, especially in stores in the more affluent neighborhoods since they far more lenient then stores near/in more poverty-dense locations.

Slight-of-Hand stuff at the self-checkout is another method as mention. The scales are temperamental and you can often pack extra poo poo into the bags then ask innocently for an attendant to help you with the machine as it naturally(and correctly) notices more than estimated weight. Hell, sometimes people roll to the self checkout, scan a few items, and just don't bother with the big case of beer or soda or what have you left in their cart because it doesn't even get bagged anyway and roll the gently caress out there, or do the thing where they scan one, with multiple in their cart and return the extra for cash like Book_of_Harry mentioned.

Some people try the stash and switch method where there are two or three people in the store or waiting to drive off in a car. Someone grabs something nice and expensive. Meat packs, or those expensive tiny coffee squeeze bottle things, or Tide jank, stashing it somewhere on a isle or somewhere the other picks up, pockets and leaves with, usually with the 3rd person in line getting something trivial.

Berk Berkly fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Feb 24, 2016

Earwicker
Jan 6, 2003

Berk Berkly posted:

A lot of chumps seem to think you can just hide poo poo in a cart, making a wall of 12/18/24 pack cans of soda/beer and in the middle a bunch of meat with a layer of dog food on top and just walk out like no one is going to even notice. Sometimes they do get away with it because the front is too busy/distracted and they don't notice that guy walking out between the kids and the old people. But that is hardly a scam, thats just straight up taking a shot at it.

What exactly is the logic here? "No one will realize I'm stealing some meat if they see that I'm also stealing a couple 12 packs of coke and a bunch of dog food"?

I can understand someone taking a cart full of poo poo and trying to just make it out the door with it, but I don't see the point in trying to hide what's in the cart with more unpaid-for stuff

Earwicker fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Feb 24, 2016

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Lhet
Apr 2, 2008

bloop


Earwicker posted:

What exactly is the logic here? "No one will realize I'm stealing some meat if they see that I'm also stealing a couple 12 packs of coke and a bunch of dog food"?

I can understand someone taking a cart full of poo poo and trying to just make it out the door with it, but I don't see the point in trying to hide what's in the cart with more unpaid-for stuff
I think they're paying for the stuff that gets rung up. They wouldn't go so far as to straight up steal, but are more than fine from benefiting from a cashier's mistake, and start making setups that make the error more likely so they can say "Oh hmm, looks like the cashier forgot to ring this up. Welp, their mistake, lucky me!".

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