Looking for owners of crooked website.

mer said:
So basically this thread has hints to others that may be in "early stage" of scam that will let them avoid it?
That does not seem to be a bad thing
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As someone who got scammed, I would suggest that you don't trust anyone, irrespective of how helpful they appear on WhatsApp or wherever and do everything to check the veracity of any websites mentioned. Check where the host is registered, check the location of the host.
 
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My opinions, agree, disagree, no big deal to me.

Let's be honest. Scamming someone out of there money has been around as long as we've had money. Probably even before that. It's easy to blame the victim, but that's not really the answer. Think of GPG and web of trust. You trust those you've personally verified but do you trust anyone "they" trust?

Technology has made scamming easier, it's easier to generate something that looks legitimate. Toss AI into the mix, even easier.

So what does one do? Trust noone, not even your reflection in the mirror.
Email? If you aren't already looking at them as text, make sure to look at message source on any any suspect. That makes it easy to see patterns, false domains and just filter and delete. Looking at message source is one of the easiest ways to determine "fake" (look at the whole email envelope, headers, SPAM things sender, bcc).

I've even got my wife to look at every unsolicited email or text with side eye. If it's legit, you probably get another one.

Know what really happens: in the US the IRS (stated on their official website) never initiates contact via email and never says "we accept payment in gift cards". I don't know about other countries, but imagine initial contact is probably traceable/official.
Banks/Credit cards? Suspicious things (emails/texts) don't click links. Take your card out call the number on the back.

And I don't think it's useful to blame victims (lots of them are elderly and maybe not as savvy on the tech); commiserate, publish info about the scam, help them understand how to better detect and avoid in the future.
Sometimes the smartest people (even those tech savvy) fall prey to social engineering aspects.
 
mer said:
I don't know about other countries, but imagine initial contact is probably traceable/official.
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In the Netherlands correspondence from the Dutch Tax authority (belastingdienst) comes in a distinct blue coloured envelope via snail mail.
 
mer said:
My opinions, agree, disagree, no big deal to me.

Let's be honest. Scamming someone out of there money has been around as long as we've had money. Probably even before that. It's easy to blame the victim, but that's not really the answer. Think of GPG and web of trust. You trust those you've personally verified but do you trust anyone "they" trust?

Technology has made scamming easier, it's easier to generate something that looks legitimate.


At first glance this might look legitimate, from https://grandaccessinvestment.com/about, but when you check the number, which you can, because it's public, you see that it is false.
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To ditto what scottro said. My wife wrote a check a few months ago for something like $60 but our bank account got dinged for a few thousand. The check got "washed" and cashed by a different bank. Turns out the bank that cashes the check is responsible for security and they were the ones who had to refund our money.

A number of years ago, my sons and I would work out at a gym. It wasn't as good as the first place we went to and we grew tired of it so I called the owner up and told him "We're not coming anymore". The next month, there was a charge for another month's membership fee. I called the guy about it and he said that I never told him to "cancel my membership". That "We're not coming anymore" doesn't work.

I called the credit card company who put us on a three way call with him. She was rather incredulous about what he was saying but the credit card company paid him for the month but made sure he cancelled our membership.
 
balanga said:
It looks legit, but when you check the number, which you can, you see it is false.
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You have any other information? What about your friend do they have any information about the conference you mentioned that was in the us? You said florida? I want to make some calls and figure out who they are.
 
zester said:
You have any other information? What about your friend do they have any information about the conference you mentioned that was in the us? You said florida? I want to make some calls and figure out who they are.
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Actually this 'friend' is probably an agent of the company and helps people with their 'investment'.
 
scottro said:
drhowarddrfine, when I logged into the forum, I got the notification that you'd mentioned me in the thread, Looking for owners of crooked website--and came here prepared to defend srobb.net, with no cookies or adds, a bit of javascript that doesn't work :-(.
Anyway, glad to see I wasn't being considered the owner of a crooked website.
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I don't know that "The Buffy The Vampire Slayer QuoteGenerator" is looking awfully suspicious! ;)
 
Yes, I know. I'm looking forward to it. I knew I was too old for the other one when they kept having ads for period protection on prom night. At that point, I thought that as an aging adult man, I wasn't their target audience.
 
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