The Trump School For Text Scammers

When the former president announced he would be coming to Alaska to campaign against Lisa Murkowski, I signed up for a ticket.  I didn't do that without thinking about whether I really wanted to share any personal information with the T organization.  But if I was going to get my ticket, they'd need a phone or email.  I decided it would be interesting to see what the T org did with that info.  And I'm a blogger.

From the first text it was clear it was a scam.  There were no tickets, you had to just wait in line for hours.  (Though the Anchorage Daily News mentioned someone who said he paid $250 to avoid the lines.  I never got that offer.  Maybe if I'd have gone to one of the links I would have seen that offer.)   But there has been a regular barrage of texts.  From two different sources - one a phone number - (855) 584 8315 - and the other just 88022.  I did visit the venue on the morning of July 9 just to see who was all there.  You can see my pictures here.

I've gotten 34 texts in the last 21 days from 88022 and 35 from the phone number.  

I decided it would be interesting to see what I could learn about how to scam people.  What are the kinds of pitches theyt make.  I did a short google search for that topic, but mostly what showed up were the names and descriptions of the scams themselves - for example.  They didn't talk about how the scammers try to lure people.  

But that's what I'm going to do here.  But first a couple of screen shots.  

I went through the texts and divided them into the different ways they made their appeal.  Some texts, of course, combined several different methods.  I've  titled each method and offered some examples from the text.  

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH TRUMP:

Text imples Trump is talking directly to you

• Watching for your name on donor list
• Don’t keep him waiting
• FOR ONLY YOU!
• President Trump noticed you still haven’t donated.  Is this a mistake?
• LAST donor list soon. Will your name be on it?
• PT:  I asked, will you answer?
• Hey it’s me   Pres Trump:  I heading to my rally soon & really need to know if I have YOUR SUPPORT

IMPACT

If you donate now it

 has greater impact

• 1000% impact
• 10X impact
• 3000X impact

I really don't know what this means.  Public radio drives sometimes tell listeners their donations will be matched so they have greater impact.  That probably happened when they first started doing that, but I doubt that's the case any more.  

Here, there's no hint at what IMPACT means.  

URGENCY

• Time is running out to claim
• 15 minutes to activate
• What are you waiting for?
• Hurry, activate.  
• Last chance
• Why wait?  I’ve asked you before & now I’m asking ONE LAST TIME
• Offer for 1 hour FINAL CHANCE
• Your only chance before it expires

I've had a lot of last chances over the last couple of weeks.  Urgency is a classic sales technique and they used it a lot.

PATRIOTISM

• I want you to join the AMERICAN DEFENSE TASK FORCE.  This is SERIOUS.

Maybe this should be combined with BE PART OF TRUMP CLUB/TEAM/LOYALTY below

THE ENEMY

• Will you DEFEND our nation from the Left?
• The Left Fears it

BE PART OF TRUMP CLUB/TEAM/LOYALTY

• PT has activated your OFFICIAL TRUMP CARD.
• I want you to become ULTRA MAGA MEMBER.
• You’ve always stood with me - will you still?
• ULTRA MAGA MEMBER

GIVE ME MONEY

• GIVE
• We’re finalizing the donor list. Give

This is the basic theme of all the texts.  It never says what the money is for.  I guess that's to avoid fraud charges when helps pay for Trump's lifestyle.  But then I've never gone to any of the links.  It's possible there's more information about what they plan to do with the money they raise.  But I doubt it.  

FIRST TIME EVER

• Never happened before
• First chance
• Never before release video OF president trump

BULLSHIT

• As THE TOP donor, I’ve texted you 3000% more  Do you want to stay on top?

Since I never made a donation, I couldn't be the top donor.  If it were true he would have raised nothing.  

STUFF

• Gold Collectors Coin
• New Video out now
• Trump Gold cards
• Trump Rally T-shirt
• Hand Signed MAGA hat
• Your ULTRA MAGA SLIM CAN COOLIES
• OFFICIAL 2022 TRUMP CARD
• I’ll activate your TRUMP FOUNDING MEMBERSHIP

These are the actual tangibles I've been offered for donations.  I had to google SLIM CAN COOLIE to figure that one out.

OK, this is the data.  What does it say about the people who actually give money?  How much does the donation plate at Sunday church services condition people to donate?  

So now that I've posted this, I can see if the STOP2END really works.  

Recruiting Vampires

When I was in college a good friend from high school married a total jerk.  I was studying in Germany that year and I think I restrained myself from sending a card that just said, "Don't."  She was divorced not too long after the wedding.  At our 20th or 25th  high school reunion I asked her if anything could have stopped her.  She said her father was abusing her at home and it was the only way she could see to get out of the house.

So desperate people do desperate things.  They answer recruiting ads from ISIS.  They join the army.  They join Christian cults.  They take drugs.

If your family believes every word in the bible is true and all the people you socialize with believe the same and you go to a Christian school that teaches the earth is 6000 years old, and you are presented material like this 'proof' of the biblical age of the earth, well, it's easy to believe.  It's not any harder to believe than immaculate conception and that Christ arose from the dead.

The dangers of vaccination if packaged right can also cause people to keep their kids from being vaccinated.

Ignorance and desperation together make people susceptible to any propaganda - like the pizza parlor based human trafficking ring,  or that climate change is a hoax, or that world will end when Christ returns to earth, though some Christians debate whether there will be a 'rapture.'

So while I was amused at first to see comments on this blog recruiting people to become vampires, I got got concerned, but also curious.  Most of these comments go to a post called, The Vampire History of Alaska.  I mark them spam as soon as I get them.  They tend to look like this one which came from someone in Accra, Ghana:

"Good Day,
Do You Want To Be A Vampire?
Been A Vampire Will Make You
• Make Stronger.
• Think Faster.
• World Famous
• Will Never Experience Suffering Anymore In Your Life.
• Can Never Be Oppressed By Anyone
• Above All You Will Live Very Long on Earth And Be Protected All Through Your Life.
For More Info About Been A Vampire & If You Interested On Been A Vampire Kindly Contact This Email
Contact Me: realvampire.......@xxxxxx.xxx" 

Here's the info stat counter offers me for each person who comes to the site.  This is the detailed page for the vampire comment above.

Many of them look more like this:

Gina has left a new comment on your post "Vampire History of Alaska - Why You Should Vote Ye...":
DO YOU WANT TO BE A VAMPIRE OR YOU WANT POWERS AND PROTECTION COME AND BE AMONG THE VAMPIRES KINGDOM TODAY AND YOU GET WHAT EVER YOU DESIRE CONTACT LORD GUMBALA AT ( . . . vampire . . . @x x x x x  )
Welcome to ( Gumbala Vampire Kingdom). Do you want to be a vampire,still in human,having talented brain turning to a vampire in a good posture in ten minutes to a human again, with out delaying in a good human posture. A world of vampire where life get easier,we have made so many persons vampires and have turned them rich,you will assured long life and prosperity,you shall be made to be very sensitive to mental alertness,stronger and also very fast,you will not be restricted to walking at night only even at the very middle of broad day light you will be made to walk, this is an opportunity to have the human vampire virus to perform in a good posture.if you are interested contact us on . . .vampire. . .@gmail.com 

I was tempted to email and ask about how many people respond to these comments, but I have lots of other things to do and I'd rather not get targeted by vampire recruiters.

Fortunately, The Bloggess did contact a vampire recruiter in 2017 and did a great job of engaging the recruiter.  You can read all that here. 

Plant Trees While You Browse, But Does It Really Work?

Someone in Holland got here (this blog) via a browser called "Ecosia."  I'd never heard of it before so I checked it out.

The image isn't too clear, but if you click on it you'll get to Ecosia search engine and you can play around there to find out more about what they're about.

For those wondering why planting trees is a good thing, here's a list of reasons from ClimateRally

1. An average size tree creates sufficient oxygen in one year to provide oxygen for a family of four.
2. Planting trees in the right place around buildings and homes can cut air-conditioning costs up to 50 percent. 
3. Planting trees for the environment is good as they are renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. 
4. If we plant 20 million trees, the earth will get with 260 million more tons of oxygen.
5. Once acre of trees can remove up to 2.6 tons of Carbon Dioxide each year.
6. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.
7. Trees keep in cheek the air and water pollution.
8. Why planting trees is important is evident as they are the natural habitat of the animals and birds, as well as many endangered species.
9. Planting trees means more wood and paper products which can be easily recycled.
10. A newly planted whole forest, can change tons of atmospheric carbon into wood and other fibrous tissue, thus reducing global warming.

Here''s more from Trees Utah.

I was really excited about this, but figured I better do some checking to see how they can do this and whether I can trust them.

Does Ecosia do what it says?

Reviewopedia discusses what Ecosia says about itself, but doesn't seem to have any independent analysis.

Green Review gives a fairly harsh review, saying that Eosia uses Bing, which is owned by Microsoft and that clicks, not searches, generate money for trees.  But only after Microsoft gets its cut. It recommends Google over Ecosia.

A Path Around The World - has a long and thoughtful review.  But it doesn't mention the connection to Bing and Microsoft at all.  But it looks at Ecosia's financial reports (unaudited self-reporting) and does some comparisons of its utility as a browser to Google.

Being ethically responsible isn't easy.  Make your own evaluation.

Methinks North Korea Was Always Just A Distraction Trump Used To Get The Media Off Important Stories

[Quick synopsis:  I'm proposing that Trump never intended to meet with Kim Jong Un.  He always knew he couldn't get Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.  The whole point was to have something bright and shiny with which to distract the media from covering other issues.  The time spent by NPR this morning on this summit that isn't going to happen makes it clear that Trump succeeded.]


NPR spent a lot of time this morning talking about North Korea and Trump's cancellation of the summit with Kim Jong Un.   Here's the list of segments they have on the May 24 show listings.  The Korea pieces are at the end.

North Korea Demolishes Its Nuclear Test Site In A 'Huge Explosion" 3:59
Trump Cancels U.S.-North Korea Summit 10:19
North Korea Expert Reacts to Trump's Cancellation of Summit 4:00
There Was A Lot Invested In U.S.-North Korea Summit.  What Happened? 8:40
Mike Pompeo Reads Out Loud Trump's Letter Cancelling U.S.-North Korea Summit 1:10

That comes out to a little over 28 minutes - one fourth of the show, talking about something being cancelled.  My sense is that the 'Korean Expert' covered most of this.  The rest was somewhat informed chatter.



The ten minute segment had several NPR reporters discussing the cancellation.  They really didn't say anything that couldn't have been covered in two minutes.  They didn't really seem to know more than any reasonably educated person knows.  At one point, David Greene says,

"Ayesha, I just looked at the letter, and there seems to be some important - I don't know if we call it caveats. "

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this.  Is he only now reading the letter, several minutes into the discussion?  Maybe this was more 'breaking' than I realized and he just got it.  Maybe that explains why the discussion is so disjointed - he was reading the letter and not paying attention to the conversation.  Or doing both and not really absorbing either well.   And they didn't have a script to keep them focused.

One person talks about how the cancelation was a surprise.  But Trump's been tweeting that he might not have the meeting.  So it wasn't that much of a surprise.  Why was it a surprise?


And as I listened and got increasingly frustrated by the ten minute segment, the lightbulb went off.  Trump doesn't care about North Korea or having them denuclearize.  Sure, getting Kim Jong Un  to get destroy his nuclear toys  and then become a target for US corporations would have enhanced his deal making image.  But only because it would make Trump look good, not because the world would be a safer place. And if it gets more dangerous, that's not Trump's worry.  Even as North Korea experts said it couldn't happen, others, as they did during the campaign, started saying, well, maybe  his unconventional approach will work.

I would say now that his unconventional approach DID WORK.   He got media - even the supposedly more sophisticated' NPR - to spend almost one-quarter of today's Morning Edition time covering something that isn't going to happen.  Instead of spending that time on more substantive news that Trump doesn't want them to cover.

This shouldn't come as a revelation - he's been doing this all his career.  It's the main tool of scammers and magicians:  keep the eyes of the audience away from the real action by distraction.  But it takes a while for people to realize that what was critical to other presidents - evaluation of the success of their policies (as subjective as that might be),  doesn't matter to Trump.  Policy is just one of the shiny toys he can use to distract the media.  Outrageous racist comments are another such toy.

Trump, it would seem, never expected to meet with Kim or to get him to denuclearize.  But it was a dramatic enough story that he could get endless coverage of it and thus take coverage off of the campaign's dealings with Russia, his numerous conflicts of interest, the shady backgrounds of his constantly changing sets of advisors.  You name it and there are plenty of things to cover.

Trump's career has been all about getting attention.  'Good' news for Trump is coverage that makes Trump appear like a business genius and a stud with women.  'Bad' news is only stuff that threatens his power - like the Mueller investigation.  Policy issues, whether the tax bill, DACA, climate change, Iran, or North Korean nukes, are neither good nor bad news (unless they affect his 'brand.')

The policy stuff is just glittery distractions he can use to get the media to watch his left hand while his right hand performs the real tricks.   He's a kid loose in the White House, pushing buttons, raising and lowering levers, poking here and there without any concern for the damage he might do or what costs the world will bear.

Wake up media!   Set your own agenda.  Don't let the President lead you by the nose with distracting hijinks.

How To Get More Variety From Netflix And Follow Up On Scam Film Festivals

"Netflix is always using algorithms to help you find the best movies based on your taste, but what if you want something completely different?"

So starts an article at Data Hand, which then goes on to list lots of codes that get you to very specific genres.

Hidden Netflix codes to help you find movies Netflix doesn't know you might like.

Here's are a few examples:

Anime Features: 3063
Anime Horror: 10695
Anime Sci-Fi: 2729
Anime Series: 6721
Art House Movies: 29764
Asian Action Movies: 77232
Australian Movies: 5230
B-Horror Movies: 8195
Baseball Movies: 12339
Basketball Movies: 12762
Belgian Movies: 262
Biographical Documentaries: 3652
Biographical Dramas: 3179
Boxing Movies: 12443
British Movies: 10757
British TV Shows: 52117
Campy Movies: 1252
Children & Family Movies: 783
Chinese Movies: 3960

Dramas based on Books: 4961
Dramas based on real life: 3653
Dutch Movies: 10606
Eastern European Movies: 5254
Education for Kids: 10659
Epics: 52858
Experimental Movies: 11079
Faith & Spirituality: 26835
Faith & Spirituality Movies: 52804
Family Features: 51056
Fantasy Movies: 9744
Film Noir: 7687
Food & Travel TV: 72436  

Martial Arts Movies: 8985
Martial Arts, Boxing & Wrestling: 6695
Middle Eastern Movies: 5875
Military Action & Adventure: 2125
Military Documentaries: 4006
Military Dramas: 11
Military TV Shows: 25804
Miniseries: 4814
Mockumentaries: 26
Monster Movies: 947
Movies based on children's books: 10056

Sports & Fitness: 9327
Sports Comedies: 5286
Sports Documentaries: 180
Sports Dramas: 7243
Sports Movies: 4370
Spy Action & Adventure: 10702
Spy Thrillers: 9147
Stage Musicals: 55774
Stand-up Comedy: 11559
Steamy Romantic Movies: 35800
Steamy Thrillers: 972

The numbers are the code you put in, not the number of films in that category.


On another track, though still related to films, back in 2009 I wrote about a copycat film festival that mimicked the Anchorage International Film Festival's name, but showed no films and had no Alaska connection at all except for a post office box that forwarded submissions somewhere.  That post, and a threat from the festival's lawyer for using the word scam in my post, led me to several other posts about legitimate film festivals and more questionable ones festivals.

A recent piece in a German film site - Shortfilm.de - cited one of my posts and went on to talk about the proliferation of festivals that take advantage of film makers.  It looks in depth at the  the “International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema” in Berlin.  Here's the English version.  Or, if you prefer, the original German version.

323 798 8370 - Another Scam Phone Call

I don't know what this guy's angle is, but I've been getting this phone call several times a day for the last three days - including at 2 am this morning.  Fortunately, I was fast asleep.  I recall a dream where the phone was ringing vaguely, but I didn't wake up.



I did call the Anchorage Better Business Bureau and they knew about the Jamaican Lottery scam and one ring scam where people call back to see who called and get changed $19.95 for international call.

I'm checking the FCC website to see how to report this.  But I've got an appointment soon, so I'm just putting this up as a warning.



[Once again, feed burner failed to pick up this post and share it on blogrolls, so I'm reposting it and taking down the original. Sorry for those loyal readers who have already seen the original and thanks for your patience.][That didn't work. Experimenting by shortening the title.] [For those who care about such things, the feed burner worked when I shortened the title.  Was that why it worked?  Don't know.]

Mr. Rooter Makes Alaska Plumbers Seem Like A Bargain

We got into LA at midnight, got to my mom's and went to bed.  The next morning when I got up the plumber was coming in.  The caregiver had called because the shower knob wasn't working right and the kitchen faucet was leaking.  I'm thinking, I could do this myself, but, ok, let the plumber do it.

He shows me the agreement to sign.  $988! 

"What?! This is for real?" I asked.  "Even in Alaska this would be very high."  They were going to go buy the parts and come back. 

"The parts don't cost that much.  I'll go to the hardware store and get them."

"OK"  he says, "that will make it much cheaper.  I'll refigure the estimate."

He comes back after a while having recalculated the bill.  Now it's only $488. 

"It was $500 for parts?"  I asked incredulously.  "That leaves almost another $500 for labor?  Even if it takes you an hour for each faucet, that's almost $250 an hour."

He points out that since my mom is a member of Mr. Rooter, there's a discount for that, and also a 15% senior discount.  That was already taken off the bill!

"OK, I'll get the parts and call you back."

Silver faucet pops up out of pipe and leaks

I drove to B&B Hardware.  They're a crazy old time hardware store.   I ask for the someone to help with plumbing and they point me to guy who's helping another customer in Spanish.  He turns out to be from Peru. When she's done, I explain what I need.  I took pictures so I show him the kitchen sink issue first.  This part pops up when you turn the water on.

He pulls out a demo of that wall mounted fixture and shows me the part.

"Mine doesn't have this red o-ring."
"That's what keeps it from popping up."   Long story short, he finds an o-ring that sells for 40 cents.   Yes, 40 cents.  Then he gets what I need for the shower.  That's a lot more expensive - $8.95.

In the picture you can see two grooves.  The lower one has a black O-ring.  The upper one has nothing.  That's what was missing. 

I go home and get the kitchen sink fixed in eight minutes.  The shower is a little trickier because an old screw is rusted into the old fixture.  So I can't secure the new faucet handle in with a screw. But I made a few adjustments and the shower handle fits on and works.  I may do a little more work late.

But for under $10 and less than two hours, this amateur plumber, fixed what the 'professional'  plumber said would cost $988.

In my opinion, that borders on criminal.  Get little old ladies (my mom's 92) and get a cute young, sweet talking salesman to accompany the plumber, and presto, lots of bucks.  Add in guarantees - for who knows how much extra - and senior discounts, and you quickly convince these folks who really don't understand plumbing, that you are giving them a bargain when you're making huge, evil profits. 

I don't even want to think about how much my mom has paid to Mr. Rooter before.

On the up side, I saved her $990, which is more than cost of our trip down here.  And I met Fernando, who was very helpful, and he will come out to my mom's if she has any other plumbing problems.  He said he was flying several times a year to Peru when his mom was older, so he understands. 

The Alaska (in name only) Film Awards Shrinking List Of Winners

The 2014 'winners' are now listed for this 'Awards' scheme.  I've written about this ripoff of the name Alaska film event at length and been threatened by their attorney.

Their only link to Alaska was a "suite" at a commercial mail forwarding company in Anchorage, some of the photos on their website (and I'm not sure of their Alaska authenticity), and the names of some of their awards.

There is no festival (they did change their name to 'awards') and no showing of films.  They do tell film makers there is no festival, but the Alaska name is highly misleading and confuses people who think they are sending films to the legitimate Anchorage International Film Festival.  (To be completely transparent, I'll mention that I cover the AIFF on the blog here, the festival links to my blog, and they give me a pass to the festival.)

Below is a list of the Film Awards winners.  Note:  there is a total of eleven winners in the film competition and four in the screenplay competition.  This is a sharp decline from their 47 film awards and 15 screenplay awards in 2010.

I'd like to think this reflects more awareness among filmmakers that this is really a vanity film festival where people can pay for awards.  But it's hard to tell, since there is no list of films that were submitted.  We don't know if every film submitted got an award or not.

 

Film Competition

Grand Jury Award: A Frenchman in Barrow directed by Paul Peterson
Special Jury Award: Parallel Maze directed by Ya Hua
Kodiak Award: Slushamed directed by Marisa McInnes-Taylor and Mara De La Rosa
Denali Award: Reestablishment directed by Shi Qin
Best Narrative Feature: Let's Play Ghost directed by Damien Dematra
Best Documentary Feature: God Has Arrived directed by John Urich-Sass
Best Director: Deep Water directed by Daniel Zagaevsky
Best Narrative Short: Roulette directed by Christine Kelly
Best Student Film: Shtax'heen Kwaan: A Rededication directed by Kristin Galla
Best Music Video: Fade Away directed by Jethro Rothe-Kushel
Best of Alaska Award: The Meaning of Wild directed by Ben Hamilton

Screenplay Competition

1st Place Screenplay - "Grace" written by Lynda Lemberg and Jeffrey Allen Russel
2nd Place Screenplay - "Taco Day in Heaven" written by Paul Peterson
3rd Place Screenplay - "Polar Bear" written by Alexander Norton
4th Place Screenplay - "Zoo" written by Annemarie Lawless

I've contacted some of the winners listed here and they've confirmed that, again, this year, in order to get their prizes they have to pay for them - not a practice of legitimate film festivals.  One of the directors listed said he didn't even know his film had been submitted, let alone that it won, though he allowed that someone else involved may have submitted it.

My hope is, as I mentioned above, that the declining number of winners means film makers are more aware of scam film events and aren't submitting to them.  If you look at the film that won the Grand Jury prize, you'll see that the quality of films isn't great.  (It's apparently a student film from Barrow and as such is fine, but it's hardly a Grand Jury prize winner.  And one might ask the Alaska International Film Awards folks who exactly makes us their Grand Jury?  And even if there is a Grand Jury?  Or is that just some fancy name with no actual Grand Jury?

Some of the other winners do seem to be serious films that have won prizes at legitimate festivals and would have been accepted in the serious Anchorage International Film Festival.  A number of these films have Alaskan themes and were purposely submitted to what they thought was an Alaska based film festival.  Deep Water was filmed in Alaska as were a couple of others.    These are films that would have been submitted to the Anchorage International Film Festival where people in Anchorage would actually have been able to see them.

I should note that there are also some other, smaller, legitimate Alaska film festivals such as the Indigenous World Film Festival.

Strange Encounter In Parking Garage

We'd been at the Getty Museum (in LA) and were in the parking garage, in the car, ready to drive home when I man came up to the passenger window.  Our passenger opened the door and the man accused him of hitting his car. 

My first reaction was that we were parked before he was, so how could we hit his car?  But he said the passenger had done it when he opened the door. 

I got out and walked around.  I looked at this car.  My passenger said the door couldn't hit his car because the mirror was in the way.  But I opened the car door and it could make it to the door despite the mirror. 

But there were no marks there.  Well there were a couple of light brown marks and the other guy flicked them with his fingernail and they fell off.  Dirt.

Me:  It doesn't look like there's any damage.  So, no problem.

Him:  I want your insurance information.

Me:  What for?

Him:  It's dark here.  In the light I may find damage.

Me:  You're kidding.

Him:  I need to take a picture. 

I got out my camera.  The first picture, without a flash, was pretty dark.  So I turned on the flash, something I rarely do.  It's not a great picture, but it only shows dirt.  No marks.   And there was clearly nothing near where the door would have reached the side of the car. 

I went back and took a picture of the two cars.  His is the one on the right at an angle.  The flash caused it to look like his lights were on.  He's standing between the cars.  He took pictures with his cell phone.  


Him:  I want your insurance.

Me:  (I'm still reasonably calm.  There's no damage.)  What for? 

Him:  You hit my car.

Me: Even if we did, there's no damage. 

Him:  I'm going to get a security guard.

Me:  Go ahead.  He won't do anything.

(In hind sight, perhaps this was his way of letting us go, though some people we talked to said this would cause him to say it was hit and run.)

We wait.  He comes back without a security guard.

There's some repetition of the previous exchange.  Then:

Me:  What do you want me to do?  There's no damage.  What do you want?

Him:  You didn't say you were sorry.

Me:  I'm terribly sorry the door hit your car.  I'm glad there was no damage.

Him:  OK

And he walks away from the car and I start to back out. 

People we've talked to have had a variety of opinions from he's a little crazy, cross-cultural misunderstanding, to it's a scam. 

I've looked on line and found a few parking lot scams.  From NBC Los Angeles:

According to a press release from the Santa Monica Police Department, the duo – sometimes working alone and other times as a pair – approach the elderly victims as they’re leaving parking lots.

They then claim the victim hit their car and demand money from them, saying that the damage is less than their insurance deductible.

 But we were in the Getty Museum parking lot.  It costs $15 to park.  (The museum itself is free.)  And he didn't demand any money.  Here's another from laist:

[She] was returning home from Ralph's on Coldwater & Ventura when she was waved over to the side of the road at Dickens and Van Noord by 2 men in a car who claimed she had hit their car at Ralph's. (They had likely followed her from Ralph's) The driver of the car exited his vehicle and approached the woman who never left her car. He pretended to call the police and told her that they would be on the scene in 45 minutes. 

Again, not the same.  It didn't occur to me it could be a scam while it was happening.  The man had an accent and I just assumed he was overly protective of his car.  And the apology request and resolution seemed to support that idea - he didn't lose face at the end.

But maybe he could do something my insurance information had I given it to him.  Some people we talked to even questioned if it was his car at all.

I thought he was getting into it as we drove off, but I didn't actually see him do that.  Another car was pulling into a space on the other side of him and I remember thinking:  Don't hit his car.  

"I want to add your birthday to my calendar" Scam?

I got an email from a good friend with this request.   I'd recently called her, coincidentally, on her birthday and I apologized for not knowing her birthday after all these years.  So she was just getting mine in return, maybe.

But my big brother antennae went, "One more piece of the puzzle to pull all my info together for the internet info scavengers."  I would pass.

Then I got an email from my friend saying her email had been hacked and she hadn't asked for the information.


I looked to see whether spam sites have identified it.  It seems to be a Facebook App that has gone viral.  Business Insider wrote January 3, 2014:

We asked Facebook why this app persisted, attracting tens of millions of users.
"This app is not in violation of any of our policies, and there aren't enough people marking it as spam for it to trigger our detection systems," a spokesperson told us. "If an individual finds the app to be spammy, they can hide or remove the app stories from their News Feed or block the app."
K-Factor Media cofounder Jing Chen did not respond to a request for comment via her LinkedIn profile.

That'snonnsense.com writes that the scam warnings are nonsense:

"This warning circulating virally across Facebook warns users of an apparently malicious application that "retrieves data from all profiles".

The warning is mostly false, clearly written by someone with no understanding of how Facebook Apps work.
At the time of writing there is an application with a similar name spreading across Facebook which is lending credibility to this false message. The application, which goes under the name "I want to add your birthday" or "MyCalendar - Birthdays" is simply an application that posts reminders to Facebook users about upcoming birthdays. In reality the App is totally redundant since Facebook offers an inbuilt service that does that any way, so even though this App is not really that malicious (just spammy) we would still not recommend installing it."

 I look at it this way.  Every time  another bit of personal information gets connected to your name in an insecure place online, it's one more way for any scammer to start gathering what they need to hack into your credit cards, bank accounts, email, etc.  Does that make me safe?  Of course not.  But it's like locking your car door.  A thief would rather steal a car (or from a car) that's unlocked.  As long as others are leaving their virtual doors unlocked, if I don't, I'm a little ahead.  Besides, do you really need to have automated birthday cards sent to you?  Well, I guess in this family-scattered world, some people do.  And others exploit that need.

I got another request today, so I thought it was time to put this up.

Scam Alert: Anil Singh Called From Microsoft This Morning To Fix My Computer - But Not My Feedburner Problems

I got a call this morning telling me to go to my computer so he could help me fix my problems.
Steve:  What problems?  How would you know I had computer problems?
Anil:  From the error messages.
Steve:  I don't even use Microsoft.
Anil:  You have an Apple.
Steve:  Why are you calling me?

And I hung up the phone. 



I know that you never give out any information to unsolicited callers, but still, I wondered.  I've been dealing with a feedburner problem and one of my email accounts has been overly inclusive in blocking spam and tech support is currently working on that.  And it's a Microsoft Outlook system.

The Feedburner sends out messages to people who subscribe to my blog and to websites that have my blog listed in their blogrolls.  While most people get here through search engines, new posts get most of their initial hits from people who see the new post title on one of the blogs that has What Do I Know? listed.  It's been working very inconsistently and I've found advice telling me how to ping the information manually, but even that wasn't working last night.  If anyone else is having that trouble, Unzip Tech is the most helpful site I found for this.   I'm hoping this time I got it fixed for good.  We'll see. (Or not see if I didn't fix it.)

For those interested in Redistricting, the main post that didn't get linked elsewhere is on 
the issue of compactness in house districts 3 and 5 in Fairbanks which are in dispute before the judge now. 


I did google 'spam microsoft help phone calls' and here's what Microsoft says about this sort of call on their website:

Avoid tech support phone scams

Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:

• Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
• Take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.
• Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.
• Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes.

Telephone tech support scams: What you need to know

Cybercriminals often use publicly available phone directories so they might know your name and other personal information when they call you. They might even guess what operating system you're using.
Once they've gained your trust, they might ask for your user name and password or ask you to go to a website to install software that will let them access your computer to fix it. Once you do this, your computer and your personal information is vulnerable.
Do not trust unsolicited calls. Do not provide any personal information.
Here are some of the organizations that cybercriminals claim to be from:

• Windows Helpdesk
• Windows Service Center
• Microsoft Tech Support
• Microsoft Support
• Windows Technical Department Support Group
• Microsoft Research and Development Team (Microsoft R & D Team)

 There's a lot more at the link.

Got A Suspicious Job Announcement From World Economic Forum? Forward It To itsecurity@weforum.org

I got a suspect email this morning.  It began:

"Hello Dear Sir/Madam,Good day to you.
The World Economic Forum ® (WEF®)  is looking for competent and motivated
persons with a strong belief in its purpose and mandates, who are willing
to dedicate themselves to a rewarding international career in different
locations around the world.  The World Economic Forum ® (WEF®) provides
an opportunity to serve in a dynamic, multicultural environment in a
variety of jobs in the support of global causes.
World Economic Forum ® (WEF®) staff uphold the principles and core values
of the Organization, including integrity, professionalism, efficiency and
respect for diversity.  The World Economic Forum ® (WEF®) welcomes
applications from nationals of all Member States and strongly encourages
women to apply. Applicants with disabilities are considered by the World
Economic Forum ® (WEF®) for employment under all types of contracts in
full compliance with the World Economic Forum ® (WEF®) Charter. World
Economic Forum ® (WEF®) offers a variety of ways to join its workforce.
It also offers university students opportunities to serve as interns.
 
A.Position: Environmental Officer
Location:Belgium/USA
Salary: $180,600.00 USD.
Contract: Full time . . ."

It goes on to offer 15 more well paid positions in great locations, mostly in Europe.

The Signs of Fraud:

1. Not addressed to me by name.  Why me?  Why would I get an email out of the blue from this organization that I don't know anything about?
2. Too good to be true.  Why do they need to email these job announcements?  At these salaries and in these locations, there'd be no shortage of well qualified applicants without a mass email.
3. Format is tacky.  I didn't spot any obvious English errors as I scanned it, but it looks 'wrong' on the page.  I could explain that, but I just as well not spell it out tol other potential scammers.

What's in it for them?  Step 2, if you responded, would likely ask you to fill out and send in a job application that would require all sorts of personal data they could then use to do any number of things.

This was enough for me to google World Economic Forum, which does exist.  Down on the bottom of the page where there are lots of links I found, under MEDIA, "fictitious email warning."

"Alert on Fictitious 'Forum' E-mails

It has been brought to our attention that fraudulent e-mail messages are being sent by individuals purporting to be representatives of the World Economic Forum.
These messages have in the past used the names of the Forum’s management team, with "Reply To" addresses that do not end in "@weforum.org". They may use Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail accounts, and occasionally addresses which are similar to Forum ones (e.g. @weforum-jobs.org).
Typically, though not exhaustively, the messages take the form of invitations offering membership, the possibility to participate in Forum events (e.g. “Davos 13”) as an individual or as part of a ‘delegation’, or offers of employment. They often ask the potential ‘victim’ to respond for further information.
Ultimately the recipient will be asked to provide passport, bank and other personal details, and finally payment (usually via Western Union or MoneyGram) to the fictitious Forum representative.
These e-mails are not legitimate World Economic Forum communications, and are in most cases a form of advance fee fraud. Their objective is to mislead victims into paying for a fictitious membership, event registration or "training course" prior to an offer of employment. 
Please note:

• E-mails from the World Economic Forum are only sent from addresses ending in: @weforum.org. 
• To assist "webmail" providers and your IT team in the identification and filtering of fraudulent messages, the World Economic Forum maintains an up-to-date SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record. 
• Participation in the Annual Meeting is by invitation only and is reserved exclusively for Members of the World Economic Forum and invited guests. 
• Employment opportunities are published on the website of the World Economic Forum and are never advertised via unsolicited email communications. 
• The World Economic Forum does not use Western Union or MoneyGram to receive payments. 

If you have received one of these e-mails or have any doubts about the authenticity of a message you have received from the Forum please forward the message to itsecurity@weforum.org for verification.
The World Economic Forum disclaims all responsibility with respect to any expense, loss, and/or damage of any kind, which might have occurred in connection with any fraudulent membership or event registration invitation."

And there it is.  Pretty easy to check out.  But I suspect the people who fall for this stuff overlap with people who think that Ted Cruz is a hero.   And buy lottery tickets every week.