Beware of Scam Artists

I think I first heard the term, “Let the buyer beware” in a college marketing class. At the time I didn’t interpret that to mean that marketers had the right to knowingly and unabashedly misrepresent themselves or their goods or services to convince people to buy. Nor did I think that it was the sole responsibility of the consumer to discern between true and false claims in order to protect themselves. Perhaps I was foolish to assume that there were reasonable guard rails, protecting the public against being scammed by con artists on a daily basis. Well, of course I was foolish to believe this. I watch in horror as Donald Trump is tries to scam the entire nation out it its democracy and rule of law. In addition, every time we pick up a phone from an unknown number we run the risk of being scammed. I was taken in just this week by a phone call from someone claiming to be from Apple Support.

Being the victim of one of these scams this week taught me a few important lessons. First among these lessons is that the scammers are looking for an opening or a vulnerability. I don’t usually answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers. But because my husband is in the hospital, I’m getting calls from doctors and nurses and physical therapist and pharmacies. These numbers are all unrecognizable to me, but I don’t want to miss out on a call. So, when my cell phone rang and the number wasn’t flagged as a scam, I answered it.

The man identified himself as being from Apple Support and said that he was calling because they noticed suspicious activity on my I-cloud account coming from New York and South Carolina. I was receptive to the idea because just before my husband went into the hospital he was working with a tech support person because his computer had been hacked. I was ripe to be victimized. I was in a vulnerable position mentally and that provided the scammer with an opening.

Long story short, after two hours, it finally occurred to me that this was a scam. What saved me was a block I had long ago placed on my credit card account that ensured that I have to call the bank prior to making large purchases. Thank goodness because that phone call to the bank confirmed my growing suspicion that this was in fact a scam. They had cleverly gotten me to purchase a $500 gift card from the Apple app store by making myself the recipient with the understanding that Apple would refund me the entire amount within minutes. The $500 was to purchase a security key to encrypt my IP address. I questioned the “tech” person about the weird process for several minutes before finally giving in. But then two things happened that made me doubtful. First, was when she asked for the authentication code on the gift card. I refused to give it. She said okay and then supposedly needed a second $500 gift card to get another key because the first wasn’t enough to clear up my “big problem”. Having seen the refund in my email from Apple Support, I tried but failed to purchase a second gift card because of my self-imposed credit card purchasing limit.

It wasn’t until I was on my landline phone with my bank when the bank representative acknowledged that they saw the pending charge for $500 but that they did not see any pending refund. I then noticed that the email address used for this Apple Support refund was in fact from a Gmail account. Why would Apple use Gmail? The banker confirmed that this was a scam. When I told the tech person that this was a scam, she said the bank call I made from my landline was to one of the scammers. I hung up on her.

I spent the next couple of hours cleaning up my computer, changing all my passwords, and calling Apple Support where I learned that the scammer had already cashed in the $500 gift card without my even providing the authentication code. Apple apparently has a whole fraud department designed to go after these folks. I gave her the phone number (which was from the same area as the real Apple Support) and the email address used for the bogus refund. She would give this information to the Apple fraud team. She then told me that these people have gotten very sophisticated in their schemes but that they always leave a footprint. Apparently they are able to steal authentication codes when people purchase gift cards at retail outlets, including the Apple Store itself, and the money is gone before the customer even reaches home. Thankfully, I am not responsible for the $500. She provided me a case number to provide my bank for the credit card dispute.

The other lesson I learned is that having safeguards around your credit card account such as spending limits and disallowing new credit cards to be opened in your name without you calling in are necessary. Every security setting possible on each bank or investment account is a must, too. And changing passwords frequently helps to secure accounts. When traveling, always letting the credit card company know where you and for how long is also a good safeguard.

So, when it comes to being scammed, I have compassion for people who get sucked into a bunch of false claims. Liars and marketers hone their skills to overcome your objections. They fabricate credentials and narratives that seem plausible. And people who are ripe to be deceived because of their underlying fears of being hacked, robbed, or taken over by communism and socialism or minorities are inclined to buy into the lies. It’s frightening to hear that 75 percent of Trump voters believe the election was fraudulent. This fears made it possible for once respected former major and attorney Rudy Giuliani to boldly stand in front of the entire nation this past week and make a boatload of false and completely unsubstantiated claims about the presidential election. I’m hopeful that those individuals will come to their senses (as I did) as they digest the truth as court cases are thrown out and election officials keep expose the false claims.

I’m actually nervous and a bit sad today to realize that what I learned in that marketing class so many years ago is more true today than it was back in the 1970’s: ” Let the buyer beware”. There are plenty of corrupt and depraved individuals out there actively trying to steal our money and now we have a president name Donald Trump and his team actively trying to steal our democracy. Beware!