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General discussion

Have you've ever been a victim of a scam?

Jul 8, 2015 9:53AM PDT
Have you've ever been a victim of a scam?

-- Yes. (Please tell us about it.)
-- No, but I have come close. (Please tell how it went down.)
-- Never.

Place your poll votes here.

Share you story. If you've ever been a victim or close to being victim of a scam, fraud attempt, or identity theft regardless of it happening online or offline, please share your experience with us. The more we can learn from these experiences shared, the more we can help protect ourselves from being a victim. Thanks in advance for sharing!

Discussion is locked

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My suspicions
Jul 8, 2015 10:46AM PDT

One thing I've noticed: phishes are often somewhat illiterate, with spelling and grammar mistakes. Even the literate ones, though, tend to raise my flags.

The most common phish I've experienced is actually a threat: something to the effect of "your email account is ---. Click here to make it OK."

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I agree, that is first tell sign!
Jul 9, 2015 11:40AM PDT

I see it all the time where emails that are phishing scams usually have typos or bad grammar.

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IRS scam
Jul 8, 2015 11:36AM PDT

Two calls came in from two different phone numbers. The first call was from a Washington, DC area code. The other call came from a different area code; but, the voice message that was left sounded like the same person. The caller did not identify herself; but, the message indicated that the IRS was getting ready to file a lawsuit against me.

Since I did not recognize the number, I let it go to voice mail. Apparently, this scam has been around for a while and there have been people who have fallen victim to it. I filed a report with the FTC.