Am I Being Scammed Right Now?? **Mods/Admin Please Look**

[ryanosaur]

Reminds me of this. LOL, Seinfeld was on randomly and it was this episode over the weekend. Amidst a fresh round of robocalls this week, so appropriate.

Does TV imitate life?
Or does life imitate TV?

 

[gene]

I just got a reply to one of my comments on a yt video from someone with an Audioholics badge telling me to text to a number and that I had won the Heco 5.1 speaker set they're giving away.

Well... I'm in text with someone right now and we got to a point of "you will have to pay the shipping" and they want me to transfer $140 to a suspicious looking email account! Something isn't smelling right... does Audioholics do their giveaways like this?

View attachment 54306

Yes it's a scam. Some dickbag is spamming our account. I've blocked them several times. You will ONLY get contacted from an Audioholics email address AFTER March 31st IF you're the winner.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes it's a scam. Some dickbag is spamming our account. I've blocked them several times. You will ONLY get contacted from an Audioholics email address AFTER March 31st IF you're the winner.

The f*ckers from the copycats in zambia/SA?

 

[Pogre]

Nah... This is the time to have some fun with a scammer. I got one of them to send a certified check 5 times at $7.95 a pop. On the 6th one I asked them if they could take a picture of them in front of the issuing bank and they cussed me out.

They want a screenshot showing that I transferred the money and I'm actually thinking about sending them a goatse...

Problem is I'd have to see it too... lol.

 

[Pogre]

Not even well thought out.

Your mistake - you shouldn't text that number

Okay, this stung me a little bit yesterday. Because it's true. You're right tho. I should have had my radar up immediately. I deserve a facepalm reaction for sure...

The combination of the AH badge and their knowledge of the contest was enough to make me excited enough that common sense flew out the window for a couple of minutes. As soon as they mentioned paying for shipping all of my alarm bells finally went off and I started this thread.

I appreciate everyone's replies tho and thanks for going easy on me for being a temporary dumbass...

 

[highfigh]

Yeah me too. They did get my home address, but that's it. How they got me was they knew about the contest for the 5.1 Heco set they just put up. I didn't tell them I had entered for it and asked what it was I won and they knew about it.

They got your home address from you, or they had your home address? Neither is good.

 

[Pogre]

They got your home address from you, or they had your home address? Neither is good.

I gave it to them. Agreed, not good, but I stopped before giving up any more sensitive or payment info. When I say my alarm bells finally went off, I mean it was almost deafening. A rush of realization crashed over me like an ocean wave...

 

[Benni777]

Sucks that there are so many scammers out there in the world. Cant trust no one these days. Just last year I have a call FROM VERIZON phone number which is my carrier and logged on my phone, Verizon customer service, saying I hadnt paid my bill and that they were going to cancel my account if I wouldnt pay right then. I was a bit thrown off being that I paid my bill 2 weeks back. I hung up and call Verizon back and confirmed it was a scam. Crazy part is that the scammer USED Verizons own phone number. I'm not even sure how that is possible but they did it....

 

[SithZedi]

Reminds me of this. LOL, Seinfeld was on randomly and it was this episode over the weekend. Amidst a fresh round of robocalls this week, so appropriate.

Nothing to do with robo calls but few shows made me laugh as much as Seinfeld. Just for fun, here's one. God love Agent 99...

 

[highfigh]

I gave it to them. Agreed, not good, but I stopped before giving up any more sensitive or payment info. When I say my alarm bells finally went off, I mean it was almost deafening. A rush of realization crashed over me like an ocean wave...

They don't need much info if they know how to get more- your property info is now available and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

My CC number was used by someone who bought something on ATT.net and the manager of the ATT store wouldn't let me see the video of the transaction, during which they never asked for ID. I had to go to the PD to report this and they were to subpoena the video, which likely never showed up or they didn't bother to finish the case because it was only about $120, but the real problem is that they had my name, company name, could easily find my address and other info that's available on the internet. While I'm not aware of any additional problems that are connected to this, I really don't like so much visible info on the internet.

 

[Pogre]

They don't need much info if they know how to get more- your property info is now available and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

My CC number was used by someone who bought something on ATT.net and the manager of the ATT store wouldn't let me see the video of the transaction, during which they never asked for ID. I had to go to the PD to report this and they were to subpoena the video, which likely never showed up or they didn't bother to finish the case because it was only about $120, but the real problem is that they had my name, company name, could easily find my address and other info that's available on the internet. While I'm not aware of any additional problems that are connected to this, I really don't like so much visible info on the internet.

They didn't get an email, cc number or any kind of payment info from me. I hit the brakes before we got that far.

 

[highfigh]

They didn't get an email, cc number or any kind of payment info from me. I hit the brakes before we got that far.

Do a google search of your name- you'll be amazed by the info you find. Do the same for your address and phone number.

 

[Pogre]

Do a google search of your name- you'll be amazed by the info you find. Do the same for your address and phone number.

I have, I know. There ain't much in the way of dirt out there on me tho!

Well... not without more than a cursory search of my name anyway...

 

[highfigh]

I have, I know. There ain't much in the way of dirt out there on me tho!

Well... not without more than a cursory search of my name anyway...

Or, your aliases.

 

[Pogre]

They want a screenshot showing that I transferred the money and I'm actually thinking about sending them a goatse..

Well... they did ping me again so I replied.

Wow. Ha ha!

*I scribbled out the image before posting it here, but I'm assuming most of you guys know what goatse is.

**Do NOT Google "goatse" unless you're braced for some very offensive imagery.

 

[highfigh]

Well... they did ping me again so I replied.

View attachment 54318

Wow. Ha ha!

*I scribbled out the image before posting it here, but I'm assuming most of you guys know what goatse is.

I didn't, but thanks to you, I do now. Thanks, a lot. Really. Where do I send a thank you gift?

 

[Pogre]

I didn't, but thanks to you, I do now. Thanks, a lot. Really. Where do I send a thank you gift?

Ha ha! Oops, lol.

Yeah, umm... if you don't know what it is do NOT Google "goatse" if you're easily (or even not so easily) offended!

 

[Pogre]

I didn't, but thanks to you, I do now. Thanks, a lot. Really. Where do I send a thank you gift?

I edited a warning into that post in case there are others who don't know what it is. It's pretty rough stuff...

 

[highfigh]

I edited a warning into that post in case there are others who don't know what it is. It's pretty rough stuff...

I didn't look- I just closed google when I saw the description and no, curiosity won't get the best of me.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Not to mention if this isn't legit, as I suspect, there's someone running around YouTube with an Audioholics badge and knowledge of their contests scamming people right now!

Definitely a phishing scam. I put a note on the relevant contest pages asking entrants to steer clear of anyone asking for money.

There is never any financial transaction involved in these contests. Apologies for the inconveniences, I double checked our user-DBs and they're secure with no sign of hacks. If my two-factor authentication didn't warn me, activity logs should have and I see no evidence of a breach. My guess is they're getting info from YouTube as the reports rolled in almost directly after the video. This seems to be a low-effort phishing scam. When I heard about this, I was glad to hear nobody fell for it. My immediate concern was someone accessing our registration data. But I think anyone with the ninja hacking skills to access our user-data, *and* bypass notifications Gene or I would receive, they likely wouldn't be hacking our contest, I'm sure there are bigger phish to fry.

Best of luck!