Wednesday 24 June 2015

it's a scam

Sometimes I wonder about my peeps. Nissy used to say that all the time and truth be told, he was right to wonder.  My peeps.  What can I say?  They're peeps! MOUSES!

And if we're being really honest here, it's Peep #2 whom I wonder about the most.

Last night, the second peep was anxious to watch some program on CBC about raccoons.  Determined to watch it.  Said it was about rehabilitating raccoons in residential areas or something like that. Probably wanted to see it on account of the marauding gang of rockies living in my very own neighbourhood.  Personally, I kind of think they're past the point of rehabilitation but I've been known to be wrong before.

Anyway, Peep #1 wasn't too keen on watching the rocky show and looked it up in the TV listings to see what it was called. She had the time and channel, just not the name.  Then I heard her say something about the program in question being called Fool Canada. Surely a show with a name like that couldn't be a documentary.

But would Peep #2 listen?  Not a chance.  "They said it was about raccoons and it comes on at 8:30," was the second peep's reply.

Well I immediately knew exactly what was going on.  So did Mason.  We called out to the peeps, "It's not David Suzuki, you know!" but, of course, our cries were in vain.

So the show came on and just as the first peep, Mason and I had expected, it was not a documentary about rockies.  It was a comedy.  One of those comedies where peeps go out into the neighbourhood and film themselves fooling other peeps.  To be honest, I think the name kind of gave it away...  Fool Canada.  MOUSES!

And by the way, this is not the first time Peep #2 has been fooled by such things.  MOUSES!

Then on the news this morning, I heard someone calling Canadians, fools.  Could they have been watching Fool Canada, too?

No, that wasn't it.  That wasn't it at all.  This guy wasn't someone making peeps laugh for the purpose of entertainment.  He was of a totally different breed.

Apparently this guy calling me names was a scammer.  He makes his living by scamming cats and peeps from all around the world and he said he had made a lot of money scamming Canadians, claiming they were fools.

Well let me tell you, this scamming scammer is a fool, himself, if he thinks a Canadian kitty like me is going to take his name calling lying down.  I'm not going to take it lying down, standing up or sitting, either.  Not even going to take it while washing my tail.  No one calls this kitty a fool. MOUSES!

Time for a little discussion of phone scammer identification, I should think.  Phone scammers and Internet ones, too.


The scammer in question was calling peeps up and telling them they had made errors on their income taxes and therefore owed the Canada Revenue Agency money.  In order to avoid prosecution and even the possibility of going to jail, they had to pay up right away.  And they needed to pay by wiring the money to them or purchasing pre-paid credit cards.

Now here's the thing, the CRA doesn't call peeps up, out of the blue, and threaten to toss them in jail.  And even more importantly, they do accept cheques.  MOUSES!

That's right folks, you can always identify the scammers by how they want to be paid.  If they're asking you to pay them money in a way that cannot be traced, odds are, they're scammers. Legitimate businesses and government agencies have no problem with your writing a cheque because, guess what, they have legitimate bank accounts into which they can deposit those cheques. Scammers usually don't.  MOUSES!

Another way to identify the scammers is by what they already do or don't know about you.  Like when someone from your bank calls you up, asking for your bank account information.  Uhhh... The bank already knows all that!  Yup, it's true.  The bank where you do your banking already has access to your account numbers and stuff so if someone calls you up on the phone and says they need this kind of information, they're scammers, for sure.

And if they call you up asking for your account information from a bank where you don't even have an account, that's a sure sign of a scammer, too.

I think my favourite phone scammer of all was the guy who wanted Nissy to give him access to the computer because he was using it all wrong.  Nissy told him flat out that he was a cat and cats can do no wrong.  Then he hung up.  MOUSES!

And speaking of the Internet, it's rife with scammers, as well.  I'd say, on average, I get a paw full of scammy e-mails each and every week.  Usually, they're wanting to give me money that I've inherited or something and I need to contact them to collect.  I've never actually contacted them on account of my not having any long-lost feline relatives working for oil companies in foreign lands.

But today I received one with a new twist on things.  It was from a courier service.  My parcel had been delivered to a local post office on account of their not having the correct mailing address. They wanted me to open up some file for information about the parcel or something.

Obviously, I didn't.  Didn't open the file.  NEVER OPEN UNKNOWN FILES!  MOUSES!

I figure that if a courier service - or even Canada Post - is trying to get me a parcel, they probably already know my name.  They didn't.  Didn't even know the Peep's.  So no, Mr Courier Scamming Scammer guy, I am NOT going to believe that you tracked me down by my e-mail to deliver a parcel I didn't even know I had coming when you don't even know who I am.  I'm not going to believe that at all.

I also didn't believe the scammer who tried to get me to open a file so that I'd have the correct court documentation when appearing in some unknown court in some unkown state for a traffic violation. I'm a cat.  I don't drive.  MOUSES!

But since they didn't even know my name, I suppose they didn't know I was a cat, either.

If you ever receive an e-mail addressed to "undisclosed recipients," it's a sure sign of scamming activity going on.  That beeping sound you hear in your head?  That's your internal scamming alarm going off.  Whether they want to give you something or want you to open a file, if they have any business contacting you, they likely know who you are.  MOUSES!

So that, my friends, brings me to the end of Spotting Scammers 101. They're easy to spot once you know to be aware.

At some point I may offer a higher level course.  Spotting the scammers who actually appear to be legit, even to kitties like me.  The ones who have a bunch of information about you already. These ones are trickier to identify but still, with a little common sense, they can be avoided.

But in the meantime, why not pull up a chair and watch some good old TV. That show about the raccoons was pretty funny.  They sure did fool Peep #2.  Peep #1, on the other paw, was on to their tricks.  MOUSES!


36 comments:

  1. dood....

    ther bee scammerz in ther pa jammerz down thiz way two....we getted a call frum de eye R & ess in march on de telly fone & they wuz gonna sue uz if we did knot pay R taxes....we wuz like go for it ...

    coz

    A) we iz catz N we due knot werk C) if we go ta court ya better hire uz a taxi cat coz we due knot drive ( legully any way )

    ♥♥♥

    N may bee next time we can all go two court two gether !!!



    ReplyDelete
  2. Seville, you do an important service reminding everybody about these scammy things. One can't be too careful and that is the thing to remember the most. My humans actually DID get a couple of phone calls from the US version of the CRA - they left messages on the answering machine in a quite foreign sounding accent. And they even had a silly friend, with a PHD, who fell for it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ya mean dat Nigerian prince does not want to give me $5 million??? MOUSES!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think these scammers are out looking for gullible humans - they must know that kitties are too smart for them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We kitties are WAY TOO SMART for the scammers, for sure. MOUSES!

      Delete
  5. Great post, Seville! Our peeps are like Agent Fox Mulder on the X-Files when it comes to scammers and stuff that seems fishy. Question everything/Trust no one! :)

    MOUSES!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same thing applies when peeps are trying to sneaks medicin into our food, I should think. purrs

      Delete
  6. WE know that kitties are way too smart for scammers. Those scammers are evil things. You all have a great day and good job Seville.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Marg. Yeah, I figure I need to help the peep learn how to spot the scammers, for sure. purrs

      Delete
  7. Scammers are a royal pain in the butt and that's putting it nicely!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post Seville. Rehabilitating Raccoons sounds like a scam to me, I wonder if there would have been a squirrel narrating and a credit card donation line at the end?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm... I should have looked for that. MOUSES! purrs

      Delete
  9. Wes could goes on and on about what happens with peoples and computers. As my Mommy says, yous should only practice Safe IO.
    Kisses
    Nellie

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always wonder why these clever crooks, who spend so much time and energy developing evil plans, can't figure out honest ways to make money.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Guess they figure swindling peeps is easier or something. Rotten thing to do. MOUSES!

      Delete
  11. And we too thought that we were going to get our mittens on $356,000,000,000 gazillion dollars from some furry nice purrson in West Africa that wants to make us rich fur no reason whatsoeffur, and all we have to do is send Parsley's bank details and passwords!!!! MOL MOL MOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uh... You didn't actually send Parsley's bank info, did you? Not something you want to do. purrs

      Delete
  12. Replies
    1. Took the words right out of my mouth. MOUSES! purrs

      Delete
  13. Great blog....love the tips about avoiding scammers. They are devils. I'm always getting (spam) emails about how much money, I've won in sweepstakes. That would be great.. if I actually entered a sweepstakes. I am glad you're informing us poor PEEPS...some of us are very trusting /naïve! Great job...Seville!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cats have been fooled, too. That's why I felt the need to get the word out. That and the fact that Peep #2 was fooled by that rocky show. purrs

      Delete
  14. My mom and brothers get offered vast sums of monies from Nigerian Princes. That's about all. Oh, we DID have one email from a Canadian scammer offering us all the winnings from the lottery we never entered or heard of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But Katie, are you SURE none of them are legit? After all, you ARE a Princess. purrs

      Delete
  15. Thank you for all the warnings about scammers. It seems there are peeps everywhere that want to get our money or ruin are computers- it is very sad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, both true and sad. Hate having to watch out for those scammers. purrs

      Delete
  16. Ugg... all day, every day... I could go on and on with scammer stories. Just be done with it scammers. Deposit the darn money into my account - I could really use it...

    Purrs from Deb and the Zee/Zoey Gang

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We should track them down and go knocking on their door. Tell them that if they want to give us money, they can do it in person. What do you think? purrs

      Delete
  17. Great post Seville! Mom bean says you are a furry smart cat and your warning to all the peeps out there is really useful information.

    As for the raccoons, do you suppose they taste like chick-hen?

    Sasha, Sami, & Saku

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chicken, huh? They'd be pretty big chickens, for sure. MOUSES!

      Purrs,
      Seville

      Delete

I love hearin' from my pals. I really, REALLY do. PURRS.