The business of selling fear

[HemiEd]

Heck, it is the offseason

I have noticed more and more lately adds trying to instigate fear to sell you some peace of mind.

The one that triggered this thread was a new one I saw yesterday about losing your home to a scam. I only watched it for a few minutes but remember seeing a fake bill of sale of a persons home for $10. Holy crap, how would that stand up?

This morning in my news feed one add was for SSN protection and the other Identity theft.


Have you had any personal experience with these issues or purchased these products?
What say you?

Personally I have avoided TikTok and have purchased an antivirus protection for my laptop.

Our Citibank card has been compromised at least a half dozen times in the last couple years, but none of the others have.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by Womble

Any company that makes a commercial featuring Patrick Mahomes is selling fear.

fear of a head full of luscious hair?

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

You have to freeze your credit through each reporting agency... links are here: https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze

Done!

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

This is a handy guide on how to freeze your credit with the big 3 bureaus. You can do it all online if you wish.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/f...-freeze-credit

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Heck, it is the offseason

I have noticed more and more lately adds trying to instigate fear to sell you some peace of mind.

Adds?

Hell, that's all the gubment and media do.
You realize we're all going into WW3 'cause Ukraine and bird flu right?

[jerryaldini]

I had one in Google flights this week. It split my flights with the departure on Alaska. After I put in all the info the only option to book was linked to some travel agency. Somehow being in Google flights made me think it was legit. Nah, it was a scam.

[TinyEvel]

My credit card number gets compromised about once a year. I use that opportunity to not update the new number into any of my online subscriptions and it's like canceling the ones I don't want.

You have to watch out for phishing (spoof) emails. With AI they are getting really, really good / hard to tell them from a legit email. Even the sender's email address--which used to be an easy tell-- are now like Service@wellsfargo.customercare.com or some other non-official address that sounds like the real one by adding another word.

Never click links.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by T-post Tom

Lots of good advice. Years ago a family member’s checking account got cleaned out via a compromised debit card. She had multiple items “bounce” & racked up some substantial bank fees. She had to fight the bank for over 6 months to get a final resolution. Debit cards carry extra layers of risk. Especially dangerous when used online.

THANK YOU.GIF

[BigRedChief]

The Chinese stole everything in my DOD file on their investigations of me. All my permanent records. Birth certificate, SS #, places I’ve lived, worked etc. I got life long identity and theft protection. Had no issues.

[BigRedChief]

I was working at CENTCOM and someone in Thailand used my credit card to buy like $25 worth of stuff. I got alerted. I have to notify my superior within an hour of finding out.

I was notified the next day they caught the guy and he’s in a Thailand jail.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I was working at CENTCOM and someone in Thailand used my credit card to buy like $25 worth of stuff. I got alerted. I have to notify my superior within an hour of finding out.

I was notified the next day they caught the guy and he’s in a Thailand jail.

That is great. Interesting they got him that fast.

The Mrs. has instant updates and notifications on all of our credit cards, pretty cool.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

Freeze your credit. (thaw when necessary - financing a car, home, etc)
Don’t use debit cards.
Don’t answer your phone unless it’s from a known party (even then, follow the next rule)
Don’t act on anything anyone wants you to do over email or phone.

Follow those golden rules and you are good to go.

Edit: I’ve been an IT Security professional for over 15 years. I use TikTok regularly, and do not subscribe to any identity protection services or otherwise.

An old email address was on a scam email where they forgot to blind copy others, and I thought it was crazy how many people replied-all to it (and then all the people replying-all to complain about people replying-all).... people responding to say they didn't even have a Home Depot account, responding to say "**** off scammers," etc.

Another item is at least some carriers have scam blockers that won't even ring to your phone...T-Mobile's is free (Scam Shield) and for myself the number of calls has dropped from 1-2 per day to ~3-5 per month. Verizon has a similar app, but I think those assholes actually charge to block numbers.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

An old email address was on a scam email where they forgot to blind copy others, and I thought it was crazy how many people replied-all to it (and then all the people replying-all to complain about people replying-all).... people responding to say they didn't even have a Home Depot account, responding to say "**** off scammers," etc.

Another item is at least some carriers have scam blockers that won't even ring to your phone...T-Mobile's is free (Scam Shield) and for myself the number of calls has dropped from 1-2 per day to ~3-5 per month. Verizon has a similar app, but I think those assholes actually charge to block numbers.

I have Verizon and get a lot of notifications of spam calls and block them.

I am not aware of any charges for the service

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Fear is just another commodity people have figured out how to monetize.

The TV add creating fear of losing your home and painting the picture like it's a regular occurrence was over the top IMO.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

I have Verizon and get a lot of notifications of spam calls and block them.

I didn't used to, but they seem to be getting out of hand. Jesus.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Another item is at least some carriers have scam blockers that won't even ring to your phone...T-Mobile's is free (Scam Shield) and for myself the number of calls has dropped from 1-2 per day to ~3-5 per month. Verizon has a similar app, but I think those assholes actually charge to block numbers.

I still have a landline at home (I don't have a cell phone but the wife does) and I quit emptying the voice mail 7 or 8 years ago. We'd get over 25 calls a day. My caller ID quickly fills in 3 or 4 days. I assume people just find landline numbers and flood them with calls because they're almost entirely old people these days. And these scams do work. People better wake up to it and have these conversations with grandpa and grandma because in the next few years AI will be able to convincingly mimic their grandson or granddaughter. The kid being in jail and needing bail is already a scam that consistently gets people to hand their debit/credit cards over.

One good thing is even my landline caller ID will state SUSPECTED SCAM on the most of them.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Selling fear is literally all anyone does anymore, when the political ads start it'll really uptick.

When?

They have already started.