I was scammed on Friday the 6th August - Please don’t you too make this mistake!
Aug 13, 2021 11:37:40 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
Being Scammed
Please read this; and do not make the same mistake as me!
The Story of a Scam
(or how I lost the thick end of $10,000.)
On Friday, 6th August, 2021 at 05:51 in came the following email:
Norton Customer ,
User name:paulhandover
*we like to confim you that the NortonDesk re-newal. has been done on your request*
It is very easy to unsubscribe it,
and related to your any query, reach us at +1-(860) – (852) – (6259).
Product-Name : NortonDesk
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Price : $475.04
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Subscription ID : 8837-77942826-947192-8126
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Expiration Date : 3 Year from the Date of Purchase
………………………………………………………………………………………………
* If you wish to Cancel this Membership then please feel free to Contact our Billing department as soon as Possible*
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
*Please do not write to this mail address, that will not help*
Reach us on +1 – (860) – (852) – (6259)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Regards,
Billing department
Contact: +1 – (860) – (852) – (6259)
693 Amwell Rd, Hillsborough, NJ
My first mistake was not to check the incoming email address. It was mahaliashomakerxhv928@gmail.com
I telephoned the number given and told the person that I wanted to cancel this membership. Indeed that I had never subscribed for this membership in the first place.
I spoke with ‘Adam’. I was then asked to go to a webpage where I filled in a Refund Application Order form. I filled in my details including the refund amount and my bank details: Sort Code & Account Number.
I then submitted the form and imagine my surprise when a few minutes later I was informed that I had received the sum of $10,000. I quickly checked our bank account online and there was the $10,000 credit in our checking account.
My second mistake was me not examining the total in our accounts. I have the facility to show the total funds in our accounts. Why I didn’t do that I can not explain.
Then it was back on the telephone and Adam also was surprised (later I realised that this was a feigned surprise and all part of the scam) and said could I go to the bank and fill in an International Wire Transfer for the amount of $9,500. Adam also said that he would give me the details of the person in Thailand that was to receive the funds, and could I say this was for a medical operation because it would save ‘Norton’ the taxation.
My third mistake was not to discuss this with Jeannie and to assume that it was just a harmless error.
The details came through and I went to our bank in Grants Pass. I got to the bank a little after 09:00. I saw a staff member of the bank and explained what I needed to do. The bank member queried this and said that it sounded like a scam. I lied and said I knew the woman in Thailand and wanted to go ahead. That was what I had been instructed to say.
My fourth mistake was not listening to the woman at the bank. (And I still thought that the ‘Norton’ funds were in my account.)
The International Wire Transfer was completed and I signed it. I also asked the balances on our two accounts. It was about $10,000 less than I expected and I queried it but was told that there had been a transfer from my savings account to my checking account of $10,000 for Norton. I thought that this was still a little low but that I could check it carefully once I got home. I had a thirty-minute window to change my mind.
Mistake number five, a huge mistake, was while at the bank not to ask them carefully to go through all my transactions that day because that would have revealed that the receipt of $10,000 that I had seen online had mysteriously disappeared. Indeed had never been received. That would have enabled me to stop the wire transfer within the thirty-minute window.
I returned home and found out the truth. I had been scammed out of $9,500.
The strange thing was that ‘Adam’ of the billing department of so-called Norton kept ringing me throughout the day to say that the funds would be sent back to me and gave me the details of three wires and that the funds would be back in my bank account on Monday, 9th August!
Later that morning I rang Kevin Dick who manages our investments and told him the tale. He said that there was a huge amount of scamming about and that I should make three phone calls: to the bank and report the fraud; to the Sheriff’s office and report the fraud; and to my insurance company. The first two were done straight away. Kevin also told me to close my bank accounts and amend my email address. Alex, my son, said to use my Proton mail account and straight away I started to make the change.
A person from the humanists group that we belong to said also to inform The Daily Courier.
Kevin also sent me the following links:
From a recent Podcast I created:
https://pivot-with-kdi-wealth.simplecast.com/episodes/financial-fraud-and-how-to- keep-from-being-a-victim
A video from our site:
https://www.kdiwealth.com/resource-center/money/data-thieves-from-outer-space
From Finra on Fraud to dos:
https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/investment-fraud-awareness
On Monday morning Ryan of ‘Norton’ called me at 07:15 and said that Adam Prescott was no longer with the firm. Ryan said that their General Manager, Ron Cooper, would call me shortly. Ron did indeed call me and said that they would return the money but that the minimum cheque they could write was $30,000. I was then told that in advance of me receiving the money I would have to pay a small amount to them. At this point I put the phone down for it was clearly a second attempt to steal more funds from me.
Finally we went back to the bank on Monday morning. We were informed that there was never a credit of $10,000 but that a clever switch of the money from one account to another made it look as though the money had been credited. The event had been reported to the bank’s fraud department.
On Tuesday morning, the 10th August, the bank said that as well as our two accounts being locked out from us and that only cheques and cash withdrawals would be honoured for the time being, the fraud department had made the decision to issue us with a ten-day notice to terminate our accounts. In other words, within ten days the bank would no longer want us as customers. Since then I have done much research and found out via the Forbes website that this was more to do with the bank being ultra conservative than anything else. Indeed Kevin said that he had spoken with his IT department and they thought that it was strange that my ex-bank had terminated us so quickly. The IT department thought that the teller at the bank realised that she had been partly culpable.
However the bank did recommend another bank to go to in Grants Pass.
I have since reset my iMac and changed my email address.
It is a most humiliating affair. I have beaten myself up several times over and have at last understood the frame of mind that I had gotten myself into.
To explain that, first of all I thought that I needed to stop the billing urgently and because it was early on a Friday morning thought that the best thing to do was to call immediately.
Secondly, during the call that scammers spoke to me in friendly tones and quietly complimented me on my integrity. I am sure that this ‘spoke’ to my psychological fear of rejection that I have had since I my father died in 1956.
Then in the morning of the 11th August I received a call from a regular contact at the English company who manage my UK SIPP. He wanted to check if I had tried to log on at 09:00 UK time and I replied that there was no way that was me for that UK time was 01:00 Pacific time. There were apparently three attempts to log on. Unsuccessfully as it turned out and my SIPP account is temporarily closed as a result.
The scammers are very thorough in their crooked craft!
Now as of Thursday, the 12th August, we are pretty much out of the grim shadow of this event. We have new accounts at The People’s Bank here in Grants Pass. I have changed my email address and yesterday afternoon I decided that the only safe way of protecting myself was to get another iMac. I was speaking to the sales department of Apple and mentioned the scam and the woman immediately said I should speak with their Technical Support and transferred me. Then I was helped via screen sharing to go through many pages deleting unnecessary files and other stuff. And the helpful woman found another item of malware that was deleted and removed. She spent 54 minutes getting me properly cleaned out and then forwarded an email with all the links for me to do the same process at a later date. It was a superb experience.
So that is it.
Now watch these two YouTube videos. The first is just 5 minutes long and is important to all who use computers and want to be protected against scammers.
(Two YouTube links provided but you can view them on my blog - https://learningfromdogs.com/2021/08/13/being-scammed/ )
and then watch this slightly longer video from Jim
Be safe! Please!
Please read this; and do not make the same mistake as me!
The Story of a Scam
(or how I lost the thick end of $10,000.)
On Friday, 6th August, 2021 at 05:51 in came the following email:
Norton Customer ,
User name:paulhandover
*we like to confim you that the NortonDesk re-newal. has been done on your request*
It is very easy to unsubscribe it,
and related to your any query, reach us at +1-(860) – (852) – (6259).
Product-Name : NortonDesk
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Price : $475.04
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Subscription ID : 8837-77942826-947192-8126
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Expiration Date : 3 Year from the Date of Purchase
………………………………………………………………………………………………
* If you wish to Cancel this Membership then please feel free to Contact our Billing department as soon as Possible*
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
*Please do not write to this mail address, that will not help*
Reach us on +1 – (860) – (852) – (6259)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Regards,
Billing department
Contact: +1 – (860) – (852) – (6259)
693 Amwell Rd, Hillsborough, NJ
My first mistake was not to check the incoming email address. It was mahaliashomakerxhv928@gmail.com
I telephoned the number given and told the person that I wanted to cancel this membership. Indeed that I had never subscribed for this membership in the first place.
I spoke with ‘Adam’. I was then asked to go to a webpage where I filled in a Refund Application Order form. I filled in my details including the refund amount and my bank details: Sort Code & Account Number.
I then submitted the form and imagine my surprise when a few minutes later I was informed that I had received the sum of $10,000. I quickly checked our bank account online and there was the $10,000 credit in our checking account.
My second mistake was me not examining the total in our accounts. I have the facility to show the total funds in our accounts. Why I didn’t do that I can not explain.
Then it was back on the telephone and Adam also was surprised (later I realised that this was a feigned surprise and all part of the scam) and said could I go to the bank and fill in an International Wire Transfer for the amount of $9,500. Adam also said that he would give me the details of the person in Thailand that was to receive the funds, and could I say this was for a medical operation because it would save ‘Norton’ the taxation.
My third mistake was not to discuss this with Jeannie and to assume that it was just a harmless error.
The details came through and I went to our bank in Grants Pass. I got to the bank a little after 09:00. I saw a staff member of the bank and explained what I needed to do. The bank member queried this and said that it sounded like a scam. I lied and said I knew the woman in Thailand and wanted to go ahead. That was what I had been instructed to say.
My fourth mistake was not listening to the woman at the bank. (And I still thought that the ‘Norton’ funds were in my account.)
The International Wire Transfer was completed and I signed it. I also asked the balances on our two accounts. It was about $10,000 less than I expected and I queried it but was told that there had been a transfer from my savings account to my checking account of $10,000 for Norton. I thought that this was still a little low but that I could check it carefully once I got home. I had a thirty-minute window to change my mind.
Mistake number five, a huge mistake, was while at the bank not to ask them carefully to go through all my transactions that day because that would have revealed that the receipt of $10,000 that I had seen online had mysteriously disappeared. Indeed had never been received. That would have enabled me to stop the wire transfer within the thirty-minute window.
I returned home and found out the truth. I had been scammed out of $9,500.
The strange thing was that ‘Adam’ of the billing department of so-called Norton kept ringing me throughout the day to say that the funds would be sent back to me and gave me the details of three wires and that the funds would be back in my bank account on Monday, 9th August!
Later that morning I rang Kevin Dick who manages our investments and told him the tale. He said that there was a huge amount of scamming about and that I should make three phone calls: to the bank and report the fraud; to the Sheriff’s office and report the fraud; and to my insurance company. The first two were done straight away. Kevin also told me to close my bank accounts and amend my email address. Alex, my son, said to use my Proton mail account and straight away I started to make the change.
A person from the humanists group that we belong to said also to inform The Daily Courier.
Kevin also sent me the following links:
From a recent Podcast I created:
https://pivot-with-kdi-wealth.simplecast.com/episodes/financial-fraud-and-how-to- keep-from-being-a-victim
A video from our site:
https://www.kdiwealth.com/resource-center/money/data-thieves-from-outer-space
From Finra on Fraud to dos:
https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/investment-fraud-awareness
On Monday morning Ryan of ‘Norton’ called me at 07:15 and said that Adam Prescott was no longer with the firm. Ryan said that their General Manager, Ron Cooper, would call me shortly. Ron did indeed call me and said that they would return the money but that the minimum cheque they could write was $30,000. I was then told that in advance of me receiving the money I would have to pay a small amount to them. At this point I put the phone down for it was clearly a second attempt to steal more funds from me.
Finally we went back to the bank on Monday morning. We were informed that there was never a credit of $10,000 but that a clever switch of the money from one account to another made it look as though the money had been credited. The event had been reported to the bank’s fraud department.
On Tuesday morning, the 10th August, the bank said that as well as our two accounts being locked out from us and that only cheques and cash withdrawals would be honoured for the time being, the fraud department had made the decision to issue us with a ten-day notice to terminate our accounts. In other words, within ten days the bank would no longer want us as customers. Since then I have done much research and found out via the Forbes website that this was more to do with the bank being ultra conservative than anything else. Indeed Kevin said that he had spoken with his IT department and they thought that it was strange that my ex-bank had terminated us so quickly. The IT department thought that the teller at the bank realised that she had been partly culpable.
However the bank did recommend another bank to go to in Grants Pass.
I have since reset my iMac and changed my email address.
It is a most humiliating affair. I have beaten myself up several times over and have at last understood the frame of mind that I had gotten myself into.
To explain that, first of all I thought that I needed to stop the billing urgently and because it was early on a Friday morning thought that the best thing to do was to call immediately.
Secondly, during the call that scammers spoke to me in friendly tones and quietly complimented me on my integrity. I am sure that this ‘spoke’ to my psychological fear of rejection that I have had since I my father died in 1956.
Then in the morning of the 11th August I received a call from a regular contact at the English company who manage my UK SIPP. He wanted to check if I had tried to log on at 09:00 UK time and I replied that there was no way that was me for that UK time was 01:00 Pacific time. There were apparently three attempts to log on. Unsuccessfully as it turned out and my SIPP account is temporarily closed as a result.
The scammers are very thorough in their crooked craft!
Now as of Thursday, the 12th August, we are pretty much out of the grim shadow of this event. We have new accounts at The People’s Bank here in Grants Pass. I have changed my email address and yesterday afternoon I decided that the only safe way of protecting myself was to get another iMac. I was speaking to the sales department of Apple and mentioned the scam and the woman immediately said I should speak with their Technical Support and transferred me. Then I was helped via screen sharing to go through many pages deleting unnecessary files and other stuff. And the helpful woman found another item of malware that was deleted and removed. She spent 54 minutes getting me properly cleaned out and then forwarded an email with all the links for me to do the same process at a later date. It was a superb experience.
So that is it.
Now watch these two YouTube videos. The first is just 5 minutes long and is important to all who use computers and want to be protected against scammers.
(Two YouTube links provided but you can view them on my blog - https://learningfromdogs.com/2021/08/13/being-scammed/ )
and then watch this slightly longer video from Jim
Be safe! Please!
Aug 13, 2021 11:51:43 #
Sorry you had to go through this. Your first clue should have been the grammar and phrasing of the original email. That would have given it away. Legitimate companies go to great lengths to make sure their grammar, phrasing and language are correct. I have avoided several scams by paying attention to that so there is some value in being slightly OCD.
Aug 13, 2021 11:59:19 #
I have no words. Sorry for you.
It doesn't have to be an outside source to steal your money. My daughters had both of their Credit Union accounts emptied by an insider at the Credit Union!! A sting was done and the perpetrator was eventually caught after they skimmed hundreds of accounts. Most banks allow you to place alert notifications on your account for excess withdrawals and deposit limits. I have alerts texted to my phone for anything over $500.00
It doesn't have to be an outside source to steal your money. My daughters had both of their Credit Union accounts emptied by an insider at the Credit Union!! A sting was done and the perpetrator was eventually caught after they skimmed hundreds of accounts. Most banks allow you to place alert notifications on your account for excess withdrawals and deposit limits. I have alerts texted to my phone for anything over $500.00
Aug 13, 2021 14:04:03 #
Aug 13, 2021 15:13:13 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
That is an excellent tip! And I half noticed that there were several strange wordings in the email, as you can see above. Thank you!
Aug 13, 2021 15:14:46 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
Real Nikon Lover wrote:
I have no words. Sorry for you.
It doesn't have to be an outside source to steal your money. My daughters had both of their Credit Union accounts emptied by an insider at the Credit Union!! A sting was done and the perpetrator was eventually caught after they skimmed hundreds of accounts. Most banks allow you to place alert notifications on your account for excess withdrawals and deposit limits. I have alerts texted to my phone for anything over $500.00
It doesn't have to be an outside source to steal your money. My daughters had both of their Credit Union accounts emptied by an insider at the Credit Union!! A sting was done and the perpetrator was eventually caught after they skimmed hundreds of accounts. Most banks allow you to place alert notifications on your account for excess withdrawals and deposit limits. I have alerts texted to my phone for anything over $500.00
And that is another excellent tip. We have just changed banks and I will see what they recommend. Thank you!
Aug 13, 2021 15:15:08 #
Aug 13, 2021 15:48:00 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
PaulBrit wrote:
And that is another excellent tip. We have just changed banks and I will see what they recommend. Thank you!
The Bank said that they can certainly do that and it is on the agenda for the next time we visit! Thank you, again!
Aug 13, 2021 16:17:50 #
PaulBrit wrote:
76! 77 in November!
In his mid-80's, my Dad might have fallen for something like this. He almost gave somebody $45,000 to buy printing equipment for T-Shirts on the off-chance that it would provide jobs for my nephew and the guy's son. I was able to talk him out of it.
You're not quite of that age. You write well and seem intelligent. You lost nearly 10 grand for your bank. No wonder they closed your account. And then you post your entire idiocy for all to see. You're not thinking right, man. You lose 10 grand and then blame the bank. It's time that you have somebody else take care of your accounts. A CPA could pay all of your bills, save money for you and give you a liveable amount to live on.
Aug 13, 2021 16:25:14 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
SteveR wrote:
In his mid-80's, my Dad might have fallen for some... (show quote)
Steve, I am not sure I agree with you. The bank did not lose any money, not a single cent. Everyone I speak to, except your good self, agree that this should be widely shared. I have published a similar post today on my blog. It contains nothing that would do me any financial harm. Well that’s the way I see it but if you have other views then I want to hear from you. I did not blame the bank, I said that they were partly culpable and I remain of that opinion.
Aug 13, 2021 16:50:59 #
PaulBrit wrote:
Steve, I am not sure I agree with you. The bank did not lose any money, not a single cent. Everyone I speak to, except your good self, agree that this should be widely shared. I have published a similar post today on my blog. It contains nothing that would do me any financial harm. Well that’s the way I see it but if you have other views then I want to hear from you. I did not blame the bank, I said that they were partly culpable and I remain of that opinion.
That shows continued lack of apprehension. You lost 10 grand for the bank because they covered your loss. No, sharing this won't do you any financial harm but it's embarrassing as heck. Don't you understand that? If I'd lost 10 grand to a scammer I wouldn't tell a soul. You revealed how you screwed up.
Aug 13, 2021 17:01:19 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
SteveR wrote:
That shows continued lack of apprehension. You lost 10 grand for the bank because they covered your loss. No, sharing this won't do you any financial harm but it's embarrassing as heck. Don't you understand that? If I'd lost 10 grand to a scammer I wouldn't tell a soul. You revealed how you screwed up.
The bank did not cover our loss. It was my loss. Of course it is embarrassing. I completely understand that and I hope that was made clear in my post: "It is a most humiliating affair. I have beaten myself up several times over and have at last understood the frame of mind that I had gotten myself into.” Is that not clear?
Of course I revealed how I screwed up, that was the point of sharing this. You and I clearly see this differently but I am still grateful for your remarks.
Aug 13, 2021 23:38:24 #
SteveR wrote:
That shows continued lack of apprehension. You lost 10 grand for the bank because they covered your loss. No, sharing this won't do you any financial harm but it's embarrassing as heck. Don't you understand that? If I'd lost 10 grand to a scammer I wouldn't tell a soul. You revealed how you screwed up.
and the man is to be praised for his honesty. No one is perfect!
Aug 14, 2021 00:20:33 #
dancers wrote:
and the man is to be praised for his honesty. No one is perfect!
I'm sure he's a very nice guy. In this case, too nice. For one, too trusting of somebody in Thailand that he had no idea who it was personally. He just trusted her. Now he's putting his story out there for anybody to see. Is he verbally telling people? This makes him very vulnerable. I'm actually concerned for him. I it sounds like I was harsh, it was because he needed a wake up call and not pats on the butt. He needs to protect himself more in many ways.
Aug 14, 2021 06:31:03 #
PaulBrit
Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon
SteveR wrote:
I'm sure he's a very nice guy. In this case, too nice. For one, too trusting of somebody in Thailand that he had no idea who it was personally. He just trusted her. Now he's putting his story out there for anybody to see. Is he verbally telling people? This makes him very vulnerable. I'm actually concerned for him. I it sounds like I was harsh, it was because he needed a wake up call and not pats on the butt. He needs to protect himself more in many ways.
Steve, you are close to the truth but not quite there. I was not trusting a person in Thailand that was just the location of their bank. The person I was telephoning had a number in Connecticut. And I still cringe at how I was sucked in during that call. The crooks are also clever psychologists. They have to be.
But I still believe that me admitting my flaws in public is not leaving me more vulnerable than if I had kept this story to myself. If you disagree then please elaborate, and you can send me a private message if you prefer.
Yes, this was as you say a wake up call, an enormous wake up call. But so many have congratulated me, especially over on Learning from Dogs, on me sharing my story.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.