The Cellar / I got scammed last night

**Posted by Clodfobble** 7/13/2023 7:59 am

I am still fuming--at the gall, the sophistication, and of course my own gullibility. And I think as I explain it, you'll agree that most would (and I know for a fact that many have, at least enough for this scam to have been going on successfully for more than one year).

Background: I am now the co-owner of a summer camp that teaches video game development to kids. Long story about how I got here, but I think I've mentioned it. Maybe. Anyway, one of my tasks is feeding the kids lunch. We order from the same five restaurants every week, so on every Thursday from June to August, I am placing a roughly $300 order with Jason's Deli.

Yesterday evening around 6:00, I get a chipper phone call on my cell. "Hi, this is so-and-so from Jason's Deli. Is this Clodfobble? I'm so sorry to be calling this late, but I didn't want to wait and risk having a problem with your pickup tomorrow--you've got the order for $336.18, right?" Yes, yes I do. "I'm so sorry, but your card didn't actually go through. It happens sometimes with our system. Can you give me a different card for it? And we'll stay on the line to make sure it goes through." Well sure, let me read out my actual fucking card to you right over the phone, because you know my name and my cell phone and the dollar amount of my actual order at the actual restaurant for tomorrow. "Great, that one worked. Thank you so much, and I'm sorry about this--we'll see you tomorrow!"

Five minutes later, I get a fraud alert on my phone, for the specific card I gave her, which I think is a weird coincidence. Of course I tell the bank no, that wasn't my charge at a movie theater in Dallas, cancel the card, blah blah blah. But then I call Jason's Deli.
"Hey, this is Clodfobble, I've got the big order for tomorrow."
"Oh yeah, we got that call just a few minutes ago."
"Wait, you said you made a call to me just a few minutes ago?"
"No, we didn't call you, your boss called us."

*SIGH* Yeah, okay, I've been fucking scammed, and so has Jason's Deli. The lady called them pretending to "verify" my order, but basically using her smooth talking skills to gather the name, dollar amount, and apparently my personal fucking cell phone number on my order, then called me to ask for a credit card number--and why wouldn't I think she was telling the truth, she knew everything about my order! And part of the reason I fell for it is this exact fucking thing happened last summer, which I'm only now realizing is when/how my credit card number got stolen last year.

Obviously, they're targeting large catering orders because 1.) they can play the whole "my employee placed the order" angle, and 2.) they're more likely to get a corporate credit card from me, on which fraudulent charges might not be noticed as quickly. And I tried to tell the credit card company what happened, and that I have the phone number that the woman called from and I'm 90% sure it's her real number, not a spoofed one, but they couldn't care less. The card is cancelled on the first fraudulent charge, so in the grand scheme of things it's a success for them and this happens all the time. No one is going to try to catch this woman. And this one Jason's Deli location knows now, and the general manager is going to have a training session for everyone about not giving out order information over the phone, but there are so many locations and so many orders, cutting this one off is just a drop in the bucket. It's a damn good scam.

And now I've got to deal with getting a new card, and moving all my recurring charges, etc. Dammit.

**Posted by fargon** 7/13/2023 8:31 am

Scammers must die in a fire.

**Posted by glatt** 7/13/2023 9:42 am

That's a good scam. Amazing, actually. I would have been fooled too. The phone number really impresses me. The kid answering the phone at the deli gave out your phone number, name and order information. That's the weak link, not you.

I suppose you could implement a strict "I didn't call you, so I don't know who you are, even if you have all my pertinent details" policy, and always call places back through their main number before providing any information. The details they gave were so convincing though.

**Posted by Clodfobble** 7/13/2023 11:28 am

That was exactly what Mr. Clod suggested when we were going back through trying to figure out how to avoid this kind of thing in the future. The only option is "I never give out my card number to someone who called me, I will call your store phone and we'll go from there." But holy cow.

**Posted by glatt** 7/13/2023 1:47 pm

Mr. Clod sounds like a wicked smart guy.

**Posted by Flint** 7/13/2023 2:57 pm

Social Engineering attack. This can bypass any conceivable security measure.

**Posted by tw** 7/13/2023 7:15 pm

glatt wrote:
That's a good scam. Amazing, actually. I would have been fooled too.

It was fun watching Bret Maverick or James Rockford do it on TV (for the good people). Especially when the con artist also has so many setbacks.

**Posted by toranokaze** 7/13/2023 8:44 pm

Social engineering is how most hacking is done now. It happens to everyone now and then at least they caught it in time.

**Posted by monster** 7/13/2023 11:12 pm

glatt wrote:
Mr. Clod sounds like a wicked smart guy.

duh, he secured Clodfobble....

**Posted by xoxoxoBruce** 7/14/2023 8:04 pm

Tangent...
I know people who use cards for everything from buying gas, groceries, and a coffee, to automatically paying monthly bills.
it makes me wonder how they keep track of it all.

For 8 years I had a Visa that ended up with bank of America after several bank mergers. It expired at the end of July every year, and a week or so ahead they would send me a new card. The only ones who held the number were Amazon and EZ Pass.
The beginning of July I get a letter from EZ Pass saying my card was expiring at the end of the month and I should give them another card to avoid interruption. I thought it was strange to send me a letter when it happens every year. Come the end of July no replacement card. Call them up and they won't talk to me unless I tell them the name of my first childhood pet. Since I had no childhood pets I couldn't even guess what I'd said 8 years ago. I guess was a bad customer because in spite of a monthly balance I never paid a dime of interest.
Evidently Bank of America told EZ Pass they would not renew but didn't bother to tell me. Makes me wonder what else is going on in the background we know nothing about.

**Posted by tw** 7/14/2023 8:19 pm

Is that, in any way, related to successful prosecution of Bank of America for numerous shady credit card and account manipulation?

**Posted by griff** 7/16/2023 8:19 am

Wow, that was a damn slippery scam.

**Posted by xoxoxoBruce** 8/02/2023 11:10 pm

Anon wrote:
xoxoxoBruce wrote:
...Since I had no childhood pets I couldn't even guess what I'd said 8 years ago....
What was the name of your Brown Swiss calf that took first in state 2 Yr. Old class?

That one was Betsy, not a pet. Sold her for $300, you don't sell pets.

**Posted by xoxoxoBruce** 8/05/2023 8:46 am

I might have used the name of one of the horses, cattle, pigs, or sheep, but after 8 years I couldn't remember.
I don't even remember taking first in the state, or any state wide competition.
Took breed champion at Eastern States Exposition in the 4-H division, bur 4th in the open division against the big farms.

**Posted by griff** 8/05/2023 11:54 am

I don't frequent it. That Zombie Cellar exists at all is pretty weird and more than a little creepy.

**Posted by griff** 8/05/2023 2:22 pm

True enough. It's probably useful for training insane AI as well.

**Posted by lumberjim** 8/07/2023 8:24 pm

I still rely on the . org. I've got a lot of pics and stories on there that I refer to on occasion.

The scam I see is a small one. Someone is printing NJ Temp tags with numbers that are issued just ahead of the current set. They must have that formula.... And people go over the bridge in NY and the unlucky person that draws the same number a week later starts getting charged on his ezpass. Some notice and can get it fixed. I guess some don't.

**Posted by glatt** 8/08/2023 8:35 am

The scam I see is that when a company registers a trademark, it is public information. And it includes their address. So the scammers send the trademark owners a letter that looks all official that says their trademark is about to expire and provides all the details of the trademark, along with a fake early renewal date, and they say they can handle the renewal for $500 or whatever. And enough people fall for it that it's worth the effort for the scammer.

The actual renewal date is located in lots of places and is easy to look up, or you can just reach out to your lawyer, (us) to confirm that we are on top of the "urgent deadline," and we will tell you that you don't have to renew for another 3 years, or whatever. And we all have a chuckle about the bold scammers. But some people fall for it.

I'm not sure how they don't get caught. They must change bank accounts regularly to stay ahead of the law. They are violating all kinds of postal fraud and other federal laws.