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I say little about myself on here but have gotten random friend requests from new CD members from time to time.
I've always refused friend requests because I like the anonymity here and want to retain it.* I don't really consider C-D "social media," but just a place to objectively discuss ideas, and that's best done without alliances, IMO. You can always tell when friends start defending friends and even ganging up other posters.
*That said, I'm thinking of making an exception by reaching out to a member I know lives nearby because I'm going to that town; not sure how it will be received.
So since then I go INTO my branches, get to know people working there, and THEY can look out for us..BUT, as above can't keep an eye on everything. At least someone faking to be me or my soon to officially be ex-spouse won't get far at our main branches
We also have more than one account at more than one institution..just like more than one CC in case something does go wrong I can at least pay bills.
Yes, visiting an actual branch does make for a stronger banking relationship. When I visit my bank, all the tellers yell in unison: GET OUT!
We recently watched the movie “The Bee Keeper” and while it was a bit over the top and it embellished quite a bit I have had several friends that have been the target of phishing. One lost 25k of their Wells Fargo account (a year later got it back) another lost their proceeds from their home sales to a fraudulent wire transfer scam (no hopes of retrieving after two years per FBI).
I am an auto enthusiast who has purchased quite a few cars especially from out of state and you would be surprised at the amount of information you can get from tidbits on a forum or if they provide even minimal contact information.
You can tell some of our forum members have been members for quite some time, but even then you should
be wary of sharing any information especially personal email addresses. This is how phishing can start.
It would be very easy to find out who I am from info that I've put out on this site, if someone even vaguely knew what they were doing. But I feel more or less private about certain things and not others, and that's my prerogative.
I have less discomfort talking to strangers about my sex life than I do about the particulars of my finances. It's silly, but it's true. I think that's because I've never had anyone truly succeed in shaming or harming me about my sexual history, but I have had friends and relatives try to use me for money. With the former subject, it's only a question of whether I am risking making someone uncomfortable, which I don't want to do and make more effort these days to avoid... But yeah if I cut off every relative who was liable to put their hands out if they know what I have, I wouldn't have any family left. It's the difficulty with managing to achieve even a bit of success when you're from a poor background. I'm not rich enough to be the tide that lifts everybody's boats. MAYBE prosperous enough not to burden anyone in my old age, which is what I'm shooting for.
But I think I'm savvy enough to dodge most of the scams out there.
It's not just old people who are vulnerable to those, though. A scammer is just as happy to take a poor person's money as a rich person's money, if they can, and young adults are vulnerable, too. Both of my sons (22 and 24) have been scammed. My younger son got a solicitation for a loan that sounded to him like a good deal, so he clicked the link and filled in the form, with of course all of his personal info. They did the old, "We're going to do a test transfer of $1,000 and you need to send that back to us, then we'll send $3,000" thing. He realized then that it was a scam, but he didn't understand how the scam works exactly. He thought he could spend the scammers' $1,000. So he pulled it out thinking he'd won...but that "initial transfer" will never post. The nature of the scam is that if you do send them $1,000, then their initial transfer will only show up as pending but your bank will let you transfer it back, then the deposit will vanish because they reverse it somehow and you're out the $1K that the scammer never truly sent you, but you "sent back to them." Well, taking the cash and spending it only caused his account to be overdrawn because the funds were never really there. It didn't get the scammer anything but it still screwed up his account and he'll have to pay back the bank (and close the account and get a new one, as I've advised.)
I am not comfortable sharing exact figures about my finances, but I don't claim to have super sound reasons for it, just family baggage mostly. But I do believe that it's valuable to generally not go through life making a tempting target of myself. I got a brand new car which I love but immediately covered it in stickers so I look like a broke college kid, and I never leave anything valuable in it if I can avoid it. When I was in the process of moving and I was personally road-tripping my most valuable or fragile things from one place to another, I loaded a bunch of trash bags full of clothes over the top of everything else, so it looked like I was homeless. lol I never carry cash, and if I did, I would not wave it around. I don't dress or accessorize to look posh, I don't even like gold or diamond jewelry. Again...all from growing up having been around sketchy people or lived in sketchy neighborhoods. Which I don't really do now, but old habits die hard.
I received a call last year from a number that I recognized as the main number of my credit union, so I answered it. The caller stated they were with the fraud department and that my card had suspicious activity that they needed to verify. The caller knew my name and last four numbers of the card, and since my cards had been hacked several times in previous months nothing about the call raised a red flag. Until the caller sent a text message requesting a reply so the card would be shut down...the text contained an Apple Pay link and I immediately hung up. I dodged a bullet with that one.
Authentic phone numbers are being spoofed by scammers. Even if you have it saved as a contact with a name, say "My Credit Union", that contact is going to pop up on your phone if the number has been spoofed.
The technology is faulty and defective.
I agree spoofing legitimate phone numbers is a serious issue and hopefully the phone companies and federal regulators are working on the technological changes necessary to stop the spoofing once and for all.
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