Rinoa Poison: Scambaiter

Miles called Jessica!!

He said  he received the package and it had COCOA BEANS!! No money. He kept harping on the label being handwritten, not printed – kept asking Jessica if she wrote it or if it was printed. He didn’t care about the contents so much, except that there was no cash…

 

We were transferred to Ryan, the Senior Superior. He asked Jessica to connect her computer for them, then open her internet banking to check and see if money was deducted. He seemed slightly sus, wondered if she was playing with him, saying he’s getting into trouble, etc. Jessica turned it around and asked him to take a picture of what was in the box (to make sure he wasn’t messing with her).

 

Miles said he was going to hand her over to a member of his accounts team. A conversation in Hindi followed.

MelonBuddy Translation: “Connection came on her PC.”

 

Ryan immediately put her on hold.

 

MelonBuddy Translation: “Talk with her and verify.”

 

Every time Jessica asked what happened to the package, Ryan kept saying “hold on.”

 

Ryan asked Jessica for the new parcel and confirmed that her phone was “fully charged.”

 

Jessica: “I could be a big asset to this investigation!”

 

Ryan asked Jessica if she knew what was in the package, said she made a mistake. She said she sent cash. He asked if she still had the 2nd package of cash with her. Jessica was outraged at the claim that there’s no money in there and demanded a picture again! Ryan said Miles sent the picture, but it would take several minutes to receive it. The first parcel was “with the accounts department.” Ryan said don’t worry about the missing cash and that they had filed a complaint. He just wanted to move on to sending the 2nd parcel full of money.

 

Jessica: “Money doesn’t just turn into cocoa beans!”

 

Ryan wanted a picture of the 2nd parcel. Jessica still wanted a photo of the 1st parcel. Standoff! Ryan said he’ll send their picture “by the end of today or tomorrow.”

 

She got the image! But the image only showed a note, not cocoa beans. Jessica asked how can she be sure there’s no cash? The box was not in the picture, just a note.

 

Rinoa showed us the image. The writing on note is too blurry read, but we know the note said “Hey Shithead: $19,500 CASH.”

 

There are “cocoa beans” on the table next to the note!

 

Ryan said that checking on the parcel problem will take 24 hours.

 

A second photo showed the open box with the “cocoa beans” inside.

 

He said the still photo from the video (package on a kitchen table?) is in their financial department.

 

Ryan said that they were investigating. “It will take time.” He wanted her to go the UPS store. Jessica wasted some time by Ryan making her search “UPS near me” on Google, and by her entering USPS again, and him starting to get angry. Yelling ensued!

 

Ryan wanted her to log into her bank. She said no. He said to restart the computer. She said no. Ryan promised to disconnect from her computer, but Jessica said Miles lied every time he said he supposedly got off her computer. Ryan sent her details for a new address. 

 

Ryan demanded a picture of the 2nd parcel again. Jessica said it made no sense and that it was just a box. Ryan claimed she was playing around with him.

 

Jessica wasted more time because she wouldn’t write down details on paper.

 

They were arguing about opening the package to take out some money to cover the overnight postage costs.

 

 

Ryan: “Hold down your horses, first.”

Jessica: “OK. My horse has come to a stop.”

 

 

Jessica didn’t want to unwrap all that hard work. Ryan thought she was messing with him again. Ryan got angry and went silent.

 

MelonBuddy Translation: “Why are you shouting man? What is she saying?”

 

There was a standoff until Ryan paid for the overnight cost. Otherwise, Jessica would only pay for cheap, days-long postage. Ryan offered to reverse the charge tomorrow for the overnight shipping today.

 

Ryan hung up after telling Jessica to keep the money.

 

Ryan called back. He asked if Jessica opened the parcel to take out some postage money. She said she had taken out $200.  Jessica said she had no more tape and that she had used it all to reseal the package. Ryan said she was wasting his time again, then resumed the scam. Then said, once again, that she was wasting his time.

 

Ryan hung up again. Apparently, he couldn’t grasp the concept of an empty roll of duct tape and the inefficacy of Scotch tape!

 

 

Nancy Wheeler vs Peter Silva -Geek Squad

Refund amount $400, charge for 2-year subscription plan

Peter said the billing address is in Dayton, OH, but someone from South Carolina used the account and placed the order.

AnyDesk was used.

 

Nancy asked him about spelling. He started asking what her YouTube channel is. She talked her way through it and the scam continued!

 

Peter ran a scan, then asked about YouTube again. Peter said he’s going to check her browser history to see if something is wrong (part of the scam, rather than being sus).

 

Peter’s manager will call her back within 10-15 “working” minutes in order to do the cancellation and refund. He’s currently “attending another client.”

 

Peter told her to hang up and she will receive the call very shortly.

We booped in his face!

 

Total Time Wasted: 30min 50sec

 

 

Called Geek Squad and Peter answered, presumably a different Peter.

1-year subscription

invoice 239028916.

Anydesk was used.

Much Hindi was spoken with someone else while spelling it.

 

After much frustration and confusion, they booped.

 

 

MelonBuddy Translations: This is an opportunity, dude. We can double-up and get two of them at once.

I’m about to get access.

She’s a pain in the butt.

This customer is a dumb daughter of a night lady.

You try.

Tell her to press ‘accept.’

She’s trying to get access to us.

Is there a camera on there?

Open her camera, you idiot.

Get out of my way and let me do the work.

 

 

We just called them back. Still having difficulty connecting. He booped again.

 

Total Time Wasted: 24min 43sec

 

 

Ryan, from earlier today, called back!

He asked what Jessica did with the 2nd parcel. Jessica said that she was told to keep it.

 

Ryan kept putting Jessica on speakerphone, which annoyed her!

 

Jessica asked them to send her the video file of the box. Ryan said they don’t have the video file right now, just kept asking her to send the 2nd parcel. Jessica said that she wanted the video first, then she would send the parcel. Standoff!

 

Ryan said she talks too much and he wanted to come over there and “give you one tight slap.”

Jessica: “Do it! I dare you! Get over here and do it! I dare you! I dare you! I dare you to come over! I dare you to come over! Bring it! Bring it! I dare you to come slap me! You think you can intimidate with your little Will Smith slap over there? I think not!”  

 

Chode Mode Activated Again: 8hr 31min

 

Another scammer came onto the phone, name unknown, to continue the “send me the parcel” argument. Interspersed with Hindi a few times.

 

Ryan got back on phone and said she was just wasted their time. The second guy also argued some points in the background that Ryan repeated.

 

Ryan hung up, said he didn’t want to talk to her. He was getting angry. Just before then, he said their company was Norton. Rinoa thought it was Geek Squad.

 

Total Time Wasted: 8hr 34min 23sec

 

 

We called Norton regarding an invoice. All we heard was the background of a call center. Nobody was actually speaking to Rinoa. Rinoa (and we) were just listening for some scammer clues/info in the background. Someone said his name was Jack, but he was talking to other “customers,” not Rinoa. Rinoa tried hanging up and redialing a few times, same result each time. Rinoa: “It’s like auto-answer.”

 

 

Nancy Wheeler vs Jack

Refund amount $399

Invoice# CVFG7901.

 

Jack: “It’s for a past subscription.”

 

 

Jack: “How old this computer is, ma’am?”

Nancy: “I didn’t give it a birthday.”

 

 

Rinoa discovered that, when the blue updating screen is showing, she can still mess with the scammers by clicking with the mouse.

 

Nancy is a UFO chaser.

Nancy: “I try to discover aliens. You could classify it as a scientist without the education. I didn’t professionally study with it. I just take my camera. I drive around aimlessly until I see something that’s interesting and try to catch it out of focus.”

 

Jack accused her of using a voice changer and accused her of being a YouTuber. She said that she does post some videos, but only about alien conspiracies and fuzzy pictures.

 

He locked her computer.

 

He booped.

Total Time Wasted: 44min 56sec