Rinoa Poison: Scambaiter

Stream Timestamp [00:32:50]

AH vs Ryan William & Richard Cooper (Mr. Pooper / Mr. Poopy) & Shawn Shawn Watson – GeekSquad

Refund Amount $499

 

We were transferred to senior technical head/Funding Officer for the Geek Squad technical support, Richard Cooper. He asked AH to get a fresh piece of paper and a pen!

 

Richard asked her to stay on the line so he could register her as a new customer on their payee account. Refund was $499.99 in two transactions: the first for $200, the remainder in 2-3 minutes after the $200 is received.

 

We learned about Richard’s entire work history. Richard has worked with banks for more than 25 years, first for USAA, then Geek Squad for the past 12 years, also Chase & Bank of America before Geek Squad. AH was pronouncing it “you ass” bank! He said that he started working in 1988, a teller for Navy Federal Credit Union. AH asked why he switched from a job with a bank to Geek Squad. He said, “It’s all about money,” and that GeekSquad pays better. It’s also less hours and more relaxation. He’s 45 years old. His philosophy: a person should work in their 20s, invest in their 30s, and relax in their 40s. Advice for the next generation: People are getting “too much lazy” due to technology; using phones too much, not enough time helping people.

 

AH: “Before technology, I used to wear two shoes.”

 

He started talking about raising his children and being a strict father. His first rule is that the family should go to church together every Sunday. His second rule is that, during meals, no using of any devices. If his kids disobey, he takes away food from the fruit basket on the dining table and won’t take them out for ice cream after church. The parenting advice went on and on and on…  

 

He finally remembered that he was supposed to be scamming! We were at the “banking server,” aka DOS prompt.

 

Richard has two kids, Jane and Victor. AH has two kids, Luke and Leia, age 2 and 3. His kids are in their teens. More scammer-parenting wisdom followed…

 

AH: “Most of the time, they are on their cellphone. We don’t talk about Sally or Brian. OK?”

 

On the banking server, AH tried to type $200. The number kept changing by adding lots of zeroes. She kept backspacing and erasing them! Richard had to start the “form” over, new “refund” line. He said he was rebooting the server (all he did was run DIR then type “refund” again when it stopped).

 

AH received a transfer of $20,000 from “GEEK SQAURD!”

 

After the “accidental” refund of $20,000…

Richard: “Oh my gosh!”

Returned the computer to the desktop image.

AH: “The cat’s shocked, too!”

 

Richard had a one-sided conversation with his imaginary manager, explaining what happened.

 

AH: “It really sounded like your manager was chewing your butt off. You were in a very passive mode. It sounded like he was the bigger kitty in the battle. He sounded like a tiger and you sounded like a little kitty cat.”

 

Richard said she owed $19,500, but he’ll allow her to keep $100 for the wire transfer fee, so $19,400 owed. AH was very confused about how they would get the money off her computer. She thought she needed to send him the computer. Then, AH started asking if she should go to the bank and log into the computer while AT the bank! Finally, Richard gave up and said she could do the wire transfer from her computer instead of going to the bank in person. The software update screen appeared and AH thought she should shut down the computer to stop the update. She then restarted the computer, much to his annoyance!

 

AH signed into the online bank to do the wire transfer. It was going to a US bank account! He told her to send $19,500. He forgot about the $100 allowance! She repeatedly clicked on the wrong country instead of the US.

 

He offered to go to her house and speak to her kids in person to teach them advice about life.  He was having trouble adding a recipient to the bank account. He wanted her to enter the banking information.

AH: “No, I tapped out. I’m eating Cheezits now.”

 

He put her on hold to “have a word with my banking head” (Shawn).  He was snooping around her email and she called him on it. He said he was just checking to see if she got an email after adding her as a recipient.

 

Richard had a word with Shawn, Shawn said the only thing to do was for AH go down to the bank and make the transfer from there. She said she’ll take the computer with her. While driving to the bank, AH asked if Richard Cooper was still on the phone by calling for “Mr. Poopy.” He didn’t respond to that. We booped him and he called back.

 

AH said she was in the bank parking lot now. He gave her the usual “don’t tell” instructions. She wasn’t making it easy for him! He said that the transfer will be for “operating expenses”. She tried to write down what he was saying. He started yelling!

Richard: “DON’T USE YOUR BRAINS!”

Richard: “Ma’am, I’ll hit my head against the wall, and I’m sure it will start bleeding.”

More anger and some cursing ensued!

 

When he first started his instructions, he was saying, “According to Section 157C…” – AH kept repeating “Section 157C” back to him constantly, which led to more cursing!

Richard: “Forget about the ducking Section 157C!”

 

She went into the back at last!

 

When we were back in the car, she said that the bank said the money wasn’t there, and that they didn’t know what the Section 157C was. She basically said everything she wasn’t supposed to. Richard wanted her to go to another branch.

 

He got angry and was yelling again. She repeated that there was no extra money in the account. He said he would show it to her at her home. There was more choding and yelling. He wanted her to go back into the bank and tell them that everything was fine, it was fixed, and make the transfer; get the receipt and go back home. He said that, if she interrupted him one more time, he swore on his kids that he would hang up the phone on her face!

 

She pointed out that the money in the savings was no longer there (it was moved to checking, per the teller). She kept interrupting him, and he kept threatening to hang up. Richard explained the savings-to-checking transfer by some weird process of having their bank accounts connected, glitching, and not reflecting balances properly.

Richard: “Duck you! Come out of the bank, go sit in your car.”

 

She was in the bank, using a faded voice, telling the teller everything she shouldn’t say! Richard was having a meltdown listening to her.

 

We went back into the car. She repeated that the teller repeated that the money had been moved between accounts. He called her a dummy and asked if she has brains.

Richard: “I’ll go mad!”

 

She regretted not bringing her computer to show the teller. He wanted her to make the transfer anyway, and he said he would personally pay her back if it was her money. She continued to give him a hard time. He was threatening to hang up more than Dhruv Banana Lover did! He booped but then called back.

Richard: “Are you going to make the transfer, yes or no?”

AH: “Yes.”

Richard: “Forget about every single thing.”

 

He told her to make the wire transfer and get the receipt. She kept going on about the missing money. He threatened to hang up again. He said that, once he got the receipt, he would talk to Shawn and Shawn would release the $20,000.

AH: “Oh, Shawn had the missing money? Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Richard demanded the transfer and receipt again.

Richard: “Ma’am, you are out of your mind, you don’t have ducking brains.” – “Are you mentally disabled?” – “You need to go to a psychiatrist.”

 

She said that he was giving her conflicting instructions. He said she didn’t listen. She went back into the bank. He was speaking Hindi to someone. She was getting a printout of her bank account so he could see that the money wasn’t there, just moved between accounts.

Richard: “Shut up and get back home.”

She said she would call him when she got home. He agreed, then booped.

 

Total Time Wasted: 3hr 14min 19sec

 

 

We returned a call to an unknown phone number. It was Fake John from the last two days!! They exchanged passwords as they had agreed to do. He asked if anyone had called, and if she had transferred the money. She asked if he had solved the case. He said something about the FBI, but she booped him.

 

Fake john called back. Passwords were exchanged again. He was going to transfer the money into her encrypted account, and he wanted her to leave the house. She wouldn’t leave until he texted her an account. She booped him!

 

Total Time Wasted: 6hr 17min 30sec

 

 

We tried to call Richard back, but he said he’d call us back in 5 minutes, then booped.