Rinoa Poison: Scambaiter

Stream Timestamp [00:37:00]

CC vs Kathleen — Amazon

Re: invoice for Samsung plasma 33″ television, $3,000, charged on a credit card.

 

Kathleen went silent, long hold, no background noise. Kathleen hung up.

 

Total Time Wasted: 6min 34sec

 

Stream Timestamp [00:50:00]

S vs Mark – Paypal

Refund Amount: $399.00

AnyDesk was used.

 

He asked if she used BitCoin. He was sniffling badly and loudly.

 

He had her click the “never show” option. She asked, “Why?” He said that would help her cancel this. There was a loud scam in the background, apparently someone was giving him a hard time before Mark hit the mute button on his side! (The other scammer said “Ma’am, we are not a machine!”)

 

 Mark unmuted. (Scammer #2 was telling the other victim that he was trying to help them out “for your mistake.”)

 

She filled out the cancellation form and submitted it. She logged into her bank, but didn’t see the charge. He said it didn’t appear in her statement because it was on hold. Then, he said that it HAD been charged. He hid her screen.

 

At first, he said they would send the refund by Zelle, then he went silent. He came back just to tell her to hold on. She called him out on that. He started giving her the Zelle info. She argued with him about sending him money. Then, he was silent for a long time again, ignoring her “are you there?” questions.

 

Mark said he’d call her back in half an hour. He didn’t tell her anything important and was dull. (But Rinoa got the Zelle information and was able to report it!)

 

Total Time Wasted: 29min 08sec

 

 

Stream Timestamp [01:33:00]

CC (“CC”) vs mytacticalpromos.com (from a shady YouTube ad)

 

She called mytacticalpromos.com to see if it was a scam. She got an answering machine spiel, including the detail that calling more than once will delay getting a call back. They offer a tactical bag for $2.49 – BUT they say you’ll get charged every month for a survival box for $39.95/month. The information about the monthly fee is only included in the fine print. And the $2.49 offer is only good for 10 minutes!

 

She called and left a second message. — She only had 2 minutes 13 seconds left to get the bag! She asked if the bag was zombie-proof, and if it had a bottle opener. Did it allow to wear the bag in the back and the front? Did it come with any MREs? She had 45 seconds left. She asked that they please call her back. Also, did it come in pink camo print?

 

She called back after the 10 minutes expired. She was now on a second timer. They still hadn’t returned her call.

 

 

Stream Timestamp [01:56:00]

CC vs Kevin Williams & Henry Francis & Justin (Mr. Dustbin) — Geek Squad

Refund Amount: $489.99

 

A man said “Hello?” in a slightly creepy voice. He was service supervisor Kevin from Geek Squad. The product in question was “security services.” Order #4ERFD56TR6. While he checked that, he asked if she was in front of a computer or device. He said that the subscription will renew in 24 hours. He was quiet & the call was breaking up. He said that, since she wasn’t aware of it, someone else was using her information. It was hard to understand him. His voice was breaking up badly.

 

CC: Someone is trying to hack my information with a ham sandwich?

Kevin: Exactly.

 

She was trying to get him to call back on a better line, but he couldn’t understand her because it was a bad line! She kept asking his name. In reply, he kept repeating, “Are you sitting in front of your computer right now?”

 

He called back on a better line. He wanted her to be in front of a computer again. She read him a hilarious list of things in her browser history. She was prompted to enter a service code, to verify her as a customer on their AI server. Before proceeding, he had to explain what the service code would do for her. He said that it would request a service code for her cancellation request. With that code, the robotic server would verify her. Then, she would get a cancellation form on her computer. He also said that the call was recorded for training purposes. She was fretting that she didn’t want / was not ready for training! He tried to proceed with the scam. She kept talking about training, how she had training in the past.

 

She was connected to the session and verified as a customer. The AI manager gave her the cancellation form on her screen. Then, he was off to talk to his manager.

CC: The AI manager?

Kevin (laughing): No, the floor manager. He doesn’t talk to computers.

 

He had a word with his accounts team and floor manager. They said they were about to give her the form, and they’ll be moving the cursor, so she mustn’t worry if she saw that.

 

He asked what she saw. She saw a ‘file cannot be opened’ error. Kevin immediately put the software-update screen up. He said that she would get the form very soon. She asked what info of hers that the ham sandwich had taken. He said that he would tell her that.

 

 In the meantime, a bit of small talk… he had been working there 8 months. He was dedicated. It was his passion. He loved to help, that’s why he chose this job. The form was submitted. She wanted to know why she hadn’t received the full confirmation number. There were lots of X’s. He said it was because the transaction was pending, not approved yet. It wouldn’t be a success until the transfer was complete. He would talk to his manager for two minutes, the floor manager. He came back in less than a minute. The manager said that they needed to talk to her to get this done. He was a senior manager (“he’s senior than me”). Kevin wanted her to give feedback about him. She said to “write down ham sandwich as feedback, I think that’s good enough.” She was put on hold again.

 

We were transferred to Henry. He asked what kind of problem she was facing right now. He said that they already sent a refund. She asked about the hidden six numbers (the rest were X’s) in the confirmation. To successfully end this call, he required the full 12 numbers. She needed to log into the bank and find the 12-digit transaction ID on the bank page. She would see “options to accept or decline the refund.” When she clicked accept, she would see the full 12-digit code. She couldn’t see it. He said that she took too long. He said to stay on the page and that he would generate a new code.

 

He had been working there for 6 months. He was about to leave, looking for good opportunities ASAP. He came back from putting us on hold. He spoke with Justin (even more senior). Henry would transfer the call to him. (She called him Mr. Dustbin.) He told her not to be rude with Justin because he was a great guy.

 

Justin was on the line.  CC was immediately rude and complaining with him! She called him “Dustbin” to his face. He was going to show her the bank balance. Then, he asked how old her computer was, prompting more outrage from her for asking that. He soon put her on hold again. He returned and asked her what she saw on her screen. She saw the $499 charge. She was angry again. She called to get the charge cancelled, not pushed through! His last name was unintelligible – Kramer, perhaps?? Krajer? Frazer?

 

She complained that, every time she logged into her bank, it immediately went to a software update. He said that was because her computer was old. He told her to write down the current balance – $517.00 in the checking account.

 

She filled out a second form. He would send the refund after she verified that she was the same person. It must have been a DOS form, because he kept telling her not to press enter. The refund amount was $500. The form was submitted and money had been sent successfully.

 

Oh no! Mistakely, $50,000 had been sent! She said it was not her problem. He blamed it on her, said that it was illegal and that she took the money out of the account. He whined about consequences for a few minutes. Then, he put her on hold to talk to his “company authority.” He returned in a minute. He said that they were scolding HIM for making the mistake.

 

She checked the bank on her phone since he was taking so long. She told him that the charge didn’t show up on the phone like on the computer and that there was money missing from her checking. He said that it took 24 hours for the charge to show up. She complained about the update screens and the constantly changing bank balances on her computer. He told her to close the bank and pull up the calculator, so that he could explain how much money she needed to return to him. She berated him because it was such a simple calculation that she didn’t need a calculator. She accused him of blocking the inputs to her computer. He launched into a long word salad about their computers being connected and that she might get more money from them. He said that he was trying to take out the money, but to do that, she must go to her bank and wire the money. This made no sense! She couldn’t transfer the money from the computer because of the connection and the possibility of sending more money by mistake. She was on hold while he got the bank details to give her.

 

Justin’s senior said that they needed to find a different way to get the money back. He wanted her to take out cash. He said that banks are limited to $10,000 per day. So, that’s what he wanted her to do, for five days in a row. She said that he was not in the same location for her to give him cash, and anyway, she didn’t feel comfortable giving him a hackysack full of cash. It was the worst plan she had heard in her entire life. Couldn’t he try it through the online bank portal again? He said he couldn’t and that his company’s account was “free-zed.” She got his bank details, said she would call him back after she made the transfer, then hung up amidst his desperate protests! He called right back, but she didn’t pick up.

 

Total Time Wasted: 1hr 49min 19sec