[lini]

Russ: The white van stories over here are of another variety - "The shipping company signed for ten but handed twenty." or "The receiving company signed for twenty but only took ten."

Nevetheless, the keen eye knows lousy chassis when it sees some.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[brent_mr2]

I thought I'd revive this thread b/c I just went to the BBB's "Scam Jam" convention yesterday.

Remember earlier I was mentioning crossing out your account number on merchant receipts (especially restaurants)? There was a lady from the FTC at the Jam that recommended doing that as well, infact, it will soon be a law in the state of Washington that merchants are not allowed to print the full account number on sales slips. She said just cross out everything but the last four digits. She talked about restaurant employees coming by and picking up these slips on their way out the door, then going on shopping sprees. She also recommended complaining to any restaurant that uses the full account number on their sales slips, if you complain enough, they might change it.

Here are a few resources for you all to help prevent ID theft and scams:

Clark Howard spoke at the convention for an hour and answered questions. He really looks out for the consumer. There's a great message board there where you can ask any questions you may have. Some of you may be familiar with his radio talk show.

BTW, Clark Howard HIGHLY recommends not carrying around your checkbook. He also recommends against debit or "fake" credit cards, just use an ATM card instead, that way your bank account is protected by a PIN. Also, if possible, don't carry anything in your purse/wallet with your SSN on it, just incase your purse/wallet gets stolen. DO NOT carry your SSN card around with you unless you're accepted for a new job or something of that nature.

America's Most Wanted "Street Smart", similar to ID theft insurance, take a look at all the benefits you get for $60/year:

http://www.consumerinfosystems.com/

I told my paranoid father about this program and he's skeptical about AMW having access to all this info, or this consumer info systems company.

FTC's ID theft page. Be sure to order a free copy of "When bad things happen to your good name" booklet. There's an ID theft affidavit in the book as well as all the information you'll need should your ID ever be stolen in ANY way.

 

[plainsong]

I once bought a multieffect processor for my guitar and some headphones from europeanmusician.com, and they charged the card immediately. Nice person that I am, I decided to wait a week and see what happened. Well, nothing of course, so I sent an email and was ignored. Two weeks later (what I shoulda done was call Mastercard), I tried again, and after being a bit more forceful got a reply.

Well this went on for months and months, and after the 4th month I called, and got a "this number is not in use" recording. Emails started bouncing, their website claimed to not be accepting orders at the moment. So I called their credit card service, who told me they went out of business.

I called Mastercard and submitted the complaint, but consumer protection isn't what it is in the US, and Mastercard basically told me to go screw myself. They stated that 1 month was the limitation on claims, even though there was a paper trail proving that I was trying for months to get something going.

I learned my lesson. I am not one bit nice of forgiving in online transactions any more. If you charge me you better be shipping the product that day or there's hell to pay.

But why do I believe it's a scam? A few of the emails took a sinister "You can't prove anything" (a direct quote) tone. That tone makes me believe they were working in bad faith the entire time and had no intent of staying in business. They can get away with it because they are based in The Netherlands and billed themselves as an audio dealer for all of the EU. How can I in Finland do a damn thing if they close up shop? It was most definately a scam.

So basically I just donated 350 Euros to their little scam and got nothing in return, which makes me angry everytime I think about it.

 

[Ghostie]

I was just reading this this thread last night with interest... We'll today I am walking to the supermarket and guess what would happen, 2 guys in a white van roll up and ask me if I want to buy some speakers!

 

[KJ869]

plainsong if you get conned again go imidiatly to the "kuluttaja-asiamies" thats Consumer officer or somethign in english. If oyu get past the byro, they will try to get something done. You got decent chance if its in EU, because they co-operate.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gariver brent_mr2: Thanks for the credit card info! I will certainly follow your father's excellent advice and blacken those CC numbers.

i do this everywhere i shop. the only place that freaks out is radio shack. they always print another reciept with my WHOLE cc# and exp date. they claim it all goes to headquarters for destruction so... why does every other store allow this but rs does not? seems fishy.

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally posted by plainsong I called Mastercard and submitted the complaint, but consumer protection isn't what it is in the US, and Mastercard basically told me to go screw myself.

That's interesting. Over here in the we always hear about the ways that the EU protects consumers more. Is there another side to the story?

 

[lini]

davie: I guess, it's the same everywhere. As much as insurance companies are very interested in selling contracts, but rarely show much interest in paying for actual damages, as much you're theoretically protected as a customer - so often enough you'll need to be very insinting or need a big purse to pre-fund a lawyer to fight your right through in real life...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: redshifter: Did I already mention, that it's highly amusing when one is just smoking a joint and reading on Head-Fi to come across a post of yours with the Dude smoking and staring back?

(read: Very nice avatar, man!

)

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally posted by lini davie: I guess, it's the same everywhere. As much as insurance companies are very interested in selling contracts, but rarely show much interest in paying for actual damages, as much you're theoretically protected as a customer - so often enough you'll need to be very insinting or need a big purse to pre-fund a lawyer to fight your right through in real life...

At least in the EU you won't get any GM pleather in your earpads.

 

[Xander]

I was approached by "white-van" speaker people in a parking lot once while standing with some other people. I knew her operation, so I exposed her in front of the audiance, blind and indenial and a very good sales person she was, she denied it and insulted me here and there, though her attempts to shut me up were futile. She eventually went low enough to call me a drug dealer, I guess thats what morons say when they have nothing left to grasp for? I'd tell you the entire story, but it bores me.

I told her i'd buy all of them for their asking price if I could look inside them and saw quality components, after informing her that I design audio components for a large audio manufacturer, but she denied the offer.

They'd make great garage speakers.

 

[kelly]

Thanks for posting this thread. I'd never heard of this scam before but...

Last week two guys in a van shouted to me at a gas station, "Want to buy a home theater?" I looked up across the parking lot with a, "Huh?" Again, "Do you want to buy a HOME THEATER SYSTEM." I looked at them, puzzled and said, "No?" and then got in my car and left.

I don't usually talk much to people who approach me like this as I'm not fond of being solicited to, so I tend to limit my answers to, "No," "No thanks," or "Sorry." Some of these people aren't safe to ignore because that pisses some of them off and I don't usually want to address a hostile homeless person. This one caught me off guard tho, I'd never before been asked to buy audio equipment in a parking lot. I assumed they were delivery guys ripping off their boss but it's more likely this scam you guys described.

Anyway, thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally posted by KJ869 plainsong if you get conned again go imidiatly to the "kuluttaja-asiamies" thats Consumer officer or somethign in english. If oyu get past the byro, they will try to get something done. You got decent chance if its in EU, because they co-operate.

Thanks for the info. Fingers' crossed that it will never happen again, but I wasn't aware that they could help you with EU affairs too.

I've even taken a law class here, and I didn't know that. Thanks!

 

[aeberbach]

Lots of information on the scam known as "Nigerian", "419" or "advance-fee":

http://www.freemaninstitute.com/419.htm

I was trying to find a link to my favorite story but couldn't. One guy actually got $5 from the scammer before telling him to go screw himself

 

[brent_mr2]

Quote:

Originally posted by redshifter i do this everywhere i shop. the only place that freaks out is radio shack. they always print another reciept with my WHOLE cc# and exp date. they claim it all goes to headquarters for destruction so... why does every other store allow this but rs does not? seems fishy.

Yea, Tandy corp is like that I guess. They're also the ones that ask you for your name and address when you buy a pack of batteries (or anything), What is that all about??? Sharper Image does that too.

I always try to watch where they put the slip. Last night, the clerk put my slip with my full account number on top of the register with the other slips. Put the damn thing in the register!!!!

I think some merchants think you're trying to hide something when you cross out the numbers. I had a dispute on a tip amount at a restaurant and the guy I talked to said "the numbers have been crossed out on here" (referring to the slip), so I explained my reasoning. Some people seem to think it's rude...whatever.

It's a sad fact that all a person needs to steal an identity is name, address, and SSN. Most people give their name and address out without even thinking about it, with that info so readily available, any criminal is only 9 digits away from taking your identity. The SSN system is so antiquated, it was fine before the information age, but now all it is is a string of 9 digits (VERY unsecure). I think there should be some kind of security upgrade to the social security system, it's been proven that it's far too easy to steal an identity. What does the "security" mean in it anyway if there really isn't any.

That's another peice of advice, ONLY give your SSN when absolutely necessary. On forms, even medical forms, don't fill it in, if they ask you for it later on, ask them why they need it and how it will be used. See if you can get a different number issued to you by these companies, especially the DMV (if they use your SSN as your driver's license #).

One other thing....NEVER NEVER NEVER allow your SSN to be written on your check when you pay for something, because there's your identity right there, name address, and SSN. I used to put my name, address, driver license # and phone number on my checks...not anymore. I can't believe how ignorant I was to do that.

BTW, I'm glad I was able to shed some light on the white van scam through this thread. It's crazy this scam is still going on. Unfortunately, there's tons of people that don't even know about it. Just call the cops if it happens to you, give them their license plate number and a description of the con artists.

I hope the info I've posted is helpful to some of you, as you can see, this has become a research hobby of mine. The more you know, the better chance you have of not becoming a victim.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Yesterday afternoon at work I was approached by a white van (I was doing cart-pushing at the time) trying to sell me speakers (the damned "white van scam"

). But I fared better (read: got luckier) than many of you: I simply replied "No", and the van simply drove off towards another person.

Had I fallen for that scam, I would have found out almost immediately that the speakers themselves were craptacular.