Justice comes in many forms. Sometimes it something as simple as seeing a absolutely evil, rotten bastards get trolled so hard they completely LOSE THEIR MINDS.
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear telephone headsets.
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A friend of my son was a master at scamming the scammers. It was not unusual for him to get the person on the other end in tears with his dramatic sob stories. It was a pleasure to watch!!!
Many years ago, probably early 00s, I had taken a break from some yard work and had sat down on the porch with a cold one when the phone rang. It was someone trying to sell me something which was the original scam back in the day. Since I had just taken a break, I amused myself by seeing how far they would go. After 45 minutes and the second beer, the guy must have thought he had me hooked so he passed me off to his “supervisor”; no doubt the guy next to him. As he started to go… Read more »
In general, I believe very little from Wikipedia.
I don’t have the time or the skills to out-scam the scammers,
Steve: No Ohio class off Bombay. Just one B-52 flown by Major Kong.
If im in the right mood and not expecting calls i just say “can you hang on a minute? I have to go to the bathroom” walk away from the phone and come back to check in an hour or so.
Odd, they have always hung up.
My mother-in-law got a call like the ones described. She is elderly and extremely trusting. She is also inept with a computer. She attempted to comply. 3 1/2 hours later the scammer gave up.
The guy who wrote “Catch Me if You Can” was named after his father, so he has Junior as part of his name–so he is Frank Abnigale, Jr. By the way, as it typically happens, the book is better than the movie. The story of the French prison will stick with you. I have a OnePlus phone which is Android based. I am not sure if it has the IOS feature Steve mentioned, but I occasionally get a call and on screen it will say “suspected spam” or “spam caller.” I have a rule that when someone calls me and… Read more »
So he might have been a Verbal Kint, according to Scott?
I don’t think I have the feature Steve mentioned, but my android phone (Samsung, through US Cellular) does say “Potential Spam” when some people call. It has been wrong once or twice, but those that leave a message are always trying to sell something.
I have not seen “The Usual Suspects,” so I had to look up who “Verbal” Kint was. I may have to go stream that movie… Yes, Scott does suspect that Abagnale, Jr., is not telling the truth (I thought I was spelling his name incorrectly, so it is correct here; sorry). I am not sure–the book chronicles what he did in the 70s (mostly, starting in the early 70s) and he put in enough details about, say, check washing, that it seems like he did the deeds he claims. Scott also mentioned he saw that on Wikipedia (if I heard… Read more »
Usual Suspects is a good movie with .. lets just say a great ending for which it is well known. It is also a movie that is enjoyable to watch a second and third time to see how much you can spot the next time through, now that you know the ending.
I think what Scott said was that people suspect this con artist of performing more than one con was Wikipedia. That people are saying that is believable, even probable, whether the con was longer or not is separate.
I will stream “The Usual Suspects” soon.
Abagnale, Jr., did many cons according to his book–check washing, credit card thievery, pretending to be a pilot, passing the bar to be a lawyer (in Louisiana, I think) are the few I can think of off the top of my head. Writing about his exploits, it seems like he is/was (not sure if he is still alive) was rather intelligent and could learn things quickly.
What Karl said about “The Usual Suspects” excellent movie. Do NOT read anything about it though as it is old enough to have spoilers, and that ruins it completely.
I love the scene on the bus with the American students when Frank has been released from the French prison. 🤣
Yes, that was another good passage in the book
But I think he was on a train heading to the next country’s prison system (Norway maybe?).
I had a scam come through my text messages purporting to be my pastor, tied up in a meeting but also urgently needed to visit cancer patients at the local hospital (which the scammer named). I could help him by going out and buying gift cards for him. We had an enjoyable (for me) exchange for about an hour. Finally the scammer started in on why didn’t I trust him, what kind of a Christian was I, etc. After I finally blocked the person, I called my pastor to let him know and apparently he’d been hacked and they got… Read more »
My elderly father was also a victim of this kind of scam, though fortunately only about $2000.00. For him it was quite a lot, but in the long run, something that he could recover from. He was mostly embarassed. His problem is that his career had been in computer programming so he has a very high degree of trust for anyone who says they’re in IT. In his eyes, those are his people. He started training in computers in the 1960’s, and computers have changed a lot since he was working full time in the field. He still doesn’t really… Read more »
One thing I have learned, being in IT, is that there are many different branches of IT and those skilled in one, programming, web design, or database administration, are not that skilled in another, say End User Support or hardware, unless they’re a broadly skilled person, which you can find in many industries able to fill several different roles at their employers. Hopefully, with your guidance (and rule about your brother being the only one to do support) he would recognize that Microsoft calling about his computer is a scam and MS has nothing to do with his computer, but… Read more »
Yeah, I get it, but back in my Dad’s heyday, there weren’t as many branches of IT to specialize in. He trained in the mid-late 60’s in programming, and did continuing education as more languages were developed, but he’s 83 and retired nearly 20 years ago. At the height of his career in the 80’s and 90’s, he was a system’s analyst who ran a team of programmers who would go into a business, design a system specifically for them, install it and trouble shoot it, making changes as the company evolved. Even modems were pretty new, and he often… Read more »