As I stand figuratively before you as the near-victim of a scam, I wonder: Do any of our readers stand with me?
Look, I”™m a relatively intelligent person (depending on whom you ask): I can walk and chew gum at the same time; I can detect the moral superiority of Gallant over Goofus in a matter of minutes; I still know what you did last summer.
But even with an IQ well into the double digits, I find that I have to confess that ”“ like so many of us, it seems ”“ I have been the (near) victim of a scam.
This sorry saga began last Friday morning, when, working from home, I received an email from Westfair doyenne Dee DelBello, asking if I could lay my hands on five eBay gift cards of $200 each: “When you get them, scratch off the code panel, then take clear picture of the cards and attach it. Keep the cards for later documentation you will be reimburse later today. Sorry for the stress.”
Haven”™t we all been told that misspellings and offbeat grammar are signs that should raise one”™s suspicions? Of course we have. Did I take a moment to consider that? Of course I didn”™t.
So off I went on my merry chase for eBay gift cards. Unfortunately, after visits to three stores, I was unable to locate what are apparently rarities in my town. When I explained this, I was told that Amazon gift cards would be fine.
Wunderbar! So back to CVS I went, picking up five Amazon gift cards and plopping them down at the cash register. It was then that I found out CVS requires an I.D. to make such purchases. It was shortly after that that I recalled my driver”™s license has expired, but that I have an extension through the end of the year to address that headache.
(Semi-related tangent: You have to make an online appointment with the DMV to renew your driver”™s license. These have been “unavailable” for the past several months at all DMV and associated AAA locations. Who”™s running that show, Eversource?)
In such circumstances, the vagaries of CVS insist that a single $1,000 I.D.-less transaction cannot be executed; thus did I need to have my credit card charged five separate times, with five separate paper receipts. In such situations, needless to say, one starts forming a relationship with the person on the other side of the counter.
After discussing the weather, how the Jets are allowed to remain in the NFL, and Kant”™s objective law of reason, the cashier asked why, in the name of all that is holy, I was doing this ”“ a question undoubtedly shared by the expanding line of grumbling customers behind me.
“Oh, I didn”™t think to ask,” was my witty reply. (Told you I”™m fairly smart.)
So back to my home office I went, where I obediently removed the strip from each card”™s code panel, photographed my handiwork, and emailed the requested results to Dee”™s Westfair email address.
Aaaand about 30 minutes later came her reply: “What”™s this all about?”
“Um,” “Uh,” and “Oh” were the three words that immediately leapt to mind. I went back and found that the original email request that I”™d semi-sprung into action for had come from “executivedirector1143@gmail.com” but still showed up as “Dee DelBello” in Outlook. As Dee and I discussed this over Outlook, in came another message from 1143: “Did you get them yet? Am waiting to get the cards attach here, they need to be sent out soon.”
So it was that, through no intention of my own, I”™d “erroneously” sent the photos of the cards to Demonstrably Dee, not Delusive Dee.
Seizing the opportunity to have at least a little fun, I told 1143 that I was now in the Westfair office and could pop in to deliver her the cards in person when she was available; oddly, I have yet to hear back.
So, was I dumb? Hasty? Reckless? (“Agile,” thesaurus.com suggests, but I think not.) Yes, yes, and yes! But, it seems, I am not alone.
Google “email scam posing as boss,” and stare in wonder at the 3.9 million results that pop up. “To stay employed, it”™s typically a good rule of thumb to do what the boss says,” advises komando.com ”“ a philosophy I was definitely trying to follow. Shortly after, however, komando warns: “It”™s going to be worth your time to make sure it really is your CEO who sent it before you snap to it.”
Yeah, yeah.
The FTC has a page devoted to gift-card scams.
Um, okay.
And according to the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report, 23,775 business email scams were reported last year, amounting to $1.7 billion in losses of both money and time.
Ulp.
So: I”™ve been phished! (At least I wasn”™t catfished.) Fortunately ol”™ 1143 never got the grand from me. But for one brief, shining moment, I was living in Scam-A-Lot ”“ and didn”™t even know it, at least at first.
And that got us wondering: Have any readers been victims of these sorts of phishing expeditions? What form did they take? Were they successful, or were you able to thwart them ”“ and if the latter, how?
Or am I the only one?
