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Overpayment Scam
An overpayment scam, also known as a refund scam, is a type of confidence trick designed to prey upon victims' good faith. In the most basic form, an overpayment scam consists of a scammer claiming, falsely, to have sent a victim an excess amount of money. The scammer then attempts to convince the victim to return the difference between the sent amount and the intended amount. This scam can take a number of forms, including check overpayment scams and online refund scams. Variants The scam has many variants, but all of them include some combination of a fraudulent payment from the scammer to the victim and a legitimate payment from the victim to the scammer. Check overpayment scam In a check overpayment scam, the scammer will pay the victim for goods or services (often in response to an online or classified advertisement, though there are a number of other premises for check overpayment scams) with a fraudulent check of an amount in excess of the intended amount. In some cases ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confidence Trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ..intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". Terminology Synonyms include con, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam, and stratagem. The perpetrator of a confidence trick (or "con trick") is often referred to as a confidence (or "con") man, con-artist, or a "grifter". The shell game dates back at least to Ancient Greece. Samuel Thompson (1821–1856) was the original "confidence man". Thompson was a clumsy swindler who asked his victims to express confidence in him by giving him money or their watch rather than gaining their confidenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Money Order
A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque. History The money order system was established by a private firm in Great Britain in 1792 and was expensive and not very successful. Around 1836 it was sold to another private firm which lowered the fees, significantly increasing the popularity and usage of the system. The Post Office noted the success and profitability, and it took over the system in 1838. Fees were further reduced and usage increased further, making the money order system reasonably profitable. The only draw-back was the need to send an advance to the paying post office before payment could be tendered to the recipient of the order. This drawback was likely the primary incentive for establishment of the Postal Order System on 1 January 1881. Usage A money order is purchased for the amount desired. In this way it is similar to a certified cheque. The main difference i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Browning (YouTuber)
Jim Browning is the Internet alias of a software engineer and YouTuber from Northern Ireland whose content focuses on scam baiting and investigating call centres engaging in fraudulent activities. Scambaiting A software engineer, Browning began researching scam operations after his relative lost money to a technical support scam. He started his YouTube channel to upload footage to send to authorities as evidence against scammers. He has since carried out investigations into various scams, in which he infiltrates computer networks run by scammers who claim to be technical support experts or pose as US IRS agents and use remote desktop software or social engineering. Such scams have involved unsolicited calls offering computer services, or websites posing to be reputable companies such as Dell or Microsoft. BBC ''Panorama'' investigation Browning was featured in a March 2020 episode of British documentary series ''Panorama'', in which a large-scale technical support scamming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scam Baiting
Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scam, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to waste the time and resources of scammers, gather information useful to authorities, and publicly expose scammers. They may document scammers' tools and methods, warn potential victims, provide discussion forums, disrupt scammers' devices and systems using remote access trojans and computer viruses, or take down fraudulent webpages. Some scambaiters are motivated by a sense of civic duty, some simply engage for their own Schadenfreude, amusement, or a combination of both. Methodology For scams conducted via written communication, baiters may answer Confidence trick, scam emails using disposable email address, throwaway email accounts, pretending to be receptive to scammers' offers. Popular methods of accomplishing the first objective are to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influential YouTubers are frequently described as microcelebrities. Since YouTube is widely conceived as a bottom-up social media video platform, microcelebrities do not appear to be involved with the established and commercial system of celebrity culture, but rather appear self-governed and independent. This appearance, in turn, leads to YouTubers being seen as more relatable and authentic, also fostered by the direct connection between artist and viewer using the medium of YouTube. In 2014, the University of Southern California surveyed 1318-year-olds in the United States on whether 10 YouTube celebrities or 10 traditional celebrities were more influential; YouTube personalities took the first five spots of the ranking, with the YouTube duo Smo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twitch (service)
Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and " in real life" streams. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand. The games shown on Twitch's homepage are listed according to audience preference and include genres such as real-time strategy games (RTS), fighting games, racing games, and first-person shooters. The popularity of Twitch eclipsed that of its general-interest counterpart. In October 2013, the website had 45 million unique viewers, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth-largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States. At the same time, Justin.tv's parent company was re-branded as Twitch In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kitboga (streamer)
Kitboga is the Internet alias of an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber whose content primarily focuses on scam baiting against scams conducted over the phone. His channel has over 1 million followers on Twitch, and his YouTube channel has over 2 million subscribers. Career Scambaiting In mid-2017, Kitboga found out that his grandmother had fallen victim to many scams designed to prey on the elderly, both online and in person. He then discovered " Lenny", a loop of vague pre-recorded messages that scam baiters play during calls with the aim of convincing the scammer that there is a real person on the phone without providing any useful information to the scammer. After seeing these videos uploaded to YouTube, he decided to replicate the calls himself. While he started out streaming for his friends on Twitch, his viewership soon started growing beyond his immediate circles. Kitboga hopes that by wasting scammers' time, he can prevent them from scamming others, while also provi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zelle (payment Service)
Zelle () is a United States–based digital payments network owned by Early Warning Services, LLC, a private financial services company owned by the banks Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The Zelle service enables individuals to electronically transfer money from their bank account to another registered user's bank account (within the United States) using a mobile device or the website of a participating banking institution. The Zelle instant payment service was launched in June 2017. Previously, the Zelle service was known as clearXchange, which offered payment services through member financial institutions and a website. Launched in April 2011, clearXchange was originally owned by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. After Capital One and US Bank joined as partners, clearXchange was sold to Early Warning Services in January 2016. In December 2017, all clearXchange accounts for person-to-person payment se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venmo
Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo was aimed at friends and family who wish to split bills, e.g. for movies, dinner, rent, or event tickets etc. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver must live in the United States. On Venmo, a little social network, users can observe how others who are sending money to one another interact with amusing emoticons. In 2021 the company handled $230 billion in transactions and generated $850 million in revenue. By default, Venmo publishes every peer-to-peer transaction (excluding the amount), a feature shown by researchers to reveal sensitive details about users' lives in some situations. In 2018, the company settled with the Federal Trade Commission about several privacy and security violations related to this and other features, and made changes to the corresponding settings. However, Venmo continued to attract criticism for e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of the social media site. Facebook structure News Feed The news feed is the primary system through which users are exposed to content posted on the network. Using a secret method (initially known as EdgeRank), Facebook selects a handful of updates to actually show users every time they visit their feed, out of an average of 1500 updates they can potentially receive. On September 6, 2006, Ruchi Sanghvi announced a new home page feature called News Feed. Originally, when users logged into Facebook, they were presented with a customizable version of their own profile. The new layout, by contrast, created an alternative home page in which users saw a constantly updated list of their friends' Facebook activity. News Feed highlights infor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reloading Scam
In a reloading scam, a victim is repeatedly approached by con artists, often until "sucked dry". This form of fraud is perpetrated on those more susceptible to pressure after the first losses, perhaps because of hopes to recover money previously invested, perhaps because of inability to say "no" to a con man. The term has been current at least since 1923, when it was used to describe a specific repetitive stock fraud: :To "reload" a holder of stock, he is approached with an offer to buy from him a larger block of the stock at a higher price than he paid, and about the same time the opportunity is given to him to purchase more at the original offering price. When he has done so, he finds that the bid is an elusive one; it is now for a larger block, and if he buys still more stock in order to take advantage of it, it still keeps ahead of him.John K. Barnes, ''"Releading" and "dynamiting" financial dupes'', World's Work, Vol 45, Jan 1923, p.322. The term 'reloading' has since expande ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technical Support Scam
A technical support scam, or tech support scam, is a type of fraud in which a scammer claims to offer a legitimate technical support service. Victims contact scammers in a variety of ways, often through fake pop-ups resembling error messages or via fake "help lines" advertised on websites owned by the scammers. Technical support scammers use social engineering and a variety of confidence tricks to persuade their victim of the presence of problems on their computer or mobile device, such as a malware infection, when there are no issues with the victim's device. The scammer will then persuade the victim to pay to fix the fictitious "problems" that they claim to have found. Payment is made to the scammer through ways which are hard to trace and have fewer consumer protections in place which could allow the victim to claim their money back, usually through gift cards. Technical support scams have occurred as early as 2008. A 2017 study of technical support scams found that of the IP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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