<div dir="auto">I am usually extremely careful in recognizing and avoiding scams but was caught by one last month, and not by an email, text message or web pop up.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">We were about to watch a movie on Amazon Prime via the Prime Video app on our Sony Smart TV. When we started the app, a very real looking message came up on the TV that we needed to renew our Prime subscription. It gave an 800 number to call to expedite renewal. When I called that number, the person offered a 2 year discount for $190 instead of the usual $119 per year.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">After giving him the card info, the TV went through the normal process of asking me to enter it's displayed code into my phone's prime video app. That all looked normal.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">After that, I checked if my Prime subscription was extended the promised 2 years and saw it wasn't. It was only then that I rememberd I had renewed my subscription in April so it had not expired. I called Chase and they reversed the charge and have subsequently been told they made the refund permanent.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I guess I was sucked in by believing this couldn't happen on the TV but now I know it can. I don't know how they did it, but they did. I thought I had done everything to protect my network, such as changing the WiFi SSID and password and even changing the normal 192.168.1.1 address to something else. I've changed the password on all Iot devices.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Anyone know how they pulled that off?</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Stan</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 12:51 AM Robert Primak <<a href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com">bobprimak@yahoo.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><div><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">There are also scams very similar to this one revolving around hurricane relief from Ian. There was one billionnaire who did pledge direct relief to homeowners affected by Ian, but I think that was Elon Musk, andf it was not in the form of free Internet, though he also is offering that for a few areas of SW FL. </div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You have to be very careful about everything these days. None of these charitable foundatiuons will use email as their first method of contact, out of the blue. Nor a phone call, especially to a cell phone. If it looks too good to be ture, check with the original source. Use an independent direct link or contact method. And don't be in a rush -- there is never so much time pressure that you can't use some well-known method to verify an offer. Or a threat. </div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">That said, I have had to deal with a couple of truly insider scams in recent years. Some of these problems originated with actual fraudulent accounts opened with my personal information, probably obtained through data leaks from places I should have been able to trust, like in one instance, a medical billing service. Yeah sure, they apologized, paid and offered credit monitoring -- but the damages were already done. </div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Be safe out there! </div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">-- Bob Primak </div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></div>
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On Sunday, October 16, 2022 at 10:09:14 PM EDT, <<a href="mailto:carllazarus@comcast.net" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">carllazarus@comcast.net</a>> wrote:
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<div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div id="m_3216857231903204993yiv7713810109" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here is a new scam. I received an email that says I am pre-qualified for the Scott Mackenzie Foundation relief fund, and there is an email address I am to contact for more details. I think they meant Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, but you can’t get everything right. Her foundation is giving grants to many causes, but I doubt they are getting ready to give me money.</p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> </p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">-- Carl</p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> </p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Carl Lazarus</p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">H: 617-964-7241</p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><a href="mailto:carllazarus@comcast.net" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">carllazarus@comcast.net</a></p><p style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> </p></div></div></div>===============================================<br>::The Lexington Computer and Technology Group Mailing List::<br>Reply goes to sender only; Reply All to send to list.<br>Send to the list: <a href="mailto:LCTG@lists.toku.us" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">LCTG@lists.toku.us</a> Message archives: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/pipermail/lctg-toku.us/" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">http://lists.toku.us/pipermail/lctg-toku.us/</a><br>To subscribe: email <a href="mailto:lctg-subscribe@toku.us" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">lctg-subscribe@toku.us</a> To unsubscribe: email <a href="mailto:lctg-unsubscribe@toku.us" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">lctg-unsubscribe@toku.us</a><br>Future and Past meeting information: <a href="http://LCTG.toku.us" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">http://LCTG.toku.us</a><br>List information: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/listinfo.cgi/lctg-toku.us" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">http://lists.toku.us/listinfo.cgi/lctg-toku.us</a><br>This message was sent to <a href="mailto:bobprimak@yahoo.com." target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">bobprimak@yahoo.com.</a><br>Set your list options: <a href="http://lists.toku.us/options.cgi/lctg-toku.us/bobprimak@yahoo.com" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">http://lists.toku.us/options.cgi/lctg-toku.us/bobprimak@yahoo.com</a><br></div>
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</blockquote></div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Stan Rose<br><br><a href="mailto:stan_rose@alum.mit.edu">stan_rose@alum.mit.edu</a></div>