Random Thought Thread

My sister in law owns a restaurant, so she becomes friends with a lot of customers. My wife and my mom went there last week and met an older Chinese lady eating lunch there, so they were chatting it up. She recently became a widow last month and didn't know what to do about her husband's pensions, etc.

Long story short, after my Mom goes to her house to help her out, she finds out she got scammed over $300K. In a cryptocurrency scam. From a random person that was also Chinese and sent her a text out of the blue. I'm guessing it was from the WeChat app (Chinese texting app) that uses your phone number.

They have 3 successful daughters (doctor, lawyer, etc.) and she refuses to tell them what happened, out of shame.

What in the actual F?
 
toker said:
My sister in law owns a restaurant, so she becomes friends with a lot of customers. My wife and my mom went there last week and met an older Chinese lady eating lunch there, so they were chatting it up. She recently became a widow last month and didn't know what to do about her husband's pensions, etc.

Long story short, after my Mom goes to her house to help her out, she finds out she got scammed over $300K. In a cryptocurrency scam. From a random person that was also Chinese and sent her a text out of the blue. I'm guessing it was from the WeChat app (Chinese texting app) that uses your phone number.

They have 3 successful daughters (doctor, lawyer, etc.) and she refuses to tell them what happened, out of shame.

What in the actual F?
Click to expand...

I'm not naturally a particularly violent person, but this makes me want to visit some violence upon someone
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I'm not naturally a particularly violent person, but this makes me want to visit some violence upon someone
Click to expand...
Scammers like to target the elderly because they seem to be overly trusting, while also less savvy about technology and scams.

*** probably why despite being typical action-movie schlock, The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham, is a guilty pleasure (some spec-ops guy decides to target scammers who scammed some elderly person he knows).
 
I often get those scam emails and texts and think does this ever work, and wouldn’t the scammers make more money by putting the same amount of time and effort into a legitimate job. But the scenario you described explains a lot.
 
toker said:
My sister in law owns a restaurant, so she becomes friends with a lot of customers. My wife and my mom went there last week and met an older Chinese lady eating lunch there, so they were chatting it up. She recently became a widow last month and didn't know what to do about her husband's pensions, etc.

Long story short, after my Mom goes to her house to help her out, she finds out she got scammed over $300K. In a cryptocurrency scam. From a random person that was also Chinese and sent her a text out of the blue. I'm guessing it was from the WeChat app (Chinese texting app) that uses your phone number.

They have 3 successful daughters (doctor, lawyer, etc.) and she refuses to tell them what happened, out of shame.

What in the actual F?
Click to expand...

Absolutely shameless. Only one way to deal with scammers that prey on the elderly.

8kafGDM.gif
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I'm not naturally a particularly violent person, but this makes me want to visit some violence upon someone
Click to expand...

I can even give you a general location if you would like to try your assassin skills:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...ar-scam-centres-fly-home-thailand-2025-02-20/

Jesting aside, Chinese nationals plus also other none white nationals of English speaking origins (say many African countries) get kidnapped in Thailand and then get crossed over to these scam camps in Myanmar which are run by the Chinese crime mobs. This has been a pretty big international story lately but of course, we don't get much international news here in the U.S. if it doesn't affect us significantly!
 
Mendoman said:
I often get those scam emails and texts and think does this ever work, and wouldn’t the scammers make more money by putting the same amount of time and effort into a legitimate job. But the scenario you described explains a lot.
Click to expand...
Anyone else receive the stupid sextortion scam emails as a result of the NPD data breach/hack? Stupid company that compiles list of people’s personal info gets hacked and 2.9 billion records compromised last year.

Hackers used the info (names addresses, emails etc.) to generate pseudo-targeted sextortion emails, usually with your name and address in the header, with some nonsense about compromising your computer or whatever and releasing your supposed lewd browsing habits to your contacts list unless you send them $$$$, and the new twist was using Google Earth to attach a photo supposedly of your house/dwelling (easily done with the address. Many of the reports included “that was my old address from years ago lol”. “Google Earth pic of the empty lot down the street lol. GPS has problems finding my house”).

Thousands upon thousands of reports of this crap within weeks of the NPD breach.

The scammers figure even if they only hook 1 out of every thousand emails they send (automated, using templates, so there’s not even much work/effort involved), it’s worth it. AND once they hook a confirmed victim (never respond to these emails), they can continue pushing to extort more and more (not to mention selling the info on the dark web for other scum to try scamming).
 
bluemax_1 said:
Hackers used the info (names addresses, emails etc.) to generate pseudo-targeted sextortion emails, usually with your name and address in the header, with some nonsense about compromising your computer or whatever and releasing your supposed lewd browsing habits to your contacts list unless you send them $$$$,
Click to expand...
Jokes on them. All my contacts already know what kind of porn I like. And if they didn't know, they're not going to be surprised that I like them like I like my chowda!
 
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