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US Federal Court: This Year's Scams More Aggressive and Sophisticated Than Years Past (networkworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the beware-of-imposters dept.

coondoggie quotes a report from Network World: The fraud and scam war rages. This week the Federal Courts warned of swindles involving people posing as federal court officials and U.S. Marshals targeting citizens, threatening them with arrest unless they pay some fake fine for failing to show up for jury duty. "This year's scams are more aggressive and sophisticated than we've seen in years past," says Melissa Muir, Director of Administrative Services for the U.S. District Court of Western Washington in a statement. "Scammers are setting up call centers, establishing call-back protocols and using specific names and designated court hearing times." The bottom line: A federal court will never threaten an individual or demand the immediate payment -- either over the telephone or money wire service -- for fines or for not responding to a jury summons, the court stated.

62 comments

  1. Nah! YOU ARE JUST PAYING ATTENTION NOW!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Paris. Brussl, Bruxxels, that city in Belgium, Berlin, Seoul, all the most dangerous places to be.

    1. Re:Nah! YOU ARE JUST PAYING ATTENTION NOW!! by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Paris. Brussl, Bruxxels, that city in Belgium, Berlin, Seoul, all the most dangerous places to be."

      Bullshit! In Germany alone, over 300 people die each year by suffocation because they swallowed a piece of their pen, while over 500 die each year because of a fish-bone stuck in their throat.

      So just don't write by hand and eat only fish sticks if you are afraid to die.

      PS. and don't stand under trees during a thunderstorm.:-)

  2. got one of those a few days ago... by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 1

    but the thick accent (Indian? Pakistani? whatever) of an obviously non-native Engrish speaker kind of gave it away.

    --
    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
    1. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the federal government hires only native born English speakers?

    2. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because the federal governments so cheap they would have an auto dialer do it.

    3. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You know, in my experience I am forced to assume the "legitimate" call centers are staffed by the exact same people as the spammers, and that they likely collect the "legal" information to use for the illegal stuff.

      Can't prove this, but pretty much all incoming calls are bullshit these days ... unless I know the actual caller, I pretty much treat them all like they're scams. Heck, according to caller ID, apparently I've called myself on a few occasions.

      Incoming calls have pretty much become worthless, but occasionally spewing profanity at someone is a nice stress relief. I'm passed the point where I'm willing to treat you like a human.

      You're either fraudulent, or trying to sell me some shit I'm not interested in. Which means I place no value on your feelings.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Can you white list your phone's contact list? Is there an app for that?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    5. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      On my land line? Not so easily. On my cell phone I actually do have an app which blocks stuff like that.

      But my Panasonic cordless phones can be set to hang up on "Unknown" and "Private Caller". That killed off many of the spam calls. If you won't identify yourself from me, I'm not interested in your call.

      Now they've started sending bogus caller ID, usually something relatively close to mine. So, you can't even rely on that any more.

      These days if I don't recognize the number or the caller ID, I just ignore it or pick up and hang up.

      So if I do answer, I'm already assuming you're lying to me, because you probably are.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    6. Re: got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've worked in said sketchy call centers. A third of our calls were for the government (contracted help desk line), a third were for some legally gray area products making bold claims, and the other third were for what I could only describe as real estate investment scams. We collected massive amounts of data on all of the calls, and I'm certain is what all out into one database and sold to the highest bidder with no oversight.

    7. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      but the thick accent...gave it away

      They should hire native-born Americans, perhaps a B1H, who lost their jobs to an H1B.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    8. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "On my land line? Not so easily. On my cell phone I actually do have an app which blocks stuff like that."

      On your cell, no app needed for that: if it rings and a number comes up instead of a contact name, it's not in your whitelist.

    9. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bad assumption there. What makes you think there is any correlation between accent and legitimacy of calls? Particularly when 99% of sales centers seem to be located in India.

      A better assumption to make is that any unexpected business call is suspect. Get details regarding what they claim to be calling about, and if it seems potentially legit and something you care about look up contact details elsewhere and return the call on this number (*do not* use whatever number the caller leaves).

      Obvious red flags include:
      - excessively persistent callers (eg you *must* arrange this over the phone *right now*).
      - excessively agressive and/or rude callers (eg you absolutely must do these steps on your windows PC to remove a virus or ...insert threat and/or insult here... - biggest red flag of all really).
      - excessive vagueness about intent (aka "I don't really know your business, but I'm hoping you'll fill in the blanks for me").
      - sales-gibberish and other nonsensical fast-talking.

    10. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      You might need the app to block the number from ringing the phone, but still log it.

      Most land line phones don't store many numbers, and they don't block at all. The phone company does not offer that good of service.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    11. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but the thick accent (Indian? Pakistani? whatever) of an obviously non-native Engrish speaker kind of gave it away.

      Some of them are local.

      I got the call "You failed to show for Federal grand jury duty, and we are going to come to your house today to arrest you unless you pay the fine now." Fine was $1,200 dollars.
      His accent was clearly American from the south. He had done his homework - named the building the Federal grand jury was housed in, one of the judges, and so on. Oddly enough, he had my previous address from like 10 years ago. I was curious and kept him on the phone, said I could just drive over and pay it since it was close to my house. Nope, he said, the patrol cars were already rolling to pick up several people so it had to be paid now over the phone, and it would look really bad if I fled instead of stayed at home, etc. Anyway, I got bored and hung up.

      I called the Federal courthouse and told them this was going on, and she said, yeah, we know. They have a pretty good scam. She said they even had a official sounding voice mail for you to leave a message if you called back. She also said they were working on doing something about these guys.
      Yeah, sure, good luck with that I thought.

      Sonn after that, I saw this in the paper:
      http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us...

      Now I see how they knew so much about the local courts.

      I didn't get her name, but thank you federal lady.

    12. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Folks, in case you didn't already know this, you don't want to be too rude to these people even though they're in prison. They have phones and they have friends on the outside, and they know who you are and where you live.

      http://www.myajc.com/news/news...

      Also, the FCC has been a endless obstacle to blocking prisoner's phone calls.
      The fear is that cellphone jamming might interfere with people driving by the prison yakking on the phones, or maybe the employees might want to use their phones. I suppose it's a good thing that people talking while driving takes precedence over blocking crimes.

      Maybe this will help.
      https://gcn.com/Articles/2013/...
      Someday.

    13. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      On our work asterisk system I am going to try and get some anti-robodialer defenses in place... Hello, you appear to be a robot... Please go into detail on what you are trying to sell. Please enter your telephone number and we will call you back at our earliest convenience.

    14. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by tibit · · Score: 1

      Now I see how they knew so much about the local courts.

      That's presuming a bit much. Everything about the courts is either public information already online, or can be easily obtained by visiting or calling the courthouse.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    15. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by hoggoth · · Score: 1

      I was rude to an aggressive telemarketer and since I hung up I've gotten 10+ calls every day on my cellphone from automated recordings all from different telemarketers. I guess he put me on every list he could find. I asked AT&T what they could do and they said 'register yourself on the federal do not call list'. Thanks, but I already did that before the call.

      --
      - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
    16. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by BradMajors · · Score: 1

      On my land line? Not so easily.

      You need to modernize your land line service. Such a feature is available on most land lines.

    17. Re:got one of those a few days ago... by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Back when I had a landline, the phone company did offer a blocking service. It was, of course, completely useless because they didn't allow you to block numbers any numbers you might want to block such as any large call center, because those numbers were used by their most favored customers. The best defense was an old computer with a faxmodem. If it was unknown number or a number used by a telemarketer, the computer would answer the call then immediately hang up. I still heard the first ring but otherwise it worked pretty well.

  3. Extra doubpleplus dangerous... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... because indiscernible from the real thing.

  4. Be nice by stabiesoft · · Score: 1

    If one of those crazy shooters went into some of these call centers and took care of the problem.

    1. Re:Be nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you work in a call center the sweet release of death is all you look forward to

      Direct your anger at either the sales people who sell the call center services to scumbags or the actual scumbags

    2. Re:Be nice by taustin · · Score: 1

      The people who take the job are just as responsible. They choose, of their own free will, to be criminals. I have no sympathy for them, and they're available to tell what I think of them.

    3. Re:Be nice by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      If one of those crazy shooters went into some of these call centers and took care of the problem.

      Tempting idea, but no crazy shooter is going to get through on a nineteen-hour Air India flight with a suitcase full of guns.

    4. Re:Be nice by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Take a shit job or starve? I don't have to like talking to them, but I don't want them dead just because they want to put food on the table. It's not like the people in that call center are the ones who are getting rich.

      I will grant you, I don't really know who responds to that shit these days, so I am not sure how anyone actually still has a job in many of these call centers. I don't even pick up calls I don't recognize any more and the second it sounds like it isn't someone I would want to talk to, I hang up. And I don't consider myself to have been particularly harassed either.

      It seems like there have been more recordings than actual telemarketers these days when I do actually take a call. And that is really odd, because you can't even use pressure tactics on people by using a recording. It makes me wonder if these kinds of calls are actually dying out, rather than becoming more prevalent. I'm probably deluding myself, but it does feel like they're really trying to cut costs by removing humans from the loop, even if the message is not as effective.

    5. Re:Be nice by stabiesoft · · Score: 1

      Read the article. These are real people impersonating court employees. While I may not care for regular telemarketers, if the people involved in this scam don't understand they are doing something very illegal, perhaps a little darwin woud be a good thing.

    6. Re:Be nice by taustin · · Score: 1

      Take a shit job or starve?

      Mug people in the park or starve? Knife people and steal their shoes or starve? Rob banks or starve? A felony is a felony, and telephone fraud is a felony.

    7. Re: Be nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So put them all in a guitar case.

    8. Re:Be nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then we shouldn't hesitate to scoop you up with the actions of your employers, employees, hell anyone you "of your free will" associate with.

      You're going to have a hard time arguing wide nets are "right", necessary, or even practical.

  5. had fun with one by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    usually, i just hang up, but this time i had time to kill. he said "US Marshal" so i called him Mr. Marshall. we did the back-and-forth just like you've seen on some YouTube videos. spent a few minutes trying to get a mailing address from him, but he finally disconnected. haven't had another call since.

    1. Re:had fun with one by decipher_saint · · Score: 2

      Reminds me of one of the true classics of our time....

      "Hello this is Lenny"

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
    2. Re:had fun with one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If everyone had one of these (only each one was a bit different) we would put all the scammers and autodialers out of business within a few months.

    3. Re:had fun with one by DidgetMaster · · Score: 1

      Scambaiting can be fun. I had a scammer who wanted me to send him money for a fake car he listed for sale. It was amazing how much work he/she was willing to do when they thought I might actually fall for it. I never spent more than 1 minute putting together a response to each email, but I would ask stupid questions that required a detailed response on their part. I pretended I didn't understand their instructions so they had to write them differently instead of just sending canned responses.

    4. Re:had fun with one by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      All you need to do is tell them you're very interested, but you have to take care of something and you'll be right back. Then you put the phone on mute and leave it there for about 10 minutes and go about your business. They'll stick around as long as they can because you said you'd get back to them, and it will run up their call time, absolutely screwing their turnover rate. If they haven't hung up after 10 minutes, just pick up the phone and hang up when you get back to it.

      Enough people who do that, and you'll hurt them considerably by making them waste cycles. Even relatively small inefficiencies can add up in a bulk business like that if they are repeated. You're keeping longer them from making the next call, which could be that sucker who really does pay them.

      Of course, with the new recordings they are making, that changes things because they can make more calls, but an open line still is a resource that they are using from their end.

      Obviously, if you get them to waste the time of humans by going through their script, it is more expensive and more worth it (and more entertaining), but then you are committing your own, much more valuable time to that, so scam baiting probably isn't actually a big issue for them. Most people don't have the time to do that.

    5. Re:had fun with one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mr. Marshall sounds too formal. Can I call you 'Yew Ess'?"

  6. Got one from the IRS, a recording by Notorious+G · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a total scam because, like federal courts, the IRS does not robocall you about payment and threaten you to pay immediately. You get a letter in the mail, just like they did in 1950's.

    1. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1, Redundant

      The reason these scams work is simple

      1) They sound plausible.
      2) They play upon our fears

      It SOUNDS plausible that you could be fined or whatever for missing a court date. And we are trained to avoid unpleasant outcomes, so they play upon our worst fears. If either of these things were not easy then the scams would fail repeatedly and be useless.

      For both of these things to be potentially true, says a great deal about our government systems. We believe Government cannot get enough money, and thus have fines and penalties for non-compliance to mundane things. And worst, we are fearful of the full power of government coming against us for non-compliance.

      Let that soak in a bit, and think about it. What part of our system, is it okay to have government so entrenched into every aspect of our lives that this is possible. It says a lot.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by taustin · · Score: 1

      You forgot:

      3) PT Barnum was right. Without that, 1) and 2) don't matter.

    3. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Don't blame the victim. Anyone can get scammed. Scammers are simply magicians. Anyone can be fooled. If you think otherwise, you just haven't been targetted yet.

    4. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by taustin · · Score: 1

      In fact, I have been targeted, and laughed in their faces each time. Same is true of pretty much everyone I know who isn't mentally impaired by age, drug addiction or some other medical condition. So, no, not anyone can get scammed. If you have enough of a clue to run your life without a court appointed guardian, you should know that the government does do things this way. If you don't, I have zero sympathy.

      How much did you get taken for?

    5. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The IRS scammers left a message on my answering machine. I played it back for my children, whose eyes got wider as the message went on. I then told them it was a scam and explained how the IRS would handle such a situation in real life.

      By now, calls like this should be treated as false until proven true.

    6. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by BradMajors · · Score: 1

      The IRS can outsource collections to a 3rd party and this 3rd party will make such phones calls.

    7. Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fact, I have been targeted, and laughed in their faces each time. Same is true of pretty much everyone I know who isn't mentally impaired by age, drug addiction or some other medical condition. So, no, not anyone can get scammed. If you have enough of a clue to run your life without a court appointed guardian, you should know that the government does do things this way. If you don't, I have zero sympathy.

      How much did you get taken for?

      Yay, you've been targetted by newbie scammers. Don't limit your thinking to this single isolated scam, which admittedly isn't very advanced. There are far more intricate scams out there than this IRS scam.

  7. But a state court... by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Informative

    A federal court will never threaten an individual or demand the immediate payment -- either over the telephone or money wire service -- for fines or for not responding to a jury summons, the court stated.

    On the other hand, state courts, esp. those who sold the rights to collect those fines to private companies, absolutely will. I think John Oliver had a section on it, but the first hit is apparently (the timelier/promoted) video of Samantha Bee.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  8. "You better pay or else!" by k6mfw · · Score: 1

    I get home and frequenty hear messages like this left on machine, "IRS has filed a claim and you need to call this number with 20 hours to avoid an arrest warrant."

    This is what the feds should place priority instead of spying on everyone's phone line. Oh wait, if they are doing that then how come they can't rope in these crooks?

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
  9. Bullshit scammers by Ziest · · Score: 2

    Yeah, I had one of these guys call me the other day. I told him to come on over and arrest me. My lawyer, who lives across the street, and I would be waiting on my front steps. The little shit just hung up. Anyone who lets some clown on the phone intimidate them deserves to lose.

    --
    Another day closer to redwood heaven
  10. Part of the problem by slazzy · · Score: 2

    Part of the problem is the bull-headed shitty tactics by government officials in the first place. We shouldn't have to fear being locked up in jail over taking a movie back late and forgetting to pay the $5 late fee. We'd be a lot less ready to give into the scams if there was less of this shit in the first place.

    --
    Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    1. Re:Part of the problem by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Part of the problem is the bull-headed shitty tactics by government officials in the first place. We shouldn't have to fear being locked up in jail over taking a movie back late and forgetting to pay the $5 late fee. We'd be a lot less ready to give into the scams if there was less of this shit in the first place.

      This actually happened, and just last week, in NC. The really surprising part of the story is that after fourteen years a video place is still in business to press charges:
      http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/25/...

    2. Re:Part of the problem by sconeu · · Score: 2

      Video store *WAS* out of business. The guy got stopped for a traffic something-or-other and a routine check showed an outstanding warrant.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    3. Re:Part of the problem by swb · · Score: 0

      I read the news story but can't remember whether the video didn't get returned at all or if the guy blew off the late fee, which, due to video store contract language, got turned into some $100 late fee for nonpayment.

      But probably what happened after that is that the video store sold all their old receivables for 5 cents on the dollar to a collection agency. The collection agency files a civil suit against the guy because they can't collect from him, they win a judgement in court and the bench warrant is issued for ignoring a summons and/or ignoring a judgement against him. The guy gets pulled over for a traffic ticket, the bench warrant shows and he goes to jail.

      Of course this is shitty on many levels, and the courts have been basically complicit in allowing the judicial system to be used as a debtor's prison.

      For one, the video store probably had an incorrect phone number or address because either they've hired incompetents who can't enter the data right, or they make no effort to ensure that the data was ever right to begin with, and they make no effort to ever make sure they know what their customer's correct info is.

      The obviously bad data is sold to collections -- and having worked in a video store, I can tell you that at least 20% of the late fees are total bullshit to begin with, the guys that closed the store on a Tuesday flat out didn't bother checking in returned movies and the angry employees on Wednesday don't give a shit and check all the un-checked-in movies already in the store as late. But even when the late fees are legitimate, half the reason they are there is customer info is stale as hell and they have no idea they even have late fees.

      So the collection agency is buying bogus data to begin with and they make ZERO effort to verify it or the legitimacy of the debt in question. They actually prefer it to be bad, because that way they can file as many civil suits as possible, civil suits that the respondents will never know about because the courts take their assertion at face value they've made a good faith effort to contact them and issue summons to them. They want to win the judgements by default because nobody shows up, and they can then get the courts to issue warrants and use the full police powers of the judiciary as a stick to collect their debt.

      The part that I can't figure out is how the collections agency goes along with the valuation of the debt that they buy. You own a video store, and of course, you need some way to motivate people to return the movies (and rewind them, too, if you can remember that far back). So you charge a late fee, which motivates most people, but to further motivate them you have some insane rental agreement language that turns a $2 late fee into a $100 late fee if its not paid in 10 days or some other arbitrary period.

      OK, maybe it's a legitimate contract, but really? The video store didn't incur anything like $100 in losses due to the unpaid late fee, at worst they were out the $2 or $5 or whatever the original rental fee was because somebody had the video an extra day and they couldn't generate another rental fee for renting out "Free Willy IV: Rocky vs. The Killer Whale" which never would sit unrented on the shelf anyway.

      So how are these collection agencies willing to buy this ridiculously overvalued debt? It's like owner of the store has 100 overdue late fees that's now $10k in receivables? Are you fucking kidding me? You're going to let the business owner mark up bullshit debt by 2000%? It only makes sense if the courts are brain dead and wholly complicit in the entire process. It wouldn't surprise me if they were and that the judge gets a new flat screen and Herman Miller furniture every year because for every bogus civil case that passes through their court, the court gets to keep 25% of the filing fees or court costs the plaintiff pays up front, enabled by legislatures which want to cut taxes and run the courts as a for-profit enterprise. And of course, the fees are allowed to be padded ont

    4. Re:Part of the problem by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      The part that I can't figure out is how the collections agency goes along with the valuation of the debt that they buy. You own a video store, and of course, you need some way to motivate people to return the movies (and rewind them, too, if you can remember that far back). So you charge a late fee, which motivates most people, but to further motivate them you have some insane rental agreement language that turns a $2 late fee into a $100 late fee if its not paid in 10 days or some other arbitrary period.

      OK, maybe it's a legitimate contract, but really? The video store didn't incur anything like $100 in losses due to the unpaid late fee, at worst they were out the $2 or $5 or whatever the original rental fee was because somebody had the video an extra day and they couldn't generate another rental fee for renting out "Free Willy IV: Rocky vs. The Killer Whale" which never would sit unrented on the shelf anyway.

      Well, the late fee is to encourage people to return it, because while it's late, you're not making any money on it. You rent it for a weekend for $5, with the intent to have it returned by opening of business on Monday so the store can have it on the shelf ready to rent Monday evening and making another few dollars again. That's why late fees are cumulative - it'll be $5 a day because while you have it, the store isn't able to make money by renting it other customers. So it has to be punitive.

      After some arbitrary length of time, say a week to 10 days, it's written off - the store assumes you're not going to return it for whatever reason, and they need to acquire a new copy. Back then, VHS copies of movies for rent cost easily $50-100 (even though they could be bought for private viewing for $20-30). So the fee increases to reflect the fact that the copy is lost and it has to be written off - either a new copy acquired, or just gone.

      And yes, the video rental business was all about opportunity. You might think "it's only a day" but if the movie was late in, and someone wanted it, then the rental fee was lost. And for older titles, they often only had the one copy, so a late return could very well mean loss of business for that rental.

      Things have changed with Netflix - the Netflix queue was used to keep you with movies you wanted to watch (but with no particular order or must see immediately), rental discs don't cost 3-5x as much as retail discs, and if you really wanted to see that chick flick for your date, you bring up Netflix and stream it.

      But in the past, you needed to keep tapes cycling through and being predictable was key - if a movie someone wanted to rent was out, you could look it up and see it was to be returned in a couple of days so they could borrow it then. But if it was late, you've just made the customer make a useless trip. And sometimes, they really did want it the day it was back - if it was late, the customer wouldn't need it anymore (perhaps for a party or other time-sensitive reason).

    5. Re:Part of the problem by swb · · Score: 1

      When I worked at a video store circa 1992, few catalog (non-new release) titles rented serially. The vast majority went out, came back and sat back on the shelf for days, weeks or longer before being rented again. The high volume videos were new release. So if a catalog title was late it was as close to a zero loss for the store as possible.

      The only exceptions were a handful of children's titles and a few cult classics popular in our neighborhood.

      We did have some kind of late fee multiplier on unpaid late fees that remained unpaid for 30 days or something, a fee we almost never actually charged and I suspect was only a threat or something to be used selling aged receivables or for tax purposes.

      Movies that were literally never returned almost never got replaced unless they were somewhat popular, and even then it often took ages to replace them because the store stock expanded so much with new release it just didn't make sense from an inventory perspective. Often if they would get replaced due to demand it would be with a used tape -- at the time there were trade rags with the wholesalers who advertised used inventory, so unless it was a super rare title it wasn't hard to get a replacement for 25-33% of a new tape.

  11. SubjectIsSubject by p0p0 · · Score: 2

    My parents get at least 2-3 robocalls a day either about winning a flight on WestJet or being hunted by the RCMP for the CRA for backtaxes. Sometimes they'll just spoof their home phone. Pretty weird getting a phone call from yourself. One called under "Unknown Name", then called back a few minutes later with the same number under "Anonymous".

    My grandma gets the calls and she usually knows better for she has alzheimers and lapses in judgement. So we're worried that one day she'll give out some personal information and then forget the second she hangs up.
    She also got hit by a ransomware attack on her computer, which wasn't too bad because her laptop is just a Facebook machine. Set her up with Linux Mint and there have been no problems.
    Before I cancelled my phone plan I was getting at least a robocall a week and it was getting worse.

  12. Be nice if we had an organization to help us by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    Dunno, an agency to defend national security or somesuch? I tend to be suspicious of the gub'mint "helping", but it seems an ANS (Agency for National Security) would be handy to have around.

  13. I ruin these loser's days by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    I totally ruin these loser's days. I have a long list of questions I ask them, and if they don't get 3 right then they "fail" and I'm "forced" to hang up on them. Here are just a few, feel free to use them. :)

    Question: How can a man go eight days without sleep?
    Answer: It is not a problem, he doesn't need to sleep during the day, he sleeps at night, you fucking idiot.

    Question: Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
    Answer: Mt. Everest. It just wasn't discovered yet, you fucking idiot.

    Question: How many cubic feet of dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
    Answer: None, there is no dirt in a hole, you fucking idiot.

    Question: A man went outside in the pouring rain with no protection, but not a hair on his head got wet. How come?
    Answer: He was bald.

    Question: If a plane crashes on the border of The United States and Mexico, where would the survivors be buried?
    Answer: Nowhere, you don't bury survivors, you fucking idiot.

    Question: A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
    Answer: Meat, you fucking idiot.

    Question: If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
    Answer: Wet, you fucking idiot.

    Question: You're a bus driver. At the first stop 4 people get on. At the second stop 8 people get on, at the third stop 2 people get off and, at the fourth stop everyone got off. The question is what color are the bus driver's eyes?
    Answer: The same as yours, because you're the bus driver, you fucking idiot.

    Question: What can you never eat for breakfast?
    Answer: Dinner.

    Question: A guy is condemned to death. He has to choose a room. Room #1: A fiery inferno. Room #2: 50 Assassins with loaded guns. Room #3: A room full of hungry lions that haven't eaten in 3 months. Which room is the safest?
    Answer: Room #3, because the lions would be dead if they didn't eat for 3 months, you fucking idiot.

    Question: You have a cup placed on a table. You are pointing towards the North and the cup is facing towards the South. On which side is the cup's handle?
    Answer: No matter in which way the cup is facing, it's handle will always be on the outside.

    Question: Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg is white" or "The yolk of the egg are white?"
    Answer: Neither is correct. Egg yolks are yellow, not white, you fucking idiot.

    Question: Is it legal for a man living in North Carolina to be buried in South Carolina?
    Answer: No, because he is alive, you fucking idiot.

    Question: Why are 1968 pennies worth more than 1964 pennies?
    Answer: Because 1968 pennies are four more than 1964 pennies, you fucking idiot.

    Question: John's father has five sons named Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty...Guess what would be the name of the fifth?
    Answer: John, of course.

    Question: Imagine you are in a sinking rowboat surrounded by sharks. How would you survive?
    Answer: Stop imagining.

    Question: If I have 10 apples and you take 5, what do you have?
    Answer: You have two broken arms, because NO ONE TAKES MY FUCKING APPLES.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:I ruin these loser's days by purplie · · Score: 2

      All those fucking swear words fucking spruced up those old fucking jokes! It's 10 times more fucking funny! I fucking laughed so much I couldn't even fucking swear!

  14. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  15. I assume that they are refering to the election by Required+Snark · · Score: 1

    It's the biggest scam going.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
  16. US IRS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... involving people posing as federal court officials and U.S. Marshals ...

    The recommended movie a few months ago was 'Compliance' (2012). It was so boring I turned it off, mostly because I disagreed with the initial premise: That an unknown authority figure would receive total obedience and mindless compliance. In it the prisoner and imprisoning boss were female but I think the story would be even less believable if the prisoner was male.

    Unlike the movie, these swindlers knew their victims well and were "threatening them with arrest". Yet the federal court claims it "will never threaten an individual or demand the immediate payment". Obviously, the swindled victims thought otherwise and this statement is really excepting "a jury summons" from federal threats and demands. If the US government didn't act like the mafia, or worse, use contractors who acted like the mafia, such swindles would be less successful.

  17. What the scammers really need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is for you to call them back, ask then to call you later when you have time, etc. Or agree to try something with 'no obligation'.
    Now they have a prior relationship, and can bother you as much as they want, without repercussion. And their subsidiary companies, too.
    The only recourse you have is to tell the caller to remove your number from their list and never call again (only works if they're legit). If it's a robo call, that's not so easy, since waiting for a live person or pressing '1 to speak with a representative' is giving them the relationship. A lot like accepting cookies from a web site, all bets are off after that.

  18. "Sophisticated?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We're the police. Give us stuff."

    That doesn't sound particularly "sophisticated" to me.