SDE - payment issues? (excised from Who's Next announcement thread)

[DuncanS]

I once had PayPal send the money to Cherry Red Records, but the ordered didn't complete, Cherry Red refunded

 

[Titch]

I had a different problem today. I made a purchase from SDE a few days ago using Paypal - GBP25 + 8 shipping, totaling GBP33. Today I noticed 2 entries on my Visa for this order marked Paypal:ShopSD, one for GBP33 and a separate one for GBP8, thus paying the shipping twice. SDE say they only received GBP33 and are looking into it. I'm waiting to hear back.

Even though I no longer use Shop to pay for anything, when I ordered the Suede SDE yesterday, Shop on the SDE website is still the default mode of payment. I immediately received a code to my mobile phone, to complete the purchase with Shop. Weasels.

 

[barfle]

I haven’t had any problems with SDE (although I’ve only ordered a few of their titles). But I’ve gotten three emails from PayPal indicating a $1,000 purchase from an apparently legit home furnishing company in New Jersey. They’ve blocked the purchases, but it’s a bit scary.

 

[GOS]

I haven’t had any problems with SDE (although I’ve only ordered a few of their titles). But I’ve gotten three emails from PayPal indicating a $1,000 purchase from an apparently legit home furnishing company in New Jersey. They’ve blocked the purchases, but it’s a bit scary.

Oh, don't worry about the NJ purchase. That was just @ar surround picking up a few odds and ends.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I haven’t had any problems with SDE (although I’ve only ordered a few of their titles). But I’ve gotten three emails from PayPal indicating a $1,000 purchase from an apparently legit home furnishing company in New Jersey. They’ve blocked the purchases, but it’s a bit scary.

And then there's the scams that superficially involve PayPal itself.

My neighbor (89 yo, 1st Gen German, widow) received an e mail that seemed to be from PayPal with the logo added, etc. In the subject line it said "purchase Confirmation".It said, essentially,

Thank you for your purchase of the Alexa smart speaker from Amazon.com. Your item is due to be shipped in two days. Your account will not be charged until the item ships. If you have any questions regarding this order please call 1-888-whatever.

And at the bottom a billable amount for almost $400.

She fell for this and called the toll free number to dispute the purchase. She eventually got suspicious & called me for help. I went running over & by then somehow under the customer support assistance had installed TeamViewer. When I got there I saw the cursor magically moving around in File Explorer by itself. I tried to take control & close out but nothing worked. The immediate solution was to hold the start button down & just turn off her laptop.

After that I unplugged from her home network, uninstalled TeamViwer, did the usual CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and virus scan. All was good. She received a similar email a few months later & called me over before she did anything. I showed her how to click on the senders name to reveal that it wasn't from PayPal but [email protected], or whatever. Not sure if she will remember that if it happens again but I would be negligent if I didn't try to help her out.

I have received a couple of similar mails like that & course I just deleted them.

 

[Blackwood]

She eventually got suspicious & called me for help.

She’s fortunate she has you to depend on and trust. I get some calls like that, too. I try to go through my life as peacefully as possible, but when I see how, especially older folks, are being preyed on, it generates non-peaceful thoughts of how I’d like those scammers to be dealt with.

 

[JulesRules]

I've had about four fake PayPal calls on my phone in the last couple of months. I always hang up when that robot voice starts up.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

She’s fortunate she has you to depend on and trust. I get some calls like that, too. I try to go through my life as peacefully as possible, but when I see how, especially older folks, are being preyed on, it generates non-peaceful thoughts of how I’d like those scammers to be dealt with.

Your reply makes me think to comment that although my neighbor is most chronologically blessed, she is a smart woman. Besides her native German language she speaks 5 foreign languages fluently. She got her PHD in psychology after age 65. She knows how to replace the ink jet cartridges in her printer which is always is a challenge for me.

But it's not about intelligence but rather how trusting/gullible someone might be. And the scammers, they are sharp too. They continue to advance & evolve with new ideas that will fool many people. I read that AI has already done some harm in this respect. Buckle up & hold on...

 

[ar surround]

But it's not about intelligence but rather how trusting/gullible someone might be. And the scammers, they are sharp too. They continue to advance & evolve with new ideas that will fool many people. I read that AI has already done some harm in this respect. Buckle up & hold on...

I guess the only solution is to assume stuff like this is a scam and don't respond directly to such messages.

But then there are the 'inside jobs.' For example, TD Bank paid a $3 billion fine for failing to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels (1). In my case, the thieves stole a check we had made out to the US Treasury from a mailbox outside of the local post office. The crooks didn't bother to wash the check and change the recipient's (US Treasury) name. They simply made a mobile deposit directly into an individual bank account. The ring had people working on the inside at TD Bank who didn't question why a check made out to the US Treasury was deposited into the account of a dude named Angelo Q. I suppose that some of the drug cartel's 'employees' had a side gig stealing checks out of mailboxes along with their day jobs of laundering drug money.

We weren't aware that something was awry until the IRS came calling. The IRS waived the penalty because of fraud, but we still had to pay the interest due.

We eventually got our money back.

(1) https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/10/investing/td-bank-settlement-money-laundering/index.html