I have. Three times. But fortunately I was skeptical enough not to take the bait.

A widow in Minnesota was not so lucky, although she prevailed in the end. Someone got her credit card number (a Costco-branded Visa card) and charged more than 1,700 small transactions to her account. An article in The Washington Post described her persistence in pressing Citibank to remove the charges.

Imagine you receive your credit card statement and find 32 pages of more than 1,700 unauthorized charges, made one right after another over three days. The majority of the debits are for $4.38, with about a dozen for $2.19, all to the same vendor, totaling close to $8,000.
Simple to fix, right?

Well, for one 66-year-old widow from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, getting those transactions removed became an odyssey. Her story is a warning for anyone — and that’s many of us — who ever has to dispute fraudulent activity on a credit card.

She was persistent, encountered foot-dragging, and eventually got the charges removed.

As for me, I was on the receiving end of three attempts to fall for a scam.

In the first one, I’m sitting at my desk working, and the phone rings. I pick up, and a teen boy says, “Grandma?” I say, “yes.” He says “It’s your grandson.” I’m not sure about the voice, so I say, “Which one?” He says, “Guess.” I have four grandsons. So I guess: “Alden?” He says, “you got it.” I say, “Are you okay?” He says, “Not really, I ran a red light and hit a car driven by a pregnant woman. I’m in trouble. Right now, I’m at a police station. I need bail, cash bail. $7,000.”

I said, “Did you call your mother?” He said, “I tried, she didn’t answer. Please help me. Here’s the number of the police officer who arrested me,” and he gave me a number.

Instead of calling the police officer, I called his mother. She answered right away. I told her what happened, and she said, “That’s ridiculous. Alden is in his dorm, studying for finals.”

That ended that.

The second scam occurred when I was a passenger in a car. The caller ID said that my bank was calling. I picked up, and a secretary answered. She transferred my call to a customer service representative. He asked me if I had transferred $5,000 by Zelle to someone I never heard of. I said no. He said I had been the victim of a scam, and I should follow his instructions to reverse the payment. He gave me a “case number,” which I wrote down. Then he told me to open Zelle and follow his instructions. He gave me the name of a person and a phone number. Then he said, “Write in $5,000 and press send.”

I stopped and wondered, “Why is the bank telling me to send someone $5,000? How will that help me get my money back?” I opened my bank account and saw no evidence that anyone had withdrawn $5,000, though I was on the verge of sending that amount to a stranger. A light bulb turned on, and I said to the “customer service representative,” that this call was a scam, and I would not send money to anyone.

End of that scam.

Third scam was very recent. I got an online ad for a non-prescription supplement that supposedly had a dramatic effect on cognition. The supplement reversed the tolls of aging and enabled you to improve your memory. The real inducement in the ad was that the research for the supplement was funded by Bill Gates. He spoke at length about his pursuit of this “fountain of youth” supplement. It involved honey sourced from Sardinia and other natural ingredients. At one point in the 30-minute video, Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke enthusiastically about the product.

The product is called Memopezil.

I intended to try one bottle but the more you ordered, the lower the price, so I ordered more. When I finished ordering, another supplement popped up that was a multiplier for the first one. Etc.

As soon as I placed the order, I googled Bill Gates and Memopezil. Half a dozen websites warned that the video was a fake, that Gates had nothing to do with the supplement, and that the pitch was a scam. I immediately wrote trying to cancel my order. No response. The next day I called Amex, my credit card company, and alerted them.

Eventually, a large box was delivered to me, which I promptly returned. Eventually I got full credit. American Express is super-good in protecting its cardholders.

Three scams. Three escapes from the consequences. Have you been scammed!?

Now, I have learned to check carefully for scams before ordering. Online is loaded with alluring offers that are fake. While writing this, I came across a claim that appeared to be on the AARP website. It said that a Japanese scientist had discovered a way to reverse dementia. Bill Gates was cited. Clint Eastwood used it and came back. But I asked Google whether it was a scam. The answer was yes.

https://youtu.be/WPDKgv5UCwU?is=wD7_ceeFDFosBvY8

A basic rule of thumb for the Internet. If you are enticed into watching a 30-minute video; if the video promises miraculous results; if the video features a trusted celebrity; if the video says that a multibillion dollar industry is threatening to take down the video because the product will bankrupt the industry: it’s a scam.

Don’t believe anything until you have thoroughly vetted it.

One source I like for vetting: Trust Pilot.

Or ask AI or Google: “Is this product a scam.”