They want me to answer a question to see the article. What kind of scam are you getting me into?
Just Skip survey. It's the Albuquerque newspaper site. Here's the article from almost 3 years ago
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “This is it. I’m tired of this %&*$ world, no one cares about me. “I’m going to kill myself at 7:00 pm. Don’t try and stop me.”
That was the text message that appeared on an Albuquerque man’s phone recently. It’s a phone he uses only rarely to make calls, and even less frequently for text messaging – maybe once a year, if that, his wife said.
The suicide message, she said, came “out of the blue” from a number with a 505 area code and left the couple “perplexed and worried.”
They ended up not responding because they were suspicious it was a scam, but “on the flip side, what if the text was legitimate and it was someone reaching out for help?” she said.
The state Attorney General’s Office said it has not received any reports of this type of incident, but it pays to be aware and to think twice before responding if it does happen to you.
The AG’s advice: “Always be cautious when corresponding via text with a phone number you don’t know.”
Beth Velasquez, associate state communications director for AARP, called the suicide message “a diabolical tactic.”
“Scammers will continue to find ways to play on our emotions, and we need to be wary of that,” she said.
It’s difficult to know what might have happened had the Albuquerque couple responded to the text, but it’s possible the person might have continued the ploy in hopes of getting money or their personal information.
Velasquez says the incident is similar to the emergency scam in which someone hacks or spoofs your Facebook page or email account, then sends emergency messages seeking money to those on your contact list. “More common is the post saying a famous person is dying or killed and when you click on it, it puts malware on your computer and gets your contacts that way and then sends out a similar message,” Velasquez said.
A good rule of thumb, she says, is: “If it sounds too good to be true or sounds off, trust those instincts and just hang up.”
While the state court system has had to scramble for money this year, it is not true that Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels is sending out a round of emails, trying to get people to send cash.
The state Attorney General’s Office warned Friday that the scam email includes Daniels’ name and photograph but incorrectly lists his title as court clerk. The fake Daniels seeks to “extort money, suggesting that recipients need to appear in court or face arrest if they don’t pay $750.”
Scams in New Mexico have impersonated everyone from law enforcement officers to Attorney General Hector Balderas, but this appears to be the first using a state Supreme Court justice’s name, according to the warning from Balderas’ office.
Both his office and the state’s high court are warning people not to respond to the email.
—
The Better Business Bureau is warning people to watch for phony social media posts and messages from fake “friends.” Scammers are using Facebook to entice people with “free” government grant money, according to the BBB. If you reply to the “friend,” he or she will point you to someone posing as an official government agent on Facebook.
There are many red flags about this, but the big one is that the government normally relies on mail to communicate, not Facebook. If you’re uncertain, call the government agency, but find the number independently.
Ellen Marks is assistant business editor at the Albuquerque Journal.
