We've always had the Nigerian poorly spelled Help Me Get Money Out of the Country emails, but scammers, phishers and other groups are getting more sophisticated and I have been getting at least one a week of inquiries that seem to be very real and are not. The social engineering behind these is frightening.
Particularly egregious are the ones who phone and claim that you need to speak with someone about concerns with your credit card (unnamed) account. They are very plausible and can be frightening to someone who may really be having trouble with paying off cc debt. These will often call multiple times in a row like a collection agency. I'm cautious by nature, but they even had me going for a good few minutes because my card number had been hijacked a month before, before I asked specifically which account they were calling about and they wouldn't give me an answer. Finally getting fed up with threatening them myself, I contacted our state's attorney general's office and they are doing what they can but it is origination from hundreds of constantly changing phones. It is a nationwide operation and I fielded three of the same calls when I was in CA with my MIL in August. Just hang up.
Another type I find worrisome, are emails that from all appearances, look like they have come from UPS, Comcast, local utility companies, your credit card company etc, telling you there is a problem and if you don't answer *right away* your account will be suspended, the package will be returned' or whatever sounds like an even larger problem on the horizon. I just received one from *Comcast* that to all intents and purposes visually mimicked a real Your Bill Is Ready email. It even had a return email address that seemed to go to Comcast. If you get anything that says *click here* or *reply here* from a reputable service provider be wary. Run a quick google search on key aspects of the email, check it on Snopes or check the company's site for notices of such scams. Not every phisher is looking for just social security information. It's also a good way to plant viruses, key loggers etc. on your computer.
Lastly, I received a phone call asking for Dorothy??? in a puzzled tone, so I was polite and said they had the wrong number, whereupon the sweet young thing said, oh but can I ask you some questions anyway, we're calling everyone in ____ county, it only takes about 9 minutes. I don't do surveys. If they want my honest opinion, pay me for my time. I pointed that if this was an example of honest and upright behaviour, their candidate just lost my vote.This case was rather heavy handed and obvious, but other groups are taking cues from the scam experts and we can no longer make assumptions of essential honesty in situations of indirect contact.
I know this is sort of long, but I've been getting so many of these the last few months, that I wanted to spread the word that one needs to remain vigilant and everything must be questioned. Most of these scams prey on the aged, the unsophisticated or the desperate, but even those like myself in a moment of inattention to detail can get suckered in and on the computer at least, it only takes one key click.