Auto Insurance Letters Sent By Mail

People are receiving letters like this in the mail (picture sourced from this address)

I first learned of these letters from a Facebook group to which I belong and many people have automatically assumed that it was a scam. Since running a scam through the US Mail is a federal offense, that is a serious accusation and shouldn't be made lightly, especially since it could get the US Postal Inspection Service involved.

Definitions

To be clear: If someone offers to provide a service to you, in exchange for money and you pay them, but they don't provide the service, that makes it a scam. However, if you pay them and they provide the service, you haven't been scammed, even if they overcharge you.

Who and Where They Are

Using a burner account, I called the given number, 800-889-0871 and spoke to a woman who answered. She was very friendly and forthright when I asked for the name of the company and their actual location,

According to her, the company sending the letters is called "AutoProtect USA" and is based in Maryland Heights, Missouri. While she couldn't provide me with the company's physical address, she gave the mailing address as PO Box 1827, St Charles, MO 63301.

She also mention that, while based in Missouri, AutoProtect USA is registered as a business in Florida. When I looked for the business registration on the website of the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, I couldn't find it, either as a registered name or as a fictitious name.

I also asked if AutoProtect USA is a registered business in Missouri and she didn't seem to know. So, I looked it up myself on the Missouri Online Business Filing site and discovered that AutoProtect USA is registered as a business in Missouri as AutoProtect USA, LLC. It was registered on December 22, 2021 and its registered agent is Cody Moore. Its physical address is 50 Wedgewood Dr, Troy, MO 63379-2005 and Google informed me that another company, Mechanic On Wheels LLC, which also seems to be associated with Cody Moore because I found their phone number and a quick search shows that the number for Mechanic on Wheels is registered to him. Cody Moore is also mentioned on AutoProtect USA's Bizapedia page.

Cody Moore is the registered agent for AutoProtect USA and several other companies, most of which I won't mention here because they are irrelevant to this blog post. While he might be annoying people who receive his letters in the mail, he doesn't appear to be breaking any laws.

Who Is Cody Moore?

Mr Moore really does have a license to sell insurance in the State of Missouri, He received his licenses for Motor Vehicle Extended Services Contract and Insurance Producer, effective as of February 2022. So, he's been licensed for less than 2 years, as of this writing.

Since I live in Hawaii as does the person in my Facebook group who received the letter, I checked to see if Cody Moore is licensed to sell insurance in Hawaii and his name didn't show as being actively licensed here. It's possible that he may be licensed in other states, but I don't feel like devoting the time I would need to search all 50 states and there seems to be a lot of other people out there named "Cody Moore".

About AutoProtect USA

A Google search shows an AutoProtect USA based in Texas, but that company no longer seems to exist, due to tax forfeiture by the state government as of July 2023.

The Missouri company, AutoProtect USA, LLC is listed by the Better Business Bureau and they have given it a D- rating. The BBB also contacted AutoProtect USA about complaints the BBB had received and they posted this on the website:

Better Business Bureau is advising consumers to use caution when considering doing business with AutoProtect USA.  BBB has received a pattern of consumer complaints alleging misleading advertising, failure to cover needed repairs, failure to remove consumers from mailing and no-call lists, high pressure sales tactics, failure to cancel contracts, failure to provide refunds and poor customer service. 

On April 19, 2023, BBB sent a letter to AutoProtect USA.  The company did not respond. 

They also posted this:

In September 2021, Better Business Bureau questioned AutoProtect USA's marketing email which stated:

“CALL BEFORE: September 29, 2021”

“Our records indicate that you have not contacted us regarding the vehicle service contract on your vehicle.”

“You are receiving this notice because your factory warranty has expired or may be about to expire.”

“By neglecting to activate your coverage you will be at risk of being financially liable for any and all repairs after your factory warranty expires. However, you still may have time left to activate coverage on your vehicle before it’s too late.”

“This may be our only attempt to contact you about activating your Vehicle Service Contract.”

According to BBB Code of Advertising, “The primary responsibility for truthful and non-deceptive advertising rests with the advertiser. Advertisers should be prepared to substantiate any objective claims or offers made before publication or broadcast. Upon request, they should present such substantiation promptly to the advertising medium or BBB. Advertisements which are untrue, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, falsely disparaging of competitors, or insincere offers to sell, shall not be used. An advertisement as a whole may be misleading by implication, although every sentence separately considered may be literally true. Misrepresentation may result not only from direct statements, but by omitting or obscuring a material fact. In addition, according to the Missouri state statute 15 CSR 60-7.020 (1): “A seller shall not make a representation or statement of fact in an advertisement that is false or has the capacity to mislead prospective purchasers.” 

BBB requested the business substantiate, modify or discontinue the claims made in its advertising. The company did not respond to BBB’s request.

On the BBB listing, Cody Moore's name does not appear. Instead, an individual named Jeremy Stout is listed as "Director of Customer Relations". If Mr Stout is supposed to be handling customer relations, he doesn't appear to be doing a very good job.

I even found Mr Moore's Facebook and LinkedIn pages and there is no mention of AutoProtect USA, which is a bit odd because he's the registered agent for that company in Missouri. However, he does mention working for another company, HomeProtect USA, on his Facebook page, as well as his own insurance company, Moore Insurance Team.

I will not reveal the link to his Facebook page because he has pictures of his children on it. So, let's leave his family out of it, okay?

Some Conclusions

It's difficult to determine exactly how involved Cody Moore actually is in the day-to-day workings of AutoProtect USA, aside from being the registered agent of the company. According to the BBB listing, Jeremy Stout appears to be more involved, especially since he actually mentions it and HomeProtect USA on his Facebook page, while Moore does not and I cannot determine if they even know each other.

If Cody Moore finds this blog post and if he had been previously unaware of the accusations of AutoProtect USA being some kind of scam, then I sincerely advise him to take some sort of action to correct the situation. People don't like receiving suspicious letters in the mail.

As I already stated above, Cody Moore and AutoProtect USA don't seem to breaking any laws by sending out the letters, as annoying as they are for recipients.

I advise anyone who receives one of these letters to simply throw them away. The BBB listing advises caution when dealing with them and even Cody Moore himself doesn't mention them on his social media accounts. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Duane Browning

Hacker Temporarily Stole My PayPal Account

 On 11 September 2022, at 4:55pm Hawaii time, I received an email notification that a new email address had been added to my PayPal account. Since I was doing laundry, I wasn’t paying attention to my email account and by the time I realized what had happened, my email address and phone number had been removed from my account and the hacker had replaced them with his own. 

Upon noticing the email change, I tried to login to my account, but was unsuccessful.

While the hacker takes primary responsibility for his actions, I have to admit that I have to accept some blame because I hadn’t changed my password in a very long time and I should have known that my login information would eventually leak out and some malicious actor would take the opportunity to steal my account.

Realizing that I had to act quickly, I canceled my PayPal debit card and ordered a new one. Fortunately, there was no money in the account for him to take. I also transferred money from my linked bank account into another one to prevent the hacker from spending my money.

The hacker had acted at just the right time, stealing my account about two hours after PayPal’s customer service office had closed, giving plenty of time to do whatever he wanted with it. I had no choice it to wait and worry until the office reopened.

Given the steps I had taken, I hoped that whatever damage had occurred until such time as I could regain my account would be minimal. Remember the old saying: “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”.

When the office finally reopened, I was already on the phone and it took less than ten minutes to regain complete control of my account. It appears that the hacker had only changed the email address and phone number on the account,  it hadn’t altered anything else.

The email address the hacker used is: BNiederme153@gmx.com

The telephone number he used is: 304-318-3023 

Naturally, I changed the password on my PayPal and GMail accounts and enabled two-step security measures.

Not to be foiled in his attempt to take what wasn’t his, the hacker soon noticed that he no longer possessed my account and tried to take it back by sending a Gmail password change request. I immediately realized what he was doing, since I hadn’t requested such a change. A few hours later, I received two automated phone calls, supposedly from PayPal. I didn’t respond to them and instead called PayPal myself to find out that they had placed no such calls to me. It’s obvious that the phone number was spoofed to appear to be PayPal’s customer help line. I had no choice but to block that number.

So, I’m a little wearied from yesterday’s hack, but I’ve learned not to be so complacent from now on. 

Duane.Browning

Fighting Back Against Fake Fansly Pages

 Introduction

I first became aware of this problem when it happened to someone I know. 

She works as an exotic dancer in Honolulu and someone created a fake Instagram page with a username very close to her own, with a "_" added at the end. The scammer then proceeded to follow all of her followers with the enticement of offering them access to her "exclusive adult content". Once the follows were completed, the scammer then blocked the original account to prevent her from reporting them to Instagram for impersonating her, which was really smart.

It was only after I contacted my acquaintance to ask if it was really her page and she told me that it wasn't, that I began to have a look at the scam page more closely to see how it worked and to take steps to have it shutdown.

If you want to skip ahead and just find out how you can shutdown the scammers' site, scroll down to "The Short Version".

Getting Started

Of course, the first step would be for the scammer to setup the Instagram account. At least one picture would be copied from the original timeline to serve as a profile picture. 

From there, the scammer would follow most or all of the original account's followers and then block the original to prevent the original account from reporting them for impersonation.

Since Instagram doesn't notify you when you have been blocked or unfollowed, the original account is completely unaware that something nefarious is underway, until one of their followers actually contacts them to ask if the new account is really something they created.

At this point, the only option left to the original account is to notify their followers and ask them to report it, which may not do any good since Instagram is very slow to shutdown accounts.

The Shortcut

On the fake profile, a shortened link is provided for interested people to click to be redirected to the adult content site. This shortened link is typically from tinyurl.com. If the tinyurl link is cutoff, you cannot access the link to which it redirects and the scammers' work on building the site on the other side is wasted, until they can create a new shortcut.

TinyURL does not want its service to be used to facilitate criminal activity and they are legally obligated to cutoff access when they are notified of it.

Send an email to privacy@tinyurl.com with the subject line "Reporting Phishing Site". Include the tinyurl.com link itself and the site where it redirects. TinyURL will then investigate and the shortcut link will likely be shutdown within 24 hours, as it was in my case.

I have become aware that rebrand.ly is also being used as a shortcut, send an email to support@rebrandly.com with "Abuse" in the Subject line.

The Main Site

From what I have seen, the scammers' current method of operation involves using free services to help get their scam started. TinyURL is a free service and you can create a free website using Wix. The reason Wix is so appealing is that you don't even need a credit card or any form of identification to open the account, just an email address.

The scammers have attempted to obscure their activities by making their Wix site appear to be a Fansly account. Initially, I thought that the scammer had actually setup a Fansly account, but a quick look at the URL informed me that I was really seeing a Wix page made to appear to be a Fansly profile. Since it wasn't a Fansly account that stole my acquaintance's pictures, notifying Fansly would do me no good, at all.

So, if I wanted the pseudo-Fansly site shutdown, I had to report them to Wix's Abuse Department. Simply go to https://www.wix.com/about/abuse, scroll down to "Phishing or Spam" and click on Send a Report". A chatbot will open and all you'll need to do is copy & paste the offending Wix site into the chat when the bot asks what site you are reporting. When it asks why you're reporting, simply enter that it's a phishing site. After that, you'll need to provide them with your name and email address. Once that's done, click "submit my report" and it's all in their hands now.

As an added measure, you can also post a message on Twitter to make sure the ball gets rolling. There are two accounts which are relevant for our purposes: @Wix and especially @WixHelp. It may take a few hours, but you should receive a reply from @WixHelp with instructions to DM the URL of the offending site. The staff will go back through the abuse reports they've recently received, find your file and give it priority status to get it shutdown as soon as possible.

In your initial tweet to Wix, post something like this:

"I have filed a report with @Wix and @WixHelp regarding a phishing site that was made to look like a @fansly account.

I eagerly await their reply."

Yeah, it does come-off as kind of smarmy, but you need to get someone's attention over there.

So, with the initial report you send through the chatbot, followed by a follow-up tweet, the ball should be moving fairly quickly and the scammer site should be down fairly soon. 

Follow the Money

You've seen me refer to the people behind these fake Fansly accounts as "scammers" who are involved in phishing and may be wondering why I have made such allegations. Well, I don't make such accusations lightly.

First of all, the scammers aren't doing all this as a prank, they are in it to make money. The use of free services (i.e. Instagram, TinyURL and Wix) simply helps keep their costs down and improves their bottom line. 

When you go the the fake Fansly page, there will be links provided for you to subscribe to the account or to create an account. The links will take you to this page.

You may have noticed the link is to a site pcnghw.com which is not one of the services Fansly uses for its subscribers. No, they aren't even based in the United States, but in Nicosia, Cyprus.

According to its website PCNGHW is a subsidiary of Wesicron Limited and is physically based at Nikiforou Foka 33, Flat/Office 6, 1036, Nicosia, Cyprus. The building also appears to contain a nightclub and I have no idea if the owners and staff of that nightclub are involved in the ongoing scams taking place.

For whatever good it would do, if you want to take a chance and actually contact PCNGHW or Wesicron, here is the contact information they provided, aside from the address:

PCNGHW:

E-mail Support: cs@pcnghw.com

Phone Support: (888) 498-5733

Wesicron Limited:

Email: info@wesicronlimited.com

Call: 3-572-200-7758

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time. Wesicron/PCNGHW has a rather bad reputation, judging by reports from Scam Detector,  StopThatCharge and OnlineThreatAlerts, among others. It would be a better use of your time to simply have the scammers' site cutoff and shutdown.

The Short Version

If you wanted to avoid my blah, blah, blah and just get straight to the point of shutting down the scammers' site, here you go:

Shutdown the Wix site: Simply go to https://www.wix.com/about/abuse, scroll down to "Phishing or Spam" and click on Send a Report". A chatbot will open and all you'll need to do is copy & paste the offending Wix site into the chat when the bot asks what site you are reporting. When it asks why you're reporting, simply enter that it's a phishing site. After that, you'll need to provide them with your name and email address. Once that's done, click "submit my report".

Shutdown the shortcut: Send an email to privacy@tinyurl.com with the subject line "Reporting Phishing Site". Include the tinyurl.com link itself and the site where it redirects. If they're using rebrand.ly send email to support@rebrandly.com with "Abuse" in the Subject line.

Report the Instagram account: if you are not blocked, report them for impersonating you and ask all of your followers to block them. If you are blocked, ask your followers to report and block the scammers' page.

A Final Word

Scammers are certainly resilient and change tactics when their old methods no longer work. So, it's likely that I will have to update this blog post at a later date.

To support and encourage my work send $1 to:

CashApp: $postmates808

Venmo: @postmates808

Duane Browning

Do Not Be a Victim of Disability Benefits Scams

 Following-up on my post about National Disability Benefits, I've decided to post a guide for people to avoid becoming a victim of disability scams. 

I've tried to make this guide as easy to follow as possible. But, since you are trusting these people with your personal information, as well as your hopes of receiving disability benefits, you could greatly benefit from following the advice that I've given.

Check the Website

If someone sends you a link to click on, which will take you to a website where you will enter some personal information - name, age, telephone number, email address, etc - in order to apply for assistance, it is very simple to check to find out exactly who is the registered owner of the website.

Okay, for example, you get a website like https://www.disabilitybenefits.com

Use a WhoIs site, like 

• Domain Tools https://whois.domaintools.com/
• Network Solutions https://www.networksolutions.com/whois

Enter the website disabilitybenefits.com in the Search bar, ignoring the https://www part of the link. The search results will tell you who the registered owner of the site actually is, along with an address. If the website's owner is using a service that allows them to keep themselves anonymous (i.e. concealing their name and/or address) then you shouldn't trust those people, because they are obviously trying to conceal their identity from you.

The same thing applies if they use a link like https://www.disabilitybenefits.com/abcdefg

Ignore everything after the / mark, so /abcdefg is irrelevant to determining the identity of the site owner, Just do the WhoIs search as I have already described.

If the people behind the website are legitimate, they would not have the need to conceal their identity or location from you. So, if they withhold their name and real location from you, you should not trust them.

Got an Address?

While I was investigation National Disability Benefits, I found an actual street address mentioned on their website. This was a rare find, especially since they had registered their website anonymously.

If you actually manage to get a street address on the people you are trusting to help you get disability benefits, a simple Google search can be helpful. In order to get the best results, you should puts ""s around the address when you do your search.

"123 Anyplace Street Suite 123 Anytown, AnyState 123456" gets a better result with quotes than without.

Simply copy the entire address and paste it into the Google search bar. The search results should display any individual or business associated with that street address. As I discovered with National Disability Benefits, you may learn that the address is also/has been used by an Internet marketing firm. 

Do not trust anyone whose address is shared with an Internet marketing firm because they could use the information that you give them as part of of a marketing campaign. They could sell or share your information with anyone they wish and you could find you could find yourself receiving calls, texts and emails from companies who are trying to sell you something.

 

How to Apply for Disability Benefits

At the federal level, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has a webpage where you can begin the application process https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/

Only five states have State Disability Insurance programs, which are funded by mandatory deductions from an employee's paycheck: California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. These benefits are meant to partially replace wages lost when you are too ill, injured off the job and unable to work.

Here are the links to individual states' official websites where you can learn how to apply for disability benefits:

California https://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/

Hawaii https://labor.hawaii.gov/dcd/

New Jersey https://www.myleavebenefits.nj.gov/

New York http://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/DisabilityBenefits/employee-disability-benefits.jsp

Rhode Island https://dlt.ri.gov/tdi/

Other states only provide disability benefits for state employees. I suggest that you contact the Department of Labor in your state to see if there is something available to help you.

In the event that you live in one of the five states I mentioned above and you were denied benefits for some reason, you can try to appeal the decision or you may have to contact an attorney. If you need an attorney, contact your local state Bar association for recommendations.

See? You don't have to provide your contact information to some anonymously-registered website to find out how you can apply for disability benefits. The resources are already out there for you!

As an added bonus, the federal and state governments won't be sharing or selling your information to Internet marketing companies.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

Suspicious Website nationaldisabilitybenefits.org

 I was asked by a friend if the website nationaldisabilitybenefits.org is a scam and I decided to check it out.

The Website

First of all, the actual owner of the website is not mentioned in the registration information that comes up with a WhoIs search. 

The site was purchased on May 20, 2019 through Namecheap and its IP is located in Lansing, Michigan.

A second website national-disability-benefits.org was registered a few months after the first and its registrant information is also withheld.

In my opinion, if I am going to provide any of my personal information to a website, I think I have a right to know who's running it. Granted, the only information they ask is for your age, name, telephone number and email address, but there's no way for you to know what they plan to do with that information and if they plan to share/sell it with others.

They also have a Facebook page which mentions that the page administrators are located in the United States, Canada and the Cayman Islands. No personal names of the admins are provided, though.

Digging a Little Deeper

A phone number is provided on the Facebook page, so I had a look for 833-610-1114 to see what came-up.

The number was purchased through Bandwidth.com in June 2020 and I cannot definitively find a personal name for the person who purchased it.

On the Privacy Policy page of the first site, I found an address: 301 W. Platt St., #616 in Tampa, Florida.

Doing a simple search of the given address, it appears to be a shopping center, as verified by doing a BeenVerified search of the address. However, other businesses also seem to be associated with this address when I did a Google search:

• Blue Modo Media (an email marketing firm)
• DailyProsper (website offering guidance for managing your money)
• EnergyWise.Solar (helps you find out how you can have solar panels installed for your home)
• LegalCompensation.org (legal help for people who have been injured in an accident)

My Conclusions

Personally, I wouldn't trust National Disability Benefits with any of my information.

First of all, they've taken serious effort to conceal whoever it is actually running the website. Whether on its Facebook page or either of its two websites, no names are provided to the public so that we can know exactly with whom we are giving our personal information. I can find no business registration in any state for National Disability Benefits.

Secondly, it goes without saying that people who are disabled either by birth or through an accident would be particularly desperate to receive some sort of financial help. Back in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued this warning for people who may be the targets of scams. It wouldn't be unusual for someone to pose as a company or agency offering "assistance" to people seeking financial benefits for the disabled. 

Third, there is really no telling with whom, if anyone, National Disability Benefits will share your information. Since Blue Modo Media is associated with the same address as National Disability Benefits, this makes me wonder if they might benefit from whatever contact information is shared with National Disability Benefits, since they would have the most from which to benefit, compared with other businesses associated with that address. Catherine Cosipe is listed as the "Head of Technology and Support" for Blue Modo Media and shows-up twice when I searched for her name on a Scampulse page.

So, there is no real reason for me or anyone else to trust National Disability Benefits and everyone is advised to not shre any of your personal information with them.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Grant Scam

I was recently contacted via Instagram private message by someone posing as an old friend. I have known the individual they were impersonating for about twenty years and I am already following that person on Instagram. Since the real person was active on Instagram earlier that day, I found it odd that he would set-up another account. A quick check of the real account showed no mention of setting-up another account and the poser had simply copied one of his posts and his profile picture.

Right away, I knew that I was dealing with an imposter. But, I wanted to colect as much information as I could about whatever scam he was running, in order to warn others. But, I also thought it might make an interesting blog post.

So, I led him on, rather than just block him outright.

Setting the Stage

The scammer's PMs started-off on a rather friendly vein, asking me how I was. But, since time is money, he got right to the point of trying to lure me into his scam. I've condensed the posts a bit, but you'll get the idea.

l'm doing great, is good to hear from you Just checking on you and wondering if you heard about the recent good news lately.?

I meant the personal grant donated to selected people by the DHHS subvention program, have you heard about it yet?

It's a new program specifically based on helping paying for Medical Bills, Buying a home, Salesman Starting their Own Business,Retired Teachers, with Seniors old and Retired people. Did they come to your home?

Actually I was granted some amount of $75,000 from DHHS agent when I applied and you don't have to pay it back,  I think as a citizen you also have the right to benefit from this program and I wonder if you've gotten yours too?

I don't know many people who use the word "subvention" in regular conversation. Add to that the needless and out-of-place capitalizations and I soon realized that this person is not a native English speaker and was trying to use fancy-sounding words in order to impress me. With the financial hardships faced by many Americans during the COVID19 pandemic, the thought of getting large amounts of financial aid from the federal government would sound like a dream come true.

The scammer must have thought that he had me on his hook, so he offered me the way to quickly get my hands on some of that sweet, sweet money.

Should i give you the AGENT text number where i applied so you can also apply there too?

(412) 587-4682

here’s the agent private text number who helped me got the grant money so text them now for me to confirm maybe I have you there right contact

So, I'm supposed to send a text to the "agent" in order to apply for a grant?

Let's see what the DHHS really says about applying for a grant:

Quick Facts about the Government Grant Process

Government grant applications and information about them are free.

The names of agencies and foundations that award grants are available for free at any public library or on the Internet.

The only official access point for all federal grant-making agencies is www.grants.gov.

There are no fees associated with applying for a government grant.

ALL government grants involve an application process to carry out projects with a public purpose and are not intended for personal use.

You will not be contacted by the government to make you pay for a grant.

You can apply for a DHHS grant by going to https://www.hhs.gov/grants/grants/get-ready-for-grants-management/index.html

I Go Deeper

So, after being given the text number of this fake agent, I also sent a text to that number, using a burner account and here are the responses I received

HELLO! My Name is Attorney THOMAS SCOTT the administrator in charge of the ongoing DHHS grant program which is an empowerment of the UNITED NATIONS to promote international monetary cooperation, facilitate international trade, foster sustainable economic growth, make resources available to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties around the world.This program is a worldwide promotional tour embarked on for the disabled, Unemployed, Student, Workers, Retired, Young & Old people. the on going grant isn’t a loan and you do not have to pay us back. Are you ready to apply..?

YOU WILL HAVE TO BE HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY WITH ME SO THAT I CAN HELP YOU GET YOUR GRANT MONEY AND YOU’LL HAVE TO FILL OUT A REQUIREMENT FORM WITH ME NOW SO THAT WE CAN LOCATE YOUR DESTINATION AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY....ARE YOU READY TO FILL OUT THE FORM NOW SO THAT I CAN PROCEED WITH YOU IMMEDIATELY..?

REQUIREMENT DETAILS .

FullName——

Full home address—

City——

State———

Country———

Zipcode-——

Age_________

Male or Female——

Monthly income——

Cash or check________

Do you want your grant delivered by FedEx or UPS....

FILL IT OUT AND SEND BACK THE ANSWERS TO ME HERE ONE AFTER THE OTHERS

Much like scammers I have written about in the past, there was an awful lot of needless capitalization throughout their messages to me.

Back on Instagram, I was informed that there is supposed to be some sort of "tracking fee" that I would have to pay before I received my grant.

All you just have to do is to fill out a fedex form with them so they'll be able to locate your home address where your money will be deliver to you after 5hours you pay for the tracking fee

I was just told to pay $300 and I got the money delivered to my door step after 5hours my payment confirmed

I've never heard of the federal government using anything other than the United States Postal Service to deliver its letters and/or checks. So, the idea of the DHHS using FedEx to do the job was ridiculous on its face. Using the USPS almost guarantees that your mail will reach your address, while UPS and FedEx delivery drivers have a bad reputation for simply leaving your packages at your door where anyone can pick them up.  Given a choice between USPS, UPS and FedEx, I'll take the US Postal Service every time, especially after that time UPS really put a knot in my jockstrap.

But, what the hell is a "tracking fee"? Sure, USPS Priority mail does offer tracking, which is included in the price, while FedEx automatically provides you with a tracking number when you send a package. 

But, charging $300 for a tracking number? 

Seriously?

So, I texted the "agent" and asked about the "tracking fee". Here's what he said:

When looking for financial assistance, remember that there are differences between grants and loans. You are required to pay back a loan, often with interest. You are not required to pay back a GRANT,you only pay for the delivery fee.

The amount charges will be determined by the amount you qualify for but the delivery fees lowest price is 200 kindly fill out the form and send back the answers to me here one after the others so that we locate your destination at the point of delivery and to proceed on your winning

Yes you will have to fill out the form now so that we can locate your destination at the point of delivery and your age for the winning amount you will be qualify for from the DHHS 

Notice how a "grant" became a "winning"? Did you notice that? I noticed that because I'm smart, while the scammers are too stupid to stay on-script.

This momentary slip in their narrative makes me think that these people were pulling-off fake lottery scams or something like them before they branched-out to DHHS scams. 

The Instagram PMs I received told me how very easy it was to get them money, only taking five hours to get approved, which is light speed compared to how tediously slow the federal government approval system really is for the rest of us.

Yes I already got the money delivered to my door step after 5hours I got qualified so when j received the money I quickly pay off my old bills and save the rest to the bank so bank verify its real not fake it's too good to be true the blessed can't be complain and I'm really thanking God for the blessings  

I got a check delivered to my door step from there fedex delivering men

Of course, the "agent" laid a little marmalade on this turd biscuit with

Grants are awarded to individuals each and every day. Grant program are not loans. You can also decide on how much you need as long as the amount is lawful and you meet up the Foundations and Government Agencies requirements. The money is yours to keep and never needs to be repaid. Grant money is non-taxable,non-refundable and interest-free.

They Start to Get Impatient

When I didn't respond fast enough to the "agent's" request for my personal information, he tried to hurry me along

Awaiting your response to avoid unnecessary delays and complications

He even called me on my burner account, in an attempt to speak to me directly. He called twice at about 2:00am my time and three times about eight hours later, but I didn't answer.

The fake Instagram account was shutdown due to complaints from the real person whom they were impersonating. The second imposter account was also shutdown fairly quickly. I forwarded the usernames of the fake accounts to my friend as soon as I became aware of their existence. He quickly filed complaints against both accounts, which resulted in their termination, I will admit that I would have preferred to have kept them around a little longer, in order to squeeze more information out of them without hinderance. But, my friend has his reputation to protect, so I simply had to get whatever I could.

Not being willing to give up on what they may have felt was a ready victim, the Instagram contact sent me texts via 412-547-6346, using the same number I had been using to contact the fake agent. He claimed that he had found my number in his email, but I never shared my burner number with my real friend and I really haven't had it for very long because it was only set-up by me after I discarded my previous burner number.

So, the individual was either in direct contact with the "agent" or they are the same person. Both numbers share an area code.

• The "agent" 412-587-4682
• The imposter 412-547-6346

The 412 area code is in Pittsburgh, PA and the area code for Washington DC is 202, which is where the DHHS is based.

Doing a search of both numbers, I could find no definitive information of their actual owners. The number 412-547-6346 has no known past owners, so it makes me wonder if it's a burner account and 412-587-4682 has three potential owners listed on Been Verified, which makes me wonder if it's a real number now being used as part of a scam. Since I have no idea if the listed owners are running a scam, I will not be bothering them. However, I did send a report to ScammerBlaster to see if they could do anything about the numbers.

When I expressed my reluctance to the imposter, stating that I feared that it was some kind of scam, he sent me reassurances

You know i can never lie about this okay trust me for that. you know i hate scam and hoax, but this is real, i got the money for real,you know if i knew this is  a scam i wont tell you about it. i am  planning to start a business buy a house soon. so  you have nothing to worry about okay?

When I didn't respond in a way that he liked, I sense that I may have hurt his precious, little feelings 

Now you get your money Duane and you don't know me again well it's yours not mine so keep blessings

Epilogue

It's been almost twelve hours since I was last contacted by the scammers. However, I will update this post if anything else comes my way.

If this post has helped you protect yourself from being scammed, alerted you that you have been scammed or you just want to help me in my quest to buy and electric bicycle, I'd appreciate a donation to my Electric Bike Fund.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

Saved by Rugged Thread in Bend, Oregon

In June 2017, I bought a Vandal backpack from Mission Workshop. It seemed to be everything I ever needed for my job as a courier for Honolulu law offices and title companies. It has a capacity of 65 liters, much better than the messenger bags and backpacks from Chrome Industries I had previously bought and used. It was also more comfortable and better balanced than the Ultimate OS I bought in 2005 from PAC Design, a Canadian company that has since gone out of business.

Being accustomed to the layout of Chrome Industries' Kremlin, Berlin and Warsaw bags, it took some time to learn how to switch to the Mission Industries "Vandal". But, the capacity of the available Chrome bags wasn't large enough to carry the large and heavy workloads that I encounter on a daily basis. I needed a large capacity bag that I could wear as a back pack and has sufficient water resistance to protect the legal documents that I often carry. The Vandal seemed to be the answer.

For about four months, everything seemed to be going well. The Vandal carried what I needed it to carry and it didn't strain my back, like the over-the-shoulder messenger bags had done.

Then, I began to notice the zipper giving-out on the main compartment. This was a bad sign, since the main compartment zipper protected the documents and allowed me the 65L capacity. The outer zipper, which provided the main water-resistance, could still seal the bag but would only allowed a 29L capacity, because of how the backpack was designed. The loss of the 36L space would severely affect how much cargo I could carry.

Closer examination of the zipper showed that the zipper's teeth were being bent or were falling out. Even worse, the stitching that held the zipper to the fabric of the bag was coming loose.

I couldn't allow this to continue. I had to send the bag back to Mission Workshop for repair or replacement. After sending them a repair request and pictures of the damaged zipper, they decided to send me another bag, while letting me keep the first bag as a spare.

I still have my PAC Design Ultimate OS, which I use for everything from grocery shopping to carrying my laundry. It has a large capacity to rival the Vandal, but it's not as comfortable to wear when carrying large loads. So, I placed the first Vandal into storage and hoped to find some use for it later. Given its handicap of only having a 29L capacity, it didn't seem that I would be using it for very much.

After the second bag arrived, I began using it for work. It carried the same size loads as the first bag had, though I was a bit gentler with it. But, that didn't help. In about four months - roughly the same span of time that I had used its predecessor -  it also began to have the same problems with its zipper.

This was a very confusing situation for me. Other messengers in Honolulu have owned and used Vandals for a long time. In one case, it been his bag-of-choice for years. In fairness, I don't think any of them consistently carry loads as large and heavy as I do on a daily basis. It appeared that my daily workload actually exceeded the Vandal's strength and endurance.

Contacting Mission Workshop again didn't seem to be a viable solution. If they sent me another replacement bag, then I'd have two half-usable bags in my apartment, instead of just one. If I sent the bags in for repair, they'd likely only fix one bag - they would likely have simply replaced the broken zipper with one just like it, which would likely have also broken in 3 or 4 months - and not the other, since I had only paid for one bag and the second bag would have been either sent back to me without repairs or simply discarded.

I needed another option. I didn't want a bag that would basically "expire" in a few months.

Local tailor shops couldn't replace a backpack zipper and upholstery shops wouldn't likely be able to help. So, like many people in my situation, I turned to the Internet to solve my problem.

That's how I found out about Rugged Thread, a company located in Bend, OR that repairs broken zippers in all manner of items: tents, jackets, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc. If it has a zipper that needs replacement, Rugged Thread is where you can send it.

After sending Kim pictures of the broken zippers on my Vandals, I sent both to her shop. She actually had to physically examine the bags to provide me with a specific price quote and I mailed her a check after she called me on the phone to inform me of the type of work needed on the Vandals, though I could have made payment over the phone. Shipping is extra and they only get the final shipping costs when they pack the items for return, so I had to pay for the shipping before they would be sent back to me. Rugged Thread uses US Mail Parcel Post, so took a couple of weeks to get them back.

According to Rugged Thread, the Vandals main compartment each had a #8 zipper, which she replaced with a #10. I had no idea that zippers were categorized this way, but you live and learn. The #10s are more durable and could even outlast the backpacks themselves.

With the return of both of my Vandal backpacks, I am now back in the swing of things at work. The #10 zippers seem to be far stronger than the #8s they replaced, so they should last far longer this time around. The added benefit of having two Vandals, instead of just one, I can always put one in the laundry and give it time to dry while I use the other one.

As for my faithful PAC Design, it's back to its old job of carrying my groceries.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning