Category: Scam Artists

Changing Cards

Corporate Fuckery, Scam Artists

Last Monday morning I went out to run some errands — nothing fancy, just dropping off a document at the tax guy, paying for the sooper-seekrit mailbox, and a quick trip to Kroger for some top-up items.  Basically my spend was less than a hundred dollars, but I knew I had way more than that in the bank account, so no big deal, right?

Wrong.  I got home, check the email and there was a warning message from the bank saying I had less than $100 in my account (I am so glad I have this feature).  When I looked at the account, there was an ATM charge from some company for $336 dollars — a company I’d never heard of nor visited, and when I looked at the details, it noted that the transaction method was a “tap”.

Didn’t happen.

I then called the bank and told them about the fraudulent claim, which got the wheels turning.  Net result:  they changed the transaction to “pending”, but then the crap began:  policy is to issue a new card number/card, which takes ta-da!  up to five business days to process and deliver.  So basically, I end up without an ATM card for that period, plus I have to contact all the autopay vendors and give them the new card number so that my life can continue uninterrupted, without such things as wifi being disconnected and so on — you know the deal.

What disturbs me about all this is that apparently there’s no guarantee that a fraudulent transaction can be “clawed back” if it’s been made against a checking account — it’s considered your problem — but with a credit card, however, it’s the bank’s problem and they have all sorts of ways to get the money back.  Seems weird, but that’s banks for you.

I remember seeing one of those EeewwwChoob videos a while ago wherein some smart money guy said that he refused to use an ATM card, ever, and only used a credit card because of just such a situation.

Here’s my take:  I don’t owe a lot of money on my credit card, and thanks to an upcoming tax refund I could pay it all off without any problem.  (I normally pay 6x the “minimum” each month, so I don’t get stung too badly by their loanshark interest rates.)

I am thinking, now, that maybe I should do what the Smart Money Guy said, do away with the ATM card and treat the paid-off credit card like it’s an ATM card, and just pay the balance in full each month.  (I don’t spend a lot of money on the Visa card so this shouldn’t be a problem, and our income — from New Wife’s job and my SocSec gets automatically transferred out of our current accounts into an interest-bearing account anyway, so we never have that much cash in the current accounts.)  I have full faith in my and New Wife’s self-discipline to do this, by the way, so on that score there should be no problem.

My question for y’all:  if I do the above and pay off the credit card balance in full each month, is there a risk that Global MegaBank Inc. will realize that they’re making no money off their loansharking, only from their transaction fees, and cancel my credit card?

All input is welcome.

Undeserving

Scam Artists

Yeah, this is the right thing to do:

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has denied a request to allow the late civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

At first glance, this would appear to be a spiteful act.  When you look at the criteria for said honor, however, the truth emerges:

The Speaker considered past precedent of mostly reserving the practice for former presidents and select former government officials and military honorees.

And Jackson wouldn’t qualify under a single one of those categories, would he?  Because he never did a single damn thing except ride the Racism Grifter Express (which, to be fair, I think he did actually create).

And while we’re there, an honest IRS investigation and audit into his “Rainbow Coalition”‘s finances might in all likelihood have ended with him in jail for financial fraud or at best mismanagement.  But that was never going to happen, of course.

Had Jackson ever been elected to office on the Token Negro ticket, he would have been proven to be as inept and venal as the asshole (another “community activist”) who was eventually elected to the Presidency, on the same ticket.

No Voter Fraud?

Illegal immigrants, Scam Artists

Lost amidst all the stories of massive benefits fraud and fraudulent mass voting are the stories of mere individuals who’ve gamed the system, illegally of course.  Here’s one such example, sent to me by Alert Reader Mike L.:

A Colombian woman living illegally in Boston has been convicted of identity theft and voter fraud after living under a stolen identity for over 20 years.

In a news release from the Department of Justice, 59-year-old Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez obtained a Massachusetts Real ID and eight other state IDs, fraudulently received over $400,000 in federal benefits, including rental assistance, Social Security, and SNAP benefits. She also used the stolen identity to cast a fraudulent ballot in the 2024 presidential election.

One’s immediate reaction to this incident might be to toss the bitch out of the country and ship her back to Shitholia.

I would disagree.

She needs to be incarcerated for at least twenty years — the period she lived here illegally — while working at a prison job that earns money which can be used to repay as much of the defrauded taxpayer money as possible.  Yeah, “slave labor”, cry me a river.

Assuming she’s still alive at this point, she should then be removed from jail and sent back to Shitholia — i.e. immediately escorted from the prison gate to a U.S. Marshals Service bus en route to a nearby airport and waiting plane.

And just to show that I’m not completely heartless, she can take the money she earned during the final month of her confinement back with her.

Alternative

Crime, Scam Artists

I read this little exchange with some interest:

Then, of course, you have the Kim Solution© to protect the citizen journalist and prevent him and his crew from being unjustifiably attacked by the Fuzzies:

Armed bodyguards

Even in Minnesodah, private citizens are allowed to hire licensed bodyguards for their own protection.

Of course, our intrepid journalist could take a leaf from the Muzzy Terrorist Handbook, and just use this Gerstein buttwipe as a human shield… but no doubt some people will think that this is Too Much.

Whatever.  The real issue is what the DoJ is going to do about all this fraud and scamming.

And here’s a warning:  conservative folk are getting really pissed off by all this fraud and similar criminal behavior being uncovered, and the perpetrators not being  shot at dawn  arrested and charged.

Kash Patel and Pam Bondi:  the spotlight is now falling on you.