As told here, my cat, Rusty, got out a few days ago.

I put an ad on craigslist in the Lost and Found section. Most of the ads in Lost and Found are for pets. I listed the number for my work phone which is a different area code from my personal phone.

Less than a half an hour after posting the ad, I got a text message on my work phone from a number in the same area code. It had the title of the ad and the words "I found your cat".

I texted back, "where is he?"

The reply was "he is with me."

I texted, "where are you?"

The person(?) said, "I need you to prove you are the owner. I am sending you a code and you need to send it back to me."

I texted, "I can prove I am the owner. Bring the cat back to the corner [I live on] and I can show you pictures of him on my phone."

The person(?) asked if I got the code. He said it was necessary as an anti-scamming thing.

A few minutes later, I got a text message from some other number. The message was in a Slavic language that uses the Roman alphabet... maybe Polish, Czech, Croatian, or something in that neighborhood. The message had to do with a google voice verification code (kod verifikatsia). It included a six-digit number.

The person(?) asked again if I got the code. I said I had not.

The person(?) said he sent the code from number 22-000 and when I tell him the code, he will give me his address and a picture of the cat. He said he would send the code again.

I told him again that I had not gotten any code.

He gave up.


I searched the interwebz for "google voice code".

It's a common scam and has been going on for years. Someone gets your phone number and a pretext to communicate with you. They then try to set up a google voice number tied to your phone. Google then sends a code to your phone and you enter this code on the google voice page to activate the new number.

Similar scams exist if someone knows your gmail userid -- they use the code to complete a password reset and hijack your gmail account.


I'd like to say I was suspicious from the very first text... it actually took three or four, when what the person(?) was asking for didn't make any sense, and the telltale grammatical errors (that smacked of Slavic grammar) crept up. The actual message from google being in another language was the super red flag.

I looked through some other Lost Cat/Dog ads on craigslist. One person said "don't bother with the google code scams... you are the lowest of the low for trying that carp."


I had never heard of google voice before now. Mrs pj said it lets you set up phone numbers that will ring to your phone (or maybe any phone number to specify), but are otherwise untraceable to you. Sounds like a good tool for drug dealers, scammers, and other criminals.


Consider this a PSA.

Good night.

I have a Google Voice phone number. I used it when I was car shopping. That way, the dealers (who still call) don't bug my regular phone.

I have a Google voice number which is actually my old landline. It’s easy to remember because it’s also the phone number I had when I was three years old.

I use it any place that I’m required to provide a phone number, and it’s someone I don’t want to answer calls from. I just check the messages on my phone or iPad. Car shopping was one good example, but any business that I’m required to provide a phone number I usually use it.

Thanks

May get a google voice number.

So, does google charge for this service?

'Cuz you know nothing is free.

They're making money off it somehow.

Thanks for all that info. I knew nothing about these Google voice numbers.

One more exapmple of good tech gone bad at the hands of scammers.

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
So, does google charge for this service?

'Cuz you know nothing is free.

They're making money off it somehow.

No separate charge. I’m sure they datamine the hell out of me, but I’ve long since sold my soul to them on this topic.