Our SCAM Adventure - January 2026

 

Our SCAM Adventure - January 2026

 

Preamble:

Okay. I did something incredibly stupid a couple weeks ago. Really stupid. Seriously stupid. I mean really. I should have known better, I should have had my head in caution mode, I should have opened my eyes a little wider. My 6 remaining common sense braincells were asleep, drunk, or on a lengthy vacation. Yes. I F***-ed up spectacularly. And displayed about as much common sense as a tree frog. And that’s an insult to the frogs.

Therefore… I do not need any reminders that I’m an idiot. OK? So….. PLEASE… No “OMG, I can’t believe you fell for this,” OR “How many red flags slapping you in the face does it take?” OK? Now that THAT’S out of the way..

*********************

Monday, January12, 2026. While checking her Email, my Wife Jolene noticed a message supposedly from Best-Buy’s support division known as “Geek Squad.” As we have a TV from BB, and purchased coverage, I told her to forward it to me, and I’d handle it. Here is the message: ********************************************************************************** -------- Original Message --------

Subject: Subscription Renewed Successfully Date: 2026-01-12 09:35

From: Louise To: jt_shelley@XXXXXX

Reply-To: lena-louise.zhonghua@mail.com GeekSquad Subscription Renewed Successfully Questions? Call us 24/7: +1-877-680-2926

Dear jt_shelley@XXXXXX, Your auto-renewal has been successfully processed. Thank you for continuing your journey with GeekSquad! Renewal Amount: $449.99 Subscription Period: 3 Years

Next Renewal Date: January 12, 2029 Your Renewed Support Benefits:

✓ 24/7 Priority Technical Support - Get help anytime you need it

✓ Unlimited Remote Assistance - No limits on support sessions

✓ Advanced Security Protection - Keep your devices safe and secure

✓ System Optimization & Tune-ups - Keep your devices running smoothly

✓ Software Installation & Updates - Expert help with all your software needs

✓ Dedicated Account Manager - Personalized service for your peace of mind

Refund Policy

If you wish to cancel your auto-renewal or request a full refund for this subscription, you may do so within 24 hours of this renewal date. 📞 Call Us: +1-877-680-2926

Our customer service team is available 24/7 to assist you with any questions or concerns.

📞 +1-877-680-2926 Thank you for choosing GeekSquad as your trusted technical support partner.

This is an automated notification. Please do not reply to this email. For support inquiries, please call +1-877-680-2926

© 2026 GeekSquad. All rights reserved. Louise Geeks, Tampa, Unsubscribe [1] - Unsubscribe Preferences [2] ********************************************************************************** I looked at the $449.99 charge and figured we could buy a new TV for probably less than that price, so I decided to cancel it and get a refund. When the call was answered, I could barely understand the guy on the other end. Since pretty much every company in existence uses call centers in God knows what country on the opposite side of the planet, it didn’t raise any suspicions. Yet.

After being passed through three people, I finally connected with one that spoke English well. His name was “Peter” supposedly. And thus it began. After 15 minutes or so of bouncing around a confusing bunch of “refund request forms,” he offered to help me if he could send me a “small app” that would allow him to see my screen and control the mouse arrow.

 Yes. I did.

Refer to the preamble above.

After about 20 minutes of going here, going there, visiting my bank account, (so he could send my refund directly to my account) he said “OK, let’s do this. I’ll process your refund, but we’ll have to do it in two parts. I’ll refund you $300.00 in the first transfer, and the rest in the second transfer.” He then sent another form, and said to type $300.00 in the blank, which I did.

A bunch of screens flashed by that looked like lines of complex code, almost like the old MS-DOS code from years ago. Then it happened. At the bottom of the lines of code, it displayed a figure of 30000 – the decimal behind the 300 had somehow (uh-huh) disappeared.

He put on a good act. He gasped, and repeated “Oh noooo” about 3 times. He then asked me if I’d forgotten to type the decimal point. “No!” I said. “I typed it and saw it behind the $300!” He said, “I need you to check your (checking) account, and see if it went there, and how much.” I did. And guess what… There was an extra $30,000 in the account! He groaned, and said he’d speak to his “superior” to find out what to do. As if he didn’t already know…. (found out later that they took the $30,000 out of Jo's savings account).

He came back, and told me “OK, here is what we need to do. You need to withdraw that $30,000.00 from your checking account – in cash. I will give you a pin number and a QR code to be able to check in to one of our ATMs at a store very close to you. Then you will put the cash into the ATM. Once the $30,000 is back in our account, I will process your refund, and all will be done.”

Refer to the preamble above.

Trying to be the honest good guy, I wanted to give them (what I thought was) their money back. Stupid me. When I went to withdraw the money, my friend that manages our nearby branch was rather suspicious, but I (tried to) reassure her I just wanted to give them what I thought was their money back.

 It took 2 more trips to other bank branches to get all the cash. The first ATM seemed to be having problems, so he sent me to a different one at a gas station. And yes, by this time I was starting to wonder… I thought I was doing the right thing by giving ‘Geek Squad’ what was rightfully theirs. But this seemed to be a clumsy way to accomplish it.

On the next trip, Jolene went with me to help. At the store, she was sitting on a metal stool next to me, when she looked over at me, and said, “Rodney, I’m not feeling very good…” She looked like she was about to fall so I stepped over and put my arms around her. Her eyes rolled up, and she was unresponsive. She toppled the other direction from me and fell off the stool to the floor.

There were a couple ladies in the store close by, and they saw what happened, and called 911. The scammer guy on the phone said “Oh! Take care of your wife! We can finish this tomorrow.” He gave me a phone number and told me to call when I could tomorrow. His apparent 1 or 2 grains of humanity kind of fooled me into halfway thinking he was at least somewhat legit.

At the hospital, they took X-rays, cat-scans, etc. Her right shin was not only broken but dislocated as well. She was in extreme pain. The doctors working on her took her into a treatment room and put her to sleep while they got her ankle back where it was supposed to be and put it in a cast. They took her to a room afterwards, took blood, and ran a bunch of other tests. They were quite thorough. The fainting was likely because she hadn’t eaten for most of the day.

She was in the hospital for the next three days. As I returned home on the first night, I’m surprised I didn’t collide with anything. I was bawling like a baby most of the way home.

She is now in a rehab facility near the hospital for rest, and the swelling has gone down to a point where they could do surgery on her ankle. The surgery was done on 01-26-26 and went very well. She is still in rehab and getting therapy.

When she can come home, I will take over all the cooking, laundry (which is in the basement) as she continues to heal. It’s going to be a lengthy process, I’m sure. We will likely need to rent a wheelchair, doorway ramp, and some other stuff for disabled persons.

She is expected to eventually be able to walk, but for now, no weight can be put on that right ankle. The surgeon told us it was fractured in THREE places! I didn’t know an ankle HAD that many places that could break.

She misses being home, and I miss her being here. We’ve both shed a lake’s worth of tears. This whole episode has had a massive effect on both our lives. Thankfully we have good folks and family – and lots of on-line friends as well – supporting and encouraging us. And a big THANK YOU to all of you!

I have a lot of work still to do. I’ve filed fraud reports to the FTC, FBI, and every other enforcement agency I can think of. I'm not expecting to get any of that money back, but we'll see. A VERY expensive lesson on having my head up my ass.

For anyone that reads this, please stay on your toes! These scammer slimebags are getting smarter and bolder by the day. They’re starting to use AI, and are passing themselves off as legitimate businesses, enforcement agencies (they called a few days later, claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)), banks, and even the Government (what’s left of it..). So be extremely cautious when being unexpectedly contacted. Verify with your bank if they claim they automatically charged your account(s) for subscriptions of any kind.

If you do get an unexpected phone call, DO NOT say “hello!” Just hang up. If you speak, the phone-bot will mark your number as active, and you’ll get more scam calls. And….. NEVER EVER say the word “yes” if you are on the phone with these low-lifes. They will use AI to imitate your voice and cause all kinds of problems.

Stay safe and avoid having your lives torn apart as we have.