Pesach Program Discussion Master Thread

[Yehuda57]

https://www.livinglchaim.com/koshermoney/episode/3ec55311/scammed-out-of-dollar20000

[shmooz]

Anyone who thinks they wouldn't fall for such a fishing scam just hasn't been targeted for one or has already fallen for it without realizing it. People who wire larger sums of money every day have fallen for these.

Agreed, the scammers are very good they monitor email until they get the gist of the conversations then they attack.

[avromie7]

You think. Until it happens to you or someone you know. I don't know this guy or this program, and I have no knowledge of whether or not he was scammed. But I do know that many eminently reasonable people have been scammed for greater sums of money than this.

It can always be prevented by proper protocol and following the protocol.

[yelped]

Anyone who thinks they wouldn't fall for such a fishing scam just hasn't been targeted for one or has already fallen for it without realizing it. People who wire larger sums of money every day have fallen for these.

I work in this industry and am familiar with how wire fraud works and that many fall for them. At the end of the day, if you're following a few basic safeguards, you are not going to fall for something like this (I did see something once that would have not been stopped by the standard safeguards).

If you're wiring money, you should know the protocol and not circumvent protocol.

[Yehudaa]

This is true, but proper safeguards would definitely have stopped this. Rule #1 should be phone call verification for any wire to a new account.

Agreed. We wire large sums at work, and phone confirmation is standard for the first wire to any account.

[Yehuda57]

Why are you all so strict on the protocols? Precisely because these scams are so frequently successful and because either your company or companies you've worked with have been burned.

[daybyday]

I work in this industry and am familiar with how wire fraud works and that many fall for them. At the end of the day, if you're following a few basic safeguards, you are not going to fall for something like this (I did see something once that would have not been stopped by the standard safeguards).

If you're wiring money, you should know the protocol and not circumvent protocol.

Of course, people in the industry can easily pick up on even more sophisticated scams.
Pesach program owners are very likely to fall into the category of random joe shmo who isn't enough on the lookout and is more likely to fall for well-placed scams.

[yelped]

Why are you all so strict on the protocols? Precisely because these scams are so frequently successful or because either your company or companies you've worked with have been burned.

FTFY.

Companies with money at stake prefer to learn from other's mistakes, and not wait until it happens to them.

[JoeyShmoe]

I know the guy, he's an interesting fellow, and I can totally see him falling for such a scam and not realizing what he did wrong.

He runs multiple Shabbaton programs throughout the year (Shabbos Chanuakah, Shabbos Nachamu, midwinter etc.), and has been doing it for a couple of years. I haven't heard of any time he cancelled on people last minute or worse scammed anyone. FWIW I honestly don't think he's smart enough to scam anyone.

I feel really bad for the people being left in limbo and hope for everyone's sake he figures it out!

[mlardi]

[whacked1]

FWIW I honestly don't think he's smart enough to scam anyone.

Not nice and uncalled for

[YitzyS]

Okay, DDF, I present you with a challenge.

Let's catch this perp and get the money back. Law enforcement may be unable to do this, but were they able to track down a cemetery in a few hours to check a name on a tombstone, or to get an heirloom siddur back to it's correct owner? Our collective power, with members living (or flying) everywhere, is a formidable force.

As a side bonus, it seems to me that Dan and JJ are too bashful to post a DDMS post about their homerun podcast episode on Kosher Money. But if we catch this perp, there will probably be a roundup to flaunt that, and the podcast can be included in the mix.

[AsherO]

The fake domain was registered a little less than a month ago with some random address in Iceland. That does seem to check out as a classic scam.
Would the program owner register a fake domain a month ago in order to cover up his own scam? Seems very unlikely.

Domain info: https://www.whois.com/whois/claridger.com
Address for domain: Kalkofnsvegur 2, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

“Virtual office”, fun times:

https://www.davincivirtual.com/loc/iceland-virtual-offices/reykjavik-virtual-offices/facility-5339

[AsherO]

Of course, people in the industry can easily pick up on even more sophisticated scams.
Pesach program owners are very likely to fall into the category of random joe shmo who isn't enough on the lookout and is more likely to fall for well-placed scams.

And thus more likely to get targeted as well

[AsherO]

Okay, DDF, I present you with a challenge.

Let's catch this perp and get the money back. Law enforcement may be unable to do this, but were they able to track down a cemetery in a few hours to check a name on a tombstone, or to get an heirloom siddur back to it's correct owner? Our collective power, with members living (or flying) everywhere, is a formidable force.

As a side bonus, it seems to me that Dan and JJ are too bashful to post a DDMS post about their homerun podcast episode on Kosher Money. But if we catch this perp, there will probably be a roundup to flaunt that, and the podcast can be included in the mix.

So if we find the name of the Russian behind this, what then? Not like Russia will extradite him. 100% sure he isn’t Icelandic.

[Dan]

“Virtual office”, fun times:

https://www.davincivirtual.com/loc/iceland-virtual-offices/reykjavik-virtual-offices/facility-5339

@Something Fishy When's your next trip?

[YitzyS]

So if we find the name of the Russian behind this, what then? Not like Russia will extradite him. 100% sure he isn’t Icelandic.

Never heard of ordering 1,000 pizzas to someone's house? How about installing Tesla charging stations surrounding the house to the extent that he has no way out? Or have the good folk at DDF write up a compelling email to counter-scam him out of the money? Or just unleash the UPS method against him?

I'm sure we can come up with something.

[yelped]

Never heard of ordering 1,000 pizzas to someone's house? How about installing Tesla charging stations surrounding the house to the extent that he has no way out? Or have the good folk at DDF write up a compelling email to counter-scam him out of the money? Or just unleash the UPS method against him?

I'm sure we can come up with something.

Take a page out of the evil Chinese regime's book: https://www.axios.com/2023/03/29/chinese-activists-false-bomb-threats

[yungermanchik]

Never heard of ordering 1,000 pizzas to someone's house? How about installing Tesla charging stations surrounding the house to the extent that he has no way out? Or have the good folk at DDF write up a compelling email to counter-scam him out of the money? Or just unleash the UPS method against him?

I'm sure we can come up with something.

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=131020

[AsherO]

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=131020

Yup, a glitterbomb will settle the score…