I have an ATM only card and my withdraws are limited.

 

Nope, I have never used one. I have a pin number but never used it.

Credit card or cash is how I fly.

 

Cash is a secure environment. Unless someone knocks you on the head and takes it from you it’s staying with you.

 

We check our accounts every day after getting a few scams. We always got our money back though. But, not taking any chances so we are Cancelling our debit cards and using credit cards only. Good advice, thanks.

 

Once in a while, I get a message from someone stating "Hi Uncle, how are things with you?" but does not state who. I think this is another form of scam. Who is not an uncle to someone? It is vague so I ignore and block the sender.

 

That's a common scam I think. Hey, "relation", I'm stuck in the jail, my friend is collecting money to bail me out. Please send to "person" and I'll update you when I get out. This is so scary, I don't know what to do and don't want to tell my parents because it will cause more harm than good right now.

They prey on your family instinct and desire to keep them safe.

 

Another scam you have to be aware of is the "Can you hear me?" question at the start of the call. When you answer "yes", that's recorded and then used for fraudulent purposes. Or the "You missed jury duty and you are going to be served a warrant unless you pay the fine RIGHT NOW!" Or the "Your <insert relative here> has been jailed for not paying traffic tickets and needs you to send me X dollars to this email address so I can get them released.
Any phone "threat" that demands money or gift cards or funds transfers of any kind is more than likely a scam.

 

Seems like they are constantly coming up with new ones. I received a text yesterday saying I had an overdue bill for a Massachusetts toll.

 

I rather Patty got one in the past few days threatening to expose her as to what she had been viewing on the internet. They inferred that she was watching porn and that they had taken over her camera on her iPad.

I personally would like to see what she is looking at being she died two years ago and her iPad is in a drawer since then.

If these people put as much effort in a real job that they do in trying to scam people they would be richer!

 

I've had a couple of those scam texts. There are programs that will search the dark web for your personal information. If you've had a site hacked, it's more than likely your info is available to anyone who'd like to use it. There are programs that will attempt to remove that info, but there have been so many hacks it's almost impossible to clear all of it. Check out Google's "Results about you" tool. This will remove any Google results with your personal information received by a Google search. A start but more like a drop in the ocean.