Anyone else seeing a recent strong uptick in "You've been charged . . ." scam material?

By the way, I sent out a "broadcast email" to my client mailing list about what I perceive as a recent distinct uptick in this form of scam, using the two screen captures shared here in the message and pointing out the red flags in each.

Everyone needs the occasional reminder, and I've been pleasantly surprised that some clients have replied thanking me, which I was not expecting.
 
Barcelona said:
I used to do this until the complaints became a flood.
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Given that I do something like this once per year, if that, it's probably once every couple of years, that's not likely.

But, if someone wants to consider a carefully directed warning from their own chosen "tech support" to be "junk mail," well . . .

You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, . . .
 
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Agreed. I thought an informative "this could possibly save you a lot of grief and money loss" email would be welcomed. Sadly not.
 
Barcelona said:
I thought an informative "this could possibly save you a lot of grief and money loss" email would be welcomed.
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My attitude in this case is: If this is not welcome, it's your problem.

Getting any message from anyone on a once-a-year-if-that basis, particularly if it's to inform you and from someone you know, isn't spam. Deal.

Were someone to reply that they didn't want this sort of message, I'll gladly remove them from my client contacts list. If they need me, they know where to find me.

So far, I have gotten nothing but messages of thanks. I'm up to about 10 at the moment.
 
Sky-Knight said:
Email is a terrible medium for this sort of thing.
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No snark intended, but what would you propose as better?

I can't think of any quick and easy way to reach out to my client base where I can include actual graphic content, and where they're likely to see it the most quickly, than email.

There really is no perfect medium for this sort of thing, but I can't think of any better than email.
 
@britechguy Social Media

This is one of the places I need to be better at myself. But you post this stuff into Facebook / Twitter / whatever, and have people subscribe to it. That way it's an opt in situation, people can consume the material at their leisure, and it builds an audience for you to sell to.

But that means turning your business into a TV station, and you have to be entertaining about it as well. Pull off that conversion correctly, and the money all but deposits itself into the bank.

Or you can send an email that gets ignored / deleted, or even perhaps properly consumed... but then it's gone forever lost to the depths of time and space where it doesn't do you or anyone else any good anymore.
 
@Sky-Knight,

Well, we'll have to respectfully disagree, again.

Social media, in all its forms, is anathema to me. That means it ain't ever gonna happen from my end. It's not an option.
 
@britechguy I'm with you, but at the same time... all the shops that are growing are getting their business via the method that I just mentioned.

So it's one of those adapt or die things.

The alternative is buckets of money in traditional advertising... If you're in a stable place where word of mouth still works be glad. I'm having to play these games to get back to that place after the pandemic murdered my client base, literally in some cases.
 
Sky-Knight said:
So it's one of those adapt or die things.
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And I get where you're coming from. Perhaps if I were early in my career and doing this actually to make a living I'd feel forced to deal with social media. But because I'm not, I don't, and won't.

I'm not an entertainer (at least not in the context of my tech work - I do a lot of theater work, but that's an entirely different sphere), I'm a computer technician. My website, by any modern standard, is crap because it's not slick, live graphics filled, etc., but it seems to get the job done when coupled with my reviews on Google, which time has taught me is how most people actually find me (without ever having looked at my website).

It's interesting, since my primary market is residential, that I get a lot of clients because of "lack of flash" based on what they tell me when I ask about how they found me. Most have used a Google search and looked at my local competition, and a great many are very put off by what is "the in thing" in website design. They find it overwhelming and difficult to find what they're looking for.

But this business is a side gig for me, and always has been. I didn't start into the business as an actual business until I was 46 years old. And it was a return to this sphere on my own terms. I left the field when I did because I could no longer stand it on others terms and had a second career as a speech-language pathologist (which I left because, among other reasons, I could not provide adequate therapy based on what insurance companies allow in terms of treatment length. I don't do anything by half measures, and not half-measures foist upon me by someone else.)
 
@britechguy That makes perfect sense, your business isn't a business as such and is more of a monetized hobby. But I presume it's making plenty for your needs so you're happy where it is. Were I in your position I'd likely be very much the same!

What I'm talking about is the endless growth required to make a business successful enough to become a huge corporate chain later. I have no interest in getting that big, but it would be nice if people could find me more easily. And it's really struck home with me that I've spent countless hours on forums like this one offering access to my experience for free and it's not gotten me nearly enough return to justify it.

So I'm questioning my habits on a fundamental level. I don't really care to be insanely wealthy, but I would like enough resources to enjoy life a bit, a process that's made all but impossible thanks to being an American, and being unfortunate enough to have three children with chronic illness.

(In before someone tells me all about how I shouldn't have kids if I cannot afford them)
 
Sky-Knight said:
In before someone tells me all about how I shouldn't have kids if I cannot afford them
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Which is only a legitimate point, when made, if we're talking about typical, completely healthy children in the abstract. I do think there are times and places where that point is legitimate. Your personal situation is not one of those.

No parent generally anticipates having three children with chronic illness, and often it's not until years after they're born that you even begin to have an inkling that this is the case.

Donald Rumsfeld had it entirely right when he uttered, "There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know."

You cannot possibly plan for unknown unknowns, and life tosses any one of us a number of those.

Our social safety net in the USA is pretty abysmal.
 
I don't really need a social safety net, I need a government that's actually acting as an advocate for the people, or in the very lease PAYING ATTENTION to the results of its own investments. (Don't get me wrong I'd like proper investment and attention in this space, but it's not a "need" even for me. More like a huge want that would be a far better investment)

Eli Lilly receives hundreds of millions in local, state, and federal government subsidies to operate in the US.

Subsidy Tracker

Subsidy Tracker, produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, is a wide-ranging database on misconduct by large and small corporations throughout the United States.
subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org

It then turns on the American Taxpayer and tells them, hey... thanks for the help for all this, here... pay the HIGHEST GLOBAL PRICE for our products! We're going to GIVE THEM AWAY to terrorists and hostile nations... but you... you get to pay!

endpts.com

China boasts 48% price cut on insulin as domestic drugmakers eclipse Big Pharma in bulk order

In a first, China has featured insulin in its centralized drug procurement program — but the bulk order comes at a sizable cost for multinational pharma players. Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and ...
endpts.com endpts.com

There should be no argument about how to respond to this reality. And the more I read the more I understand just how much of this BS is in our Medical Industrial Complex. We don't have to go single payer to hold the industry accountable for the money they've grifted from the American people over the decades.

$3 / vial... I'm paying over $300! For a medication that cost a QUARTER of this adjusted for inflation in the 90s when it was brand new and still under patent! Meanwhile, the FDA magically doesn't allow anyone else to make the stuff despite the patent expiring in 2015. It's maddening.

But I suppose I should focus on explaining to people how they should avoid an email scam, because it might take a few thousand away from them someday... and ignore the fact that our own government is extracting several orders of magnitude more cash every single day...
 
Sky-Knight said:
and ignore the fact that our own government is extracting several orders of magnitude more cash every single day...
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Sorry, it's not the government that's extracting that several orders of magnitude more cash in the example above.

And I agree, entirely, that anything developed with significant public funding (which is an awful lot, in many industries) should reflect that subsidy in its pricing to consumers.

Yes, R&D does cost a fortune. In most cases, it's not the companies that are footing anything near to the whole bill. If it is "all their money," then they have the right to do as they see fit. When we, the taxpayers, have greatly subsidized it, they do owe us something, and that something is a reduced price (and you cannot tell me, in the case of the pharmaceutical industry, that if they were able to sell most of the things they sell at the equivalent of "a penny a pill" that they would not recoup their development costs, plus more, over the life of most drugs. And that "plus more" for popular drugs should be subsidizing orphan drugs. There was a time when corporations were not considered exempt from the social compact and when "shareholder value" was not the ne plus ultra. We need to get back to those days (essentially, the mid-20th century approach - post-robber-baron, regulated markets, pre-let's-deregulate-everything).

'Well-regulated free markets' is not an oxymoron, but a necessity for good economic outcomes.
~ Peter Diamond, winner of the 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
 
@britechguy

medcitynews.com

Lilly to introduce lower-priced version of insulin product Humalog - MedCity News

The new version, sold under its generic name, would be priced 50 percent lower than the branded version, at $137.35 per vial or $265.20 for a five-pack of pens.
medcitynews.com medcitynews.com

Insulin Lispro, the "generic" name associated with Humalog, which is the most popular bolus insulin on the planet...

The article has it all nailed... the insulin when it was brand new and under patent was released at $20 / 10ml vial. Today, that same name brand insulin is $330 / 10 ml vial. The vials expire in 28 days once opened, and must be kept refrigerated. If stored correctly the product can be stored for 2 years. The "generic" Insulin Lispro vial, which was supposed to be 50% off is currently selling for $220.

Adults use on average 1 vial a week. So when Humalog was brand new, it was $20 a week or die for diabetics. Many reading this post probably spend more eating out, not a big deal. But Eli Lilly did the generic thing when President Trump (and Congress) was breathing down their necks to do something... but now he's out of office and "supply issues" have spiked the prices. Not that anyone paying attention expected differently... how can you expect a company to undercut itself? Meanwhile Congress as usual failed to act, because they had never intended to. It was political theater for Trump to get votes. (And the prick would wonder why people like me didn't vote for him)

But even if that "half priced" insulin had stayed at its release price of $150 / 10ml vial, that's still an insult relative to the "brand new, patent protected, please pay us back for our R&D for this new wonder drug insulin" that was priced at $20 / vial in 1997... $34.74 in 2021 US dollars adjusted for inflation.

And don't forget, we paid to have the stuff made... and the patent for it belongs to a Canadian University that granted Eli Lilly access to it for $1.

I have insurance... but when I had to pay for this stuff out of pocket it was:

$300 / month for Humalog (bolus insulin, used with every meal)
$300 / month for Lantus / Levemir (basal insulin, used once a day)
$450 / month for Tresiba (basal insulin, used once a day, but a two day duration REALLY helps with unstable diabetics like my younger one)
$50 / month for test strips (Frys / Walmart generics, which oddly enough are never covered by insurance, have to pay $300 / month via insurance for the "name brand" ones when I have coverage)
$50 / month for needles
$300 / month for CGM supplies

So you can see, where generics exist it's really not that bad. But when there isn't... If the insulins all dropped to $20 - $30 / month, my bottom line is divided IN HALF! The cheaper of the two boys drops from ~$1000 / month to $460 / month. So instead of having to cough up a mortgage payment per kid, it's a single payment for both. That's still a substantial amount of cash every month, but at least it's attainable.

Meanwhile I swear if another family member gives me the stink eye for not wanting to "go out to eat" with them and their spawn... but that's another story that if I get into will explain exactly how the likes of Trump made it into the White House, and why our "best alternative" is useless empty suit that cannot climb stairs 100% of the time.

Anyway, my point is... Eli Lilli and the rest have made their money during the patent protected period to cover R&D. That time is OVER... where are my generics? I don't begrudge them making money, Humalog is a GOD SEND! It's SO MUCH BETTER than what we had before. But the prices they've charged and continue to charge are insane.
 
Sky-Knight said:
That time is OVER... where are my generics? I don't begrudge them making money, Humalog is a GOD SEND! It's SO MUCH BETTER than what we had before. But the prices they've charged and continue to charge are insane.
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Hence the reason for my Peter Diamond quote.

I have often said that anything that is not explicitly illegal, that is regulated by law and not permissible, is legal. Regulation is necessary, period. One can legitimately argue where and when it's necessary, but "the invisible hand" does not work, and never has.

And before anyone jumps in with, "I don't want the government choosing winners and losers," this is not that. Also, with all its problems, the government has the public interest at heart a lot more than the private sector, which is becoming as rapacious as it was during the first Gilded Age, does.
 
britechguy said:
No parent generally anticipates having three children with chronic illness, and often it's not until years after they're born that you even begin to have an inkling that this is the case.
Click to expand...

In my case, the the weekend before Thanksgiving 2014. My then youngest (wasn't quite 4 yet), was dying in my arms in an ER on Sunday because I took too long to get him there. The onset of DKA looks a LOT like the Flu, and the entire family was sick that month. And the next morning his little brother was born. Youngest needed an emergency cesarean, so my wife and I told the doc... we're done, fix it!

Fast forward to Summer of 2021 and now I have a 2nd son that develops the condition at 14; outside the normal development window, and my daughter develops Tourette's at 17 which is ALSO outside the normal development window. And all of these events well after my wife and I were both medically sterilized.

But every once in a while I run into that ignorant SOB that thinks all this can be magically avoided with some solid planning. I want to say I wasn't that guy in the past, but I was. Life has forced me into a place where I know better. I did EVERYTHING right, got my degree, got married, bought a house, then like dominoes everything fell down. So now I spend every day trying to keep what I have left, you can forget retirement... it's patently impossible.
 
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