09 Feb 2025 - AJ
This week’s scam posting was brought to mind by a post I saw on r/scams. It was a variation of the “I need your phone for something”, but instead of a person needing to borrow one’s phone, it was for a coupon code. (Or similar, but very close.)
Now, there are legit reasons to need to borrow a phone. There was an incident I had years ago when I saw a nonresponsive (but still breathing) person on the grass of a strip mall near where I lived. I did not have my phone on me because I was making a quick trip down the block to a grocery store in that strip mall so I had to go ask around to see if anybody was willing to call 911. Thankfully I was a regular at the grocery store and one of the cashiers was willing to go with me and call 911 on their own cellphone. Presumably he was in no danger - I’m a cybersecurity person not a medic dammit - so it might have been okay to go back but my first thought was to get him some help. I would have wanted that if I’d passed out on the grass like he had
But I never touched the cashier’s phone, they did the calling, the ambulance came.
And I carried my phone from then on, even if I was walking to the store.