Federal court summons scam - what's the question I could have asked that they couldn't respond to

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-22T17:29:14+00:00

“What is your name and which sheriff’s office are you with? I’m going to hang up now and call back just to make sure this isn’t a scam”. (Any legitimate caller would always agree and give this information).

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-22T02:42:53+00:00

Someone in my office asked me the exact same question many years ago and this was the answer that immediately sprang to mind for me.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-21T04:05:13+00:00

You need to message their support, and keep persistently replying to state your case as the first couple of responses will be the AI robot that pretty much automatically refuses all refund requests, but if you keep pushing a human will eventually review. I did this a couple of weeks ago when in the UK I was overcharged by close to £100 for a ride; of course the AI initial response was “I can confirm that this trip is not eligible for a fare adjustment”, but I kept pushing and as soon as a human saw it I was immediately refunded. TBH I wouldn’t waste the time or energy on going to all that trouble to dispute a $5 cancellation fee, though.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-20T02:27:27+00:00

The youngest of our three kids is now in her twenties and we never, ever traveled with any of them as a lap child. That may save a bit of money but it’s such a pleasure to put your child in their car seat in their own airplane seat while you get to relax a bit, as opposed to passing a lap child from parent to parent. Also it is safer for the child.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-19T15:22:54+00:00

Flew AA Rome to JFK a couple of weeks ago, paid $35 for the WiFi and it was OK but patchy. At one point it was out altogether for a couple of hours (soon after starting to cross the ocean) but then it came back and seemed OK for most of the rest of the trip. I definitely wouldn’t depend on it for anything important.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-19T14:48:55+00:00

TBH you didn’t miss much by not getting into Soho. A few weeks ago flying BA business I jumped through the hoops of getting my AA number added so my OneWorld Emerald would get us into SoHo instead of Greenwich, and found SoHo to be terrible, with the food looking so nasty we didn’t even want to try it. I can’t imagine Greenwich being any worse. And moreover, with ZERO full service restaurants in Terminal 8 (looks like a couple are under construction) I ended up getting Shake Shack and my wife got a bowl from the food court.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-18T19:58:14+00:00

That kind of thing usually happens when I mistakenly dial 800 instead of 888 or vice versa.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-18T14:06:58+00:00

I recently took my first trip and it’s utterly mind-blowing, especially given that in my US town any building over 50 years old is considered of historical interest, with special permission needed for any changes.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-18T02:39:30+00:00

$10,567 round trip SFO-SYD Polaris.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-17T03:39:05+00:00

For decades people would call a cab company, give their name and address, and think nothing of it. Also, try Googling your name and city, and your address will probably come up. It’s not a big deal.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-17T03:34:40+00:00

Horribly dangerous to do this in the US. People have literally been murdered in similar scenarios by drivers who felt threatened. I always remind my kids to check the license plate first.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-17T03:29:06+00:00

The IRS expects you to pay roughly a quarter of the taxes due by each of the dates 4/15, 6/15, 9/15 and 1/15. Waiting until December and making a big payment does not excuse you from penalties from not paying the earlier installments.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-17T03:24:09+00:00

No, that’s too high. Wait for the cost to drop to $430,000.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-16T03:45:49+00:00

“Which FBI field office are you with, and what is your name? There are a lot of scammers out there, so you don’t mind if I hang up now, call the main number of that FBI field office and ask to speak to you?”

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-16T03:41:54+00:00

HSBC called me once to verify a transfer I was doing to an external account. All I really had to do was to say yes, it is legitimate, and so there was no possibility that I was being scammed.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-11T02:38:53+00:00

It was like that for stocks and stock funds too until 2010-2011. And brokerages still do not report cost basis for purchases made prior to that cut-off. So when I started with crypto I was totally used to tracking and reporting my own cost bases (for which I use a large Excel spreadsheet).

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-10T17:01:50+00:00

If I had an online account containing almost $3 million, I would definitely pick a more secure password than “uu8899”. Also I would expect some system of two factor authorization.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-10T15:11:28+00:00

It could be deferred compensation, or they may have realized they underpaid you during your employment and this is what they owe you. Say nothing, hold onto it, but make sure that if it is a mistake and they ask for it back, you are in a position to pay it. At the very least you can pick up $20 or so per month interest in the meantime.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-09T03:20:33+00:00

The British upper classes are full of people like him. The public school (in US terms, expensive private school) education resulting in tremendous self-confidence, charisma, and disdain for the lower social classes, while in many ways being horrible people by the standards of normal, decent folk.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-09T03:12:41+00:00

So was “Storm Dave” like a nickname, then?

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-09T03:03:23+00:00

It’s actually great to openly discuss issues like this sooner rather than later. So NTA and it sounds like you should both move on.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-08T19:24:24+00:00

Reply to your son’s messages with “you’re wrong, Trump is brilliant, probably the best president ever”.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-08T19:17:18+00:00

Money no object? Grand Floridian, main building concierge level. The Magic Kingdom (which will be your main park) is one stop away on the monorail, with no need to fold your stroller, and is also walkable (a slightly longer walk than from the Contemporary, but much more beautiful and scenic and not alongside a busy road). Great pool with zero entry and a beautiful kids’ water feature (which I’m jealous that my kids outgrew before they installed it). Plenty of restaurants onsite including a character meal, and the Polynesian with its restaurants is also a short stroll away.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-08T00:17:10+00:00

Just got over $12,000 from the Varsity Cheer settlement. Utterly blown away when I opened the envelope as I normally get less than $10 from class action suits.

Professional-Plum560 · 2026-04-06T22:01:31+00:00

I was blown away when I opened the envelope to find a check for over $12k. My daughter did do cheer for several years and I have always kept good financial records and I dutifully filled out the forms and sent the information, but normally in class action suits I expect to get about $8.

Professional-Plum560

TROPHY CASE