Tag Cashless

Reverse Engineering the National Pastime

Michael 2 Comments

If I read all the schedules right and didn’t miss anyplace, by the end of today all of the Major League Baseball teams will have hosted their season home openers. Barring rain delays. Or snow. Or CoViD. Yes, that new wrinkle for this time, game called on account of CoViD is a real thing. Last Thursday while much of the league was holding opening days somewhere, the Washington Nationals 2021 premiere was delayed until Monday, which was then further delayed due to an outbreak of infections on the squad and the ongoing contact tracing. All this was going on while a half of a country away the Texas Rangers were welcoming a sellout crowd of 38,238 people. (I suppose I could also call this post Alternate Facts and the National Pastime. You remember Alternate Facts. The Texas Rangers stadium actually holds 40,518 but according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the 38,000 attendance figure was “considered a sellout.” At least it wasn’t described as “the largest crowd to ever witness a baseball game  – period.” ) (Hmm) (Now, where was I?)

The rest of the league is probably hoping for a season somewhere in between. At my local MLB outlet, the ball club is planning to welcome 8,000 to 9,000 fans, representing 25% capacity of its stadium, to a contactless, cashless, experience. (In Pittsburgh in April they should be hoping for a snowless experience also but that’s a post for another day.) Contactless experiences are no longer unexpected. Tickets are electronically delivered and optically scanned using a smart phone app, kiosk type food and souvenir stands will not be present on concourses, and food services including in luxury boxes will eschew buffet and hand packed selections for pre-wrapped and canned beverage choices. That takes care of the contactless, but cashless. Apparently, no outlets in the stadium will accept cash including the parking concessions. To handle the possibility that someone might wonder into the ballpark with a pocketful of bills to trade for hot dogs and pennants there is a solution.

What might be well known to others hit me as a completely new idea – the “Reverse ATM” dispenser. In the event somebody does not have a credit or debit card, machines will be available to accept cash and dispense pre-paid Visa cards.

I’m not too proud to admit my first opening day baseball game was so long ago I also went without a pocketful of bills to trade them for hot dogs and my personal ball game weakness, peanuts. I did have a pocketful of quarters though and I still got change in return.

Reverse ATM machines. I wonder how Leo Durocher would describe them.

BaseballInMasks

From 1919 baseball when ballplayers weren’t so concerned about what they looked like as long as they could play.

Who’s Calling Please

Michael 2 Comments
Happy Veterans Day. I would have come on sooner with that but there is no death of greetings for veterans in early November. Everybody wants to thank somebody for his or her service. Personally as a veteran myself I’d rather we also be remembered in February or June or whenever I’m struggling across the supermarket parking lot with a cartful than everybody figuring they’ve done their duty for those who did their duty by offering an extra 11% off (with valid ID) on the second Monday of November.
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What I really want to write about today is a new twist on an old scam that is making its way around the globe thanks to our reluctance as a society you to reconsider using real money now and then. But before we get to that I want to mention two other things I read in the past week that tie these pieces together like a granny knot that’s been caught in the rain over a 3 day weekend.
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In a recent “letter to the editor” in a national magazine in response to an article on phone scams, the writer seemed quite proud that he never answers his phone without knowing who is on the other end. If it’s important they’ll leave a message. On land line phones this is aided by the use of real Caller ID assuming the caller and the ID actually match (stay tuned). Anybody with a cell phone, which is just about the same as saying everybody in the the known world and probably most of the unknown other worlds  know there is no such thing as real Caller ID on a cell phone. Rather we only “know” who is calling if the caller is in our personal contacts list. Why on a system where you can send text and data, transfer money, and even make video calls can no one figure out how to identify who is on the other end of that signal? Well for whatever reason, the writer does not answer a call unless he can identify the caller and encourages everybody else to do the same.
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In another issue of that same magazine there appeared an article on how to avoid fraudulent phone calls. It was actually subtitled “How to detect and defeat the latest phone fraud.” In my opinion that was a little fraudulent. The article explained how with currently available low priced and even free apps anybody can alter their phone number to make it appear to the reciever as any number the caller chooses, even the receiver’s number. This is called “spoofing.” Their recommendation for “defeating” this fraudulent practice is to assume no number you see on your screen is the actual number of the caller. I’m not sure who just got defeated but yeah, sure, that will show them a thing or two!
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Now, let’s put those two thoughts together. The user says to not answer any call from any number you don’t recognize. If it is important they will leave a message. The expert says to assume every call is from an unidentified source and a potential scam, even if you recognize the number. Ergo, nobody answer any call! Instead, check your voicemail each time the phone rings. If it was important, there will be a message. If it is a voice you recognize and can identify, you can call him or her back but knowing that person will likewise screen all calls, expect to leave a message which may or may not be listened to. It is very possible this can instigate a world record attempt at the longest game of phone tag but nobody will ever know because nobody will take the call from the Guiness people because nobody knows their number nor for sure if they are them.
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imagesSo where was all this going? Oh yes, the new scam. But first, a question. Do you have a Zelle account? A more pertinent question, do you know if you have a Zelle account? Zelle is a money transfer system used by almost every bank in the U.S. Interestingly, if you have installed your bank’s mobile app on your phone you almost certainly have a Zelle account whether or not you know it or want it. It’s just waiting to be activated. And there is the next biggest scam we’ll not hear about until some Senator’s son is duped into losing his allowance.
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The scammer using an already available low priced or even free app calls you after having spoofed your bank’s phone number. You answer because you recognize that number and you are told it is the bank fraud department calling because they noticed unusual activity on your account. Don’t, they say, give them your account login or password, just confirm if these were your charges and rattle off a couple obvious non-purchases. Of course they aren’t yours and you say so. Good, they say, they can take care of this. You are told to open the bank app, again reminded to not give them your login or password. Once you have the app open they will text you a verification code to enter on the login page. At that point they begin to change your user ID and password, open the Zelle account and transfer your balance to a disposable phone which is then discarded as soon as they re-transfer your money to their account. Because you entered the code on your own device, the bank does not act on it as being potential fraud. They will email or text you a notice that your user ID and/or password had been changed. You may not even get that notice if the scammers took the extra time to change your contact information. Even if they did not, Zelle transfers happen so quickly, by the time you would contact your back to inform them that you did not change your user ID and/or password it will be too late.
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Moral of the story. Check your accounts and even if you never asked for it, see if you were enrolled in Zelle, and anything else, “automatically for your convenience.” If you are planning to use it, set it up yourself then lock it.  If you aren’t going to be using it, ask if it can be removed from your service package or at least locked from being activated.
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And maybe make a note of the Guiness record people’s phone number and start screening your calls. Just in case.
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