Email & text scams

My next door neighbour lost her husband two weeks ago.  We are good friends.  I speak with her every day, usually more than once.  She's a lovely lady.  This morning, I got this email from her:

Hello

I'm unable to speak over the phone due to a serious throat pain caused by laryngitis. Hope this finds you well. Please let me know when you get this I'd like to ask you for a favor

Kind regards

It came from her email, but I responded as it didn't look like her verbiage and I thought it was a fraud.  I emailed, "can I come over",  and got this back:

Thanks for responding I have been trying to purchase my medication online but it requires payment with apple gift card I tried getting the cards here but the stores are out of stock please I need you to help me purchase a gift card and send it to me I will personally pay you back please get back to me if you can handle this so I can tell you the amount 

(no periods at the end of sentences and a running text and apple gift card to buy meds???)

First of all, my neighbour would never send an email to me, she texts, or calls.  She was fine yesterday.  I immediately phoned her about the email but I wasn't the first to call.  She had already put a message on Facebook.   Then another neighbour came to the door and he'd been conversing with this scammer.  He believed it!  

I am Block Watch Captain of our strata and have everyone in our strata's email so I sent out a quick Scam Alert!   The neighbour who the email was sent to is my Block Watch Co-Captain so I'm seeing a little humour in this.  I always try to find a little humour in everything.

It's not funny and I hope no one falls for it.  She's been having a difficult time and this is the last thing she needs.  Our strata is like a family and everyone is so kind and has been so lovely to her.   She came over yesterday and we shared some wine.  She's had trouble with her cable box.  She got an email from Shaw asking how their service was.  As her husband was in hospice, she answered, "had to cancel my appointment, etc.".  The email from Shaw was not from Shaw and that's how the scammer got into her email!  

I will now stop answering those "how did we do" emails!

Always beware if someone asks you to get apple gift cards.  

Last Friday, I received a text from an unknown number:

Mom I broke my phone. Message me on whatsapp to this number +1 438-225-0239 please.

I forwarded it to Cheryl and was pretty sure she didn't break her phone.   I was right, another scammer.  Who in North America puts a +1 before the area code?

That was my last four days.  Hope yours were a little less eventful!

 

Steveston

 

We moved to Steveston in 1976 and lived there for 34 years.  We had a house built in a new area because it was the cheapest place to build in Richmond.  We were two blocks from the Fraser River.  There was a busy BC Packers fish plant that when the wind blew, you knew they were canning fish.  There were sand dunes at Garry Point.  I can't believe how it's transformed in the last 40 years.  It's a destination now.  

Yesterday, we met friends I worked with at Pacific Western Airlines in Steveston.  We had a wonderful dinner at the Blue Canoe.  

We dropped in the Tram Museum on our way to the restaurant.  My cousin Gordon volunteers there, but it was his day off.  They have restored B C Electric Train Car 1220 one of the original trams that ran on the Interurban Vancouver to Steveston route from 1913 to 1958.  

The village was very busy but always fun to visit!  A lovely afternoon with long time friends.

You win some, you lose some

My brother-in-law Richard flew to Toronto to visit his brother and watch his horse race at Woodbine Racetrack.  

L - R:  Gordon, Richard & Andrew

After her awesome race last month, we were hoping for the best.  She was a favorite.  There were 10 horses in this race.  When the race started she was by the rail and coming in first.  Near the end, something happened and she slowed right down.  Richard said when the jockey knew she wouldn't win, he pulled her back.  Apparently they do that.

I was worried she was hurt, but she's okay.  One good thing about these horse owners, they will never race her unless she is 100%.  If she had a sore leg, some owners will inject the animals with drugs so they will still run.  There is no way the trainer or owners will ever force her to run if she's got a problem or drug her and make her race.

Race #7 May 18 Woodbine

I look forward to her next race.

Mt. St. Helen's - 44 years ago!

Before                                                                After

 Footage of the explosion

On May 18, 1980, Washington's Mount St. Helens erupted in a cataclysmic blast that left 57 people dead and an area the size of Chicago completely devastated. It was 327 KMs away from where we lived. We were sleeping and it woke us up! We did get some ash, but nothing much compared to other communities.

Big Bang Theory/Young Shelton/Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage

We loved watching The Big Bang Theory.  Rarely do spin offs become hits, but after the Big Bang Theory, the writers created a spin off series, Young Sheldon.  It was the story of the childhood of the lead character on the Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper.

Missy, Sheldon and Georgie Cooper
7 years of filming, they all grew up

Over the 12 years of the Big Bang Theory, they would bring the siblings into the storyline.  It was interesting how different they were.  In the Big Bang Theory, Sheldon's mother was played by Laurie Metcalf.  When they cast Young Sheldon they casted Laurie Metcalf's daughter, Zoe Perry. 

The writers did an excellent job of showing young Sheldon's unique personality and how he became the man he was on the Big Bang Theory.  His siblings were all different and they came from a loving home.  His father died the year he got accepted to California Institute of Technology on the Young Sheldon finale.  The death of his father was expected if you watched Big Bang.  It brought back a lot of memories for me as I lost my dad about the same time in my life.  

Last night they went full circle on the finale of Young Sheldon,  They brought in an older Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons and his wife, Amy Farah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik.  It was years after Big Bang Theory ended.  They now have a son called Leonard, the roommate Sheldon had before he married Amy Farah Fowler.

The writers on these two series are excellent.  Both series have won numerous awards. They announced last night another spin off series, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage.  If it's as good as the other two, we have another great show it to watch in the fall.

Airline Seating

I'm old enough to remember when you could actually sit comfortably in an economy seat.  I'm 5"9" and my husband is 6'5".  I never book a flight without finding the aircraft type and going on Seat Guru to check out the legroom and pick a decent seat.  If you've never checked it out, it will tell you good and bad seats.  It also gives the legroom and seats to avoid.  

https://www.seatguru.com/findseatmap/findseatmap.php

Cruise ship problems

On April 26th the Radiance of the Seas was scheduled to depart to Alaska from Vancouver for a 7 night voyage on its first sailing for 2024.  All the passengers boarded on Friday and then Saturday afternoon they were told the cruise was cancelled.  They could stay on the ship in the Port of Vancouver until Sunday afternoon to make arrangements to return home, or organize a different vacation from Vancouver.  The ship had an issue with the ship's propulsion.  The ship was repaired in Vancouver and the next sailing departed on schedule.

Royal Caribbean gave them their money back as onboard credit with any remaining amount refunded, increased their future cruise credit to 100% of their fare and kept its open-bar policy for the remaining time on board. The line also offered to reimburse trip change fees up to $250 for guests traveling domestically and $400 for international travel and additional reimbursements for hotel and transportation costs, among other compensation.

On Saturday, my friend was scheduled to board the Sapphire Princess for a 14 day cruise to Alaska from Vancouver.  At 5:30 AM Saturday morning, I got an emergency email from Princess asking me to contact my client and tell him "boarding will now be at 3:00 PM, do not come earlier"!  He lives in Vancouver, no problem. 

On Saturday my friend Pina was at the Port of Vancouver and watched the Sapphire Princess get towed into port!  Passengers disembarked at noon and the new cruisers started boarding at 3:00 PM.  They left at midnight, going very slow.  They have propulsion problems too! 

I got an email from the passenger on board that stated:  

Hi Linda: new itinerary;

14 May, Juneau ~3-10 pm; 15 May, Skagway; 16 May, cancelled Glacier Bay; 18 May, Whittier.

"you will receive a 75% refund of the cruise or cruise tour fare you paid along with a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) of 75%   of the cruise or cruise tour fare.... adjustments to taxes, fees, and port expenses ..." for North Bound portion only.

I know if passengers have travelled a long way, they compensate for travel on a case by case basis.  This looks to me like fair compensation.  They are getting 7 days of meals, entertainment and activities.  They missed Ketchikan and Glacier Bay.  Very upsetting for people who have travelled a long way.  They are repairing the ship enroute to Alaska and let's hope it's repaired for the trip south.  

The reason it did sail northbound is there are a lot of passengers onboard have a cruise tour booked when they reach Alaska.  There are also many people ready to board on Saturday who have done a cruise tour who are looking forward to a 7 day cruise southbound.  

I've been on ships that have missed ports because of weather and my attitude is, enjoy the ship, it's going to be a glorious day at sea.  I hope the passengers make the best of an unfortunate situation.