China has created 57,000 scam URLs to get our credit card numbers?

Photo above - TEMU is not a scam. Neither is Alibaba or Tencent. They will sue you if you put up a social media post saying they are a scam. And they have 72,365 posts - with pictures - shouting "Temu is not a scam!!" The photo above was NOT included in the Tsunami of official "we're not a scam" links.

I get variations on the following text message all the time: “You have an unpaid toll in the amount of $25. Please visit the fake URL in this message and give us your credit card number. If you don’t, you will go to jail forever.”

At first I thought it was the stoner teens in the apartment below mine. I caught them trying to steal my EZ pass once. Their mom gave me $10 to forget about it and had them wash my car as punishment. They are still pi$$ed about that. Then I read more about this unpaid toll scam (in the link below).

It seems that Chinese (not a) scam artists have created 57,000 fake URL sites to power this (not a) scam. That we know of. There could be more. In fact, they’re creating more URL's every day. Evidently AI is on the job. Good to know that AI is capable of doing more than a 5th grader's homework.

How do we know these are Chinese created URLs? Because they all trace back to just two companies: Tencent and Alibaba. What’s Alibaba? Imagine if Amazon mated with Nvidia. E commerce and AI. It’s founder, Jack Ma, famously disappeared into the Chinese prison system for about 6 months. When he emerged, Alibaba continued to grow exponentially. Evidently new partners had come on board. Same deal with Tencent.

The Chinese government owns shares in Alibaba, Tencent, and other tech companies, usually involving a holding known as "special management shares". This gives China's Communist Party rights over certain business decisions.

Imagine the Trump administration and CIA controlling Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Your suspicion level would reach 2 million degrees instantly, right? That’s the relationship between China’s Chairman Xi Jinping, and those 57,000 (not a) scam URLs trying to get your credit card number.

Articles like the Cyberscoop piece below are getting the word out. Soon enough, the only people falling for this (not a) scam will be the ones who open and read the those Nigerian Prince emails, and the ones saying “please use Zelle to send $500 to your grandson in jail, or we will keep him here forever. Or prepaid debit cards in the amount of $50 each. That will work, too.”

It may seem harmless enough if it’s just your elderly grandparents getting scammed out of their life savings, but we’re supposed to inherit that money someday. China wants it first. They're having a recession.

After the unpaid toll thing peters out, there will probably 57,000 more URLS created for variations like: unpaid medical insurance deductibles; past due water bills; dog licenses; contributions to the firefighter's fund, and some girl who fell down a well in Wuhan.

I’m not saying all these Chinese government approved fake URLs are more important than threats to invade Taiwan, or the non-stop attempts to explore the weak points in America's electric grid, water supply, banking system, cellular and cable networks.

But the People's Republic of China probably should NOT be trusted with your credit card number, social security number, home telephone, email address, street address, date of birth, mother's maiden name, or even the name of your first pet. Any time or, anywhere.

I’m just sayin’ . .

Who is sending those scammy text messages about unpaid tolls? | CyberScoop