The internet is missing something like Amazon for woodworking plans. There should be a site that hosts plans from various authors and has reviews from people who have purchased the product. There are plenty of tiny sites, but no master collection.
That allows scammers like Ted’s Woodworking to step in. They have collected some freely available plans, stolen a bunch of plans that they don’t own, and then packaged it all up into one bundle that you pay for. It’s sad and frustrating that these guys can somehow get away with this. Many of the major wood magazines have done articles about this being a scam, but I’ll do my part by announcing it here too. Here’s a great article showing all the companies that Ted has stolen from and Steve Ramsey has an older video about it. This has been going on for a very long time.
If you’re looking for great plans, check out these sites which have a mix of free and paid plans:
There is so much awesome content out there, and much of it is free anyway. Don’t perpetuate the scams.
Debit Card Scam
But for some reason, phone calls can be a bit trickier. Yesterday I got a call saying that my debit card had been locked and I needed to unlock it. We had a little goofiness going on with our bank account yesterday anyway so this was completely plausible. “Press 1 to talk to someone about this.” Ok, I did that. “Please enter your 16 digit debit card number so we can look up your account.” Umm… red flag. It was getting weird. So I hung up, turned my card over, and I called the number on the back. I asked if my card was locked and if they had just called me. Nope.
Don’t ever believe someone coming to you acting in a position of authority and asking you for information. ALWAYS verify their identity independently first by contacting them through the officially documented channels. If it is legit, you’ll be able to do it. And if they try to push you into just believing them, that’s even more reason to be wary. If they’re legit then they will almost certainly comply. For example, I had a call from Visa telling me that my card was stolen and they started asking for personal information. I stopped the guy, asked for his extension and told him I’d call him back. I called the number on the back of the card, punched in his extension, and got right back to him. Identify verified (and he was impressed with the extra check.)
You only have to screw up once to get in a mess.