India- scam capital of the world.
My 85 year old dad lost his life savings, his house, everything several years ago from scammers on Facebook. He was very naive about the internet and these pieces of rat filth smoothed him over for about a year, made him feel like they were best friends then started hitting up for money, then had him “invest” in a business.
They had him so utterly convinced, the way we found out is one day out of the blue he announced he was flying to Ghana because he’s involved in a gold business and I knew IMMEDIATELY what it was, that it was a scam, I went bananas, they took him for everything, he even took my moms 401K and gave that away.
And if that wasn’t bad enough I then found out he took out a second mortage gave that away, in total he gave away at least a million bucks, lost his house, they had to move in with me and get this: later on we found out they couldn’t sue billionaire Dork Zuckerturd - the guy who gave us the Biden Presidency - due to the ironically named Section 230 of the Communications decency act, the stupid law Trump wanted to get rid of, the law that protects Zuckerturd while tens of thousands continue to get scammed through Facebook every year and to this day Facebook still allows people to create fake accounts.
With all the news now about these scams, it’s hard to believe that people fall for this. But it seems they do.
Amazing that so many people are that stupidly gullible.
My BIL had $5,000 taken from his checking account via a fraudulent online withdrawal last year. The bank fraud department alerted on it as soon as it happened, froze the account, and was able to claw back the money.
The local bank manager in our small town bent over backwards to help. He said that, after the bank corp investigation, they concluded that it was an inside job.
Thankfully, I never had a personal retirement fund, and I wouldn’t be stupid enough to become a victim of criminals. I worked in uniform in NY State’s prison system for 25 years, and trust no one. I have Verizon’s call filter on my cell phone, and it’s set to ring, only when someone in my contact list calls. All other callers are out of luck and are silenced and blocked.
Real business is conducted through the US mail. And the penalties for mail fraud are pretty severe. I trust a postmarked letter.
If I get a return call from a human. I just say no thanks and HANG UP. Unlike my wife, I don't give them the time to explain their product/service. If a smooth telemarketer, they can get you sucked into their spiel. NO THANKS, and hang up.
I have an answering machine plus my landline phone can block numbers
Are you telling me that the FBI just recently became aware of this scam? This has been going on for a very long time and there are thousands of Youtube videos by anti-scammers messing with these India based scam call centers. I wonder, does the FBI know that President Kennedy was assassinated?
Too bad there isn’t a button on a cell phone that replicates slamming down the phone, like in the old days of hard lines and dial phones. I’m sure I would use that quite a bit, Although most of the time I don’t even answer. But sometimes it is fun to answer the phone and talk to a scammer And then give them hell.
Just ignore and delete anything that involves your money.
High-tech version of the old Bank Examiner con, which goes back to long before AI or the internet.
Excellent article.
There are good folks on YouTube who make it their business to call these scam centers, and tie up their phone lines. It’s known as call-flooding.
Why can’t the federal government do something similar, but on a larger scale? It’s wouldn’t cost much, and would do much good.
I don’t answer the phone or the door. I don’t trust anyone unless I know them or who they are. Noone. No exceptions. Too much at stake now in this digital device age.
Why a vocoder? Recordings are of a woman's voice with a Midwest intonation. Perfect for seniors with hearing problems, the pitch range is perfect.
How to foil? After the first "Hello" or question, challenge them: my favorite is to ask "what is three plus five". Use your own challenge, and be creative. Real humans will react; the button pushers usually don't have an answer pre-recorded.
We need people like Jason Statham in the movie “Beekeeper”
With the amount I’ll receive for iretirement funds I can cash it in a parking meter.
So the feebs have known about this scam for months,
why is it still in operation?
Hang up the phone, do not open e mail.
I never answer my phone. I don’t forward things because scammers can walk them back, looking for suckers who forward things without verifying whether it is true. IOW people who follow directions mindlessly.