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81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

q13fox.com

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Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#41

Post by andyjohnson0 »

forgetsusername wrote: post #5

>" targets nearly 300,000 Americans a year, most of them elderly, and has enticed them to send an estimated $300 million annually " In this case, the scammers took advantage of an elderly man, inflicted with Alzheimer's and diminishing mental capacity. Sad. But that can't be the case for the majority. How on earth do "normal" people fall for this? I can see, maybe , when the internet was young and this was new. But i…

"How on earth do "normal" people fall for this?"

They don't have to convince everybody, just enough people to make it worthwhile. With third-world wages and cheap internet telephony, that number is surprisingly small. Some (but not many) people are just lonely/trusting/deluded.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#42

Post by arbitrage »

b3lvedere wrote: post #29
goodJobWalrus wrote: post #25

Does anyone know what happens to the people when they get old, so they become gullible? Is there some physiological mechanism, or is it just that older people are less sophisticated about those issues?

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. Peop…

That's an offensively trite and simplified viewpoint on a very complicated and heartbreaking topic.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#43

Post by vijayr »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #38
new299 wrote: post #31

Here's what I did to stop various scammers calling, I talked to them endlessly. They seem to almost never hang up, they'll just keep going and going. So I was bored one day and decided to see how the scam played out: http://41j.com/blog/2015/08/phonecall-from-a-scammer/ They did call again, I picked them up on the fact that it was a scam and asked them how they justify their actions to themselves and ask questions ab…

I once kept a "Microsoft tech support" scammer [1] on the phone for over 30 minutes while I pretended to download and install some bit of malware he was trying to foist on me. When he finally realised what I was doing, I owned-up and politely asked why he was trying to rob me. He gave a loud scream of what sounded like pure frustration and hung up. I was laughing so hard I almost passed-out. [1] https://en.wikipedia.…

haha, one of my colleagues used to do it. somehow his phone number ended up on these lists and he used to get 2-3 calls a month, at work. Everytime he got a call he would ask us to be quiet (we have an open office) and then the fun would start - this colleague was so good in playing dumb, it was super entertaining. One day he got tired and asked the scammer if he would like to learn programming and that he was willing to teach if he wanted to learn. Nothing much came out of it but the calls stopped after that. Fun times.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#44

Post by saint_fiasco »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #33
hippo8 wrote: post #24

Since the NSA is by default monitoring calls, I wonder why they cant do anything about this? (:p)

With all the data they have and considering the degree to which they have violated our privacy, it's a shame they do so little with it.

And they are calls from foreigners, to boot. They may not even need to ask the secret courts for permission to record those.

Even the metadata, which they definitely collect, would be very useful.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#45

Post by V-2 »

"The Jamaican lottery scam is a cruel, persistent and sophisticated scam that has victimized seniors throughout the nation"

What's so sophisticated about it? Honest question. Seems like the oldest trick in the book, as primitive and crude as scams only get. One that couldn't possibly work against anyone but most senile people. It's a sad story, I'm just missing the "sophistication" element.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#46

Post by andyjohnson0 »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #39

In Indonesia, a particular scam is calling people (esp. parents) very early in the morning, when people are still sleeping, "We're cops. Your son/daughter is arrested for drugs possession. Send us lots of money NOW or we'll send him/her to jail." followed by what sounds like someone crying in the background. Since you're barely awake, and your son/daughter is indeed away (eg. on night shift or staying with friends),…

" how do they know the relationship of the victims"

Probably they don't. If the victim says "but I don't have a son" they just hang-up. Scattershot approach, not targeted.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#47

Post by adekok »

goodJobWalrus wrote: post #25

Does anyone know what happens to the people when they get old, so they become gullible? Is there some physiological mechanism, or is it just that older people are less sophisticated about those issues?

As you get older, you lose some discrimination ability.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#48

Post by avar »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #39

In Indonesia, a particular scam is calling people (esp. parents) very early in the morning, when people are still sleeping, "We're cops. Your son/daughter is arrested for drugs possession. Send us lots of money NOW or we'll send him/her to jail." followed by what sounds like someone crying in the background. Since you're barely awake, and your son/daughter is indeed away (eg. on night shift or staying with friends),…

Why would they need to know? The could just call people (of a suitable age? I don't know if Indonesia has an accessibly census + phone database) and hope for a hit.

Re: 81-year-old man driven to death by phone scammers

#50

Post by adekok »

Once the relatives get wind of this, there is a simple solution. Get a new phone number for the person in question. And even more critical don't cancel the old one.

Put an answering machine on the old one, and have a "safe" relative check it every other day or so. Give the new phone number to family and friends.

After a few weeks of getting nothing but answering machine messages, the scammers will go away.

If the old number has been cancelled, the scammers know you're on to them. And look for the new number. If the old number still works, they won't look for a new number. Mostly.

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