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I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

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Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#261

Post by dghughes »

curun1r wrote: post #219
naet wrote: post #111

The part where someone waits for a super long time in a queue, finally gets connected, but then gets sent to an answering machine that says "the mailbox is full" hit too close to home. I know this was set up on purpose but I've had that exact same thing happen to me on a real & important government system recently. I've been trying to call California EDD to get some back pay for my state paid family leave. There is n…

FWIW, when I had to get in touch with EDD several years ago and had absolutely no luck calling the main number, I eventually got through with the foreign language numbers. They’re generally staffed higher in proportion to the number of callers they get. IIRC, Vietnamese was the one with the best ratio, though that may have changed in the years since I looked into it. It can be tricky to make it through the automated…

Google's Translate app on a phone may help but not all languages accept audio input.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#262

Post by gscott »

dghughes wrote: post #261
curun1r wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, when I had to get in touch with EDD several years ago and had absolutely no luck calling the main number, I eventually got through with the foreign language numbers. They’re generally staffed higher in proportion to the number of callers they get. IIRC, Vietnamese was the one with the best ratio, though that may have changed in the years since I looked into it. It can be tricky to make it through the automated…

Google's Translate app on a phone may help but not all languages accept audio input.

Usually, the foreign language number staff speak English as well.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#263

Post by john-radio »

lapetitejort wrote: post #124
chrisjc wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This situation didn't make any sense to me. Wasn't Kitboga and his team playing the part of the party being scammed? What did this lady have to do with bitcoin receipt/qr-code?

They are playing the part of the scammed. and the part of the support group helping the scammer. Kitboga got "scammed", says he went to an ATM, deposited money, and got a receipt with a QR code. The code leads to Kitboga's website and telephone service. How an innocent lady got his number isn't clear. Maybe the scammers switched receipts on accident, got frustrated, and told the lady to deal with customer service her…

I'm guessing they attempted to outsource the work of dealing with Kit's "customer support" to one of their more malleable blackmail/extortion/scam victims.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#264

Post by alwa »

monadINtop wrote: post #199
JaDogg wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they definitely believe the West stole their money. This is what you hear every day from government propaganda (based on personal experience; refer to my other comment on the original post). Breaking out of propaganda is not a simple task for any individual. While the West may have colonized these countries in the past, it is the government and corruption that are currently responsible for the theft. Moreover, p…

> I believe one of the worst outcomes of colonization is that these countries lost their monarchies and lacked a natural progression to diplomacy I think this is a very loaded and fraught perspective that ignores a large amount of context. Colonial powers generally co-opt local heirarchies and utilise the pre-existing state machinery to expediate the process of resource extraction and pacification since doing it from…

Thank you for this incredibly perspicacious comment. It’s not my area of expertise, but I just read Dingxin Zhao, writing for Noēma, observing many of the same shortcomings of considering social development through a teleological lens [0]. I’m still considering what to make of the “Daoist perspective of history” that he recommends as an alternative, but his prescription of humility sure resonated for me!

[0] https://www.noemamag.com/the-modern-wisdom-of-daoist-history...

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#265

Post by jjeaff »

naet wrote: post #173
jf wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your issues with CA EDD: Call the office of your California state assembly representative and ask for their help.

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely try that as an alternative option. I just looked up who mine was, and they had a section on their website about requesting help with EDD, so it must be something that they hear about often. I basically gave up on calling EDD directly as it's just not possible to get through. I did get through to somebody once, in probably over 200 calls, and multiple hour long holds, and it's jus…

this might not be worth it, depending on where you live, but EDD has physical offices. Where, infuriatingly, you also cannot talk to a real person. they have banks of phones you can pick up and it will dial you in to their call system. I had a family member that tried this and it seemed to fast track him to talking to a real person. My experience with EDD is that you just need to get filed into their system. they will eventually get to it whether it is an appeal or request or whatever, they take months to get back to you, but they do. even if it is because they owe you money.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#266

Post by atleastoptimal »

monadINtop wrote: post #199
JaDogg wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they definitely believe the West stole their money. This is what you hear every day from government propaganda (based on personal experience; refer to my other comment on the original post). Breaking out of propaganda is not a simple task for any individual. While the West may have colonized these countries in the past, it is the government and corruption that are currently responsible for the theft. Moreover, p…

> I believe one of the worst outcomes of colonization is that these countries lost their monarchies and lacked a natural progression to diplomacy I think this is a very loaded and fraught perspective that ignores a large amount of context. Colonial powers generally co-opt local heirarchies and utilise the pre-existing state machinery to expediate the process of resource extraction and pacification since doing it from…

It's still possible to compare former colonies and evaluate the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of their governments. Singapore is a former colony and fares very well compared to its neighbors in forming its own government.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#267

Post by qup »

015a wrote: post #176
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #48

You are all laughing, but I was just presented with an impossible captcha trying to login into my OpenAI account, that I pay $20/month for. To solve the captcha, I need to click the puzzle 80 (!) times, and if I make a mistake, I should start everything anew. That's totally not funny. Had to cancel the subscription. Anyway, Phind is faster and better quality.

I cancelled my ChatGPT+ subscription only because of their sign-in and captcha hell.

I keep signing in (to use the API) and it says my credentials expired. On my first login, immediately.

Deleting cookies doesn't change anything.

I sometimes get through and haven't figured out what's different.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#268

Post by john-radio »

digital-cygnet wrote: post #135

What I don't understand is the bit at the end (spoilers): he finds out that a person who Kraken's fraud team sees as a victim of scams, but hasn't been able to contact, has called his Gauntlet. He's then able to reach out and help her, as well as other scam victims who end up in the Gauntlet. So, three questions - 1. How do scam victims end up in the Gauntlet at all? I thought the idea was that Kitboga and his team p…

Your questions are really apt. At the end of the day, scammers like this are predators (and of course, the ones featured in these videos are just the tip of the iceberg; scamming rich westerners is a billion-dollar industry) but they are also victims, of the asymmetrical rewards of global capitalism and colonialism at least, but in a more concrete sense, a lot of them are victims of human trafficking who are being forced to work on these scams.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/cyber-scamming-new-destination...

When I was reading through kitboga's site earlier it said that they "make some light of a dark situation" which sums it up well.

Re: I trapped scammers in an impossible maze [video]

#269

Post by Isthatablackgsd »

averageRoyalty wrote: post #234
naet wrote: post #111

The part where someone waits for a super long time in a queue, finally gets connected, but then gets sent to an answering machine that says "the mailbox is full" hit too close to home. I know this was set up on purpose but I've had that exact same thing happen to me on a real & important government system recently. I've been trying to call California EDD to get some back pay for my state paid family leave. There is n…

For the literal 98% of the world who don't know these acronyms: EDD: Employment Development Department, appears to be some sort of job seeker assistance group? PFL: Paid Family Leave - Maternity/Paternity or carer style leave.

It is a state-run department that provides various services related to employment such as unemployment benefits, career development, job coaching, networking, job classes, certifications & additional services for people with disabilities.
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