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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]

#281

Post by blululu »

guhcampos wrote: post #242
JaDogg wrote: post #116

Kudos to Kitboga! But let's really think about it, isn't it true that most things in the world are some form of a scam? Growing up in a poor country, I've realized that scams are everywhere, right from the day you start school: 1) Parents resort to scamming the school hiring board using fake addresses just to enroll their children in a good school. 2) In the early years, students learn how to cheat in exams to surviv…

Are you Brazilian? That sounds like home lol. Some of these are arguably "victimless crimes" - like cheating at the school. Yet I agree that the constant exposure to moral failure may lead to desensitizing people of morality.

Cheating in school is not a victimless crime. Universities offer admission and scholarship based upon your ranking relative to your peers. If you cheat and get a better grade, someone else is bumped down a rank through your dishonesty.

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

#282

Post by michael_vo »

corbezzoli wrote: post #125
michael_vo wrote: post #50

There should be a software product that protects our elderly by watching their bank accounts and listens to their phone calls. It’s so clearly a scam.

For better or for worse, the category of “software that silently listens in on calls” is non-existent due to OS limitations. Generally sounds like a lot of work and computation for a very rare situation. Lowtech solutions would just be taking the (bank) key away from the elders, just like they’d hide my grandpa’s literal car keys when he was 70 with dementia.

Yea I don’t think this is a technical challenge but a way of convincing people that the all knowing robots aren’t also spying on you for other purposes.

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

#283

Post by spacechild1 »

lbrito wrote: post #276
spacechild1 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but there is no logical reason to assume the proportion of scammers in the West is any different than in other places of the world. Most tech support spam calls come from India. That's just a fact. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/tech-support-sca... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/magazine/scam-call-center...

Please look up the population of India, then re-read my comment, paying attention to one word in particular: proportion.

Even when taking population size into account, India is still vastly overrepresented compared to other countries.

Of course, tech support scams are just one particular kind of scam. Nobody is arguing that India has the largest percentage of scammers in general.

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

#284

Post by muzani »

hattmall wrote: post #170
lstamour wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Stanford Prison Experiment reveals a lot about decent people being easily manipulated - and by that I mean the whole thing has since been revealed as fraudulent: https://www.vox.com/2018/6/13/17449118/stanford-prison-exper...

Were these studies never replicated?

The effect happens all the time in MMOs and something like Reddit.

I think a lot of these classic experiments are hard to replicate because the people who sign up for psychological experiments know what behavior to avoid.

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

#285

Post by cushpush »

arcticbull wrote: post #273
rpmisms wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assembler does what you tell it. CSS is like trying to build a pile of angry turtles.

peter_griffin_css_blinds.gif This is a very apt description of dealing with CSS. And each time a new feature launches your job is to stack the turtles one level higher.

display: flex;

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

#286

Post by cushpush »

Love Kitboga and this video had me in peels. The fact that this maze thing has actually become something that can inform people who were plagued by scammers is actually really heartening, and reminds me of Paul Graham's words that the best way to get great startup ideas is to work on fun stuff -- Maybe Kitboga has discovered a new avenue for antifraud

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

#287

Post by knubie »

sumedh wrote: post #190
josu wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>low wages and high unemployment Low wages sure, but high unemployment is not correct. Most scammers seem to be based in India where unemployment is around 3%.

The low wages are not enough to live a meaningful life.

And scamming grannies out of thousands of dollars is?

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

#288

Post by rpmisms »

cushpush wrote: post #285
arcticbull wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

peter_griffin_css_blinds.gif This is a very apt description of dealing with CSS. And each time a new feature launches your job is to stack the turtles one level higher.

display: flex;

Thanks for the PTSD attack.

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

#289

Post by lobocinza »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #119
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…

Calling comcast customer support almost guarantees this happens. You call in, repeatedly ask for a representative, they will hang up on you. The only way I've reliably been able to talk to anyone to say you wish to 'Talk to a representative about cancelling my account'. TBH, I kind of dread when they start incorporating LLMs or better ai, because it will be truly impossible to speak to a human anymore.

> TBH, I kind of dread when they start incorporating LLMs or better ai, because it will be truly impossible to speak to a human anymore.

I think my bank did that as the experience looked far from the usual chat bot. I just had to say "you cannot help me I need to talk to a human".

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

#290

Post by SirMaster »

packetslave wrote: post #52
SirMaster wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought a lot of them don't even know they are running scams, and that is all coming down from the top. They are barely paid phone workers just doing scripts and doing what they are told just so they can feed their families.

"doing what they are told" is not an excuse if what you're being told to do is evil.

If they aren't smart enough to know better though.

I guess it's their fault for not being smarter, but how can you say they are evil people if they don't know that what they are doing is wrong?

I've watched some of these scammer videos and there are people working for tech support scams who think they are actually helping customers when in reality they are actually selling fake products and services for their employer, but they don't know or understand that they are fake.

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