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More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

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Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#11

Post by _yb2s »

lupire wrote: post #8
_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

Here's how it works, in scams and high pressure sales: 1. Victim suspects scam 2. Victim recognizes the presence of predator. 3. Victim gets scared. 4. Victim tried to maintain composure, but can't think of a way to escape the situation without the predator pursuing. 5. Victim appeases predator because they fear all the terrible things this predator might do, as the predator has no morality and the victim's civilizat…

Why would they be afraid of a random stranger on whatsapp?

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#12

Post by varispeed »

lupire wrote: post #8
_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

Here's how it works, in scams and high pressure sales: 1. Victim suspects scam 2. Victim recognizes the presence of predator. 3. Victim gets scared. 4. Victim tried to maintain composure, but can't think of a way to escape the situation without the predator pursuing. 5. Victim appeases predator because they fear all the terrible things this predator might do, as the predator has no morality and the victim's civilizat…

This also works where police abandoned the victims. They feel they'll have no recourse if scammer escalates and becomes violent, so they rationalise that giving in to the scam will be cheaper and less stressful than going to the police and potentially putting their life at risk.

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#13

Post by varispeed »

psychlops wrote: post #2

"The fraudsters also registered nearly 100 phone numbers using false identities." Is it really a WhatsApp scheme? I thought the purpose of phone numbers now is to tie them to an actual person.

Where this is more enforced, it's not uncommon for criminals to get homeless or drug addicts to register phones using their identities.

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#14

Post by nickff »

varispeed wrote: post #12
lupire wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's how it works, in scams and high pressure sales: 1. Victim suspects scam 2. Victim recognizes the presence of predator. 3. Victim gets scared. 4. Victim tried to maintain composure, but can't think of a way to escape the situation without the predator pursuing. 5. Victim appeases predator because they fear all the terrible things this predator might do, as the predator has no morality and the victim's civilizat…

This also works where police abandoned the victims. They feel they'll have no recourse if scammer escalates and becomes violent, so they rationalise that giving in to the scam will be cheaper and less stressful than going to the police and potentially putting their life at risk.

The police are not there to protect individuals, they’re there to protect the government. This has been made abundantly clear in a number of cases where police have disclaimed any duty to citizens & residents.

Given all of that, the victims are reacting appropriately.

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#15

Post by randycupertino »

_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

> It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details.

I think elderly are more vulnerable to this, because they get scared and want to help.

My elderly mother fell victim to a "microsoft" and "paypal" technician calling her twice, despite my training her on how not to pick up the phone from these calls and going over how nobody from these companies would ever call her. She got nervous and scared and basically did whatever the scammers told her because she thought something was wrong with her computer.

Now after it's happened twice :she has been reminded not to answer any calls from number she doesn't know. But she still gets nervous she is going to miss something important from health insurance or doctors office so she is still tempted to pick up spam calls.

It's tough, no matter how much I train her she will still want to answer and "help" the scammer. They keep doing this because it works.

I need to just lock her phone down so all callers not in her contact list go to a voicemail I screen. :-/

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#16

Post by vladms »

nickff wrote: post #14
varispeed wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also works where police abandoned the victims. They feel they'll have no recourse if scammer escalates and becomes violent, so they rationalise that giving in to the scam will be cheaper and less stressful than going to the police and potentially putting their life at risk.

The police are not there to protect individuals, they’re there to protect the government. This has been made abundantly clear in a number of cases where police have disclaimed any duty to citizens & residents. Given all of that, the victims are reacting appropriately.

I would not generalize. Different countries have different police forces. It's true that police will reflect some of the problems of their society (either violence, racism or others), but even that might be more or less strong tendency.

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#17

Post by llamaimperative »

_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

It’s hard to understand that there are some people who aren’t as cautious or vigilant or tech-savvy or self-confident as (or far more self-confident than) yourself?

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#18

Post by guestbest »

randycupertino wrote: post #15
_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

> It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I think elderly are more vulnerable to this, because they get scared and want to help. My elderly mother fell victim to a "microsoft" and "paypal" technician calling her twice, despite my tra…

You need to be her call screener

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#19

Post by hibikir »

_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

There are similar versions of the scam aiming at companies, as the CEO needs money wired to him as part of a secret acquisition of some sort. There's training trying to target this vector specifically, as the amounts are huge, but it also means more efforts can be made to be more realistic: Getting plenty of pictures and entire voice interviews from many CEOs is trivial. You can imagine how hard one can go crafting a fake message.

It's not unlike people entering their credentials where they shouldn't. I've worked at a company you know about, where we had an expert in-house phisher. Her best attempt managed to get 50% of credentials... when targeting the security team itself!

So yes, any attack that pulls on the right emotional levers will work on all kinds of people.

Re: More than 100 arrested in Spain in $900k WhatsApp scheme

#20

Post by chaostheory »

_yb2s wrote: post #6

It’s hard to understand how someone could fall for this scam… if a loved one was having an emergency of some kind I would expect them to call rather than text, and I would respond with a call either way to discuss the details. I’m also generally leery of people “urgently needing money.” It seems like something a scammer would do, and I couldn’t see any of my family members doing it. Maybe I’m a jerk, but I’d be more…

Onset of dementia can help you become prone to scams like this. Most victims are elderly.

It’s not a guarantee for avoiding dementia, but doing heavy cardio regularly before you hit old age might help mitigate it.

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