11–20 of 117 posts
I'm sure most of the scammers are actually stupid and the fact that their stupidity works for them in this case is just luck.
Best to assume they are sophisticated though. Some are gangs/organisations. They can get pretty professional.
The article misses one of the most common misspelling reason: getting thru Bayesian filters. It has more to do with tech and less with psychology.
This is especially relevant to your point because facebook could EASILY be flagging people based on known pasta messages, for review or shadowbanning etc. They presumably don't do this because "not my problem".
1.Actually the experience of someone I know who's turned screwing with scammers into a personal hobby, who frequently shares notes on this with me.
this idea has been kicking around for a long time, and sounds nice, but is there any data to support it? A lot of the most visible misspelling seems designed to avoid spam filter detection.
I was wondering that recently. But I don't know -- I feel like they'd catch even the discerning people if they did a better job of it. Why don't they exactly replicate what a Google or Chase email looks like? I don't see how I wouldn't fall for that.
Savvy users who will become wise to the grift somewhere along the way are the ones they want to weed out. Early in the process ideally.
Having totally convincing emails fails to weed out these savvy users - you get to discover who they are a bit further down the line, after you've invested some time.
Since their time they can spend is finite, they want to only spend time on sure bets. This is why it is important to take a few moments to lead on scammers - you're damaging their ROI the more of their time you can take up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Best to assume they are sophisticated though. Some are gangs/organisations. They can get pretty professional.
Just because they're organized doesn't mean they aren't incompetent in other aspects of what they do. There are plenty of dumb organized criminals sitting in prisons.
The scammers I've talked to are often dumb as rocks. And probably are not the primary beneficiaries of the grift.
I was wondering that recently. But I don't know -- I feel like they'd catch even the discerning people if they did a better job of it. Why don't they exactly replicate what a Google or Chase email looks like? I don't see how I wouldn't fall for that.
Think of it this way: Savvy users who will become wise to the grift somewhere along the way are the ones they want to weed out. Early in the process ideally. Having totally convincing emails fails to weed out these savvy users - you get to discover who they are a bit further down the line, after you've invested some time. Since their time they can spend is finite, they want to only spend time on sure bets. This is wh…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhdZ2RfmiXo&list=PL4ugKP-T4L...
I would think they do know exactly what they're doing. There's no reason to think it's just to get past email filters or just to skip the smart people. It's probably both, plus other reasons we haven't even thought of.
I'm sure most of the scammers are actually stupid and the fact that their stupidity works for them in this case is just luck.
Very smarmy line of thinking. Unfortunately on the rise in recent years. We are all vulnerable to scams and victim blaming doesn’t help the conversation any.