Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#251

Post by ToxicMegacolon » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:39 PM UTC

faxmeyourcode wrote: post #62

These operations have to be sponsored by the state at this scale. At the bare minimum they're at least looking the other way. My grandparents are the targets for this kind of scam, and when they call their bank they get an Indian customer service rep to discuss the situation with. Absolutely disgusting that the situation has been tolerated for so long.

> These operations have to be sponsored by the state at this scale. At the bare minimum they're at least looking the other way.

Its more like 1. They don't care 2. Those who care, don't have time to work on problems of Non-Citizens when the citizens are suffering too

India is a country of almost 1.4 Billion people. That is 1 Europe + 1 North America + around 200 Million people more (figures from google search, may not be accurate)

Indian law enforcement is archaic, understaffed, and riddled with corruption. They prefer to sit on their asses all day and collect paychecks rather than working. For the select few that actually work, they have all the local issues to deal with that comes with a population of that size. They simply do not have the time to work on things that are affecting someone on the other side of the planet.

And tbh I don't blame them for putting citizen's problems over non-citizens. Thats literally what every country would do.

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#252

Post by yalogin » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:39 PM UTC

The telcos have all my info, name, ssn, address everything. They can easily prevent all of this. These spammers generate revenue for the telcos and so for them spoofing calls is a service they are providing and don’t want to remove that “feature”

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#253

Post by aravindgp » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:39 PM UTC

All telcos in don't allow number spoofing. No matter what is your requirement. Indian telcos don't allow for number spoofing. The same rules must be implemented in every country, it's just ridiculous that in this day and age open robbery using telephone is still being allowed. Nobody should have that facility period. You must one number per customer no matter how many lines you take. The ability to change number should be next to impossible. Everything stops with this one change. Number spoofing must be stopped from all countries.

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#254

Post by techwizard81 » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:40 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #99

deadbunny wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a delivery. Couldn't he have knocked on your door?

If you're home working with noise cancelling headphones on chances are you might not hear it

if you are expecting a delivery, it might be common sense to not wear noise cancelling headphones!

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#255

Post by elephanlemon » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:40 PM UTC

frontman1988 wrote: post #167

cute_boi wrote: post #84

These days whenever I hear Indian voice, I just reject call. They way they target grandparents is surreal. One day they told my my friends parents that their children is in accident and they have to pay in gift cards. It is so distressing to elderly people. US must take strict actions and call out India publicly. Elderly people are weak, education isn't going to solve the scam problem. Scammers must be punished harsl…

https://www.sanas.ai/ Be warned. AI accent changers will eliminate that line of defense as well.

I’m worried what will happen when deepfaked voices improve to the point that you can get a realistic impression with only a very small training set. Imagine receiving a phone call in the voice of a family member telling you that they’re in serious trouble.

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#256

Post by wbl » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:40 PM UTC

Cheezewheel wrote: post #233

pnw wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Feds already started on this with STIR/SHAKEN protocol which has been mandated by the FCC for most carriers in recent years. However, just like email spam, stopping spoofed calls is harder in practice than in theory.

>However, just like email spam, stopping spoofed calls is harder in practice than in theory. Is it really? Couldn't the carriers simply require a certificate to allow you to spoof a phone number?

The most legacy of systems. They didn't even get rid of human operators until 1970 on Catalina island. https://youtu.be/jitW_yLwihI

SS7 doesn't have a clean way to do this hence needing to make SHAKEN/STIR, but I don't think anyone did the signalling work for POTS.

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#257

Post by api » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

frontman1988 wrote: post #167

cute_boi wrote: post #84

These days whenever I hear Indian voice, I just reject call. They way they target grandparents is surreal. One day they told my my friends parents that their children is in accident and they have to pay in gift cards. It is so distressing to elderly people. US must take strict actions and call out India publicly. Elderly people are weak, education isn't going to solve the scam problem. Scammers must be punished harsl…

https://www.sanas.ai/ Be warned. AI accent changers will eliminate that line of defense as well.

Pretty soon it'll eliminate call centers. One person will be able to use AI to mass-robocall millions of people.

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#258

Post by frontman1988 » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

honkler wrote: post #212

balls187 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed my point. These call centers are a problem. One that requires cooperation between the US and India to resolve.

yeah. we'll sanction india, and then india will cooperate.

Just like how sanctioning china is working out right?

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#259

Post by negamax » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

pnw wrote: post #227

jacquesm wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telco's could put a stop to this if they really wanted to. Start with disabling number spoofing for international calls, if the number presented isn't in the country of origin then reject the connection request. Another choke point is the gift card system.

The Feds already started on this with STIR/SHAKEN protocol which has been mandated by the FCC for most carriers in recent years. However, just like email spam, stopping spoofed calls is harder in practice than in theory.

Can't they implement DKIM, SPF etc. like system? Not aware of technical reality of Telcos but international number spoofing should be easily solvable as billing is done through the origin location

Re: Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report

#260

Post by mahkeiro » Tue, Dec 27, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

JTbane wrote: post #215

TechBro8615 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a lot more patient than me. I've stopped answering calls from unknown numbers. I get 3-4 calls per day, which luckily I can auto-ignore on iOS.

Yeah, no, this works great until you get an actually important call from a previously unknown number (hospital, job interview, etc.)

They can leave a message or text. I have been doing this for years as this is the only way to be able to use a phone line without getting crazy. If your number is not in my phonebook you go to my voicemail.