Are most of these scammers mentally slow? They lie like 4-year-olds, I can see right through it.
26-30, M
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
No they are not "mentally slow" at all. Most of them are very sharp. They know perfectly well that most of us see through their messages, but they will always catch a few. Even one in a thousand is probably good going for them.
The most sophisticated catch those unfamiliar with complicated or glossy commercial and official web-sites, and fail to spot the tiny signs that show the image has been forged and the message is a fraud attempt.
Signs such as spelling errors, strange e-post addresses, odd-looking or unlikely post titles, or messages that are plain wrong procedurally (e.g. e-mail demands for taxes, requests for bank details including your PIN).
One of the most common in the UK is a pretend tax-demand: HMRC never ask for back-taxes in the way the fraudsters think they do. It writes to you instead.
'
Some fraudsters are naive though: clever on computers but not good judges of how people think.
So their attempts are fairly obvious: announcements of winning lotteries you have never heard of, invoices for goods you have not ordered, payments to odd accounts, messages supposedly from banks not your own - that sort of thing.
Soem even still operate the so-called "Nigerian Scam" but I think is more rare now as it is too obvious. Even so there have been a number circulating recently. They might of course all be from the same person or gang.
This fraud originated apparently in Nigeria, and by post not e-mail; but is still operated occasionally from various countries. The most recent to me was supposedly from Afghanistan, the previous allegedly from Dubai. Both pretended to be from a government official of that nation. They want either to launder money via your bank-account, or details of your account so they can plunder it.
Some years back I received one by letter-post, from Canada.
''''
As for telephone ones... Oh I have sometimes told the caller, "Your employers are thieves and you are a liar" before terminating the call before he did.
These were normally the old "I'm from the Windows Corporation and your computer has reported an attack", trick.
They know perfectly well most people would spot the lie, but that there are enough who might call themselves by that dreadful phrase 'tech-savvy' but really, know nothing more than how to operate the equipment they own.
''''''
Many years ago, pre-Internet, peculiar chain-letters occasionally appeared.
You'd receive a letter from a complete stranger instructing you to pass it on to a few others. If you broke the chain, unstated but unfortunate things would happen to you.
It did not seem to be a fraud attempt because they never demanded money, bank details or whatever. I never discovered their intention; nor what might befall me because it never did, when I simply threw such letters in the bin!
The most sophisticated catch those unfamiliar with complicated or glossy commercial and official web-sites, and fail to spot the tiny signs that show the image has been forged and the message is a fraud attempt.
Signs such as spelling errors, strange e-post addresses, odd-looking or unlikely post titles, or messages that are plain wrong procedurally (e.g. e-mail demands for taxes, requests for bank details including your PIN).
One of the most common in the UK is a pretend tax-demand: HMRC never ask for back-taxes in the way the fraudsters think they do. It writes to you instead.
'
Some fraudsters are naive though: clever on computers but not good judges of how people think.
So their attempts are fairly obvious: announcements of winning lotteries you have never heard of, invoices for goods you have not ordered, payments to odd accounts, messages supposedly from banks not your own - that sort of thing.
Soem even still operate the so-called "Nigerian Scam" but I think is more rare now as it is too obvious. Even so there have been a number circulating recently. They might of course all be from the same person or gang.
This fraud originated apparently in Nigeria, and by post not e-mail; but is still operated occasionally from various countries. The most recent to me was supposedly from Afghanistan, the previous allegedly from Dubai. Both pretended to be from a government official of that nation. They want either to launder money via your bank-account, or details of your account so they can plunder it.
Some years back I received one by letter-post, from Canada.
''''
As for telephone ones... Oh I have sometimes told the caller, "Your employers are thieves and you are a liar" before terminating the call before he did.
These were normally the old "I'm from the Windows Corporation and your computer has reported an attack", trick.
They know perfectly well most people would spot the lie, but that there are enough who might call themselves by that dreadful phrase 'tech-savvy' but really, know nothing more than how to operate the equipment they own.
''''''
Many years ago, pre-Internet, peculiar chain-letters occasionally appeared.
You'd receive a letter from a complete stranger instructing you to pass it on to a few others. If you broke the chain, unstated but unfortunate things would happen to you.
It did not seem to be a fraud attempt because they never demanded money, bank details or whatever. I never discovered their intention; nor what might befall me because it never did, when I simply threw such letters in the bin!
ninalanyon · 61-69, T
@ArishMell I have heard people suggest the theory that being a little easy to spot saves the scammers time and money because they don't then waste time trying to scam people who will eventually see through them. No idea if it is true although it does sound plausible; of course that could just be me feeling superior because I have never been a victim of a scam.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@ninalanyon Interesting. It is plausible.
Most of them give up as soon as they realise you have twigged their trick.
I did have one persistent and rather aggressive caller who tried three times within a few minutes. I fought him off on the third attempt by putting the handset on the table and clattering about a bit, to show I was ignoring him.
One contributory factor though to on-line crime, and other bad events, is the very poor sense of personal privacy and security in many people who let their lives be ruled by electronic gadgets and open social-media such as Facebook.
Most of them give up as soon as they realise you have twigged their trick.
I did have one persistent and rather aggressive caller who tried three times within a few minutes. I fought him off on the third attempt by putting the handset on the table and clattering about a bit, to show I was ignoring him.
One contributory factor though to on-line crime, and other bad events, is the very poor sense of personal privacy and security in many people who let their lives be ruled by electronic gadgets and open social-media such as Facebook.
MonaReeves86 · 36-40, F
Raincheck77 · 26-30, M
@MonaReeves86 they tried to pretend to be a sugar momma from California when it's really a really a Nigerian man. He wanted me to send him 100 dollars and in return he would send me 7000 dollars so fake.
funloving1 · 18-21, M
@Raincheck77 So what will you be spending your 7000 dollars on?
Raincheck77 · 26-30, M
@funloving1 lmao I'm not getting it🤣🤣