Posted on 04/12/2023 2:06:40 PM PDT by RandFan
A global scamming network has robbed ordinary investors of more than a billion dollars.
First, you hear a phone ringing. An elderly man answers.
The caller introduces himself as "William Grant", from the trading firm Solo Capitals. He says he has a "great promotion" to offer.
The elderly man sounds vulnerable and confused. "I'm not interested, I'm not interested," he says.
But William Grant is persistent. "I only have one question," he tells the old man.
"Are you interested in making money?"
Jan Erik, a 75-year-old pensioner in Sweden, is about to get scammed, again. The call was made from the offices of Solo Capitals, a purported cryptocurrency trading firm based in Georgia. The recording is hard to listen to, because not only does the elderly man, Jan Erik, sound muddled, he tells the caller he has already lost one million Swedish Krona (about £80,000) in trading scams.
But the caller already knows this. And he knows it makes the pensioner a good target for a follow-up "recovery scam". He tells Jan Erik that if he hands over his card details and pays a €250 deposit, Solo Capitals will use special software to track his lost investments and get his money back.
"We will be able to recover the whole amount," William Grant says.
It takes him a while to wear Jan Erik down. But after about 30 minutes on the phone, the pensioner begins reading out his credit card details.
The audio recording was saved by the company under the file name "William Sweden scammed". The BBC obtained the file from a former employee, but the company had not tried hard to hide it. In fact, it had handed it out to new recruits as part of the company training package.
This was a lesson in how to scam.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
“I only have one question: Are you interested in making money?”
Correct this is to hang up, but for those who feel compelled to reply, may I suggest, “No, my only interest is tearing out your lying tongue with red-hot pliers; when shall we start?”
Thankfully I have no money to invest, and I worked behind bars for 25 years with all kinds of con artists. I learned to trust nothing and no one. I also have a filter on my cell phone, and it’s set so that the phone only rings when it’s someone in my contact list. It rings no other time, and calls that are unrecognized by the filter can leave a voice mail if they want, or if the filter identifies them as spam, they’re automatically deleted, and don’t even show up. I’ve gotten fishing texts, but block them immediately as they are so obviously fraudulent. I don’t have a home phone, and only use my iPhone for calls and texts from CVS Caremark, and doctor appointment reminders. I’ve never used it for banking, or email. Never even used the camera. I hate the damn thing. I live in an apartment building, and if someone knocks on my door, like a utility provider, of Jehovah’s Witness, I open the door with the chain on, and say “not interested,” then slam the door in their face. They probably think I’m a bitch, but that’s okay, because I am. I got no time for assholes.
So...you were in prison?
Why not just say it plainly?
:)
Yeah, we officers had a saying that we were doing a 25 year sentence in 8 hour shifts.
Train yourself to NOT answer your phone.
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