Posted on 08/02/2023 12:59:17 PM PDT by MD Expat in PA
I found out a while ago about people who scambait scammers – Scammer Payback, Trilogy Media, Modder Paul, Pleasant Green, IRLrosie and others. Today and for the next couple of days, these folks have joined together for the People's Call Center, going after these scammers in a coordinated effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
They all have You Tube channels and do various things to harass, shut down and even save victims of internet scammers and going after and sometimes getting cash money mules arrested.
These scammers send bogus emails often targeting the elderly, saying they’ve been billed for an Amazon purchase, a Norton subscription, etc. and do a refund scam. Nearly all of these refund and computer support scammers are out of India.
Perogi at Scammer Payback even hacks into the scammer’s computers, downloads and deletes their files, exposes them and with donations received from subscribers, is sometimes able to make people who have been scammed whole.
Modder Paul uses a bot to call these scam call centers, jamming their phone lines causing them to shut down their inbound phone numbers, if only temporarily.
While most of us get these spam emails from time to time and recognize them as a scam, it only takes a couple of people a day to fall for it for these scammers to be profitable. I had an elderly relative who fell for one of these scams but fortunately only lost a couple of hundred dollars, some lose thousands.
These YouTube videos are entertaining and sometimes hysterically funny, but they do a great service exposing the scammers and their methods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBVGd53O3dU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx5fuh81u2U
“These scammers send bogus emails often targeting the elderly, saying they’ve been billed for an Amazon purchase, a Norton subscription, etc. and do a refund scam. Nearly all of these refund and computer support scammers are out of India.”
I get one of those about once a week. I just delete them.
I do too and delete. But you would be amazed how many people fall for them.
These scammers send emails and or call many thousands of potential victims on a daily basis. All it takes is for a couple, a very small percent to fall for it to make it profitable.
I find what these scambaiters do fascinating and entertaining as well as providing education and trying to shut down these scammers.
I work in the retail financial institution world. It is truly mind boggling, sad and infuriating how many senior citizens are losing their life savings to these criminals.
Like all other aspects of our country, these people have been abandoned by the their elected representatives.
$10 billion dollars is sucked out of our senior citizen’s bank accounts and into these Indian scammers pockets each year.
Our government wont do anything about it despite the fact, as these videos prove, it is extremely easy to find the people responsible for the fraud.
My mother would have lost about $1500 on a scam, if not for the fact that I caught it and got some help from the bank. Of course the elderly are a little slower in the head, but they are also from a different time when thieves and liars weren’t so brazen.
I have a phone block device. When an unknown number shows up on caller ID, I hit the block button and it saves that number and blocks it. I’ve not had a 2am call or a 6am call from any scammer for months. Even the evening time is peaceful now.
My favorite on is “419eater.com”... they target the Nigerian email scammers specifically, and they try to get the Nigerians to take pictures of themselves holding signs with various English messages on them. Then they display those pictures in their “trophy room”:
https://www.419eater.com/html/trophy_room.htm
(Some very not-safe-for-work messages on those signs though)
They are getting a lot of contributions for doing this - people hate scammers and are happy these people are going after them.
I’ve heard them say things like they get into the scammer’s computers. How are they able to do that without the scammer opening up a gate on his computer?
Maybe they really DON’T do that, and this is just a scam.
Kitboga is the best.
Damn, I just lost 35mins watching some of the SP videos... my bad!
These scammers are sadly very good at social engineering and intimidation.
One of the common refund scams involves convincing the victim they’ve been charged for a subscription or purchase, say for $420.00 and tells them they will process a refund. They get the victim to download a program such as Any Desk which gives the scammer access to their computer and then asks them to log into their bank account.
Once logged in, the scammer creates a diversion and blocks their screen and their mouse and keyboard, sometimes under the guise of running a security scan to look for malicious viruses, and using HTML editing, makes it look like they were actually charged for the $420.00.
They then send them a bogus refund form and ask the victim to type in the refund amount. But instead of $420.00 it automatically adds to more zeros for a refund amount of $4,200.00. The scammer again using HTML editing, makes it look like the victim actually received $4,200.00 in their bank account.
Then the scammer will blame the victim for typing in the wrong amount, telling the victim that this mistake will cost them their job, sometime resorting to tears…
They then tell the victim they need to send back the excess $ often via purchasing gift cards or going to their bank to do a wire transfer and telling the victim not to disclose the reason for the withdrawal, telling them they need to tell the bank it is for a wedding present or for a home improvement or that the reason for the large number and amount of gift cards is for anything but for a refund.
They sometimes also threaten the victim with an arrest if they do not immediately send back the money.
Some retailers like Target and others will flag large purchases of multiple gift cards in large amounts and try to tell the victim they are possibly being scammed.
“Our government wont do anything about it despite the fact, as these videos prove, it is extremely easy to find the people responsible for the fraud.”
The problem lies mostly with the local Indian government, especially in West Bengali, Kolkata, who are corrupt and often in bed with the scammers.
To their credit Scammer Payback and Trilogy Media have been successful in getting some scammer call centers shut down and with arrests. But as soon as one is shut down, another pops up.
Yes!
He’s great. And hilarious.
Maybe they really DON’T do that, and this is just a scam.
Scambaiters like Pierogi and others are sometimes able to get remote access to the scammers computer. How exactly they do that, they will not divulge and understandably so. They are themselves hackers but White Hat hackers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJV_thKUPmQ
Yes, they get contributions and their You Tube channels are monetized and they have advertising sponsors. This funds their operations and in the case of Scammer Payback, some contributions are used to make scammed victims whole again.
“Of course the elderly are a little slower in the head, but they are also from a different time when thieves and liars weren’t so brazen.”
Great comment—many of them have been fortunate enough to live good lives with solid folks around them—does not prepare them for the scammers if their spouse dies (for example).
My wife is very trusting but after years of coaching by me I think she is up to speed....
:-)
And women often are too reluctant to end sales-pitches abruptly because it just feels impolite--despite the rank impoliteness of the knock or ring which began the pitch.
Yup—knowing when to be rude is one of the lessons.
She was always shocked when I was rude to anyone for any reason—especially since I am normally very pleasant to anyone or everyone.
But—the second I sense they are trying to take advantage of the situation—whether selling something or some other reason—I get mean and hostile in a hurry.
Bookmark
You are missing out on such a wonderful recreational opportunity. I like to give fake answers and draw the conversations out for a good long while as I craft my story especially when its obvious that the caller doesnt speak english well and is only following a script. When you get to the second tier person on their end youve hit the bonus round. You can hang up on those people and tell them not to call back but they still leave youre number in the system and just keep calling back. Get to the con-artist behind the initial caller and waste his time.
I really need to work on my script though. When I get to the point that I tell them that they will have to wait a few months before I can buy because Im having problems converting the spores that the myconids of Beta Brahe paid me for consulting to Terran currency they tend to hang up and thats when your number finally gets removed from the dialer.
I sometimes put the phone on speaker and give it to my dog.
If they can sell him they deserve the money!
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