Scam/Robocalls

Spam/scam is very frustrating

I am intrigued to learn the type of person who is taken in by these scams.

Medicare, Social Security, IRS etc continuously warn they will not cold call you.
Attorney Generals, FCC, Local and State law enforcement continually warn about these scams.
The people who do it are for the most part foreigners with quite the accent.

Who falls for these scams that keep these people's incomes and motivation going?

Even my 95 year old dad can identify scammers. When we kids watch him we used to constantly remind him to be careful of scammers but had to stop as he was getting insulted that we "thought he was that dumb".

One of my favorites is the get out of debt free scam supposedly run by a representative of a credit card company who is calling to kindly help you avoid payment, get a reduced payment, consolidate payments or get the debt cancelled - a truly all in one service calling people out of the blue because of their human kindness.

 

i'm afraid to say itmust be people like mrs. b who one: cannot stand not to know who is calling.
two: wonder why they are saying/asking what they are and three: would swallow it hook line and sinker if i weren't here todisuade her. we're closing in on 70, it's only going to get worse

 

A thing I like about this video is how it isn't just about amusing payback, but goes into some detail on how the scams are so effective with the victims.

 

^ I'd seen some of Mark's earlier videos, e.g. the original versions of his glitter-bomb porch-pirate traps, squirrel gymnastic course, amusement park game secrets. But hadn't kept up with his more recent projects, including busting scammers. The details here about how some scammers operate and hide their tracks is quite helpful.

 

Uh, they can't put a man on the moon. At least not now. If you also insist on a safe return.

Though, duly noted: Back when they could put a human on the moon, we didn't have any robocalls.

 

The long distance rates were killer back then.

 

I've wondered why phone companies, governments agencies who were properly motivated couldn't detect the millions of calls these scammers generate from their devices - pinpoint the originating locale and immediately disconnect/block or prosecute. I think a suitable fine would hit their bottom line.

For an enterprising politician this might be a platform point that all people could get behind and get them some votes.

 

I had not seen those. Now I have lost much of an evening.

 

I hate the spam text messages. Verizon asks me if I want to block this text, so I can block them.