F*(&$(ing Scammers

[HCHTech]

Some dear friends of ours, a very-educated older couple with one adult daughter who lives in a city several hours away just got taken by a kidnapping scam. Yes, they should know better, but the scammers had apparently spoofed the daughters phone number and knew the city she lived in, and had a female actor do the initial contact in hysterics. The husband even tried to call the daughter separately when the whole thing started, but she didn't pick up for whatever reason, giving additional credence to the scammers story. Scammers led them on an 8 hour adrenaline-fueled journey by car (following them live with Google maps - "What street are you passing now? Ok, TURN LEFT!") chasing around to banks & western union offices & other, more-sketchy places to wire money. Cost them $5K. Daughter is fine (of course - the whole thing was a scam), she had taken a mental-health day off from work and went hiking leaving her phone in the car to be more "unplugged" from work. I don't know if this was just a lucky (for the scammers) coincidence, or whether they were targeted that precisely as a group. Either way, they believed the a$$holes and sent them the money.

They are exhausted, ashamed for getting taken, and angry, of course. They can afford the loss, so that's good at least, but man, what a disaster. Just when I thought I had seen it all. I hope there is a special place in hell for these criminals (said the athiest - haha).

 

[nlinecomputers]

And if I were the cops I’d be looking right at the daughter.

 

[britechguy]

I hope there is a special place in hell for these criminals (said the athiest - haha).

On that (whether the commenter is atheist or not) I am sure there is broad agreement!

It's sad, though, that another social engineering scam based on panic, where the victims really should have known better (and admit it, too), was successful. The whole "running around for 8 hours" should have allowed for plenty of time to reach the daughter, but I'm sure the panic already in action back-burnered that possiblity.

 

[britechguy]

And if I were the cops I’d be looking right at the daughter.

If reported, I'm certain they will. I'm almost equally certain that this well will be dry. There are far easier ways to get money from your parents and one that's unlikely to cause the sort of rift being found out for doing something this callous would (or should, anyway) cause. Do this once and the probability that you'll ever get any help of any sort, ever again, from the parents is very low indeed.

 

[nlinecomputers]

If reported, I'm certain they will. I'm almost equally certain that this well will be dry. There are far easier ways to get money from your parents and one that's unlikely to cause the sort of rift being found out for doing something this callous would (or should, anyway) cause. Do this once and the probability that you'll ever get any help of any sort, ever again, from the parents is very low indeed.

Yes but people are stupid and the only way this plan works is if you are close enough to the daughter that you know she is planning to take a day off and is going to leave her phone in her car AND know her well enough to contact her parents. It’s the daughter or the S.O. of the daughter or there is a psychopath in the HR department of the company the daughter works at.

 

[britechguy]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree.

I know tons of individuals who do not "sit on top of" their mobile phones. All it takes is a set of parents who are willing to panic and not even think of the fact that there could be myriad reasons anyone might not answer their phone or texts for hours. In other words, the scammers know that it's very "hit and miss" and bail the moment the "miss" occurs. There are plenty of scams where the first bump that's hit by the scammer makes them abort the mission.

I also find it strange, very strange, that any parent would not have their own child's voice, in virtually any emotional state, burned into the very fiber of their brain.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree.

I know tons of individuals who do not "sit on top of" their mobile phones. All it takes is a set of parents who are willing to panic and not even think of the fact that there could be myriad reasons anyone might not answer their phone or texts for hours. In other words, the scammers know that it's very "hit and miss" and bail the moment the "miss" occurs. There are plenty of scams where the first bump that's hit by the scammer makes them abort the mission.

I also find it strange, very strange, that any parent would not have their own child's voice, in virtually any emotional state, burned into the very fiber of their brain.

As do I and I know just as many who are glued to them. And I also agree about knowing the voice which again is making my point.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Man, that does suck.

5 grand....in a couple of weeks that'll be a couple of tanks of gas!

 

[britechguy]

I also agree about knowing the voice which again is making my point.

I agree it does reinforce your point.

I suspect that we have more than a little bit of "unreliable reporter syndrome" at play, too. And that unreliable reporter is not @HCHTech.

People in heightened emotional states often don't remember details, and after something like this goes down, there's generally a lot of sheepish embarrassment that results in both active and passive concealment.

 

[timeshifter]

Wow, that’s crazy.

What do you think the point of leading them all over the place using Google maps?

Also, maybe I’ve watched too many movies, but $5,000 seems low for a ransom.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Wow, that’s crazy.

What do you think the point of leading them all over the place using Google maps?

Also, maybe I’ve watched too many movies, but $5,000 seems low for a ransom.

Because it's not a ransom, it's a scam.... and these guys know if the numbers get too high people stop to think, then the scam fails.

 

[frase]

I dunno the paranoid part of me thinks conveniently left phone when out walking to " Get off the grid"...

 

[HCHTech]

Oh how I wish they had called me in the middle of this mess, but I only found out after. They are pretty close friends, so i don't think they were hiding anything from us, but you never know. Detectives in the daughter's city interviewed her the day after, and the police here, to their credit gave them a lot of attention, went to the bank they withdrew the money from and all 3 different places they sent the money to the scammers from. Don't know why the scammers did it that way, but i know there were problems because these places are all attuned to fraud attempts. Anyway, it's over, they were scammed, and everybody survived. They came over last night and we consoled them, tried not to talk about it and salved their wounds with alcohol.

 

[Markverhyden]

I'd venture a guess that, while the daughter was not knowingly involved, it was someone in close proximity to her. And people can't forget social media. It's amazing the amount of detail that people will post on social media enabling the black hats to attack them.

 

[Sky-Knight]

The simple rule of never talk about a vacation until it's over... just isn't followed. Or rather it's very easy to lapse on it.

 

[britechguy]

The simple rule of never talk about a vacation until it's over... just isn't followed.

My simpler rule is, "Just say no to social media - all social media!"

It's amazing how many people who decide to sever all ties say that they not only don't miss it (after an adjustment period) but wish they'd never engaged to begin with.

 

[Sky-Knight]

My simpler rule is, "Just say no to social media - all social media!"

It's amazing how many people who decide to sever all ties say that they not only don't miss it (after an adjustment period) but wish they'd never engaged to begin with.

I primarily use it to provide pictures of my kids to their grand parents. I once used Facebook daily... now I'm only on there for business purposes.

Mostly... I'm sick of having a front row seat to how objectively stupid my relatives are.

 

[GTP]

My simpler rule is, "Just say no to social media - all social media!".....but wish they'd never engaged to begin with.

+100
I'll never go back.