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Mumbai call centre scam: ‘Nothing's wrong in duping rich Americans’
- leecarraher 10y agoHeh, That's what i told the scammer, the scammer told me they had a refund from the IRS for me and they just needed a credit card number to "wire" it to. But I am just so rich right now that I have no need for the extra money, maybe you could just "wire" it to some worthwhile charity. And of course take whatever you feel adequate for your efforts too. But yea really right now, I just got way too much money. <scammer click>
- JumpCrisscross 10y agoOn one hand, it'a easy to see this as an educational and cultural failure. On the other hand, many of our policies treat screwing over foreigners more lightly than screwing over fellow Americans.
- jerf 10y agoThat is a fundamental part of being human. Anyone who thinks they or their culture is immune to it is deluding themselves. Anyone who thinks they or their culture is better at it than others needs to tread carefully, because the part of the very meme we're talking about here is about how your culture is better at things than others, so isn't it kinda convenient that one thinks so?
- kbenson 10y ago> That is a fundamental part of being human. So true. it's turtles all the way down, too. Those liberals/conservatives aren't real Americans and don't have good values, like us conservatives/liberals. Those people in the city next door are all either snobs or criminals, lets try to keep them from coming to our town too much. That high school across town sucks and their students are assholes, we're better, let's go vandalize their school to show them. Our neighbors are horrible people, so it's okay that we're mean to them.
- squozzer 10y agoThat's OK. I don't feel very bad about the British conquest of India, or of Richard Gere kissing that really cute actress either.
- samfisher83 10y agoThe article doesn't mention what was the scam they did? Anyone know?
- eganist 10y agoIn a nutshell: people trained with American accents made calls to American taxpayers suggesting that they owed backtaxes and would be sued if they didn't pay up.
- akssri 10y agoIf you can call those accents "American" (subject of 2+ such scam calls here).
- maxxxxx 10y agoI got one of those calls and it sounded very credible. I called the number back and then I got a little nervous when the guy on the other end of the line seemed very uninterested and unprofessional. I don't how how far I would have gone if he had acted better.
- x1798DE 10y ago> I called the number back and then I got a little nervous when the guy on the other end of the line seemed very uninterested and unprofessional. Didn't you think you were calling a government office? They aren't exactly known for their customer service, whereas scammers are known for having a slick feel to their operation. Interesting that that was your tip off.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- maxxxxx 10y agoI have talked to the IRS before and they were always very courteous and well-informed. I wouldn't call them slick but very efficient and clear.
- cmdrfred 10y agoI'll get downvoted, but if I'm a father with no opportunity in rural India. This is exactly what I'd be doing. You might be a better man to allow your children starve in a pile of there own filth, but I'm not him.
- jscheel 10y agoExcept the article states that they were living in a "posh" downtown apartment.
- pavel_lishin 10y agoPresumably their call center employees weren't.
- pavel_lishin 10y agoI agree - if my only option to make money was to work for someplace like that, I'd take it - but at the same time, I have no love for someone trying to steal my money - which I'm using to feed my child and mostly keep her out of filthpiles.
- setum 10y agoif I'm a father with no opportunity in rural India "if I'm a father with no opportunity" suffices.
- ohstopitu 10y agoI have to agree with you on this one. But not as a "father with no opportunity". While I am not advocating or condoning what scammers in India do, I do have to add the following: 1) 1 USD is around 66 INR, so almost everyone is ingrained that people in USA are richer. Furthermore, the fact that stuff is perceived as "cheaper" in USA has not helped (even those who earn minimum wage in USA, can afford the latest iPhone, can't say the same about those in India). 2) Scammers can't see the damage they cause. 3) Some scammers don't even know they are scammers. (Especially the ones in IT that try to sell you anti-virus software claiming that your computer is infected). 4) personal note: I wonder what the sentence would be, if say it were US scammers, scamming Indians.
- verroq 10y agoA classic case of the monkey sphere [1]. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20130112050503/http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130112050503/http://www.cracke...
- steanne 10y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number
- plandis 10y agoThis seems like a case where none of the alleged criminals have probably ever interacted with Americans. It's easy to vilify a group you truly know nothing about.
- slumberlust 10y agoAre you possibly doing the same with this group? Would you be willing to prey on Russians if it meant your family could eat this week?
- strict9 10y agoUnfortunately it's not so much the 'rich' that fall for this, but the elderly. Recently heard this story from my bartender, who had a family member lose some dough in this scam. The "rich American" part is just a weaselly justification for committing a crime, and doesn't deserve the prominence in the article it received.
- nashashmi 10y ago> doesn't deserve the prominence in the article it received It is more for giving insight into an asian scamming culture.
- bdcravens 10y agoAs I read it, it's not that they are targeting rich Americans, but rather, they view America as a land of riches. Even our poor elderly, especially if they own a vehicle or property, would be considered rich by many standards.
- strict9 10y agoFrom the article: > Nasreen Bano Iqbal Balesahib, 59; and her sons Nadeem Iqbal Balasaheb, 30, and Shain Iqbal Balasaheb, 25, were arrested on Wednesday evening as they were listed as the owners of MAC Outsourcing Services Private Limited - the company that ran Universal Outsourcing Solutions, which is one of the raided companies. Incidentally, the raided M Bale House belongs to the family. Owned a company and the building which housed the company. That argument rings even more hollow.
- jlgaddis 10y agoI imagine the average wage in America is much, much higher than the average wage in India. I interpreted it not as rich Americans specifically, but rather that America as a whole is much richer than India.
- bdcravens 10y agoI like to have fun with them. On more than one occasion, I strung them out for 15 or 20 minutes, and eventually ended the call on a nice satisfying note. I've even had them call me back angry for wasting their time :-)
- imagist 10y agoThis could be fixed by fixing the broken telephone protocol so that phone numbers can't be spoofed so easily, and then implementing adblockers. But that won't happen because: 1. It would cost money. 2. A proper implementation would be encrypted, breaking ubiquitous surveillance.
- bdcravens 10y agoTwilio has built up their business around the current phone system.
- imagist 10y agoI'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
- bdcravens 10y agoThe very things identified as problems when it comes to scam calls have enabled tons of startups and software.
- imagist 10y agoOkay, true, but why should I care? This is like one of those ad games: If you press the button, you fix spam calls, but Twilio goes out of business. I couldn't press the button fast enough. For the record, I like Twilio and I literally have their API open in another tab right now because I'm writing code against it. But if they can't do business in an environment that doesn't allow spam calls, they don't deserve to be in business.
- ungzd 10y agoNothing wrong in duping rich Americans, but using adblocker is real crime, says this website.
- codeisawesome 10y agoI don't think the website is trying to justify the criminals, only quoting what they said.
- giis 10y agoYes, that's correct. Its criminals statement not view of the news editor.
- slake 10y agoIsn't there an angle here to how scared people are of the IRS though? Isn't their image a bit related to why this scam was possible.