4 ms·

How are people so "gameable" (gullible)? Tech support, from a big-name company no less, wanting to get paid in Walmart gift cards? Jesus fucking Christ, how ca

How are people so "gameable" (gullible)? Tech support, from a big-name company no less, wanting to get paid in Walmart gift cards? Jesus fucking Christ, how can you believe that.

chewyland 7y ago
Kitboga YouTube. Very entertaining.
- mnorton 7y ago
  this is worth checking out. helps to have someone explain what is going on. youtube is a good place to start. guy also has a twitch channel with a phenomenal amount of viewers.
valleyer 7y ago
If you’re an older person who grew up in, say, the 1940s, is “company wants to be paid in scrip purchased at local store” really weirder than “instant social interaction worldwide via a small handheld piece of glass”? In other words, the world is new and different to some people. What’s obviously “gaming” to you is not necessarily clear to others.
- ecf 7y ago
  I don’t buy the “tech-illiterate” idea. In my opinion, these are the same type of people that would have given all their livestock to a medieval-traveling pastor because God would have smite them if they didn’t.
thundergolfer 7y ago
The victims are overwhelmingly elderly. Are they experiencing normal cognitive decline, is it a brain disease, or were they always like this? You have to be astonishingly ignorant of how the world works to fall for this stuff. What does this say about their ability to participate in an election? They’re eligible to vote, but it seems like even a 12 year old would run circles around them mentally.
- mschuster91 7y ago
  > What does this say about their ability to participate in an election? The USA elected someone to Presidency who is widely suspected to suffer from mental degeneration. IMO it's a cultural difference: there are people who constantly engage their minds even at age 70+ and can make young people look pale against them in using computers, and there are people who stopped using their minds in their 40s and it shows.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Jeez man, get off your high horse a bit. There are billions of people out there, young and old, who have no clue about these things (meaning some prepaid vouchers aren't a normal form of pay for IT stuff). Its not about ignorance of how world works, their normal world doesn't involve such technology and they never get to the point of being comfortable of new cool tech and don't follow it. Its not ideal, and it doesn't absolve them from their share of blame for the situation, but it is what it is.
  - code_duck 7y ago
    If you read about the world of scams, people routinely receive calls from people claiming to represent entities such as the IRS or a Sheriff's Department, and convince the victim they are in legal jeopardy which can be alleviated immediately by transferring significant sums of money in the form of eBay, iTunes or Amazon gift cards. So, it's not just about tech repair. I don't think it can be argued that it's reasonable to think the sheriff or the IRS can be paid through iTunes gift cards.
  - thundergolfer 7y ago
    No clue that major corporations don't take payment in the form of gift cards and vouchers? Don't think I'm on a high-horse. Believing that is monumentally stupid.

How are people so "gameable" (gullible)? Tech support, from a big-name company no less, wanting to get paid in Walmart gift cards? Jesus fucking Christ, how can you believe that.

chewyland 7y ago

Kitboga YouTube. Very entertaining.

mnorton 7y ago
this is worth checking out. helps to have someone explain what is going on. youtube is a good place to start. guy also has a twitch channel with a phenomenal amount of viewers.

valleyer 7y ago

If you’re an older person who grew up in, say, the 1940s, is “company wants to be paid in scrip purchased at local store” really weirder than “instant social interaction worldwide via a small handheld piece of glass”? In other words, the world is new and different to some people. What’s obviously “gaming” to you is not necessarily clear to others.

ecf 7y ago
I don’t buy the “tech-illiterate” idea. In my opinion, these are the same type of people that would have given all their livestock to a medieval-traveling pastor because God would have smite them if they didn’t.

thundergolfer 7y ago

The victims are overwhelmingly elderly. Are they experiencing normal cognitive decline, is it a brain disease, or were they always like this? You have to be astonishingly ignorant of how the world works to fall for this stuff. What does this say about their ability to participate in an election? They’re eligible to vote, but it seems like even a 12 year old would run circles around them mentally.

mschuster91 7y ago
> What does this say about their ability to participate in an election? The USA elected someone to Presidency who is widely suspected to suffer from mental degeneration. IMO it's a cultural difference: there are people who constantly engage their minds even at age 70+ and can make young people look pale against them in using computers, and there are people who stopped using their minds in their 40s and it shows.
saiya-jin 7y ago
Jeez man, get off your high horse a bit. There are billions of people out there, young and old, who have no clue about these things (meaning some prepaid vouchers aren't a normal form of pay for IT stuff). Its not about ignorance of how world works, their normal world doesn't involve such technology and they never get to the point of being comfortable of new cool tech and don't follow it. Its not ideal, and it doesn't absolve them from their share of blame for the situation, but it is what it is.
- code_duck 7y ago
  If you read about the world of scams, people routinely receive calls from people claiming to represent entities such as the IRS or a Sheriff's Department, and convince the victim they are in legal jeopardy which can be alleviated immediately by transferring significant sums of money in the form of eBay, iTunes or Amazon gift cards. So, it's not just about tech repair. I don't think it can be argued that it's reasonable to think the sheriff or the IRS can be paid through iTunes gift cards.
- thundergolfer 7y ago
  No clue that major corporations don't take payment in the form of gift cards and vouchers? Don't think I'm on a high-horse. Believing that is monumentally stupid.