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I would love to hear the specific script they use to convince people to buy gift cards. Everything leading up to that I can understand someone being suckered i

by jmuguy 6y ago

I would love to hear the specific script they use to convince people to buy gift cards. Everything leading up to that I can understand someone being suckered into - but how the hell do they convince people that a government agent wants them to buy gift cards?!

kube-system 6y ago
The way con men are successful is usually not by directly convincing people that their scam is legit -- but instead they convince the person that they are trustworthy. Once they're seen as trustworthy, human brains tend to overlook facts, even obvious ones. Confidence scams work on a similar abuse of trust that April Fools jokes do... except they're a lot less funny.
walrus01 6y ago
Some of this has been targeted at recent-immigrant ethnic communities from places where government corruption is endemic. From the point of view of the person being scammed, it actually is plausible that some person working for the IRS is demanding payment via a sketchy method.
rgovostes 6y ago
Didn't RTFA but I know someone who fell for a similar scam. It involved multiple scammers calling them, claiming to be the IRS. They had personal details about the victim (gleaned from public records, no doubt). When the victim agreed to make a payment under threat of arrest, they were told the government doesn't take credit card payments over the phone, but a special agreement with Amazon allowed them to accept gift cards as they are guaranteed value and "as good as cash." From a distance it sounds ridiculous, but it was a surprisingly complex con with multiple participants and enough plausible details to make them seem legitimate. Refusing to take your credit card number over the phone must also disarm victims, what scammer would do so?
- mdoms 6y ago
  > From a distance it sounds ridiculous Because it is ridiculous. There is nothing you could say that would make that sound legitimate to an otherwise intelligent, cautious person.
  - kube-system 6y ago
    You'd think so, but it is possible to scam intelligent people. Intelligent people are still subject to the same fears, emotions, and cognitive biases and flaws that other people are. If a scammer can successfully harness those human weaknesses, intelligence might not be enough to save someone. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/woman-loses-entire-life-savings-in-wire-fraud-scam/109063/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/woman-loses-entire-life...
deleted 6y ago
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by jmuguy 6y ago

kube-system 6y ago

The way con men are successful is usually not by directly convincing people that their scam is legit -- but instead they convince the person that they are trustworthy. Once they're seen as trustworthy, human brains tend to overlook facts, even obvious ones. Confidence scams work on a similar abuse of trust that April Fools jokes do... except they're a lot less funny.

walrus01 6y ago

Some of this has been targeted at recent-immigrant ethnic communities from places where government corruption is endemic. From the point of view of the person being scammed, it actually is plausible that some person working for the IRS is demanding payment via a sketchy method.

rgovostes 6y ago

Didn't RTFA but I know someone who fell for a similar scam. It involved multiple scammers calling them, claiming to be the IRS. They had personal details about the victim (gleaned from public records, no doubt). When the victim agreed to make a payment under threat of arrest, they were told the government doesn't take credit card payments over the phone, but a special agreement with Amazon allowed them to accept gift cards as they are guaranteed value and "as good as cash." From a distance it sounds ridiculous, but it was a surprisingly complex con with multiple participants and enough plausible details to make them seem legitimate. Refusing to take your credit card number over the phone must also disarm victims, what scammer would do so?

mdoms 6y ago
> From a distance it sounds ridiculous Because it is ridiculous. There is nothing you could say that would make that sound legitimate to an otherwise intelligent, cautious person.
- kube-system 6y ago
  You'd think so, but it is possible to scam intelligent people. Intelligent people are still subject to the same fears, emotions, and cognitive biases and flaws that other people are. If a scammer can successfully harness those human weaknesses, intelligence might not be enough to save someone. https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/woman-loses-entire-life-savings-in-wire-fraud-scam/109063/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/woman-loses-entire-life...

deleted 6y ago

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