3 ms·

If all it takes is a screenshot, why not just photoshop it? Why do you need to call at all? I know there are a lot of scam calls trying to get payment credentia

If all it takes is a screenshot, why not just photoshop it? Why do you need to call at all? I know there are a lot of scam calls trying to get payment credentials or get people to make payments but this MO sounds quite implausible.

Brajeshwar 3y ago
The screenshot is likely the precursor the the video they record since the call got established. For most non-tech, and generations prior to us, would be startled, and likely to act in a haste to avoid further embarrassment. Let's say they have a success rate of less than 10% (1 in 10 calls), it is worth their time sitting in cabin somewhere in a town in India earning ₹25,000 a month working for an "Support Call Center" helping them setup this scam patterns. You wanna try a sure-shot scam/Spam game right now? 1. Register a domain in India or via an Indian registrar, I will guarantee you that in the next few days to weeks, you will get all the needed spam in your inbox associated with that domain registration. If you have given your phone number, then they will call up there too. 2. Register a company. Baam! Phone calls, emails, and the very famous Book Parcel scam via the post office to the registered address, and what not. Have fun. India is definitely not for beginners. /wink
- notpushkin 3y ago
  > Register a company I think that works everywhere, not just in India. I'm getting spam to my Estonian company's and my Russian sole proprietorship's email addresses at least every week.
  - andai 3y ago
    Same, but it's all from India!
  - codetrotter 3y ago
    Norway too. When you register a sole proprietorship in your name in Norway, you will soon get multiple other Norwegian companies contacting you. Some of them purport to help you “start your business”. They will charge you money and provide about zero value. They are not trying to help anyone at all, they are just looking to exploit inexperienced people. And the worst ones will use wording to make themselves seem like this is another required step in order to complete the creation of your company. All the while being very careful so that although the wording tricks other people they can still snake their way out of trouble by pointing to some part or the message they sent that somehow clears them of any way to get them fined or otherwise punished for actual fraud. This was already a problem years ago when I registered my own sole proprietorship. I am sure that today with the ease of generating convincing garbage using LLMs the problem is probably even greater.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    Same in the US. Register a domain, and a few months before it expires you will get an official-looking invoice requesting payment to renew it. In small print somewhere it will disclose that it is a "solicition for services" and not an invoice. The tipoff should be that the renewal is about 10x the price of the original registration but I guess enough people are taken in that it's worth doing. Since they send these notices by mail, there will be a disclosure in it somewhere, otherwise it would be mail fraud which is a rather serious federal crime.
Eisenstein 3y ago
I would guess 1) it is easier to screenshot than to find a picture of someone and then photoshop it in 2) scams are almost always about fear and urgency -- if you tell them you are going to photoshop it and let them think about it for a while, your chances of getting paid are much smaller than if you go 'gotcha now pay me or I hit send'
julianeon 3y ago
Because the person making the call does have proof that the victim actually picked up the call. If they needed to they could show up in person and show the blackmailing material to someone else (wife, boss), and show them on their screen that the victim picked up the call, and prove it. That's surely worth something.
- davchana 3y ago
  Showing up in person to blackmail is a sureshot way to get beaten up by victim and their supporters in India, 99% of the times. It is like police-on-the-way pay up right now scams happening in USA. Scammer takes advantage of fear of insult of police showing up & in handcuffs. If the police actually show up, the fear is gone, it can't be undone. The naked video chat scam, when it was new, was mostly banking on victim wanting to keep it secret or wanting to go away. Once of somebody shows up, that shame is gone; and beating ensues. Yes, Photoshop happens, simple clothed people face gets plastered of fake screenshots. There are plenty of other scams going on. Like international caller will call and say your son/daughter/relative is on trouble (hospital, police, accident) amd pay right now to get him saved from that said trouble. Or caller will say that I will send you X amount of money to safe keep, but pay x/100 now to get X across. And many.

Brajeshwar 3y ago

The screenshot is likely the precursor the the video they record since the call got established. For most non-tech, and generations prior to us, would be startled, and likely to act in a haste to avoid further embarrassment. Let's say they have a success rate of less than 10% (1 in 10 calls), it is worth their time sitting in cabin somewhere in a town in India earning ₹25,000 a month working for an "Support Call Center" helping them setup this scam patterns. You wanna try a sure-shot scam/Spam game right now? 1. Register a domain in India or via an Indian registrar, I will guarantee you that in the next few days to weeks, you will get all the needed spam in your inbox associated with that domain registration. If you have given your phone number, then they will call up there too. 2. Register a company. Baam! Phone calls, emails, and the very famous Book Parcel scam via the post office to the registered address, and what not. Have fun. India is definitely not for beginners. /wink

notpushkin 3y ago
> Register a company I think that works everywhere, not just in India. I'm getting spam to my Estonian company's and my Russian sole proprietorship's email addresses at least every week.
- andai 3y ago
  Same, but it's all from India!
- codetrotter 3y ago
  Norway too. When you register a sole proprietorship in your name in Norway, you will soon get multiple other Norwegian companies contacting you. Some of them purport to help you “start your business”. They will charge you money and provide about zero value. They are not trying to help anyone at all, they are just looking to exploit inexperienced people. And the worst ones will use wording to make themselves seem like this is another required step in order to complete the creation of your company. All the while being very careful so that although the wording tricks other people they can still snake their way out of trouble by pointing to some part or the message they sent that somehow clears them of any way to get them fined or otherwise punished for actual fraud. This was already a problem years ago when I registered my own sole proprietorship. I am sure that today with the ease of generating convincing garbage using LLMs the problem is probably even greater.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  Same in the US. Register a domain, and a few months before it expires you will get an official-looking invoice requesting payment to renew it. In small print somewhere it will disclose that it is a "solicition for services" and not an invoice. The tipoff should be that the renewal is about 10x the price of the original registration but I guess enough people are taken in that it's worth doing. Since they send these notices by mail, there will be a disclosure in it somewhere, otherwise it would be mail fraud which is a rather serious federal crime.

Eisenstein 3y ago

I would guess 1) it is easier to screenshot than to find a picture of someone and then photoshop it in 2) scams are almost always about fear and urgency -- if you tell them you are going to photoshop it and let them think about it for a while, your chances of getting paid are much smaller than if you go 'gotcha now pay me or I hit send'

julianeon 3y ago

Because the person making the call does have proof that the victim actually picked up the call. If they needed to they could show up in person and show the blackmailing material to someone else (wife, boss), and show them on their screen that the victim picked up the call, and prove it. That's surely worth something.

davchana 3y ago
Showing up in person to blackmail is a sureshot way to get beaten up by victim and their supporters in India, 99% of the times. It is like police-on-the-way pay up right now scams happening in USA. Scammer takes advantage of fear of insult of police showing up & in handcuffs. If the police actually show up, the fear is gone, it can't be undone. The naked video chat scam, when it was new, was mostly banking on victim wanting to keep it secret or wanting to go away. Once of somebody shows up, that shame is gone; and beating ensues. Yes, Photoshop happens, simple clothed people face gets plastered of fake screenshots. There are plenty of other scams going on. Like international caller will call and say your son/daughter/relative is on trouble (hospital, police, accident) amd pay right now to get him saved from that said trouble. Or caller will say that I will send you X amount of money to safe keep, but pay x/100 now to get X across. And many.