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I find it mind blowing how at one point I was getting scam texts almost daily because it seems like the easiest criminals to capture. Registering a number will

I find it mind blowing how at one point I was getting scam texts almost daily because it seems like the easiest criminals to capture. Registering a number will eventually lead to a bank account. They can social engineer the criminal. They can trace where the call is coming from. Yet it seems they barely do anything.

wil421 3y ago
Facebook Marketplace has/had a huge problem where nefarious persons from Africa sending you a Google voice verify code. They says the code is to verify you are selling the item. The scam works by getting the code back and obtaining a google voice number. They use the numbers for the real scams, FB marketplace is just the starting point.
bongodongobob 3y ago
Nope, you can just spoof numbers. No need to register anything with anyone. It's a trivial as spoofing an email address.
steve1977 3y ago
And you really want “them” to put their energy and time into finding some guys who send you text messages instead of finding guys who abuse children or kill people?
teeganBgud 3y ago
[dead]
Aurornis 3y ago
> because it seems like the easiest criminals to capture. Registering a number will eventually lead to a bank account. They can social engineer the criminal. They can trace where the call is coming from. If only it was so easy as running a trace on the criminal and then driving down to their location to arrest them, just like the movies. The people running these scams are several layers removed from the people sending the texts. The big ones are careful to do some or all of it from another country. It's not as simple as tracing a number and then arresting someone. The crackdown in the linked article involves 34 different countries. Just imagine the global police coordination required to trace that all and pull it off.
- HideousKojima 3y ago
  Mark Rober's video on going up against some scammers based out of Calcutta very strongly implied (without outright saying for what I assume are liability reasons) that the scam call centers they were trying to take down were paying off the Calcutta police for protection.
- heads 3y ago
  Can’t you at least close the bank account?
  - 4RealFreedom 3y ago
    My wife got scammed. They opened a bank account in her name tied to her email address. She contacted that bank right away. For 2 months she received messages about other people transferring money into this account. These were other people getting scammed. The wheels turn too slowly.
- JCharante 3y ago
  Arrest the people sending the texts
- llamaInSouth 3y ago
  > If only it was so easy as running a trace on the criminal and then driving down to their location to arrest them, just like the movies. There's Youtubers that find call centers, hack into their network, watch them on their camera systems and mess with them[0]... surely the authorities could do more 0. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacked+call+center https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacked+call+cen...
  - bongodongobob 3y ago
    If you want to throw out due process sure. "The authorities" can't just hack networks. While entertaining, what these YouTubers are doing is very illegal.
    - 3y ago
dghlsakjg 3y ago
> Registering a number will eventually lead to a bank account. Not at all true in many places. It is very easy in the states to get a phone number with cash.
- hlfshell 3y ago
  Where? I'm curious how easy it actually is, so please let me know where one would go for this.
  - dghlsakjg 3y ago
    WalMart, unless things have changed. Here's a whole guide: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-buy-a-burner-phone-1843905326 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-buy-a-burner-phone-1843905326
  - meragrin_ 3y ago
    Um, any place they sell prepaid phones and prepaid cards? Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, etc.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  In a bunch of places (including the UK), you can get a phone number without any money and without any postal address. Just buy a 'free' esim. And you can top up with cash if you want.
  - TomK32 3y ago
    On the other hand, proofing your UK address to the council, bank or literally anyone, is one of the most mind numbing things ever... speaking as a German.
    - tim333 3y ago
      And not very secure either. In my experience you can send a pdf of a utility bill and those are quite easy to edit.
- 3y ago
duped 3y ago
If this worked they would have caught the Gilgo Beach Killer a decade before they actually did. He contacted his victims with burner phones that cops were never able to trace back to an individual. They were able to figure out which towers they pinged, which they later used to identify the person by matching it against which towers his personal cell phone pinged (and they could only do that because they had a witness identify his truck). And that's when police actually care about catching the person.

wil421 3y ago

Facebook Marketplace has/had a huge problem where nefarious persons from Africa sending you a Google voice verify code. They says the code is to verify you are selling the item. The scam works by getting the code back and obtaining a google voice number. They use the numbers for the real scams, FB marketplace is just the starting point.

bongodongobob 3y ago

Nope, you can just spoof numbers. No need to register anything with anyone. It's a trivial as spoofing an email address.

steve1977 3y ago

And you really want “them” to put their energy and time into finding some guys who send you text messages instead of finding guys who abuse children or kill people?

teeganBgud 3y ago

[dead]

Aurornis 3y ago

> because it seems like the easiest criminals to capture. Registering a number will eventually lead to a bank account. They can social engineer the criminal. They can trace where the call is coming from. If only it was so easy as running a trace on the criminal and then driving down to their location to arrest them, just like the movies. The people running these scams are several layers removed from the people sending the texts. The big ones are careful to do some or all of it from another country. It's not as simple as tracing a number and then arresting someone. The crackdown in the linked article involves 34 different countries. Just imagine the global police coordination required to trace that all and pull it off.

HideousKojima 3y ago
Mark Rober's video on going up against some scammers based out of Calcutta very strongly implied (without outright saying for what I assume are liability reasons) that the scam call centers they were trying to take down were paying off the Calcutta police for protection.
heads 3y ago
Can’t you at least close the bank account?
- 4RealFreedom 3y ago
  My wife got scammed. They opened a bank account in her name tied to her email address. She contacted that bank right away. For 2 months she received messages about other people transferring money into this account. These were other people getting scammed. The wheels turn too slowly.
JCharante 3y ago
Arrest the people sending the texts
llamaInSouth 3y ago
> If only it was so easy as running a trace on the criminal and then driving down to their location to arrest them, just like the movies. There's Youtubers that find call centers, hack into their network, watch them on their camera systems and mess with them[0]... surely the authorities could do more 0. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacked+call+center https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacked+call+cen...
- bongodongobob 3y ago
  If you want to throw out due process sure. "The authorities" can't just hack networks. While entertaining, what these YouTubers are doing is very illegal.
  - 3y ago

dghlsakjg 3y ago

> Registering a number will eventually lead to a bank account. Not at all true in many places. It is very easy in the states to get a phone number with cash.

hlfshell 3y ago
Where? I'm curious how easy it actually is, so please let me know where one would go for this.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  WalMart, unless things have changed. Here's a whole guide: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-buy-a-burner-phone-1843905326 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-buy-a-burner-phone-1843905326
- meragrin_ 3y ago
  Um, any place they sell prepaid phones and prepaid cards? Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, etc.
londons_explore 3y ago
In a bunch of places (including the UK), you can get a phone number without any money and without any postal address. Just buy a 'free' esim. And you can top up with cash if you want.
- TomK32 3y ago
  On the other hand, proofing your UK address to the council, bank or literally anyone, is one of the most mind numbing things ever... speaking as a German.
  - tim333 3y ago
    And not very secure either. In my experience you can send a pdf of a utility bill and those are quite easy to edit.
3y ago

duped 3y ago

If this worked they would have caught the Gilgo Beach Killer a decade before they actually did. He contacted his victims with burner phones that cops were never able to trace back to an individual. They were able to figure out which towers they pinged, which they later used to identify the person by matching it against which towers his personal cell phone pinged (and they could only do that because they had a witness identify his truck). And that's when police actually care about catching the person.