Hackers aren’t only on computers or the internet. They lurk EVERYWHERE!
The term “hacker” didn’t originally mean someone who does criminal acts. It was people who thought “outside the box”, who tried new ways to use old things. Like the term “life hacks”, which is not a derogatory term in the least! It means finding new ways to accomplish life tasks, usually using something totally unexpected.
Well, “hackers” these days do the same, they look for new, unexpected ways to do things, but for nefarious reasons. Mostly for money, but sometimes to get a political point across, or just for attention. Social engineers are basically people trained in how to use psychology to trick people into giving them what they want.
Did you ever get a phone call or voice message that seemed to originate from your same area code and local exchange, but had a pre-recorded message about your vehicle’s extended warranty? That was a hack! They are almost always “robocalls” using bot scripts, you can call it program or app, something that is coded in a programming language to run by itself to run through all possible numbers and dial them using VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services such as Google Voice or even from a server they built themselves or bought on the dark web. These bot scripts can go through thousands of numbers dialed per hour. If someone answers the call, it will be flagged as a live/working number, and a real person will get on the line quickly, but you will hear some sort of clicking noise when the link is picked up, so you can tell. Most of the time these call-center employees will not have American accents. A quick search online shows that a majority of these call centers are from the area of India.
They are operated like normal businesses, with employees that clock in and out, and take up whole floors in huge office buildings, with cubicles, supervisors, break rooms etc, but the difference is that the work done by the employees is illegal and immoral, using pressure and psychology against the intended victims, and the business owners often have bought the local officials to prevent being shut down legally.
Their favorite prey? Elderly people. The ones who have dementia or other memory issues especially. They will use scare tactics and other psychological tricks to get the intended victim in a mental state where they cannot think straight so they will be even more vulnerable.
I know of a case where a lonely person who lost their spouse and lived alone was scammed out of their social security check for 3 months before it came to their knowledge. The scammers changed the mailing address first, then the bank account to which it was direct deposited. I imagine the phone call went something like this: “This is John from Social Security. We have noticed some fraudulent activity on your account, and we need to verify your information to fix this.” Of course, the elderly person will get upset and confused, and immediately give them their social security number, bank number, etc so their check won’t be lost. I’m sure you know what came next…
Worst of all, after having their money stolen, the elderly person’s phone blew up! Now their phone number is on a special “gullible” call list that gets sold over and over, so every call center that exists is now trying to get a piece of that pie! And they did get scammed again, many times, until the phone number was changed.
What is the truth that should be universally known to prevent this? SOCIAL SECURITY (and the IRS and most government offices and agencies) DON’T CALL YOU! THEY SEND LETTERS! Unless there is some ongoing case, in which they could call you, but they WON’T initiate any case over the phone.
This same scenario could happen for bank accounts, debit and credit cards, or any type of online or offline account!
Other known scam scenarios (either live calls or recorded messages left on your answering machine):
- Calling as Border Patrol with criminal activity in your name at the southern border
- Calling as a sheriff or other law enforcement announcing there is a warrant for your arrest
- Text, voice or email messages that you have received a large reward or prize, but you need to send them money first
- Text messages or emails announcing a renewal or purchase of a service such as anti-virus or computer help desk with a phone number to call or a link to click
- Messages about cures or treatments for COVID or other medical issues that you did not initiate
- Requests for private messaging to be a “friend” or ask for “help”, so they can trick you alone where nobody can warn you
- Social media posts by fake, hacked or troll accounts that
- The most recent huge issue: flooding a Facebook group, especially help groups or groups for regional sales/trading with fake/hacked/troll accounts and posting random stuff interspersed with any of the above scams
How can you fight scams?
Don’t answer calls! Let your voice mail catch everything. If it’s important, they will leave a message.
Never say the word “yes”. If they ask you any questions, answer using the question itself, for example, most often they will start off with asking “Can you hear me?”, You can reply, “I hear you.”
When a robocall reaches you, and you didn’t answer, but there is a recording with prompts like press 1 for English, don’t do it! Then they know you are a real person and will flag your number as live and you will receive ever more phone calls!
Helpful and Informative links:
