Fake virus popup scams - The American Connection

Interesting video here about one of those fake virus Javascript popup scams that so many sadly fall victim too.  I've followed these for some time through the work of scam busters like Jim Browning (and various others who waste their time using a more comical approach...) - Jim in particular has the knowhow to thoroughly infiltrate their operations.  The majority of these scams seem to be run from cities in India, are highly organized and professionally run (each scammer usually has their own "sales" targets for example, with a bonus system for scamming extra money) and they collectively scam millions every day from victims abroad.  Many publicly put up photo's on social media showing off their ill gotten wealth with displays of their luxury cars, apartments, jewellery, and expensive holidays, all paid for by what can loosely be called "tech support scams". Sadly it seems in most cases the local police have ZERO interest in investigating them.

This one is interesting in that it is an example of a US based business owner who appears to be conspiring with a foreign scamming group to fleece vulnerable and elderly American's of their hard earned cash...

Thankfully this particular operation seems to have shut down (according to comments under the video) but of course it's the tip of a very, very large ice berg.

Enjoy

It's an immoral business, also illegal in most places, but all we can really do is spread the word about not responding immediately to situations like this but too take a deep breath and go to someone you know. It's the same for cold calls. I just got one this morning saying I had just ordered and iPhone 11 from Amazon and to query this 'press button 1'. Aye, right !

An elderly acquaintance of mine, who suffered dementia, fell for one of these and had his current account cleaned out all but £29. He was lucky, his bank accepted he had been scammed and stopped the transfer.

Chris Cosgrove

It seems almost everyone knows someone who's been targeted.  Just goes to show how widespread it it.  Sorry to hear about your friend Chris but glad he got his money back.  Many times, it won't be an automatic refund if they believe the victim has made payment when they "should have known" better as per this story.  Many worry about scammers cleaning out their account without their knowledge, but it's actually far more common for money to be willingly handed over under false pretences. 

I've been on the list for investment scammers and it's not nice - never fell for one but they are persistent and can just take up a lot of your time.  In the end I just started telling them to 'eff off (and worse) at the first instance...  One solution - dump your landline (or install a call blocker) and a lot of it will go away.

Edited by jonuk76, 26 February 2021 - 10:48 AM.

Thanks for sharing! It's shocking how organized these scams are and how they target vulnerable people. Glad to hear this particular operation was shut down, but it's a reminder of how widespread these scams are. Kudos to those like Jim Browning who work to expose them!

It seems almost everyone knows someone who's been targeted.  Just goes to show how widespread it it.  Sorry to hear about your friend Chris but glad he got his money back.  Many times, it won't be an automatic refund if they believe the victim has made payment when they "should have known" better as per this story.  Many worry about scammers cleaning out their account without their knowledge, but it's actually far more common for money to be willingly handed over under false pretences. 
 
I've been on the list for investment scammers and it's not nice - never fell for one but they are persistent and can just take up a lot of your time.  In the end I just started telling them to 'eff off (and worse) at the first instance...  One solution - dump your landline (or install a call blocker) and a lot of it will go away.

Necromancy

@marswilliam has replied to a dead, 3.5-year-old topic

But have fun

:-D