20-09-2018, 08:07 AM
Scammers come in all grades from utterly incompetent to highly effective. It's an ecosystem with pressures of selection, just like any other business.
Mike's problem with the ones who refuse to hang up is an interesting one. I've had variants on this. Even the most basic training for the drones on the phones should include the instruction: "Hang up at the first sign of trouble". Anything else is a complete waste of time, except perhaps for the most high value, highly targeted scams. By keeping somebody busy on the phone we are doing 2 things: Wasting our own time (though it may be amusing us if we're in the mood) and performing a public service by keeping them off somebody else's back for a while.
If you're trying to dupe somebody, it's often effective to appear like one of their peer group. So on the phone I'm most likely to be fooled by somebody who speaks excellent English with an RP accent. Such scammers are very rare indeed. I think I've only ever had one call in that category. I still wasn't fooled. A famous example of a peer group scam was Bernie Madoff. He preyed on his own upper middle class Jewish community with his ponzi scheme. They thought they knew and trusted him. They were wrong.
Mike's problem with the ones who refuse to hang up is an interesting one. I've had variants on this. Even the most basic training for the drones on the phones should include the instruction: "Hang up at the first sign of trouble". Anything else is a complete waste of time, except perhaps for the most high value, highly targeted scams. By keeping somebody busy on the phone we are doing 2 things: Wasting our own time (though it may be amusing us if we're in the mood) and performing a public service by keeping them off somebody else's back for a while.
If you're trying to dupe somebody, it's often effective to appear like one of their peer group. So on the phone I'm most likely to be fooled by somebody who speaks excellent English with an RP accent. Such scammers are very rare indeed. I think I've only ever had one call in that category. I still wasn't fooled. A famous example of a peer group scam was Bernie Madoff. He preyed on his own upper middle class Jewish community with his ponzi scheme. They thought they knew and trusted him. They were wrong.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
