A look at how millions of people are scammed every year.
Scam calls are increasing year after year and are gripping more and more victims. In 2021, according to Truecaller, Americans lost nearly 30 billion dollars due to scam calls. That’s 10 billion more than in 2020. But how do their scam calls even work? How were billions and billions of dollars stolen from Americans over the phone? If you want to know, continue reading.
The Amazon Refund Scam
An anonymous source, who receives an average of 10 scam calls a week, is all too familiar with scam attempts. “I often receive apple or Amazon scams,” they said. The types of scams they are talking about are tech support scams. This type of scam is frequently used by scammers. One common kind of tech support scam is called the Amazon refund scam. Since June of 2020, Amazon scam reports have increased by 500%. This scam occurs as follows: First, you receive a call about an unauthorized purchase or subscription. To cancel your order, you have to talk to one of their “customer support representatives,” a.k.a. a scammer who will try to get access to your computer and convince you to log into your bank account. After that, the purchase will supposedly be refunded. The scammer will edit the victim’s screen so it looks like they put money into their bank account. While they do this, they will black out the victim’s screen so they only see the words “PC help.” Stealing all of your life savings is, of course, PC help, right? Then, the scammer will allow the victim to see their screen again and will tell them to enter the refund amount.
However, the scammer will add a couple more zeros and blame it on the victim. Then, they will tell them to check their bank account balance to make sure the money went through. Though, it’s not their bank account balance. It is the page that they edited earlier while the victim couldn’t see their screen. Next, the scammer starts acting sad and starts fake crying. Sometimes they say that their family will die of hunger since they do not have the money to buy food. Other times, they say they will be fired because of the “victim’s mistake.” This makes the victim feel terrible. Then, the scammer says that they have a solution. The victim can send their real, hard-earned money to the scammer to repay them for the “extra money sent.” Full of guilt, the victim agrees.
The IRS Scam
Another common scam is the IRS scam or government imposter scam. Despite its simplicity, this scam is still very effective (unfortunately). Here is how it works: First off, they pretend they work for the IRS. Then, they tell you you owe the IRS a certain amount of money in taxes. If you refuse to pay, they threaten you with a lawsuit and jail time. In response, the victim is often afraid and thus pays.
Emergency Scam
Last but not least, we have the emergency scam. This scam is also quite simple, but it is still effective. Typically, these scams go like this: A person, usually a grandparent, gets a call from one of their “grandchildren” or other relatives. The “relative” then says they are in an emergency and need money quickly. Sometimes they say they are stuck in another country or have been in a car crash. They often use high levels of emotion when they say this. These tactics aim to induce you to make decisions based on emotion rather than logic. If they succeed, they often get the victim to send their money to the scammer.
These scams are all very manipulative but a good way to identify these scams is to understand how they work. However, scams are constantly changing to better fit the current events. For example, the employment scam took advantage of the pandemic. Because many people lost their jobs due to covid, they needed new jobs. The employment scam essentially is a fake job that includes an advance fee. People pay this fee and are then ghosted by the scammer. Our anonymous source agrees that we must stay alert to such schemes. “Scams are a very sneaky and manipulative way to get money out of people.”
Students of the Sidewalk 