As Amyjo enlightened those of us who were unaware:

>Having worked in consumer protection for nearly three decades, I can attest that a majority of scammers derive from Pakistan.

>The Asian sounding voices do not sound discriminatory to me to call them out, because they will rip you off for all they can. The accent is actually a warning sign and a red flag.

>That Catnip was targeted by the technical support scam and had her computer hacked, is how they operate from afar.

>These people are linked to Al Qaeda and ISIL. The money they make in this multi-million dollar industry goes to fund terrorist activities.

>They will market Catnip's contact info on the underground to other con artists because she took the "bait" for one scam. These felons are so bad they are as bad or worse than the drug cartels of South America. They resort to murder and mayhem in their own ranks, and have turf wars with competitors. They are bad hombras.

I don't know what a 'hombra' is, but I'm thinking it's a Pakistan term?

Or are we saying these scammers who are linked to Al Qaeda and ISIL are females?

Anyway, now that catnip's contact info is marketed on the underground due to her taking the bait (and possibly linked to murder), there's nothing she can do.

But for those of us who haven't been hacked, how can we know we are dealing with someone from Pakistan? This question was asked in the OP but that is closed. What can we know about the particular accent that's a 'warning sign of a red flag'?

Like you said, amyjo, it's not discriminatory to 'call them out' based on accent. But how can we know? Help!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2017 06:57PM by carameldreams.

Hombra is the feminization of the Spanish word hombre, which means men. I have no idea why people use it and it makes my ears itch as a Latina with basic Spanish skills.

My son told me the trick to imitating most south Asian speech is to speak as though there was peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

Hey, people. I regularly see articles in the SLTrib where people are scammed out of their entire retirement fund, often thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Such stories are so common in Utah they border on being routine.

And the scammers are not from Pakistan. Pakistani telephone scams are penny-ante bull**** compared to what trusted ward members can and do do to you.

Just trying to inject a little reality into the discussion.

Google is your friend. The consensus seems to be that most of the scamming calls are originating out of India, with a U.S. component.

From a 2012 article in Computer World:

"According to the FTC, most of the scams it hit operated out of India and targeted consumers in Australia, Canada, the U.K., U.S., and other English-speaking countries."

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2491954/malware-vulnerabilities/ftc-hits-scary-tech-support-scammers-that-make--virtual-mayhem-.html

From a 2013 article in Computer World:

"The Computerworld reader who admitted falling for a scam said that the purported technician gave an email address associated with Liz Infotech, a company based in Kolkata, India, a known hub for support scammers."

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2486136/cybercrime-hacking/fake-windows-tech-support-calls-continue-to-plague-consumers.html

From Wikipedia:

"In English-speaking countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, such cold call scams have occurred as early as 2008 and primarily originate from call centers in India."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_support_scam

In a 2012 Ars Technica article detailing how the U.S. Federal Trade Commission tracked down some of the scammers, one company they busted is mentioned as being located in Calcutta, India.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/how-windows-tech-support-scammers-walked-right-into-a-trap-set-by-the-feds/

From a 2016 article published by the respected anti-malware company, Malwarebytes:

"Usually from India and operating out of boiler rooms, these scammers call people in the U.S, Canada, the UK, and Australia whom they find in the phone directory."

"Located in India but also in the US, these companies heavily advertise on popular search engines as well as websites with high traffic. People call them for assistance and get fooled with similar techniques employed by Indian cold callers."

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/tech-support-scams/

And again, telephone scams are penny-ante. What's the most money you ever heard of anyone you knew actually losing in a phone scam? $39? $200 to have ransomware "removed" from their computer? Some lost data because they had to have their OS reinstalled?

Now, how much actually money was lost by the customers of Bernie Madoff?

How much was lost by investors in Enron?

How much was lost by investors in AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc. How much did your retirement savings/home equity shrink when the housing/mortgage bubble burst in 2007?

How much is lost in the ponzi-scheme-of-the-month in Utah? I know of one person who lost his house over one of those fool-proof investments, and several who very nearly did.

Phone scams are annoying. They may even cost you some money if you are easily manipulated or careless. But you can cancel credit cards, and contest charges. Somebody actually bought a car in the name of a relative of mine. It took the better part of a year to unsnarl that mess, and somewhat longer to get the credit report back on track. The aggravation and time were far and away the bigger cost. The actual money lost was a few hundred dollars. Painful, but nothing compared to the Enron employees whose 401Ks were in company stock.

The people conducting the serious scams all speak perfect English and wear white shirts and ties.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2017 11:52PM by Brother Of Jerry.

I'm not sure why, but the original thread you're being referenced - that's the first time I believed Amy Jo. I think she's got some credibility on this topic-----

Well if I know Amyjo.....and I do.....she is in no way no how a racist.

Those posters who tried in vain to smear her with that particular brush just got themselves deleted for all their trouble.

My first tax scam call was, I found out later, from a call centre in India. I am very familiar with a south Asian accent as I have friends and my wife has a doctor who speaks with that accent. After my initial shock and concern over the threats I hung up, called Revenue Canada and was reassured it was a scam and received 5 or 6 more calls from the crooks. I would accuse them of being criminals, which some agreed with. One got extremely angry and began cussing me in very broken English. I had fun with him.

These 'scam' assholes all need to be shot. I got a tax scam phone call just last week. It was a recording. My cousin the accountant says Revenue Canada will never phone people over any problems, only through the post.

And two months ago some Malware let the RCMP scam through. It froze up my computer then said it would 'unfreeze' if I paid $100. I smelled a rat, so I manually shut off computer and started up again, did a search and found it's a scam used throughout the world, but in other countries they use those countries police agencies as a front. Bastards.

Agreed...but considering the money they've stolen from fearful seniors shooting is too good for them. It sure is fun to hear their reactions when you call them fucking criminal scum (using those words) and then listen to them explode in a barrage of profanity. After I told one I'd would report their number to the RCMP the prick just said "you're stupid" and hung up.

The only people you can *really* trust are those Nigerian princesses because in their letters you can tell that they are good Christian girls who just need some help moving that $250,000USD out of the country since their father was killed in that tragic auto accident, and are willing to give you a large chunk of it for your assistance.

Oh yes, also the helpful computer experts named "Bob" from Microsoft who call and alert you that your PC is infected; they're a little hard to understand but so helpful...