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The top 10 phone scams of 2021
Working from home since 2020 due to Covid, my house, and cell phone ringing daily with calls from scammers. As an information security professional, I wanted to understand what was going on with these calls, so I started answering them. To know how they operate, you can hear actual audio recordings of these scammers here.
Willie Sutton didn’t say it, but the reason people robbed banks is because that’s where the money is. In 2021, there is much money to be made in phone scams. In foreign countries, where many of these scams originate, a scammer can support their family for years from a single scam.
These scammers operate with impunity was they know the chances of being caught are almost infinitesimal. Even if they can trace a scammer’s call, the combination of international laws, jurisdictions, and extradition processes are so overwhelming that the well-organized scam operates can work in peace. To illustrate just how difficult it is, it took the FBI over four years to track down and arrest their most wanted international phone scammer, Noor Aziz Uddin, in 2015.
I recently gave a webcast on How to Avoid Being a Scam Victim When Your Phone Rings and detailed the following top 10 phone scams of 2021:
- Amazon refunds — Over 50% of American’s use Amazon, so there is a massive target audience. The scammer claims there’s…
