This is the last one of the series, at least until they come up with a new scam. You can bet your life that I'll be up in here and documenting my experiences as quick as I can.
How it Works
- Set up an artificial voice message with an air of authority, threatening to do dire things if the mark doesn't hold the line
- Let it loose on the world
- Marks gullible enough to fall for it will be connected to you
- Get everything you want
Some of this is conjecture, since I recognised it from a standing start. I got more of these than I could want because I was expecting tradies. That time is almost over and I am not going to be an audience to this nonsense.
My Story
As mentioned above, I was trying to round up tradies to fix the vanity [story coming as soon as I know what the bill is like]. So any mobile number could be the person to save both my cats and the family's ankles from a descending sink.
So I got to hear a LOT of this:
Crime Bot: This is a call from National Crime Authority in association with National Tax Offices. Your account has been linked to criminal activity and your tax file number is about to be frozen--
Me: Nice try, Phisherman! ::hangs up::
Like, this is WAY too lazy. They don't even bother to fill in all the mad libs for one, and for the other, they could make the voice sound like anyone if they wanted to, but the generic robovoice just makes me fully aware that it's yet another incoming scam.
Honestly, I'm more tired of it than anything.
Someone has to fall for it, or it wouldn't be maintained for so firkin long... but it's so so bland and banal. They're not even trying to be clever. It's almost insulting.
How to Stop it
As mentioned in last week's feature, the unique government identifying number you get as a citizen CANNOT be frozen. They can freeze a lot of other things, but not that one.
The instant you hear "frozen" in association with that number? It's a scam. Hang up.
Telling them where they went wrong will only encourage them to step up their game. So... maybe let them keep thinking this is going to work...
I dunno.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / homestudio]