- I'm Ashton Bingham.
- My name is Art Kulik.
- Today we're here to answer your questions from Twitter.
This is "Scam Support".
[upbeat music]
All right, first up from allthingstoney,
How do scam call centers even get our numbers?
I literally never even give mine out.
This is called data harvesting,
and there's no way to avoid it.
- We have undercover agents in India,
working for call center,
and they literally told us so many times,
that bosses of call center, they will send people to America
so they can get jobs at any database, phone companies,
and they will literally get all information,
and sell it back to India.
All our data is flying internationally.
You cannot do nothing about it.
- Any newsletter you sign up for,
any time you interact with a business.
- Put your email, your cell phone,
your table reservation restaurant.
- Your data is harvested, and it's sold all the time.
There's a lot more laws in place now
about you having to physically opt in,
and have to consent to the data,
and now the cookie approval, like on every website,
you have to accept it. - Cookie.
- By you doing that, you are giving consent
for your activities online to be logged,
and used against you for advertising,
data lists that could be sold from company to company.
And there are data brokers that all have your information.
I'm like, I've never even heard of any of these companies.
Moving on,
Skrawberries.
- skrawberries. [laughs]
- Why do scam texts always have a spelling
or grammar mistake?
It's almost like they do it on purpose,
to give you a little clue.
It's very common to have grammatical
- It's very common, yes. - and spelling mistakes.
I have heard a theory,
and I don't think it's too far fetched
that it is intentional.
Because they're trying to grasp a particular person
that would fall for this,
and they don't wanna waste their time talking to someone
that wouldn't fall for this.
I don't know if it's true.
I honestly, I think it's because they're all international.
- All international.
English is second, and third language,
and they're just trying to find a way to get your money,
and they making a lot of mistakes.
- Next up from Cody Skeie,
"How do scam callers get paid, hourly or commission?"
Both. - Both.
- They have varying sizes of operations,
from just a few people in an apartment,
to literally 5,000 people on a staff,
in a major business complex.
- There is a opener, person who is opening the phone.
"Hi, my name is John Wilson and I'm here this and this."
There is a closer.
So every single position get paid different money,
but the more you scam, you're gonna get commission,
you're gonna get bonus for that.
- So if you scam an extra $5,000,
you get an extra 5,000 rupees as a commission,
which honestly is kind of sickening,
because it all goes to the bosses.
It's like what, 80 rupees per dollar?
The bosses pull in millions, millions,
and millions of dollars, on a sometimes weekly basis.
Next up, thegregorycole.
"Why you con artists use WhatsApp?"
Couple different reasons,- - [Art] Yes.
- First of all, it's hard to track,
and it works internationally, without any barrier.
A lot of these scammers are not in the States,
and that's not to say there aren't scammers in the States,
'cause there are.
It's really easy.
They can just claim a number.
They can do whatever they gotta do to to text you.
There's really no barrier to entry.
It doesn't cost 'em any money.
It's free.
It's secure in the sense that they know
that they're never gonna be tracked, or found out.
It's a similar strategy to the robocall.
So they'll put out billions of fish hooks
and even if a couple people grab 'em,
they're basically waiting for you to reply,
and say wrong number.
And once you do, they know it's an active number,
they know they're talking to a person,
and then they can start up a conversation.
Sometimes it might turn into a romance scam.
Sometimes they'll be like, "Oh, wrong number.
Sorry I'm horny, I forgot and here's a picture of me naked.
Send me money to my Cash App."
Next up from BorrowedHorses.
"Are there any good ways
to protect your parents from phone scams?"
Communication and awareness is number one.
We see it over, and over, and over again.
These scammers are not just technically savvy,
they're professional manipulators.
They will put pressure, they will find a weakness,
especially in an older person that might be vulnerable,
and they will push on that as hard as they possibly can.
Make sure your grandparents,
and your parents are aware of the the tricks.
A common scam that's now taking a resurgence
is an IRS or a social security scam,-
- Oh my god, the adult scams. - which targets elderly people
hardcore because that one plays on the fear.
They say that you're gonna get arrested,
because your social security number
was associated with some crimes in-
- We found the car, Toyota Corolla, 22 pounds of cocaine,
blood, - And drugs.
- drugs, and your ID.
So what do you want to do?
- Have them run things by you,
or at least run it by somebody,
before they give any information to anybody.
But we also need to communicate that if you were scammed,
you need to talk about it.
Like you need to tell people what happened.
You need to tell people what the tactics were
that convinced you, and not feel shameful, or feel judged.
- We really want that those victims will step up,
and show the world, "Hey, this is what happened to me.
This is my story.
Please learn from this story."
And that's how you protect your neighbors,
and your loved ones.
- Next up, itsnotkane.
"Somebody I don't know accidentally privately Venmoed me
two $60 payments for burritos and breakfasts
and is asking for a refund.
Is this a scam?", yes.
- Absolutely yes.
- Common scam, especially through like Cash App and Venmo.
Money was sent to you from a stolen credit card.
They request the refund, or the reimbursement,
and they replace it with their own card,
and then you send them the money.
May not necessarily hurt you
'cause it comes in and goes out.
But it's their way of basically laundering income
through somebody's stolen credit card back to themselves.
Next up from rcelwyn.
"How do I tell my uncle
that the beautiful chick he's talking to online
is a man trying to scam a huge amount of money
without him getting offended.
Needs suggestions ASAP.
I think he gonna invest",
Half a million dollars?
Is that what that means?
Half M. - [Art] Half M.
- Oh my God.
Good on you for trying to find a way to communicate it,
'cause that's really the hardest part,
especially when they're emotionally scammed
over a long period of time.
The best thing I can suggest is not pushing on him
any kind of judgment,
or any kind of "How could you believe this?",
or don't don't make him feel bad for it.
Just show him information.
Show him videos about this stuff,
about romance scams specifically.
Tell him to try to talk to the person in a video chat,
and I bet you this girl will have a reason why she can't.
- When they ask for money,
when they ask for gift card, something,
we will send them a link when they click the link,
we can get the location.
That's why one person saying like, "Hey, I'm from Florida,"
and when he clicked the link, guess what?
- We got their IP and we know that he's, they're in Nigeria
or wherever they are. - [Art] In different country.
- Next up is alexbobskers, I like that name.
"How do you know if an apartment listing on Craigslist
is a scam? Asking for myself."
You gotta look for red flags.
If it's too good to be true, given the housing market,
you know, price, size, all that stuff.
- 6,000 square feet and you have to pay $400.
That's you know, New York or Los Angeles.
- [Ashton] Ocean view for $500
- Ocean $500.
Number two is, "We traveling, we cannot give you keys."
- If the rep you're talking to is avoiding
any kind of direct communication, or interaction with you,
another red flag.
They're always gonna try to pressure you to act fast.
You gotta sign the lease now,
there's someone else coming in with an offer,
so they want you to do it quickly.
Speak to somebody on the phone,
and ask questions.
Next up from agenta547.
"How do people fall for scam sites so easily?
Like rule number one of the internet,
don't click sketchy links.
How do you forget?"
Anybody can be scammed.
And if you don't believe me, go to Jim Browning's channel.
He is considered the godfather of scam baiting.
He's a legend.
He was scammed out of his own channel.
His whole channel was deleted,
and he has a video explaining how it happened.
It's mind blowing.
Anybody can be scammed.
So don't think for one minute that you're above it,
because you think you're smarter.
It's doesn't work that way.
Next up, 44JAX44.
"What's the most ridiculous scam you encountered?"
- We have two different stories
and it's just like both of them are glorious.
You know how, how many scammers on Craigslist, right?
So me and Ashton, we used to live together.
We need a bigger house, we need to rent apartment.
Scammer get back to us, and we already see red flags,
it's a scammer.
- One bedroom apartment.
- 650 for one bedroom in Los Angeles, Westlake.
- Let's look at the pictures
- And pictures.
There's no way,
washer and dryer? - Washer and dryer!
So basically we told scammer that we both astronauts,
from the space we brought an alien with us,
and we ask is it okay to sign this lease agreement.
These aliens will be living in the basement of this house.
- We're gonna breed it, you know.
- Yeah, we're gonna breed it.
We're gonna make more aliens in our basement.
- But I just wanna make sure the neighbors
aren't gonna be offended if there's some squealing.
- Yeah, you have no problem.
Don't, don't worry.
No problem, fantastic. - No problem, okay.
So scammer said yes
you can breed more aliens in your basement,
just gimme your money.
- Flip side of that, we went to India in April,
to do a number of things,
meet up with some of our brothers that we've made,
some ex-scammers that we've helped to change,
and reform their lives,
but also to do some smuggling of some glitter bombs
in collaboration with Mark Rober and Jim Browning.
Essentially, we unleashed mayhem
on a few different call centers.
- It was only one problem,
we got recognized on day two.
- And we learned very quickly
that there are these telegram groups,
where scammers will communicate with each other
about a certain type of scam.
Someone posted in that group,
Hey, we just saw Ashton and Art from Trilogy Media,
here in sector five.
They might be with FBI, they're here to [beep] us.
If you see them, shoot them.
We had to go into hiding.
It changed our whole plan.
It almost scrapped the whole operation,
but we were still able to make it happen.
So we started with contraptions,
and Messi took 'em in his backpack
that had tons of cockroaches in them,
and then he had a time delay stink bombs,
he had smoke bombs, rats in another box.
And then we shipped the glitter bombs in,
and as soon as they open it-
- We put the name of the owner of these call center
and we sent that bomb, and they open it.
- Moving on.
Simo, why are there so many scam call centers in India?
I think it's just demographics, targeted with methods.
That's why you see certain groups of scams,
in certain areas of the world.
- That's why romance, it goes to Africa, right?
Like tech support, it goes to India.
- We've been to India, we've seen it firsthand.
We're very close with a lot of people,
amazing people from India,
and they hate the scammers just as much as we do.
Next up, Megan thee NFT, okay,
but the real question is...
how do we scam the scammers back?
This is right in our wheelhouse,
'cause this is what we do, every single day.
We love to waste the scammer's time, as much as possible,
because that's really the root of what this all is.
Time costs them money.
They have agents actively working,
talking to you on the phone.
We'll talk to 'em on the phone,
for three, four, five hours, sometimes.
We're learning about their scam,
because throughout the process,
they're doing all of their tactics,
all of their things that usually make people fall for it,
when it works.
So we learn what those things are,
when we make the content, whether it's a video,
or a live stream, people can then watch those things,
and know what to look for.
And then thirdly,
the more time they're on the phone with us,
is the less time they're on the phone with your grandmother,
and they're talking to us as our characters.
- We do have characters speaking,
which, what is your stuff?
- This is a character, I-
- We have a voice changer.
We can do females, we can do males, we can be young, old.
Who is this?
- This is Diana Diagonal
Tall, wig, glasses, and a cigarette.
And she's very snarky.
- This is Olga Oldavich.
- People always ask, why the hell do you wear wigs,
if you're just talking to them on the phone?
But it's like, why not? - Yeah.
- You should just do the rest of the interview with that on.
- So anyways, different personalities, different characters.
- Moving on, ChrisTheFist.
Why is Western Union a scam?
- Well, first of all, Western Union, it's not a scam.
- Western Union is a company,- - It's a legit company.
- I don't believe it has nefarious intentions.
I'll explain why they're associated with the word scam.
It's because they send money internationally.
It's a very common way for overseas scammers to accept money
that they can get a cash pickup really easily at a location,
from a victim.
And once the money is sent, they're never gonna get it back.
So it's really good for the scammers,
in the sense that it's reliable,
and they know that they can get cash very fast.
Next up agreenphotog,
How do I get the IRS scam people to stop calling me
10 times a day?
- You cannot.
- Probably nothing you can do.
Keep blocking, keep recording, ftc.gov,
they got a ton of information
about which scams are going on.
And then just, you know,
block unknown numbers from your phone.
If you're not in a line of work
that needs to receive unknown phone numbers,
then don't answer 'em.
They need to get ahold of you, they'll leave a message.
Next up, LauraPerlongo,
do catfish scammers ever go to jail or nah?
- Nah.
- Answer usually nah.
Especially with catfish scammers,
because it's a totally different type of scam,
and their identity is usually a lot harder to get.
For catfish scams,
it's usually starts on dating websites,
Plenty of Fish, Grindr- - They're everything.
- I mean essentially they're pretending
to be somebody else.
Oftentimes they're in the military,
or they're doing something that makes them like,
I live in the United States, but I'm not there now.
They eventually convince the victim that they're
in a relationship,
and then they will need money for something.
Oh, my plane got canceled, I need to book another flight.
Oh, I, there's no water here in the village
that I'm helping, and we need-
- My kid got diseases, my kid got sick.
- It's usually smaller amounts over multiple times,
over a long period of time.
As long as they can keep the victim hooked.
In fact, the scammer we're going to confront
here tomorrow morning- - Not tomorrow.
- it's a cash mule that lives in New York.
He's been receiving money from this woman,
who believes she's in a relationship,
with this guy, in Africa for over eight years,
and she sends almost the entirety
of her social security check every month, to this mule.
And he lives here in New York.
- She donated her own plaza.
- Plasma. - Plasma, sorry, plasma.
- She doesn't have a plaza.
So she's easily sent this guy
probably over a quarter million dollars,
and it's all going through this guy in New York,
who we're going to his store tomorrow morning.
All right, next up from Fulani-Tutor,
Why are scammers rude after they get caught.
When we disrupt their operation, it makes them mad,
and makes the bosses mad, too.
'Cause no one's making any money.
- They're very nasty.
They're gonna blast you every single [beep] word.
Every single, they wanna beep every single person
in your family, your mom, your, everyone.
- They always, they always hate our moms for some reason.
- They always wanna do something with your mom.
- Next up from auntiebeks,
is it just me or has there been an increase in scams lately?
Calls links texts everything.
Well, yes, it's not just you auntiebeks.
- No, especially what happened recently with pandemic,
scammers love when there is some instability.
- People need jobs, people need money,
people are hungry, people have power outages.
Anything like that that they can use to reel you in,
to either help you, or change your life, is enough of a kick
to get you to go get some gift cards.
So yes, there's a huge increase in scams.
It's not just you, be on the lookout, be careful.
All right, next from wuji_and,
why do romance scammers always pose
as American military dudes?
I don't get it.
It's a common story because it allows them
to play the excuse of traveling often.
And being away, and being unavailable,
because the scammer usually is
in a different part of the world.
So they need an excuse as to why they're talking
at odd hours, why they can't video chat,
why their connection is bad, and why they can't visit them.
Next up, Boblack98,
why did the Nigerian Prince scam work so well?
So the Nigerian Prince scam, as it's been coined,
starts with an email.
So you get an email to your spam folder,
that says, hi, I am so and so.
I'm a Prince in Nigeria,
and I have all this money, and it's yours.
Of course, you know, for me to ship it to you,
sometimes it's cash,
sometimes it's consignment boxes with gold bricks.
But for me to ship it to you,
you gotta pay an activation fee.
Scammers, and I say this every time,
as to why they're so effective.
They prey on one of two things, sometimes both,
which is either fear of something happening to you,
or playing towards your dreams of things
you want to happen to you.
And of course everyone wants $65 billion to be
sent to them from a Nigerian Prince's vault.
And finally, tethaagorgg, Dawg how do I block
scam likely from calling me?
- [Art] What's up dog?
- Hey, the scam likely thing is a good thing,
'cause that's somewhat recent,
whereas before you would always just get a phone number,
and you wouldn't know if it's scam likely.
There are lots of apps you can use.
One we personally use, it's called Robo Killer.
And it allows you to not only block the call,
but it'll answer it on your behalf,
and waste their time with pre-recorded answer bots,
that you can actually find us in, which is really fun.
You can also too just block,
like if it's not a number in my contacts,
it doesn't even ring, like it'll go straight to voicemail.
Well, that's all the questions for today.
- We're really hoping that you learned something
from our questions.
- Thank you for watching, and until next time.
- Until next time.