Scammers are constantly evolving as new technology develops with more highly educated Australians falling for their tricks. 9News
has long since moved beyond an uncommon scenario reserved for vulnerable people who fall into not-so-sophisticated traps.A variation of the multi-million-dollar "wrong number" text scam has been sweeping the
Sean Gallagher, a US-based cybersecurity researcher at Sophos, received one of the texts himself and engaged with a scammer for about three months to see how elaborate the scheme would be."Hey Jane are you still in Boston?"The scammer continued to engage Gallagher in conversation, suggesting the mistake was "fate" before asking to be his friend.
Gallagher eventually accused Harley of trying to scam him but before giving up the game, tracked the scammers through their cryptocurrency accounts and found they had stolen about $US3 million .Pig butchering scamsGallagher said many scams use an "urgent call to action", which might involve receiving a text impersonating a company claiming you have an outstanding fine.
"They assume that if they have you on the hook, they will be able to manipulate you emotionally and they will play to your sense of expertise to make you feel confident about the situation," he said. "They're looking for social contact and are more susceptible or amenable to a random person reaching out to them to form an emotional relationship, whether it's friendship, or a business relationship or romantic relationship."Gallagher used the conversations to track "Harley", who he quickly worked out to be a team of scammers working from Cambodia while using a woman to front the conversations.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
What’s wrong with the Liberals (according to a former party leader)Former WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup stunned voters when, three weeks out from the 2021 state election, he declared Labor unbeatable.
Read more »
‘We want to wear what we want, but don’t want to get it wrong’ – how to decode fashion in your 50sWhat exactly is ‘ageless’ dressing? Is it self-hating to worry about the size of my bum in jeans? Viv Groskop (nearly 50) navigates the daunting world of midlife fashion
Read more »
AFL 2023 round 2 LIVE updates: Lions survive thrilling Demons comeback after sensational Gabba blackoutLive | The match has been suspended for 20 minutes, and players have gone down into the rooms. If the match can’t resume within 60 minutes of the outage, the Lions will be declared winners, 91-51.
Read more »
‘He is loved and supported’: Molly Meldrum’s carers take aim at criticsSome recent incidents have put the former Countdown host, and the people caring for him, in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Read more »
Silicon Valley has dominated tech for years. Now the pendulum has swung awayThe 15-year tech boom has ended with rounds of mass layoffs and a recent series of high-profile bank collapses. So what went wrong? And will Silicon Valley ever be the same?
Read more »
‘Crypto King’ arrested in MontenegroDo Kwon, the co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, has been caught along with another man trying to leave Montenegro on a forged passport from Costa Rica and Belgium. In September, Interpol issued an international red notice for his arrest, but no one could catch him. Mr Kwon is behind the cryptocurrency Terra Luna and TerraUSD, which collapsed spectacularly last year and cost investors more than $40 billion US dollars.
Read more »