Best Buy and Geek Squad Were Most Impersonated Orgs By Scammers In 2023 (theregister.com) 20
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shared data on the most impersonated companies in 2023, which include Best Buy, Amazon, and PayPal in the top three. The federal agency detailed the top ten companies scammers impersonate and how much they make depending on the impersonation. By far the most impersonated corp was Best Buy and its repair business Geek Squad, with a total of 52k reports. Amazon impersonators came in second place with 34k reports, and PayPal a distant third with 10,000. Proportionally, the top three made up roughly 72 percent of the reports among the top ten, and Best Buy and Geek Squad scam reports were about 39 percent on their own. Though, high quantity doesn't necessarily translate to greater success for scammers, as the FTC also showed how much scammers made depending on what companies they impersonated. Best Buy and Geek Squad, Amazon, and PayPal scams made about $15 million, $19 million, and $16 million respectively, but that's nothing compared to the $60 million that Microsoft impersonators were able to fleece. [...]
The FTC also reported the vectors scammers use to contact their victims. Phone and email are still the most common means, but social media is becoming increasingly important for scamming and features the most costly scams. The feds additionally disclosed the kinds of payment methods scammers use for all sorts of frauds, including company and individual impersonation scams, investment scams, and romance scams. Cryptocurrency and bank transfers were popular for investment scammers, who are the most prolific on social media, while gift cards were most common for pretty much every other type of scam. However, not all scammers ask for digital payment, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that even regular old mail is something scammers are relying on to get their ill-gotten gains.
The FTC also reported the vectors scammers use to contact their victims. Phone and email are still the most common means, but social media is becoming increasingly important for scamming and features the most costly scams. The feds additionally disclosed the kinds of payment methods scammers use for all sorts of frauds, including company and individual impersonation scams, investment scams, and romance scams. Cryptocurrency and bank transfers were popular for investment scammers, who are the most prolific on social media, while gift cards were most common for pretty much every other type of scam. However, not all scammers ask for digital payment, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that even regular old mail is something scammers are relying on to get their ill-gotten gains.
The scammers that call me aren't so specific. (Score:3, Insightful)
I get a lot of scam calls and rarely are they specific on where they call from. They will claim to be "your television provider", some utility, a vaguely named organization somehow associated with Medicare, or some kind of organization involved with income taxes.
I used to get more calls from scammers that claimed to offer some kind of computer security service, like that claimed in the fine article as being popular. I guess my question is how narrowly they define the groups in the scams. I had some calls that claimed to be from "Windows", is that covered by the definition of being from Microsoft or is that considered something different?
The calls seem to come in "bursts", I'll get no scam calls for weeks then day after day of scammers calling me. I'll get a dozen such calls in a day. I got 8 such calls today. I'd change my phone number but that means I'd have to inform a lot of people my number had changed. It also might not end the scam calls since this seems something everyone deals with on some level. I suspect I'm getting so many calls because the person that had my phone number is in some prime demographic for these scams, someone that is over 70 years old and apparently made a decent income. I tell the scammers the guy they are looking for is dead, which I have good reason to suspect is true, but that message doesn't seem to register with them.
I called my cell phone service provider and all they could offer was suggestions on how to block phone numbers. That's something I'd rather not have to do because the scammers call from all over, not repeatedly using the same caller ID, and because I could miss important phone calls from people I do want to talk to me. I've had some calls from apparently legitimate phone numbers, including the local sheriff. Should I block calls from the sheriff to stop the scams? If the sheriff does have a need to contact me then that's a call I might like to answer.
The most common scam I get is very "to the point". They give some story on how I qualify for some refund of money but to get the funds I have to give information from a credit card or checking account. If I express any kind of resistance on giving this information then they just hang up. Some will claim to be from a "TV provider" and need me to give some information off a cable or satellite box, I wonder how that scam is supposed to be profitable.
If I'm in the mood I will try to string them along to waste their time, that way they are talking to me than someone that might give them money. That was fun for a while but now the scam calls are so numerous that it's impacting the value of even having a phone.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The calls seem to come in "bursts", I'll get no scam calls for weeks then day after day of scammers calling me. I'll get a dozen such calls in a day.
This is because the scammers keep logs of who answered numbers, and sell lists of "known good numbers" to other scammers in bulk to feed their autodialer systems.
I tell the scammers the guy they are looking for is dead, which I have good reason to suspect is true, but that message doesn't seem to register with them.
They don't care. They care that someon
Re: (Score:2)
This is because the scammers keep logs of who answered numbers, and sell lists of "known good numbers" to other scammers in bulk to feed their autodialer systems.
Maybe some work that way but there are many ways they might pick your number. When I lived in London I read that over 50% of London's possible numbers were in use*, so it was worth a scammer's autodialer just working numerically through all possible numbers within an area code. Later I moved from a big provincial city to a rural area and the scam calls dropped dramatically, I guess because the rural area code numbers were only thinly populated.
They don't care. They care that someone actually answered the line. Therefore there's a human there, therefore it's sellable to other scammers to try to scam you.
Judging by the language they use when they realise I have been
A spam filtering script (Score:2)
Your situation is nuts compared to mine, but without intervention I'm disturbed enough by a few odd calls at all hours. However I have enjoyed peace ever since I installed this simple script [nerdvittles.com] on my PBX.
When a totally unfamiliar DID [wikipedia.org] calls, they should hear a voice instructing them, to "prove you're a human and dial 5 to continue". If no one dials 5 fast enough the call goes to voicemail, and the calls leaving voicemail are only a fraction of the spam calls. No one ever complains and a few people ask what that
Re: (Score:2)
Registering a DID with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is analogous to registering a web domain and hosting it at Dreamhost.com. Dreamhost can both sell you a domain and host your website and give you email.
You can also transfer existing DIDs, of course.
I recommend using BulkVS to register your DIDs with the PSTN. https://bulkvs.com/ [bulkvs.com] Solid service and very affordable.
Re: (Score:1)
Mine are: Microsoft, a tax auditor, Amazon, my telephone service (possibly evidence of a data-leak).
I'd change my phone number ...
I think they're voice-activated, so I wait for the caller to speak. A robot-dialler will hang-up after 4 seconds. A real person dialing is more problematic but they appear to be limited to tele-marketers.
"I forgot my PornHub password. Windows, what is my PornHub password?"
"First, I need porn. Windows, what is my PornHub password?"
Repeat until they hang-up.
Re: (Score:2)
"First, I need porn. Windows, what is my PornHub password?"
Borrow mine : it's "password".
best buy / geek squad are scammers with up sells (Score:3)
best buy / geek squad are scammers with up sells that they push on people.
Mostly Pig Butchering (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The tech-support scammers usually try to get people to call them these days, instead. Either they have their number in one of the infected/scary ad popups rolling around the internet, or they're using SEO'ed webpages to trick people who are trying to find a phone support number. [ftc.gov]
Out of control for a long time now. (Score:2)
It's been out of control for a very long time now. A couple months ago I looked at my phone after being busy all day at about 5PM. Out of the blue, there were (I counted them) 73 spam calls from all over the place. Some left voice mails which were hang ups or nonsensical BS, and one was three minutes of looping elevator music. That's a very exceptional day, but usually it numbers about a dozen. I didn't get bothered by it at the time because I've long had to set my phone to send directly to voicemail any ca
Sensible choice (Score:2)
Whoever considers Best Buy or Geek Squad for their computing needs is probably a prime target for a scammer. So it makes sense for the scammers to impersonate those concerns: whoever doesn't tell them to piss off rightaway is probably a grade-A mark.
It's a good method for scammers to quickly isolate the suckers who might fall for their scam - just like the scam mails full of outrageous typos that only the most gullible dandelions reply to.
Thieving Impersonators (Score:3)
"but that's nothing compared to the $60 million that Microsoft impersonators were able to fleece...."
What do they mean "impersonators" ?
I think that is US specific (Score:2)
Am not in the US and the scam msgs and calls I get mention other organisations - normally law enforcement related agencies. Occasionally they claim to be from the biggest local telco (who I dont even use anyway, lol).
I love Best Buys! (Score:2)
And the PolyStation 5 I got (a steal!) works fine mostly. It will, when I get a cord that matches. The Quad Geeks are helping me find one. I guess it should be gold plated for improved data. Anyway, it's a little more, but I'm assured the game play will be so much better. I'm told they're hard to find because they're so in demand, which is why it's taking so looong.
The Number One impersonation was... (Score:1)