I literally, unknowingly, watched this unfold with my dad recently. He got a text along the lines of “final notice of unpaid toll from [local toll road entity], pay by end of day to avoid late payment fees” with a link.
He (on the side, while we were all doing something else) went in, entered his drivers license info, date of birth, and credit card number to “pay” the toll.
About 30 second after setting his phone down he just goes “shit, that was a scam, wasn’t it” and describes the text to us.
A little bit too much trust, and a false deadline can go a long way.
One actually had a civil conversation with me for an hour or so to lull me into a false sense of security, it worked so well that I actually was at the kiosk to send him money when an employee rushed over and informed me this was a scam… I was embarassed a simple dialogue and faux-friendship got him far.
Second I brought up that possibility, the other person on the phone began threatening me using information he learned during the conversation.
He was almost a genius, though the more I pressed the more he fell apart… eventually he actually caleld me back and told another guy in the room “Okay, we may be able to fool her this time…” not realizing I’d already answered and was like “Bruh, you just admitted the scam.”
For the record, I’m the kind of person who typically just pranks scammers to get them to waste their time, so this guy was just stay good…
They use threats and urgency to pressure people into paying faster that they realise it’s a scam.
I literally, unknowingly, watched this unfold with my dad recently. He got a text along the lines of “final notice of unpaid toll from [local toll road entity], pay by end of day to avoid late payment fees” with a link.
He (on the side, while we were all doing something else) went in, entered his drivers license info, date of birth, and credit card number to “pay” the toll.
About 30 second after setting his phone down he just goes “shit, that was a scam, wasn’t it” and describes the text to us.
A little bit too much trust, and a false deadline can go a long way.
It’s an old trick but if it’s the last moment you learn about a fine first, then chances are someone isn’t playing fair, regardless.
One actually had a civil conversation with me for an hour or so to lull me into a false sense of security, it worked so well that I actually was at the kiosk to send him money when an employee rushed over and informed me this was a scam… I was embarassed a simple dialogue and faux-friendship got him far.
Second I brought up that possibility, the other person on the phone began threatening me using information he learned during the conversation.
He was almost a genius, though the more I pressed the more he fell apart… eventually he actually caleld me back and told another guy in the room “Okay, we may be able to fool her this time…” not realizing I’d already answered and was like “Bruh, you just admitted the scam.”
For the record, I’m the kind of person who typically just pranks scammers to get them to waste their time, so this guy was just stay good…
Out of curiosity, what was the origin of the debt/fee/urgency and how did that pass your sniff test?