A tech expert played along with a 'wrong number' scam. Here's what he found

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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.

 

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I’ve had this one about ten times in the last few days.

How is that sophisticated? Who would be so stupid to fall for that?

It’s easy solved. STOP RESPONDING TO A NUMBER YOU DONT KNOW… IF THRY REALLY KNOW YOU THEY WILL LEAVE A MESSAGE. ITSNOTTHATHARD!!

The scammers’ true indentities should be exposed.

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A tech expert played along with a 'wrong number' scam. Here's what he foundUS based cybersecurity researcher at Sophos Sean Gallagher received one of the texts himself and engaged with a scammer for about three months to see how elaborate the scheme would be. If you fall for this 🤣🤣 you deserve to lose ur money
Source: 9NewsAUS - 🏆 10. / 72 Read more »