In these scenarios, scammers exploit fear – using threats of financial ruin, legal trouble, or harm to a loved one – to create a sense of extreme urgency. They stay on the phone with victims, coaching them to bypass security warnings and disable security settings before the victim has a chance to think or seek help.
Does this actually happen? Or they just trying to manufacture consent to all this bullshit?
Is it a reason to lock down and enshittify every computing platform, every OS, every Internet-connected device until we own nothing, control nothing and can’t install what we please?
It’s an age old tactic of manipulation to start with something true, exaggerate the threat, and apply it everywhere possible.
Never seen it and I’ve worked in banking which I would have thought it would be most prevalent. Seen lots of traditional scams, but never stuff that involves side loading apps. I think the attack surface is just not big enough to make it worthwhile.
Well I’m sure we’ve all heard stories about it happening, and my FIL had someone walking him through a “Microsoft has detected a virus on your PC” scenario one time until he fucked up and lost the connection (fortunately)
Does this actually happen? Or they just trying to manufacture consent to all this bullshit?
Do calls like that happen? Unfortunately, yes.
Is it a reason to lock down and enshittify every computing platform, every OS, every Internet-connected device until we own nothing, control nothing and can’t install what we please?
It’s an age old tactic of manipulation to start with something true, exaggerate the threat, and apply it everywhere possible.
That does happen. You can see stuff like that on scam baiting videos all the time.
Never seen it and I’ve worked in banking which I would have thought it would be most prevalent. Seen lots of traditional scams, but never stuff that involves side loading apps. I think the attack surface is just not big enough to make it worthwhile.
they do happen yes
Well I’m sure we’ve all heard stories about it happening, and my FIL had someone walking him through a “Microsoft has detected a virus on your PC” scenario one time until he fucked up and lost the connection (fortunately)