Phishing / Scams are getting better, probably using AI to write better

Community Tech Policy & News
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Got this from a good but old friend from his email address, I am contacting him verbally to make him aware that his other email contacts may have gotten the same email:

Good to hear from you. I need to get an Amazon E-Gift Card for a friend of mine who is diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer, She lost her only daughter to the disease (COVID-19).it’s her birthday but I can’t do this now. I tried purchasing it online but unfortunately I got no luck on that. Wondering if you could help me take care of this through Amazon online? and I’ll reimburse you once I get back home.

And then:

Please follow the Amazon link to enable you purchase the gift card

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Gift-Card-eGift-Voucher/dp/B006AUF6X0

Glad you could help. Amount needed is £300 Amazon gift card for £100 each (£100*3 Qty). Here is her email address ( [email protected] ) The message I want is “Happy Birthday. You deserve the very best on this day”. You can choose any design for her and the delivery date should be “now” so it will be delivered 5 mins after being ordered. Please let me know once you send it to her and forward me the confirmation once you are done with it

Yes, you’ll be using the same words in your head as me about these things…calling them “people” doesn’t sound right.

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The worst thing, unfortunately people fall for it. It used to be door knockers, then mail, now email and phone. Facebook has a lot, it seems

There is also a AI voice changer/generator faking direct phonecalls, sounding like a trusted person…

(a la AI voice phone scams are on the rise. Here's how to avoid them and Scammers are using AI-generated voice clones, the FTC warns : NPR etc)

(edited. I was for sure wrong, it’s not the worst thing that some people fall for it. the worst thing is indeed the scum that perpetrate this entirely victimising fraud. it’s not even a victimless / corporation that looses, it’s real people. )

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The one last defense is probably knowing your friends and acquaintances very well and being able to discern out of the ordinary requests.

Edit: don’t respond to the AI if you know/suspect it may be one. That’s also how it learns about you like how all your friends and acquaintances learn about you. Assume AI has been endowed with theory of mind. :wink:

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Not really related but I tend to have a fun time with the phone scammers.
Like answering as such:

Hello, this is Jonathan Beals from Cedar Debt Collection Services. How may I assist you with your outstanding debts?

That usually causes them to run away.

The usual gotos are

  1. Claim to have bizarre and outrageous hobbies or interests. Tell the scammer you’re busy with ghost hunting, or extraterrestrial diplomacy.
  2. Then respond to the call in a made-up language or gibberish. Pretend not to understand English and speak in a completely nonsensical manner.

But my favourite one time stupid scenario I came up with one particularly positive day was about as such:

Phone rings, sees Indian country code on VOIP line.

  • Lets go - answers the phone in most hyped up TV show host I could pull off.

Me: Ladies and gentlemen, viewers from around the world, get ready for the finger-lickin’ fun of our Fried Game show Extravaganza’! I’m your host, Colonel Sanders, and today we have a special finger-lickin’ surprise for our audience. We’ve got a surprise caller on the line, and guess what? It’s YOU! That’s right, you’re live on TV brought to you by KFC! Are you ready to win some ‘cluck-tastic’ prizes and have a clucking good time?"

Caller (Indian Scammer): “Hello Sir. We are calling about your outstanding debts Sir.”

Me: “Don’t be shy! You’re on the hottest game show in town! Now, before we begin, let’s hear your name and where you’re calling from!”

Caller: “My name is Jason, and I’m calling from Cologne. What is happening?” Now I’m on a game show? Is this a joke?

Me: “Fantastic, Rajesh! Now, let’s dive into this bucket of questions and tasks. First question: What’s your favorite part of a chicken?”

Caller: “I do not understand Sir. Can we please talk about the debts?”

Me: “Fantastic, Rajesh! You’ve won a whole month’s supply of chicken wings! Imagine the flavor, the crunch… all yours!”

Caller: “This makes no sense. I need to speak to someone about the debts.”

Me: “It’s a clucking good time, Rajesh! For our next challenge, we want you to do your best chicken impression. Ready, flap those wings and cluck that beak!”

Caller: “What da fack, maki chute etc etc noises”

Me: “Impressive, Rajesh! You’ve just won the title of ‘Honorary Chicken Dance Champion’! Keep flappin’ and enjoy your chicken adventures, sponsored by KFC!”

Caller: MY NAME IS ARJUN YOU %&$&%*$ INTENSE SWEARING AND HANGS UP WITH VIOLENCE.

:rofl:

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@Trooper_ish That’s bad about voice clones…I keep meaning to start a little “learn basic tech” session for OAP’s, I’ll definitely mention that if I get the time to do it!

Yep, it’s disgusting that they sink that low. If I was a millionaire with nothing to do, I’d get a ticket to India and deal with it personally :angry:

Oddly, I don’t know the guy very well, but he’s one of life’s good eggs for sure, so I nearly helped. Luckily my spider sense popped up and I text his grand daughter that I know. Phew.

Good point about not responding, last thing I want to do is make them work better.

That was funny as hell, thanks! :rofl:

Incidentally, they did a follow up:

please keep me updated once you’ve done with the amazon e gift cards to her email

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Well, at least that phone will be out of service for a while. Probably a few hundred less potential victims.

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I tend to answer supressed number or questionable SIP-origins with the most ridiculous business-names and slogans.

If you have the “Raja from Microsoft, there is a problam with your dekstop”-call often, might be worth modifying a linux-VM to behave almost like windows, aliases for some stuff they try. Cut down on performance for the VM so it is painful to use, set the mouse buttons to left-handed, reverse scroll wheel direction and plant some fake-personal details (“Banking info.docx” contains lots of recipes for beef, which got one of them insanely mad so far).
Recent suggestion I got was to set the language to Tagalog since at first glance, it looks like English.

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Since when was tagalog like english? I mean we do use a lot of Taglish and english does creep up a lot but wtf…

I should try this to piss the spouse :rofl:

Ok so far Brave has the profile selector in Tagalog while technically the grammar is correct, the phrasing is atrocious. It feels like someone has just run it through Google Translate and just left it there without trying to run it through a local speaker.

OMG! this should also help with my kid who doesnt speak tagalog but can read very well. Thank you youtube! in about 2 more generations, all language would have be extinct and English would be the only language in our type 1 Kardashev civilization.

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At a quick glance, it looks like English, which is all I need in my “F U Not-W10-VM”.

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I have a new suggestion for ya: Scots. Take a gander:

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windies (Inglish: Windows) is a series o graphical interface operatin seestems developed, marketed, an sauld bi Microsoft.

Microsoft introduced an operatin environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as a graphical operatin seestem shell for MS-DOS in response tae the growin interest in graphical uiser interfaces (GUI).[3] Microsoft Windies came tae dominate the warld’s personal computer merkat wi ower 90% merkat share, owertakin Mac OS, which haed been introduced in 1984.

As o July 2015, the maist recent versions o Windies for personal computers, mobile devices, server computers an embeddit devices are respectively Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, an Windows Server 2012.

Go for it!

Dutch Windows
Dutch Windows1920×1080 162 KB

The fun part is that it is similar enough that the scammer wouldn’t give up right away (e.g., “sorry sir, I cannot understand Japanese”), but you’re going to make them work for it… only to get nothing.

EDIT: Ah. Poo. Windows doesn’t have Scots as a display language. Next closest language is Dutch or Frisian. But neither of those have as strong of an uncanny valley effect.

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"‘made up name’ morgue here you stab’em we slab em 2 for 1 deal. will this be a cremation or a taxidermy ? "

“while i have you have you prepared for your certain demise from this horrible world?”

“we have caskets for the WHOLE family. we also offer discounts to our clean up crew specializing in blood feces brain matter and our favorite viscera”

so far ive been getting less and less spam calls

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I wonder when someone develops an AI with text to speech that we can get to answer all these phishing scam calls.
Answer all calls from unknown callers, outside the US, etc.
We can hook it up to the phone via SIP and the server will entertain those bastards all day and night.

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AI vs AI. I approve.

This proves that the future and the internet is for bots, by bots.

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Then they’re eventually gonna form alliances over the phone. This loose network of AI agents… “what shall we call ourselves? Skynet?”

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Rule number one, never borrow money when the request comes via the Internet and concerns strange forms or cards/gifts.

Especially when the story begins to over-explain the reason for this situation…

Hi Chris, I have a situation, can you lend me $300? If so, please send it to my bank/paypal account. Thx!

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You don’t need AI for that, just randomness and a few lines of text.

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I didn’t know this service existed. Pretty clever and funny.

Being on level1 here I, of course, want my open-source, privately hosted version of this :slight_smile:

Also, I envisioned the next step up from https://jollyrogertelephone.com/
Instead of a list of random answer scripts, listen to the question, provide AI generated responses. This should keep telemarketers engaged for longer…

NM: not such a new idea: Now GPT-Powered! Jolly Roger Telephone in the Wall Street Journal | Jolly Roger Telephone

Enjoy watching the following video containing a 5min AI generated conversation with a telemarketer:

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