Scams That Use The Telephone Or Other Real Time Audio/Video

In these scams, the scammer needs to use the telephone or other real-time audio/video to communicate with the victim.

Features Of Telephone Scam Campaigns

• High risk, high reward for the scammer

  • Requires language skills and a lot of time invested talking to the victim

  • However these scams, if done correctly, can be quite profitable for the scammer

• Telephone allows the scammer to convey a large amount of information quickly, which is useful for complicated scams

• Telephone or other audiovisual communication allows scammer to use AI to enhance quality of bait by improving their appearance, accent, mannerisms, background, etc.

• Telephone allows the scammer to cultivate a very high level of trust by impersonation of an "official" figure such as a bank agent, technical support agent, law enforcement or government official, and so on.

Detection Notes

• For the moment, AI-enhancement of traditional telephone or audio calls is still a bit of a novelty, so if it were possible to detect and flag "this audio is AI-enhanced", this could temporarily serve as a weak red flag for the victim, similar to how bad spelling and grammar served as a red flag for scams several years ago

Scams That Use The Telephone

• 2.1.9 Wrong Phone Delivered Scam

• 2.2.1 Virus/Malware Tech Support Scam

• 2.2.2 Fake Invoice Reversal Scam

• 6.3 Fake Fraud / 'Protect Your Money'/Phantom Hacker Scam

• 8.1 Romance/Sweetheart Scam

• 8.2 Family Emergency Scam

• 8.4 Relationship Blackmail Scam

• Technical Support / Tech Impersonation: The scammer impersonates a technical support worker or tech company.

• Celebrity Impersonation: The scammer impersonates a celebrity.

• Complexity: The scammer has a complicated story to explain the scam, or leverages scientific/economic complexity in order to confuse the victim.

• Romance As A Psychological Indicator: The scammer promises love or friendship to victim.