Overview
The victim expects adjustment to their account (upgrades, verification, blue checkmark, technical support fixes) on a platform such as Zelle, PayPal, a banking service, Coinbase, X, or Instagram.
How It Works
The victim receives a text or email that appears to be from the company or platform claiming that the victim's account is either eligible for an upgrade or has some issue that needs to be addressed.
The scam is that this is a front for a phishing page which, if the victim fills out the requested information, will lead to credential harvesting, account takeover, or data theft.
This scam is not always part of a spray-and-pray phishing-style attack. When deployed as a "Zelle Account Upgrade" scheme by 2.1.2 Online Marketplace Scam Buyers, for example, this can be a highly targeted attack.
Related Articles
Facebook Marketplace Upgrade Scam, House Beautiful
Anatomy of a Telegram Scam, Coinbase. Covers multiple scams including this one, specific to cryptocurrency platforms.
Related Scams
2.1.2 Online Marketplace Scam Buyers: Some scam buyers will launch an account upgrade scam through a 3rd party payment processor such as Zelle
2.2.3 Spoofed Or Phishing Interaction Scam: The Account Upgrade Scam is related to generic spoofing or phishing scams
2.2.5 OTP Or Phone Verification Scam: Scammers will sometimes use an "account upgrade" as the pretext to begin the OTP scam
Related Crime Schemes
A particular instance of this scam may embed one or more of these related schemes.
Data Loss or Theft: Any scheme that results in victim losing data/scammer stealing data. Data in this context can mean login credentials, credit card details, or other personal or corporate information.
Fraudulent Platform: Any scheme that relies on custom built software that assists the crime. Includes fraudulent trading platforms, fraudulent clickworking platforms, and the like.
Victim Targeting Context
The scammer may use one or more of the following techniques to reach the victim.
Targeted Conversational Approach: The scammer approaches the victim through online conversation or other targeted method.
Spray and Pray / Scattered: The scammer approaches many victims at once such as through bulk email or SMS.
Social Engineering: Psychological Manipulations
The scammer may use one or more of these psychological techniques to accomplish the scam.
Abuse of authority position: The scammer employs an abuse of a position of authority to convince the victim to go along with the scam.
Codes or Jargon: The scammer uses official-looking codes or technical jargon as part of the scam to increase appearance of legitimacy or to confuse the victim.
Flattery: The scammer uses praise or flattery to increase the likelihood that the victim will go along with the scam.
Urgency: The scammer employs urgency to increase the likelihood that the victim will take action.
Social Engineering: Impersonation Techniques
The scammer may impersonate one or more of the following groups as part of the scam.
Banking / Finance: The scammer impersonates a banking official or financial institution.
Business or NonProfit: The scammer impersonates a business or nonprofit.
Technical Support / Tech: The scammer impersonates a technical support worker or tech company.