Scammers are so far ahead — and we are not suspicious enough
It’s a bad sign when you get a warning from Amazon about Prime scams. Shopping online has definitely deteriorated when you receive a desperate email from Amazon warning about Amazon Prime scams. But their advice is worrisome – you should check Amazon Messages to verify that a message is really from Amazon? How hard can it be for a scammer to fake messages that look like they’re from Amazon? Did you know that Amazon Prime Day is a big day for scammers? The Better Business Bureau warns about lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true social media ads, and unsolicited emails or calls during sales events this month. You might not know that “1,230 new websites that associated themselves with Amazon popped up in June. The vast majority were malicious or appeared suspicious, according to Check Point.”
Are we such suckers for a better deal or so easily tempted by the need to click on a link? Yes, we are. But is the real problem that scam innovation is way ahead of Amazon or any other organization trying to protect the consumer? And what training is really needed to protect consumers who scan and read messages too quickly, don’t pay attention to the sending email URL as in this toll pass scam. People don’t know or remember warnings not to click on attachments from senders who are unknown. Of course, how would you know they are unknown if the scammer email address is so close to a valid one that it is easy to miss? Or a message is apparently sent from your own email address!
There is a manipulative psychology buried in the bots that are reaching out to us. And many of us offer the equivalent of leaving the front door unlocked with an invitation to enter. We don’t educate loved ones, and in fact, businesses don’t even educate customers before it is likely that they are getting scam messages from our company. Consider Amazon’s message AFTER Prime Day or check out the Gmail Search scam.) The bots have been trained to try repeatedly (whether it is telemarketing or email) until a soft touch responder is found. And since it is a bot, it has endless time for endless attempts. Sometimes there is a well-publicized success at fighting back, but is keeping the scammer on the line until they are bored really a solution? The FCC is apparently trying to address the problem, but are their tactics really helpful or are consumers even aware of them?
People change their behavior eventually – but not in a good way. Consider 73% of Americans no longer have land lines – even though for some, it is a lifeline, literally. Why did so many give them up? Popularity of cell phones, for sure – and their ability to ‘Silence Unknown Callers.’ But it is also possible that the primary calls they were receiving on landlines were from scammers and marketers – not family, who either switched to cell phone calls or have stopped calling in favor of texting. But remembering that scammer systems give up after 3 rings on a land line, it is easy to keep one for emergencies, but are older adults aware of the benefits? For example, some carriers provide the landline for free, so why not suggest keeping it for emergency services? It is easier to pinpoint the caller location. Sadly, when the landline is gone, the scammers will own the cell phone scam – in which a call looks like it is from a relative, and so why not pick up? Sigh.
