You have to be trained to put your mental shields up and suspend your knee jerk reaction which we are here. If these things didn't work and make money, they'd go away. Granted some are just pathetic. But, the only reason we can laugh at them is that
@Steve and Leo have drummed caution into us and developed our danger sense. Thanks, by the way. Unfortunately, for mere MORTAL computer users, IE everybody else, it's not so simple. Even the best of us who do have mental shields up get caught sometimes. I have an elderly neighbor who gets's phone calls (same psychology as emails). The objective is to get you afraid and you click, or say the wrong thing, before your brain turns on. The scammers have it down to a well oiled machine. They can make you think they're saying something when they're saying nothing. "Hello, your bank account is on fire. We've been monitoring your computer and we detected an error. It's showing an alert code 29, which is pretty bad. Your last deposit didn't go through and now your payments are bouncing. Oh, and there was this big one a week ago that tripped a red alert. Quick, give me your account number so we can run a fraud test." Blah. Blah. Notice I didn't say anything that actually means anything and I didn't give any account specific or bank specific information. Then the victim's brain fills in the blanks. She says "You mean my $ 1200 deposit on Wednesday didn't go in?" Then they have you. I've told her over and over just don't answer the phone. If you do answer the phone and it's wonky, just hang up. I THINK I've convinced her never to give them data, to hang up, and call the bank from a separate number she has. But, she's forgetful, so it's a problem. Personally, I think hell will be very full of these slime when the end comes. In the mean time, we all have to keep on our toes and help others as we can.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
Ron
