Solved I clicked on four sneaky online scams on purpose - to show you how they work

Before we get started, let me stress one thing: Don't try this yourself. I did my experimentation in virtual machines and sandboxed environments where I knew my personal data wasn't exposed. You might be tempted to click a link, just to see what happens. That's a very bad idea, because what happens can sometimes be catastrophic.

Click to expand...

I see these scams all the time, the key takeaway is they all depend on you doing something fairly stupid. Sadly, they must work well enough that the scammers keep trying!

gunrunnerjohn said:

I see these scams all the time, the key takeaway is they all depend on you doing something fairly stupid. Sadly, they must work well enough that the scammers keep trying!

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I see a lot of them working as well on people.

Had one case where the guy clicked on a link that said he won money in the Canadian lottery. Lappy was filled to the brim with malware.

I asked the guy, saying I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but did you by chance enter the Canadian lottery?

He said no

I said then why would you think you won any money if you never entered?

He just mumbled something & I proceeded to fix the lappy.

gunrunnerjohn said:

they all depend on you doing something fairly stupid.

Click to expand...

Scammers prey on everyone, but sadly most of the victims that bite are the elderly who aren't ignorant but who know no better. So much information about us is on the dark web. Scammers know our age, email addresses, phone numbers, even physical addresses. When I was in business, most of my customers were elderly and I encountered it time and time again.

I had one little widow lady in her seventies living on $700 a month Social Security. She got a computer so she could keep up with her grandchildren on Facebook. Naturally she did not know to make her Facebook page private. Scammers targeted her using her phone and the old "Grandma, I am in jail and need bail money". She swore, the caller sounded like her grandson (who she hadn't talked to since he was 12) Long story short, They wiped out her $1100 savings account because she mailed money orders.

I had another veteran who was in early dimentia. He was shafted out of $1200 3 times by the same scammers before I got involved.

The worst one was an old mortician who was still practicing in his one-man business. Very small town, not many deaths he was dealing with, so he would go to work every day and sit on his porch with his brother watching the traffic. I got involved quite by accident because the scammers called while I was working on his computer. When I questioned him, I realized something was off and contacted his family who knew nothing about it. Long story short, by then he had lost over $10,000 sending Walmart gift cards to scammers who said they had control of his computer and would wipe it out if he didn't pay. Scammers had preyed on him for over a year. His family knew he was slipping but didn't realize to what extent. Sadly, his daughter came and dealt with it and ended up closing his business. That business was all that was holding the old man together. He didn't last a year.

I'll have my kids take my computer away when I get to that point!

gunrunnerjohn said:

'll have my kids take my computer away when I get to that point!

Click to expand...

I hope so but you probably won't. When we start failing, it is all too common for us to fight tooth and nail to cling to what little independence we can, especially if we live alone. Being in denial is also a common factor.

There's currently a particular demographic that are likely more inclined to fall foul of scams, i.e. those in the current 70 plus age group more than others. I'm 60 and very tech savvy, owned a smartphone for years, build my own computers and I'm not even a computer expert. I'm confident that when I'm 70 plus, if of course I'm lucky enough to live that long and I still have my sanity, I'll still be tech savvy enough to at least recognise scams. There are plenty of folks in the 60 plus age group who are tech ignorant, I get that, but plenty in my age group are happily up there in the tech world having at least learned something in computer studies at school in the very early 80's.

Shambles Bank said:

There's currently a particular demographic that are likely more inclined to fall foul of scams, i.e. those in the current 70 plus age group more than others. I'm 60 and very tech savvy, owned a smartphone for years, build my own computers and I'm not even a computer expert. I'm confident that when I'm 70 plus, if of course I'm lucky enough to live that long and I still have my sanity, I'll still be tech savvy enough to at least recognise scams. There are plenty of folks in the 60 plus age group who are tech ignorant, I get that, but plenty in my age group are happily up there in the tech world having at least learned something in computer studies at school in the very early 80's.

Click to expand...

Well, I'll be 83 next month. I still recognize the scams, and I think I'm still reasonably tech savvy. I spent my whole working life with computers from working for IBM in the 60's, a couple of startup computer ventures in the 80's and 90's, to designing avionics for 20+ years. My first computer was really built by me, I wire-wrapped all the boards from my own designs using an S-100 chassis. I've assembled countless computers over the years, including making a couple of custom I/O boards for computerized test equipment. My first Windows computer used Windows 2.0, I skipped Windows 1.0 since I wasn't that impressed with it. I've run ever version of Windows since 2.0, though I have to say Windows ME, Windows Vista, and Windows 8.0 didn't last long on any of my computers. Up to a few years ago, I still had a Windows computer with VMWARE running every version of Windows from Windows 3.3 to Windows 10.

There's a science to all this.....

Many of us here are "of a certain age". But when it comes to computing, we do not represent the norm of that age. I'm 77 and have helped at the senior center. I've seen too much of what actually is the norm in technology for the majority of folks my age (and some a lot younger) I'm sure more older people in big city locations are more savvy, but not in rural areas.

Heck, this forum garners attention worldwide. Look at some of the threads we get here. I can usually spot one an older person writes.