Just today, our office received 5 attempted fraud calls in a row. These calls begin with a recorded voice system claiming to be the authority’s system. If the call receiver falls for the trick and presses a number in response, a “law enforcer” will start to intimidate the callee.
In my colleague’s case, the conman attempted to trick him to go to a particular place. We suspected there was something fishy about his story. This guy was persistent enough to called the second round and forced my colleague to challenge him for his credentials. The caller gave himself away by quoting a high-ranking civil servant’s name along with the address of Ministry of Home Affairs. Now why would the police commissioner call personally to get you to meet him?
This technique is quite powerful and efficient in filtering those who are likely to fall for it. The first step is to lead you to believe that it was the authority’s system that patch you to a legal enforcer. An average Joe or Jane would probably feel panicky at this point despite knowing that he/she didn’t break the law. When the caller exerts additional threats on the callee to meet or reveal particular details, there is a high chance that one would fall for it.
Please beware. DO NOT RESPOND BY FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE RECORDED MESSAGE! Not everyone is as cool and logical as my colleague who was able to challenge him in attempt to foil the fraud.
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