The ‘fear bubble’:

You might read stories like Mae’s and believe you would never fall victim, but the AARP warns people of a ‘fear bubble’ – an induced state of panic that makes rational thought difficult.

Under stress, anyone can fall victim.

https://theconversation.com/gift-card-scams-generate-billions-for-fraudsters-and-industry-as-regulators-fail-to-protect-consumers-and-how-one-83-year-old-fell-into-the-fear-bubble-236439

#investigation #news #crime

Where the government has failed:

The investigation shows that federal regulators have not protected the public from gift card fraud and Congress has largely deferred to regulators.

State and federal efforts to rein in the industry have been opposed by lobbyists and gift card trade groups. And gift card retailers are often not helpful in assisting law enforcement to track down the criminals.

What actually didn’t work was getting her to buy #bitcoin.

The scammers walked her through the process of verifying her identity at an ATM, including uploading her driver’s license, a know-your-customer requirement that doesn’t exist for gift cards.Mae fed thousands of dollars into the machine.

She got lucky when a bitcoin employee noticed something odd and froze the account so that when she reported the fraud, her money was returned to her.

These gift cards are better than cash for the scammers – portable and anonymous. Criminals can use gift card numbers online, at stores around the world, or sell or trade them in illicit marketplaces on the dark web, Telegram or Discord.

Mae wants people to not make the same mistakes:

Her story began with a message saying her Safari web browser had encountered a problem, and a link offered to connect the 83-year-old to the Apple Computer Company. Mae clicked it.

Over the next 10 hours, the criminals would try several methods to steal her money. What worked was to get her to buy gift cards off a rack at a nearby drug store.