Telemarketing fraud

Telemarketing fraud is fraudulent selling conducted over the telephone. The term is also used for telephone fraud not involving selling.

Telemarketing fraud is one of the most persuasive deceptions identified by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The term is also used for telephone fraud not involving selling. Telemarketing fraud often involves some sort of victim compliance whether it involves the victim initiating contact with the perpetrator or voluntarily providing their private information to the offender, thus fraud victims may experience feelings of shame and embarrassment that could prevent them from reporting their victimization

Older people are disproportionately targeted by fraudulent telemarketers and make up the 80% of victims affected by telemarketing scams alone. Older people may be targeted more because the scammer assumes they may be more trusting, too polite to hang up, or have a nest egg.

The Grandparent Scam

A telephone call is made to an elderly person with a family member who is in some kind of trouble, usually claiming to be a grandson or granddaughter. It’s often late at night or early in the morning when most people aren’t thinking that clearly. Callers assume that they have grandchildren and will usually have several people in on the scam (bail bondsman, arresting police officer, a lawyer, a doctor at a hospital, or some other person) – the first voice on the phone is usually by the grandchild sounding upset and typically states there are only a few moments to talk. The caller may say that they have a cold if the victim does not quite recognize their voice. Their story generally follows a familiar line: they were traveling in another country with a friend, and after a car accident or legal infraction, they are in jail and need bail money wired to a Western Union account as soon as possible for their quick release. The caller does not want anyone told about the incident especially not family. Before the victim can ask too much about the situation the phony child will hand the phone over to the accomplice who will then request money to be transferred to release the grandchild from jail. While it’s commonly called the grandparent scam, criminals may also claim to be a family friend, a niece or nephew, or another family member.

Microsoft Scam

A telephone call is made saying typically that virus activity has been detected on the victim's computer; Overseas caller states they are from Microsoft or a Microsoft certified technician. Callers assume that the victim has a computer running a Microsoft Windows Operating System (users of other operating systems, such as Linux, are a minority and are likely to be technically knowledgeable). They will get the computer owner to give the caller remote access using a genuine networking service or website like ammyy.com or TeamViewer. They will use the ‘Event Viewer’ tool on the computer to highlight the Red-X Errors and Yellow Warnings which are supposedly signs of an infection, when in fact these are normal and harmless logs. They also encrypt the owner’s password database, preventing access to the computer without the scammers password - essentially locking the victim out of their own computer and ensuring that they themselves will be paid. At this stage the caller then has complete control over the computer, and can display further alarming displays, and install malware. The cold caller will then offer to remove the viruses and malicious malware (some they have installed themselves) and install security software and provide an ongoing support service costing anywhere up to $500.

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Wikipedia