What is a phone sting?
A phone scam is an action designed to get the victim to transfer money or sensitive information to another person. Naturally, in a phone scam, the victim and the impostor do not meet (because it is a telephone conversation), so the victim has no real way of verifying the identity of the person he is talking to.
This matter is exploited by the impostor to present false representations to the victim in order to convince him to trust the impostor and act as the impostor instructs the victim.
Sometimes, in a telephone sting, the impostor uses scare tactics rather than just persuasion, and takes advantage of the victim's inexperience, and sometimes the victim's naivety, who believes what they are told over the phone.
In a significant number of cases, telephone stings are used against elderly people, people with intellectual disabilities, or people who tend to be easily convinced.
Because a phone sting is carried out over the phone, the time and resources required to carry it out Telephone fraud Such scams are not significant, and the impostor can sometimes commit a large number of such scams in one day. In light of the high number of victims in Israel from telephone sting scams, The National Cyber Directorate has published a lot of information on the subject..
A telephone sting towards the Russian sector
Telephone scams are very common in the Russian sector, and one of the reasons for this is that it is much easier to scam Russian speakers than Hebrew speakers. The reason for this stems specifically from familiarity with the Russian language and ignorance of the Hebrew language. Many scammers who commit telephone scams against Russian speakers are not even based in Israel.
אותם נוכלים עושים שימוש במספרי טלפון ישראלים על מנת שהקורבנות לא יחשדו שמתקשרים אליהם מחו"ל אך בפועל רובם המוחלט כלל לא נמצא בישראל. קל לזהות שמדובר באנשים שאינם יודעים כלל את השפה העברית – פשוט אפשר לומר במהלך השיחה כמה משפטים בעברית ולרוב הנוכל לא ידע מה לענות.
זאת בדיוק הסיבה מדוע לנוכלים אלה אין לרוב את היכולת לבצע הונאות טלפוניות בהיקפים גדולים ביחס לדוברי עברית, כי אין להם את כוח האדם הנחוץ שדובר בעברית. לעומת זאת, רוב מדינות ברית המועצות לשעבר דוברות רוסית, ולכן קל לגייס עשרות או מאות דוברי רוסית למוקדים טלפונים שנמצאים בחו"ל, על מנת שיבצעו הונאות כלפי דוברי רוסית בכל העולם (ולא רק בישראל).
In most cases, the same gangs responsible for carrying out phone scams against Russian speakers living in Israel have collaborators who are also in Israel. These are Russian-speaking Israeli scammers or con artists who arrive as tourists and remain in Israel for a limited period of time until the completion of a number of scams.
These collaborators are often needed to withdraw money from ATMs. Once large sums of money are withdrawn from the ATM, these crooks disappear and sometimes leave Israel.
עקב התרחבות התופעה בישראל העניין זכה בעבר לסיקור תקשורתי משמעותי. לדוגמה כתבה בערוץ היוטיוב של ערוץ I24 בעניין "סכנת העוקץ הרוסי: כך שיחת טלפון הותירה קשישים חסרי כל":
Although this article deals with the phenomenon of telephone stings in relation to the Russian sector, the actions described in the article may also be applied to Hebrew-speaking people.
The target of every phone sting
Every phone sting has two purposes:
- Make you transfer money to a scammer (sometimes as part of Pyramid scam).
- Get you to give a crook information that will help him steal money from you (for example, credit card details for the purpose of making a Credit card fraud).
Once you understand and know the purpose of the scammer who is calling you, you can be much more vigilant about the matter, and especially be aware that there are people or gangs who are very good and skilled at committing scams, who may contact you, and if this does happen, you can simply hang up the call, thus preventing the scammer from carrying out his plan.
Common examples of phone scams
The scammers who try to get you to transfer money to them are very creative people who always think of a new way to get their victims to trust them and send them money. Here are the most common ways, but of course there are many other types of scams that can be implemented over the phone.
Intimidating the victim or exerting psychological pressure
A very common (and effective!) tactic of scammers is to scare the victim or apply psychological pressure designed to make the victim perform some action (usually transferring money digitally or providing details that allow receiving money through an ATM) immediately without the victim having the opportunity to check the data.
For example: A victim may be called and informed that a relative of theirs was driving drunk and caused an accident in which another person was injured or killed. The victim may be required to immediately transfer large sums of money so that the victim or his or her relatives do not involve the police and do not cause the relative to go to jail.
For example: Another option is to contact the victim and inform him that his relative has been seriously injured in a car accident, and that in order to save him, a complex and expensive surgery must be performed, and that if the surgery is not performed immediately, the relative will die.
לדוגמה: אם הנוכלים מצליחים לקבל מידע בדבר שהותו של אחד מקרובי המשפחה בחו"ל הם עשויים ליצור קשר עם הקורבן ולהודיע לו שקרוב המשפחה נחטף על ידי כנופיה מקומית שדורשת כופר, ושאם הכופר לא ישולם באופן מיידי הם יהרגו את קרוב המשפחה.
Today, through technology, it is even possible to call and impersonate the relative himself, by changing the voice of the crook, so that the relative will think he is talking to the relative himself who is begging him to transfer the funds so that they will not kill him.
Impersonating another person the victim may trust
A phone scam can also begin with the scammer impersonating a person or entity that the victim may trust. For example: the scammer may impersonate a police officer and even make the victim see the phone number of a nearby police station on the phone screen. During the call, the scammer may tell the victim that a police investigation has revealed that there are scammers who want to use the victim's credit card number, and the impersonator will ask the victim to repeat their credit card number to verify that the police have the correct credit card number.
For example: The victim may receive a phone call from a scammer posing as a representative of the credit card company. The scammer may tell the victim that unusual transactions have been detected on the victim's credit card and that he wants to send the victim a secret code to verify the victim's identity. Usually, at this point, the scammer already has the victim's credit card information.
The same secret code that is actually sent to the victim is usually a secret code necessary To make a credit card transaction. As soon as the fraudster receives the secret code, he makes a large credit card transaction, of course at the victim's expense.
In some cases, the action will be repeated several times until the credit company actually identifies suspicious activity and a real representative of the credit company contacts the victim.
For example: A scammer may pose as a bank teller at the bank where the victim's account is held. In such a case, a phone scam will focus on trying to get the victim to Transfer funds via bank transfer Or provide a crook with details that will allow them to withdraw funds through an ATM.
Can phone scams be prevented?
Phone scams are indeed preventable, and one of the simplest ways to prevent these types of scams is to recognize and know that they exist (be aware of the phenomenon). Once you know that you can be tricked into transferring money or sensitive information, you can easily not cooperate with the scammers.
If you are called and you suspect that they are trying to scam you, all you need to do is end the call. If you are called by a bank or credit card company, for example, you can call the company's customer service center yourself, using the official number published on the company's website or the bank's website.
After you reach a service representative Through a conversation you initiated You can ask and understand whether they were actually trying to contact you or whether there is any problem with your account or the funds in your account.
How to deal with a phone sting?
If you have fallen victim to a phone scam, there is a high chance that the funds have already been withdrawn from your account or that your credit card has already been used without your authorization. In many cases, this creates difficulty in getting the funds back, but there are still steps you should take to increase your chances of getting your funds back or minimize future damage:
Contact the police station immediately and file a complaint.
Phone scams are a criminal offense. The higher the number of victims or the extent of the damage to the individual victim, the greater the chance that the police will actually investigate the offense.
If the amount of damage is low or there are a small number of victims, the police may not investigate the crime because they simply do not have the necessary resources to do so.
At the same time, it is very important not to skip the step of filing a complaint with the police.
Contacting financial institutions
After a telephone sting, it is very important to contact your bank and your credit card company to notify them that actions were taken without your authorization or that you took actions following a fraudulent case.
The credit card company may stop the charges and prevent the actual transfer of funds, and the bank may restrict access to your account, all to prevent future damage.
Gathering information to locate the scammer
After you have prevented future damage by contacting your bank and credit card company, you should think about ways to actually recover the money that was fraudulently taken from you. The larger the sums of money that were stolen from you, the greater your incentive to act against the fraudster.
Try to recover all the phone numbers from which the scammer called you, especially the call recordings (if you record the calls). Using this information, you will be able to understand whether the scammer is located in Israel, and if so, try to locate his identity (sometimes using a private investigator) with the aim of filing a complaint against him. Civil lawsuit or Financial claim.
Contact a lawyer who specializes in fraud
Fraud and deceit lawyer He is a lawyer who specializes in handling fraud cases and obtaining refunds and financial compensation following fraud. Assuming that the fraudster can be located and is in Israel, a fraud and deceit lawyer can assist you in filing a Claim And in conducting legal proceedings in Israel against that swindler.
In these cases, it is important not to delay and to act as soon as possible on the legal front so that, if necessary, it is possible to request the court to Temporary remedies Such as delaying departure from the country, so that the fraudster does not leave Israel during the prosecution.
In conclusion
As part of a telephone scam, the scammer will try to get you to transfer money or information that will help him steal money from you.
The first step in dealing with a phone scam is awareness. You should be aware that there are more and more scammers (and sometimes even organized gangs of scammers) today who will do anything to get you to fraudulently transfer money to them. Once you know that a phone scam can be carried out, you will be more suspicious and will not cooperate with every story they tell you over the phone.
If you nevertheless fall victim to a telephone scam, it is very important to contact the police and financial institutions in order to prevent further damage in the future.
If you have suffered significant financial damage as a result of a phone scam, you may consider hiring a private investigator to see if the scammer can be located and whether he is in Israel. In a situation where the identity of the scammer is known, it is worth considering filing a lawsuit against him in order to have him return your money and pay you compensation.
