SCAMPATROL

[eight]

I've recently had word of a phone-based scam being operated in Japan. The caller pretends to be the child of a vulnerable elderly person and sounds very distressed. They spin a line about being in severe financial difficulties and demand money be sent to help them. The scammers must be doing considerable research to find their targets, since it would take a particularly vulnerable victim not to recognise that this was not their child. I gather from the person who told me about it that the scammers are using very imperative language which is uncommon in Japan, particularly when a child is speaking to a parent, so that may contribute to the victim's confusion.

Since this is all phone-based we are unlikely to see any, but I mention it here so that people are aware.
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eight

[mirakl]

Bloody hell that's soul-less!

[noxy]

I'll pass this on to Joe Wein and another Japanese member at FW.