Emotions and urgency are two easy attributes for any threat actor to exploit. Couple that with unfavorable repercussions of non-compliance, scammers have an easy job convincing people to send them untraceable funds. These attacks can occur at any time to anyone and often yield high reward for these scammers. Many organizations are easy to use as a front to carry out these types of occurrences. Let’s say I want to steal from you, what are my options for an over the phone engagement? I know you’re likely to have a water bill, electrical bill, or even trash disposal. Not to mention the fact that any federal agency could want to talk to anyone with a slough of reasons. My point is this scam can be broad and can look very different from case to case.
Threat actors will attempt to get you on the phone with them. Imagine this call center sending out hundreds, or more, calls repeatedly. When a victim answers the call, a scammer is queued into the call and begins their scam. Like previously stated, people become easily manipulated when you can control their emotions and press urgency for a decision or action. If I tell you that I’m going to shut the water off at your house or turn electricity off during the cold winter months due to lack of payment, you’ll become concerned, regardless of if you know you paid your bill.
I’m here to tell you, there’s a practical way of handling this scam. Always hang up, get a verified phone number to the organization that is requesting immediate payment and call them at the number you know. Not the number that just called you. Verify with the organization that you either do or don’t have a pending bill. If no bill is due, let them know about the attempted scam.