I got thinking about this video and just had to come back. "Never click on a link from a stranger" should be "Never click on a link without verifying off-line". Your friends, family, empolyer etc. can already be hacked. Yes, I've seen it and nearly fell for it. I fell for a ploy once and while I'm more difficult now, I believe I can still be taken in because I almost clicked on a link from my brother, whose business e-mail was hacked. Any entity that has your contact information is a weak point, even your friends and being aware of this gives you the heads-up you should have.

I got a call about 3 months ago. The guy asked how I was, I told him I was depressed, he asked why, I told him that my wife died. He got all defensive said I sounded like a woman, I told him I was, he asked why I had a wife, I told him why not, it was legal. He then asked why I didn't have a man, I asked why I would want a man, he said men were beautiful (English wasn't his first language.) I asked if he wanted a man, he asked why I would ask that, I said that he said men were beautiful. He sputtered and hung up on me. My wife loved to keep hackers on the phone and if they hung up she won... so, I guess I won.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

if the first bit of the story is true I'm sorry for your loss (tragic!) but I'm glad there's some solace in screwing with a scammer ESPECIALLY because you used his own logic against him. I'm going to remember this for the future 💕

@ElicBehexan

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez Yes, she passed in February and I had just watched a video that she would've enjoyed (Tasting History with Max Miller) and it made me sad. I have to say I got such a good laugh out of him that it instantly improved the rest of my day.

@ianianianianian

Жыл бұрын

Well that’s a strategy I’ve never heard of before! I’m sorry for your loss.

@ElicBehexan

Жыл бұрын

@@ianianianianian Thank you Ian. If I knew it would work as well as it did, I'd'a done it years before. LOL

As a non American it blows my mind that this is such a thing in the US. I've had maybe 10 spam calls this entire year and not a single spam text. I just can't comprehend it

@damiangrouse4564

Жыл бұрын

This is where the money is

@WatchMeEatCrisps

Жыл бұрын

In the UK I get quite a few - either calls or text messages. I probably get a phone call about once a month. I also get text messages about my delivery now needing a vat payment before it will be delivered. The websites they link to look pretty close - but the domain is the giveaway it'll be -missed-delivery.payment.something.something - I usually report the domain to the hosting company.

@AlexanderTBratrich

Жыл бұрын

I've maybe had 10 spam calls in 15 years, if even. Though spam mails are more common for me. There used to be a time where I got 60+ spam mails per day... but at some point it just stopped and I have no idea why

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Yeahhhhhh lots of our private companies make money from texting. Cash is king in the USA.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Good tips!

I appreciate that **leave Britney alone** reference

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Thank you fellow elder millennial

I absolutely love your mom. I taught my gran to avoid those kinds of things too and she pretty much has the same response now

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I love my mom too!

I think I’m usually vigilant towards scams, but I’ve once received a scam call that was so convincing that I genuinely believed the scanner for 15 minutes before I realized something was up. The circumstances described in the scam matched up almost perfectly with what I had been doing in the past week that the possibility of a scam never even crossed my mind. A lot of times stories in scams fall apart almost immediately, but with the right conditions, they can be scarily convincing.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Woaaahhh that’s wild.

Stop giving out your phone number to cashiers when they ask you to sign up for some customer program. These companies either sell on your data or are hacked because they don't have proper security.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

SO MUCH DATA BROKING

@r2rinaday

21 күн бұрын

This true. If you're in CA you can scroll through the companies that have been hacked here on the Attorney General we site oag.ca.gov/privacy/databreach/list Other states may do the same..

What a public service, THANK YOU TRACE! 🙌

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

The sheer volume of these scam calls and texts and emails makes it almost certain we will fall for one eventually. Things you'd normally see coming a mile away can trick you if you're tired or depressed or just having an off day. But I wonder, have the number of cons and scammers gone up, or do they just have more reach than they did in the past?

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Great question! Rachel would know, I bet

I chat with these people and waste their time. It's fun. And they all are pretty quick to leave once you flip em off, so instead try to listen and hold up the mirror and try to scam them back :D

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I'm so jaded, but I really wanna be like you and my mom and screw with them sometime -- if nothing else while they're on the phone with you they can't be off scamming other people!

@Wislex

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez exactly it's a battle of attrition.

I had one waiting when I got the notification for this video. My Amazon account has been suspended for the 5th time this week.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Oh no!

@Rabbit-the-One

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez my heavens, what ever shall I do? 😉

@AaronOfMpls

Жыл бұрын

And now I see that pic of Jeremy Clarkson going "Oh no! ... Anyway..."

I get spam texts and calls in one go at certain times of the year. It’s so annoying and I’ve blocked about 30-40 of their numbers and have so many unchecked voicemails from scam numbers probably. Thanks for explaining all of this stuff.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

30-40 !! wow! (and you're very welcome~)

5:44 CITI AL3RT: We are CLOSED your ACCOUNT because all your bank are belong to us

Thanks for another great video, Trace. I sent in some of my spam texts when you asked for them, & I think I spotted one or two in your video! Also, you totally turn into a little kid when you’re talking to your mom, & it’s adorable. 😊

My new hobby since the rise in spam has been reporting them to the FTC and my state AG. So I have a few bot specific quick texts letting them know I'm reporting them- usually their autoscript just keeps sending stuff so I end up with more material. The annoying one is now I'm getting calls from locals Zoomers who are calling to find out why I called them, which means scammers/data miners are using local phone numbers like mine as callback numbers on autodialers to scrape data on which lines are active.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

oh noooooo! They're spoofing you! I wonder if these two things are related -- you're reporting them, so they're spoofing you hoping you'll get caught up in the investigations. So petty!

@SittingOnAPorch

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez could be- I know my phone gets more and more spam whenever it's readded to the DNC list- which is sent to lawful call centers all the time for compliance- so I imagine it's either bc I list my number on voter reg which is another low threshold massive data list or the reports (my guess is the voter data is more immediately available and I've moved recently so they know it'd be current- a lot of autodialers/CRM req a live outgoing number)

Great video! Also, I’ve watched half of your Franklin Institute videos so far, and they’re great! Very fun and informative!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Awesome, thank you on BOTH COUNTS!! 10/10

That's a really cool octopus/squid t-shirt! Where'd you get it?

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Sharpshirter!

I get a lot of offers to buy my real estate. Even properties I don't even own! I wish they allowed you to block all texts from people not in your contacts, but so far haven't found a way to do that and filter them out. Blacklisting doesn't help when they use a new number every time.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

it's maddening!!

@AaronOfMpls

Жыл бұрын

And it's probably not even the number they're calling or texting from anyway, since caller ID spoofing is a thing. (I've seen some where the claimed phone number starts with a 0 or a 1 after the area code -- which is impossible for a North American phone number.)

My mom fell for the same scam your mom did! I think I was more angry about it than she was…

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

oh I was pretty upset at them for scamming my mom, but I was proud of her for telling her friends and learning!

The number of views on this video is criminal! Love your content Trace!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Thanks John! Yeah the algo robots don’t love me 🤣

It’s cool seeing the spam text I shared with you, glad it was helpful!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Thanks again for sharing it!

16:30 - Ah, you get those mandarin (I assume) phonecall scams too. I get a few a month here in the UK. Very little text/SMS spams though.

@theunknown4834

Жыл бұрын

If you are curious about what they said, "China Government has a notification for you, pls press 9 to answer" "No thank you" says the scamee

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU. I've always wondered!

@theunknown4834

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez btw, if you are curious why you keep getting it, they claim to be the China customs government (I think?) so ya

@likebot.

Жыл бұрын

@@theunknown4834 I've always assumed they were scammers targeting immigrants.

I'm here from Lateral to see what you're about.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I hope it was worth your time

Excellent video, as always. I enjoyed your guests and the hacker who had a puppy. And positive, actionable steps. I never would have imagined the USB in the government parking lot ploy. Very interesting.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Don’t steal the parking lot idea

@resourceress7

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez I wonder if somebody thought "hey I know the DOD computer's going to have a better virus protection than my home computer so I'll just check what's on this at work."

once heard about a big CORP get a fishing email with malware in a photo, company had all photos turned off for external emails, coworker forwards the email to IT saying they thing its a came, IT gets an internal email that shows the photo

Engagement for the engagement god!

13:00 I am so glad you included this part.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

when i was younger i fell for a car warranty scam :[ the urgency mentioned in the video was so intense, heightened by the fact i was in a checkout lane at the store. my dad also fell for a scam where his boss's email was compromised and sent out an email asking for Google Play giftcards. Luckily he asked me and I told him not to do it. he had already purchased the cards so that was $200 lost still BUT at least we didnt give them the codes so they never got the money :[

@user-nz9gg3xm1v

10 ай бұрын

also got 👆same issue but reaching out to 2𝗙𝗮𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗻 got all my lost funds recovered successfully…

Stay off of real-name social media; you are the product, not the customer.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

You’re the product with any free service

Good looking out for your mom! She seems like a cool lady! Great video!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Another great video, Trace! We got scammed on gumtree years ago, back when sites like that were pretty new. We transferred £200 to someone for a laptop and then the scammer disappeared. Looking back it seems really dumb, but humans are trusting by nature and it didn't occur to us that someone would behave that way. We never got our money back, but the scammer duped too many people and ended up getting arrested and going to court. I hope they learned their lesson, and I hope everyone I've told about it since has learned to be a little more cautious! It sucks being scammed, but knowing that you were able to prevent it from happening to others helps lessen the sting ☺️

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I get it! Scams can happen, sorry that one happened to you. I hope the £200 didn't break the bank (too much). My pops is REALLY cautious and didn't even put his credit card on the internet into the 21st century so I've been lucky (so far), but like Rachel said -- it's only a matter of time.

I"m so happy you referenced Sneakers.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

First thing we both thought of!

@SilverCuz

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez Thanks to you both, I now HAVE to go watch it again. My plans have been cancelled.

Crazy how ppl normalize the new definition of social engineering

how does a Scammer text message you how do they get your number

@SimRacingVeteran

3 ай бұрын

Sometimes it could just be texts they send out to random numbers. Or your number is on file somewhere and that company has a data breach and now they have the numbers of all customers of that businesses. Then that information gets sold on the dark web to scammers so they can start doing what they do.

I love playing this game with the "microsoft" guys. I succeed to keep them hooked sometimes more than 20 minutes. Just let them exactly repeat their instructions again and again, trying to make that remote connection, and when they realize, that I have no internet connection on the PC, or that it is a Linux OS, they hang up. At least, for 20 minutes they can not fool others.

And what if I do respond to them

Are you using an antivirus? Most computer experts reccomend Disabbling it so that you can have more fun

You betcha!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Ya sure!

@AaronOfMpls

Жыл бұрын

Oh yah!...

Haha! Great video. I like to reply to the spam texts and lead them on and act stupid. They eventually get mad and leave.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

HA!

Is answering the call in the first place, even if you know it's a scam, a bad idea? I feel like it let's them know that at least you're a real number.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

yes, if you know it's a scam don't even bother!

I hope that your mom was able to get the charge reversed by calling the credit card company. It’s worth a call to them.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

TBH the credit card she gave them was expired -- she didn't realize, so they might've got a charge, but then they couldn't take any more money from her.

@JustMeJH

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez Thank goodness for small miracles!

LOL. Your "Description" area looks like a few scambots were let loose in there. Can you believe it, I've never sent or received a text in my life. After a dozen years away from my telco I threw away my cell phone in '08 and went back to a telephone - different telco because I'll never deal with Ma Bell ever.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

😅

Just beace you are a rocket scientist doesn't mean you have common sense

that kind of gossip spam does not exist in sweden

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I bet y’all have better infrastructure for it than we do

@vada952

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez Or maybe we dont have as juicy gossip :)

why never reply? It's how I waste hackers time. I even give up fake information that's useless to them.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

They know your number is real and that you'll spend time on them so they'll continue to engage. While you might not fall for it the first time, there will be a hack that will trick little bits of information out of you

@willrobbins1651

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez I've already made hackers very bored and impatient with me. I am aware that it's possible to steal an identity with as little info as zip code, birthday, and gender.

Change your phone number. It's simple. I'll change mine every few years now, since this keeps happening.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

but what about the area code I had from way back in the day that shows I’m still cool

@frednobel303

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez you'll have one of those fresh new area codes that all the cool kids have, so you'll still be cool :) mine makes me feel younger

This could be a 3 minute video if you just tell them to forward it to 7726

Block text scams

Finally

@MRBLACK1080

Жыл бұрын

A new video

Rachel looks a lot like Mindy from Drake and Josh and I can't unsee it

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

I don't know this reference, but I hope it's a good thing bc she's awesome

@GIR9595

Жыл бұрын

@@TraceDominguez They definitely look like they could be related or something! The actress is Allison Scagliotti

its not spam but phishing. yeah I find a lot of things and found the owner, where they live, they partner and where they work and so on. just from something they dropped, license, or usb stick. Usually plug it into a vm locked out of the network. Amazon AWS, we had training on phshing and other things to avoid, ie talk about work in the open etc. not sure we got tested though. I got a lot of those chinese ones too

@J-Vasa

Жыл бұрын

phishing is a type of spam. its purpose is to phish for details etc, but to the person receiving it it is a form or spam or junk mail

@phizicks

Жыл бұрын

​@@J-Vasa spam is to get you to buy something. phishing is isn't like spam, phishing is more evil as spam can be just ads. spear phishing is where your phishing is targeting a specific person or company.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Different terms for a similar problem - but you’re right!

Just use android lol.

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

mmmmmmm nah lol

Hey trace are you ever going to admit the mask charade was a complete scam and embarrassing

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Why do you think that?

Don’t be left behind… *JESUS CHRIST IS COMING.*

BEST. TROLL. MOM. EVAR!!!

@TraceDominguez

Жыл бұрын

Hahahaa