Why would Facebook not just block messages from Nigeria to rando North American towns at this point? Shouldn't the network analysis required to detect this sort of crime ring be a slam-dunk at this point? I don't get how this is still even possible.
I can't believe phone companies (in the UK) don't provide better protection, even a registry of whitelisted numbers, that could be set for the old/vulnerable.
Indians, by number of victims, are the biggest victims of Indian scammers. Several people I know personally have been burned.
Our phone numbers are in several lists, and they get leaked.
I think one solution to this is strict data privacy laws. If there is a list with phone numbers/addresses, it should be subject to highest level of care and security. Or there should be laws banning collection of phone numbers unless absolutely needed.
No amount of spreading awareness seems to work. The local law enforcement of the exact two states in India where the domestic scammers are from are also "involved".
I still get occasional scam calls a few times each month, often using mobile phone numbers or fraudulent VOIP numbers registered in Austria. They usually hang up as soon as you push back on their claim that they got the phone number "from the database, maybe you participated in a contest once" when prompted with the question of how they got your number. The callers are mostly women with Eastern European accents.
I suspect my number ended up in a list when it was leaked in a Facebook data leak because I had to connect it once for account recovery/verification.
By all accounts the Dr would probably be in better shape if the kidnappers weren’t able to contact their family.
Because there are some criminals in a geographical area you want to exclude the whole area? Why don't you demand a US-only internet instead?
"NOTICE: The user appears to be in XXX, Nigeria. Beware of scams or impersonations by people hijacking your friend's accounts"
But Social media companies would never do this because it would destroy their so called "brand-trust"