That includes dating scams — among the oldest and most common of online swindles. The dating scam package is assembled for russian dating telegram marketed to Russian-speaking hackers, with hundreds of email templates written in English and a variety of European languages. The romance scam package is designed for fraudsters who prey on lonely men via dating Web sites and small spam campaigns.
The vendor of the fraud package advertises a guaranteed response rate of at least 1. One of hundreds of sample template files in the dating scam package. The dating scam package advises customers to stick to a tried-and-true approach. For instance, scammers are urged to include an email from the mother of the girl in the first 10 emails between the scammer and a target. The scammer often pretends to be a young woman in an isolated or desolate region of Russia who is desperate for a new life, and the email from the girl’s supposed mother is intended to add legitimacy to the scheme.
Then there are dozens of pre-fabricated excuses for not talking on the phone, an activity reserved for the final stretch of the scam when the fraudster typically pretends to be stranded at the airport or somewhere else en route to the target’s home town. Alex Holden, the security expert who intercepted the romance scam package. If the mark doesn’t have money, the package contains advice for getting him credit, telling the customer to restate his love and discuss credit options. A sample letter with multiple-choice options for creating unique love letter greetings. Interestingly, although Russia is considered by many to be among the most hostile countries toward homosexuals, the makers of this dating scam package also include advice and templates for targeting gay men. Also included in the dating scam tutorial is a list of email addresses and pseudonyms favored by anti-scammer vigilantes who try to waste the scammers’ time and otherwise prevent them from conning real victims.
In addition, the package bundles several photos and videos of attractive Russian women, some of whom are holding up blank signs onto which the scammer can later Photoshop whatever message he wants. Holden said that an enterprising fraudster with the right programming skills or the funds to hire a coder could easily automate the scam using bots that are programmed to respond to emails from the targets with content-specific replies. The romance scam package urges customers to send at least a dozen emails to establish a rapport and relationship before even mentioning the subject of traveling to meet the target. It is in this critical, final part of the scam that the fraudster is encouraged to take advantage of criminal call centers that staff women who can be hired to play the part of the damsel in distress. The login page for a criminal call center.
Holden, founder of Hold Security . Usually this is something like the girl is stranded at the airport or needs money to get a travel visa. Crooked call centers like the one pictured in the screen shot above employ male and female con artists who speak a variety of languages. When the call center employees are not being hired to close the deal on a romance scam, very often they are used to assist in bank account takeovers, redirecting packages with shipping companies, or handling fraudulent new credit applications that require phone verification.
