• InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    11 hours ago

    Nigerian prince

    "Hey, it's Jimmy your nephew... What? You don't know who I am?! I'm JImmy! Your nephew! Anyways - I'm in a real jam. Could you lend me some money right away?"

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      10 hours ago

      My grandmother got hit with one of these and lost $800. She claimed the person sounded exactly like me. My grandpa then got hit by the same scammer trying to double dip, but he was savvy enough to record the call. My grandma recognized the voice saying "Oh, listen! It sounds just like you!"

      And it was a gruff, scratchy voice that had a Southeast Asian accent (I do not sound like that)

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      ·
      10 hours ago

      I think the idea is they can take the face of a known relative and do an impersonation of them. If the mark is moderately senile, it could work.

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        10 hours ago

        My point was that the scammer could also go on a pure fishing expedition. And it was easy to do that as a joke.