Imagine you were just awoken by a call at 7:20 in the morning. And when you look at the screen, it says that someone close to you, like your younger sister, is calling. Her contact info and picture pop up on your phone screen. When you pick up the phone, there is a man’s voice on the other end saying he has your sister and he will kill her if you contact anyone else. 

This sounds extremely frightening and it is designed to serve the intention of a phone scammer to make his victim panic and make fast and irrational decisions. This woman shared her recent story on TikTok so that people are aware and prepared for such attempts.

More info: TikTok

This woman received a new type of scam call – it looked exactly like her sister was calling – and it was the realest and scariest moment of her life

Image credits: @bethroyce

“I need to tell everyone about a really bad scam that I experienced today.”

“I don’t know if you can tell, but I’ve been crying all morning. So I was awoken this morning at 7:20 am, roughly, to a phone call from my sister. Like, it was her contact. It was her face that popped up on my phone. It looked exactly like my sister was calling. So I answered it. And it was a man’s voice on the other end screaming at me, telling me, ‘You’re not going to call anyone else. You’re not going to call the police. You’re not going to talk to anyone. I have your sister.’ And, like, this sounds… it’s so hard for me to describe to you how real this all sounded. Like, I’m not an idiot. I’m so good at spotting phishing emails. I’m so good at getting and spotting spam calls. I never fall for anything. And this was the realest, scariest moment of my entire life, literally. And the guy was screaming at me, he sounded completely unhinged. He sounded crazy. I heard muffled sobs in the background that sounded like a woman’s voice. So of course, I was like, oh my God, that’s my sister.”

Image credits: @bethroyce

“I fully 100% believed that this was real, especially since it was her contact that popped up on my phone.”

“It wasn’t some random number. So anyways, I ended up talking to this guy for like, 15 minutes. I’m trying to calm him down. I’m having like, small talk with him. And I end up sending him money. And what’s weird about it, too, is it’s not like he was like, ‘Send me $1,500 and gift cards’. It wasn’t like that. He was like, ‘I need you to send me money. I need to get home. I just got out of jail. I’m just trying to get home. I’m not a bad person.’ He was saying he started crying. Like, legit. There was even one point, this is the part that still gives me chills and makes me really scared, I heard a sob in the background and the guy said, ‘Listen, you need to calm down, you’re gonna hurt yourself. I’m gonna get money from your sister and then everything’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna let you go.’ So luckily, I wasn’t home alone. My mom happened to be in town visiting. When I first got the call, I ran downstairs and woke her up, but silently, because the guy was telling me not to tell anyone. And so, she called the police. And then I took the call outside on my front porch because I didn’t want the guy to hear any background noise. I was terrified that he was going to kill my sister. So my mom called the police, then she called my sister’s actual number and my little sister picked up. So anyway, we realized my sister was okay, and that was all good. But this was really, really scary. Like, it felt so real that I’m not kidding. I’m traumatized and I’m worried about PTSD. I’m not kidding. If you get a call like this, I read that it’s recommended that you hang up and then immediately call back because it’ll call your actual contact.”

You can watch the original video here:

@bethroyce I feel the need to tell everyone I know about this. Literally the scarriest moment of my entire life #scam #scammers #scammed #hostagesituation #trauma #phonescam #fyp #foryoupage #fypシ #viral ♬ original sound – Beth

The man threatened to kill her sister if she tried to contact anyone else

Image credits: bethroyce

The scam victim paid $1,000 to the scammer and suffered huge emotional distress

Even if we feel pretty certain of our own ability to spot scam calls or phishing emails, this woman, Beth Royce, shared her recent story on TikTok for exactly this reason – she thought she would never fall for such a thing, but her experience proved her wrong. Not only did she end up paying the scammer the requested $1,000 sum, but as she explains, she was disturbed emotionally and cried all morning. 

Royce received a phone call, showing her younger sister’s contact info early in the morning and it woke her up. So it was already a disturbance at this sensitive time when one is usually sleepy with their guard down. Not to mention the strong emotions that arise once we think about the people close to us. Caller ID spoofing, was, of course, the main ingredient doing the trick, as normally, we expect the information on our screen to be correct. Royce assumed and had good reason to believe it was genuinely a call made from her sister’s phone. 

The overall situation, as this woman explains, was made believable and comprehensive, as the scammer gave his reasons and made them convincing. Like an actor who did his homework and knew the background story very well, the scammer said he just got out of jail and he needed money to go home. Additionally, the man started crying and even pretended to talk to the “kidnapped sister”. Basically, the scammer enacted a crazy person’s character and made it believable. The woman shared how it still gives her chills and she feels traumatized emotionally.

As the woman’s mom was visiting at the time, she silently woke her up and asked her to contact the sister. Once the sister answered her phone, they knew she was safe and the phone call was a scam. After the story, the woman shared that she learned in such cases, it is recommended to hang up and immediately call back, just to make sure it is not an ID spoofing call.

Cyber security specialist, Matthew Gribben, explained that by using ID spoofing calls, criminals can trick people by making it show a different contact from the one that is actually calling you. Apparently, identification protocol tells the telephone network what number is calling, based on the “presentation number”. In this way, calls get connected. However, it is possible to steal the “presentation number”. Fraudsters sometimes do exactly that – they steal the “presentation number” and then link it to their own number. In this way, the contact ID that a person receiving a call sees on his screen can be of a person he knows or of some legitimate organization, like a bank or utility company, even though they are not the original caller.

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Chester Wisniewski, a scientist at the cybersecurity company, emphasized that engagement is a key element for cybercrime to happen. “They are looking for engagement. As long as you respond, they can start the conversation,” he said. That’s why fraudsters can use different tactics depending on the situation, either being extremely patient or pushing you to hurry and make all the wrong decisions fast and without thinking them through.

The woman’s video got 9 million views on TikTok. Some commenters shared how they or people close to them experienced similar scam calls and shared their way to spot the scam.

Once the woman’s sister answered her phone, they knew she was safe and the phone call was a scam

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio

The woman’s video got 9 million views on TikTok and some commenters shared their suggestions for spotting scam calls

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