Call scammers use fear and authority to manipulate victims

Call scammers use a carefully planned psychological manipulation process to obtain money, digital skills trainer Diana Poudel told ERR’s Vikerraadio programme “Huvitaja”. She said she recorded a lengthy conversation with a scammer to demonstrate how the fraud works.

“In recent years, there have been more and more Estonian-speaking scammers, and a phone scam can reach you at home at a completely unexpected moment. The aim of phone scams is to obtain money,” Poudel said.

She said she wanted to record an entire scam call because people often blame victims for being foolish. According to Poudel, scammers create a complete psychological profile of their target and gradually draw them into the trap.

The first call is intended to persuade the victim to enter the first PIN code in the Smart-ID app. The caller then thanks the person and ends the conversation. Poudel described this as bait designed to make the victim take an initial step. A second caller then contacts the victim, posing as Smart-ID technical support.

The scammer speaks in a friendly and calm manner, uses long pauses and avoids interpreting information for the victim. Instead, the caller encourages the person to conclude for themselves that something is wrong. Scammers also use social proof by suggesting that the victim is not the only person affected.

The caller may ask whether the victim has recently clicked on suspicious links, travelled, or handed over documents. Poudel said scammers use every piece of information for manipulation and build a detailed picture of where the person has been and what they have viewed online before offering to help.

Scammers also use complex terms such as central bank, duplicate, personal data leak, deep web and account cancellation. Poudel said this language frightens ordinary people and makes it harder for them to question what they are being told.

Fraudsters use the names of real police officers, which can quickly be found online. They then pressure victims to call a supposed police officer themselves. This makes the victim feel that the situation must be genuine because they personally dialled the number.

“There is constant pressure to act quickly, so that the person has no time to think or discuss the matter with anyone else,” Poudel said. She added that scammers exploit people’s strong tendency to obey authority.

The fake police officer initially reprimands the victim for being careless, asks them to file a report and reads out four sections of law. The fourth allegedly establishes a confidentiality requirement, warning that anyone told about the conversation could also become a suspect.