Why are there so many robo calls and scam calls..One reason only...They work on some people.

[Stuart G]

..How many and who? I don't know. But if they did not work, people wouldn't waste the time and money to set them up and have them made. They work and make lots of money for some people. A very few of the setter uppers get caught and have negative outcomes. Some do, but if a large percent got caught and paid a huge fine, then the scammers and crooks would do something else.
...Not only do they work, but getting money this way is very easy. Set up the call, get a call machine to make the calls, and then the people who identify and follow up. After a few tries, these tricks must work
..You might say.."They can't work, no one is that "stupid."
..Well, you are wrong. There are about 330,000,000 people in the U.S.A. and some are very smart, and some are very stupid. Some will not believe this crap, and some will believe. Why? 330,000,000 is a lot of people.
All kinds, all sizes, all shapes, and many degrees of believing ..You say, "That cannot be true..no one believes this stuff."
..Well ask the police who follow up on these crooks. Or others who study these people. There are more suckers than we think. New con ideas are being created as you read this. If these cons didn't work, then why are there people still using these cons and robo calls to make money. ..
...an example of what I am talking about...Many years ago, people hung their clothes out to dry in the wind. Now, very few do that, instead people use clothes dryers. Most people don't even know that others hung their clothes out. It is not used anymore.
...But the robo calls, and phone scams are used. Often, by many people in many different ways. So, they must work on some people and some people make lots and lots of money. If they didn't work, or weren't needed, there would be few if any.
...Another example...Have you seen any of those huge radio sets that look like a large piece of furniture in the living room? You know, the kind that existed in the 40s?..When the radios were "king" and TVs were a thing in the future. I guess not. They are gone, and people don't need them, or make lots of money on them.
...Again, if these cons and scams didn't work, and made lots of money, there wouldn't be any.

[csziggy]

1. It reminds me of a classic horse race betting scam

The con man sends 1000 people his recommendations for the winner in a horse race - five horses racing, so he sends each horse name to 200 people. Whichever horse wins, he sends those two hundred people recommendations for the horses in another race, again, one horse name to each group of people.

Each time he narrows his field of dupes down as with each win, the dupes become more impressed with his predictions. Finally he offers to sell them the name of the winner in a really big race, one in which the winnings could be spectacular.

Then he disappears with his money. It doesn't matter how many he ends with, his investment is not very much, and whatever he makes off the marks is gravy. If there are only five people left and he offered to sell them the name for $1000 each, he's made $5000.

The phone scammers are working with a much larger group - millions of people across the world. They share lists of phone numbers of people who will answer. They may even sell each other lists of people who have fallen for scams in the past. Since computers do most of the work, dialing, playing a robocall mesage - I think some are using an AI for calls - if 0.01% fall for it and pay them, they make money off the scam.

That's why the YouTube videos of people who waste the scammers time is so satisfying. The more time they scammers are investing in a possible scam that they do NOT make money off of, the fewer people they can try to steal from.