Over 95 per cent of global scam calls originate from India - specifically from in and around Kolkata and New Delhi, according to his database of IP addresses. YouTubers like Jim Robinson, ScamBaiter, Mark Rober, and Trilogy Media are spearheading the charge against phishing through ‘scambaiting’, a form of internet vigilantism aimed at exposing scammers.Ī pioneer of the scambaiting genre, Browning has spent years engaging with scammers and exposing their ownership structure, even pinpointing their exact locations. But YouTubers are not thwarted by such roadblocks. With no clear money trail, victims all over the world, and flimsy data privacy laws in India, the police are at a disadvantage. Even a sign at the traffic junction outside the city’s iconic Victoria Memorial cautions passersby: ‘Don’t share OTP/CVV/PIN with anyone.’Īnd this is exactly why investigating officers like Prakash are banging their heads. Third, access their computer and control their screen through remote support software like TeamViewer or AnyDesk. Next, either convince the mark or victim to click on a link or confuse them with an unwanted error, a.k.a. The modus operandi itself, however, is relatively simple: First, pretend you’re selling a product from Microsoft or Amazon or Norton malware software. It’s so sophisticated that the scam game has multiple moving parts: People who steal and sell data, those who act as temporary account vendors, another team that provides the technical infrastructure required to cheat people abroad, and a Telegram group actively warning scammers of potential targets and risks.

“If you live in an English-speaking country, it’s highly likely that you’ve interacted with a scam caller from India,” said Jim Browning, a YouTuber with nearly four million followers.

Anydesk software spam calls