The Digital Hunt: How They Use Data to Scam Older People.
Imagine a 75-year-old retiree. On his cell phone screen, he sees a video where a famous athlete, with an incredibly realistic voice, promises to double his savings with an investment in cryptocurrencies. It seems like a unique opportunity. What he doesn’t know is that he didn’t come across this ad by chance. He has been carefully selected.
Cybercriminals already know his age, his health problems, and even his mood. Welcome to the new era of the scam: a dark business where old age and vulnerability have become the most profitable target.
There are no atypical victims, only typical ones.
In these scams, people aged 80, 70, 65—retirees—begin to appear. Obviously with money, but also people with illnesses, depression, and many with circumstances like having lost family members or suffering from deep depression due to abandonment. This is how they more easily fall for investment offers without evaluating what’s behind them.
The Black Market of Your Digital Life
How do scammers manage to link these very private details to their ads? The answer lies in the dark business of our data. They use ads, made with AI to simulate famous public figures, whether they be presidents or athletes, recommending “attractive” investments.
Cyber-scam organizations invest thousands of dollars in databases that reveal everything from our political leanings to whether we are interested in cryptocurrencies. As cybersecurity experts warn, “nothing is free on the internet.” The more of a digital life we have and the more information we give away without control, the easier we make it for criminals.
Once they identify their targets, they just have to put the bait in front of them: fake ads on Facebook, banners on news pages, or sponsored results on Google. They don’t need everyone to bite; for them, it’s just a large-scale game of probability.
In this specific case of scams targeting the elderly, the most widely used method, common in the marketing world for years, is to launch micro-segmented, targeted advertising campaigns. Using tastes and interests, the ad will reach a thousand other people, but the probability of it reaching the right victim is high. This is all done by leveraging the volume of data obtained from purchasing databases.
It’s no longer about, as in traditional advertising, shooting thousands of arrows at tiny targets. Instead, this method brings the victim into the archer’s bullseye. This is how the usual advertising campaigns that reach us after we’ve given our email for a loyalty card, for example, work. But they can be used for more perverse motives.
These groups have more ways to reach desired victims. “There are marketing agencies that charge for potential victim data, and the price depends on their country of origin,” says Mauro Jordán, a lawyer who represents dozens of scammed individuals in similar cases. These agencies place fake investment ads that encourage users to submit their data.
“If you search on Google for ‘invest’ or ‘cryptocurrencies,’ you are more likely to see them. I see them a lot on those fake news pages that now appear on Google Discover with catchy headlines,” adds Jordán.
An investigation published in March of this year by the journalist group OCCRP—based in the Netherlands and specializing in organized crime and corruption—explained this same method:
“Hundreds of marketing companies supply the names of potential victims whom they call directly to try to sell their products. The salespeople receive a payment for each contact they manage to convert into a client. According to leaked spreadsheets with marketing payments, the usual price for a Swedish victim is around €1,250, which is the second-highest rate in the world.” The OCCRP’s investigation was based on a massive data leak that a Swedish television station had received from two cybercriminal groups.
According to other investigations, there are also victims in Latin American countries who received calls without ever having filled out any form. It may be that they don’t remember, or that the fraudsters got their mobile phone number from some other database (banking or governmental).
The variety of methods used by these groups mimics the rich world of online marketing.
In recent years, the evolution of internet fraud has been extremely rapid, practically all over the world.
If we do not adopt certain security and review measures when we respond to requests made over the network, we run the risk of falling for these scams.
David Monarque Sáenz Director of Commercial Channels LATAM at Convergia
