Scam Acadamies Exposed

Scam Academies Exposed

07 January 2022
Reading Time: 3 mins

Following on from the shocking news this week about the existence of “Scam Academies” Money Magpie’s Jasmine Birtles took to Talk Radio to discuss what exactly these places were.

What are Scam Academies?

Criminals run internet ‘scam schools’ on the internet, selling guides such as the ‘Fraud Bible’ which teaches wannabe fraudsters how to send fake text messages supposedly from companies like Royal Mail and PayPal, but which actually link to fake bank websites: the aim is to defraud people into revealing their bank accounts, card information and other personal details.

They are then further taught to use the stolen details to buy goods online which are sold via eBay or other internet marketplaces, so that people may be purchasing goods bought with stolen funds, without knowing it.

With this in mind, MoneyMagpie’s Jasmine Birtles wants to make it absolutely clear that the shame surrounding being scams is totally unnessesary.

She says: “Sadly it’s no surprise that these ’Scam Academies’ exist. I’ve always said that anyone who is scammed should not feel ashamed or silly because the people who perpetrate these frauds are professionals. There are huge international crime ‘corporations’ that employ people to scam others 26/7 and they’re very good at it.

“Now individuals are able to learn the tricks of the trade – much of them simply sales tactics – that they know work on many, many people. The boring truth is that we all have to be even more mistrustful of anything that comes as a text, an email or a call. Even those that seem to be from a friend might not be so we have to be aware of any anomalies in the way they speak or write or any oddities in what they are asking.”

The reality is that online credit card fraud is worth almost half a billion pounds a year, fuelled by a commodity called ‘fullz’, which collects credit card number, full name, address, phone number, date of birth, bank account number and sort code.

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