TMF 017 - Do Number Kasayi - Avoiding Tech Scams as a Pakistani

With Eid coming soon you need to learn how butchering works. Not the kind you are thinking of. Staying safe on the internet is becoming harder every day and in today's episode we will cover what's up with tech scams.
With a new format Tech Made Fun is back to inform you about what matters, in Pakistan - welcome back, back again.
Hosted by Saqib Tahir

Support the show: https://support.sknexus.com/
See full show notes at: https://sknexus.com/ep17

Chapters:
0:00 - Where the hell were you for three months!
2:23 - Topic For Today - Scams in Tech
4:19 - Introduction to Pig Butchering Scams
4:31 - Stage 1 - Making a New Friend
6:18 - Stage 2 - Trust Built - Promises Made
8:18 - Stage 3 - Left for dead - Pig is headless
11:59 - Best Practices to Prevent Scams
17:17 - Personal Scam 1 - Daraz Sellers Selling Your Information
20:07 - Personal Scam 2 - Facebook Marketplace, home to scams
21:28 - Personal Scam 3 - Real Estate Files, A Scam within A Scam Question Mark???
22:56 - Live as if everything about you is public

References:
Unmasking Pig-Butchering Scams And Protecting Your Financial Future
Pig butchering scams, how they work and how to avoid them
Hacker Lexicon: What Is a Pig Butchering Scam?

Past Pakistani Crypto Scams:
FIA issues notice to crypto exchange Binance in multi-million dollar scam
Pakistan’s Investigation Agency Contacts Binance About $100M Scam
FIA chief orders arrest of culprits in crypto scam

Chapters

• 0:00 Where the hell were you for three months!
• 2:23 Topic For Today - Scams in Tech
• 4:19 Introduction to Pig Butchering Scams
• 4:31 Stage 1 - Making a New Friend
• 6:18 Stage 2 - Trust Built - Promises Made
• 8:18 Stage 3 - Left for dead - Pig is headless
• 11:59 Best Practices to Prevent Scams
• 17:17 Personal Scam 1 - Daraz Sellers Selling Your Information
• 20:07 Personal Scam 2 - Facebook Marketplace, home to scams
• 21:28 Personal Scam 3 - Real Estate Files, A Scam within A Scam Question Mark???
• 22:56 Live as if everything about you is public

Transcript

0:00

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome back to Tech Made Fun, where we haven't released an episode in three months. And there's a very good reason for that. Basically, when this podcast started and started again after two or three years, the goal has always been that the information about technology and the awareness about tech should reach a common man. So in the beginning, we had a news format that news comes every week and we cover it after a month. And then we move on to Pakistani publications. And that was all well and good. But it feels like in the last three or four months, especially since I started doing this alone, the tech news wasn't that spicy. Or it wasn't fun to portray it. Because when there were two people, it was back and forth, there was discussion. It was more interesting. But when I'm doing it alone, talking about tech news is like I'm a news reporter. Which I don't want the point of this podcast to be, to be a newscaster. So over the last couple of weeks, me and my researcher friend, we have reformatted and re-thunked out of this podcast. And basically going forward, the idea is that every episode, we're gonna pick a topic, we're gonna do some research on it, and then we're gonna present it in an everyday, friendly, man-mango-man format. And that's the goal. Eventually, once we have enough episodes out there, there will be an evergreen library out there, which makes this podcast an excellent resource. And it will mostly be relevant to even if they listen like two years later or three years later. Because when it's a topical format, we're gonna try to pick these topics and present them in a manner that will be relevant for a long time. Because as I said, this is a passion project. And everything we do needs to be, you know, more impactful than like So that being said, again, feedback is open. You can send it at podcast at sknexus.com or through social media channels. Just google it. With all that being said, let's get into So, as you know, in a lot of past episodes, But I wanted to today bring it all under one episode and also cover a one big scam that is boiling up for eventually, I'm pretty sure, What that is, is it's called pig butchering scams. But basically, it's a kind of scam that is rampantly becoming popular in the West. So, today's episode is all about, generally, how to avoid scams. And this pig butchering scam is a new kind of rampant scam that is going on in the West. And you can google it. It's a very big thing. You are now more informed. And of course, Because So, it's clear that the scam nature of tech that has made into the populace, Especially for the lower educated or non-tech savvy people. So, yeah, this episode hopefully covers a lot of the aspects I want to cover when it comes to tech scams. Okay, let's get into pig butchering scam. So, pig butchering scam, basically, at the surface level, what it is, is it's a phased out scam. Start typically, Yeah, Whatever. It will be a random message. It will have a name. And it will be like, And obviously, as any sane person would say, it will be like, But, now people have tested this and this does work. So, if it doesn't work for you, good for you. But there is proof out there that it's working for people. Follow up message will come. Oh, sorry. And the goal of this exercise is, Because usually, the apps, They spam it. They block it. And they don't even show the notification. But if you reply to the person, And that's the thing. That's all they're trying to do. They're trying to get a reply out of you. That's the reason behind it. So, they intentionally send you like, That's the thing. If you want a reply from people, If you say something wrong, If you do it right, A hundred people will sit down. That's the thing. So, to do it right, The person replies by hand. No, I'm not this. I'm Saqib. Who are you? So, that first step is successful. Now, what's the second step? Usually, people who do pig butchering, They already have a very good idea of Who they're scamming with. So, they've seen their social profile. Or their background information. Or if they don't have that, They have a very good profile Of the people in this segment. What are their daily problems? What are their problems? How do we hit them on the point? So, they'll start that conversation with you. And the conversation could be as stupid as, Like, let's say, They're talking to you, And you're looking for a job. And you're like, They'll be like, Salman, You'll say, No, I'm not Salman. I'm Rafiq or whoever. He'll say, Okay, you're Rafiq. Salman gave me this number. Actually, I was looking for a job. So, sorry, I bothered you. I hope it wasn't too much of a problem. And you'll be like, Oh, no, it's nothing. It's a funny thing. I'm also looking for a job these days. And the conversation will start. Then you'll be like, Okay, man, The market is very bad these days. The situation is bad. Salaries are not good. I need a job. And you'll have a new online friend. And again, as I said, This is a very long scam. 10 to 15 days. 20 days. One month. That person will message you every day. Yes, how is the job search going? Did you get a job? No one got it. Okay, how far did you get? Okay, you'll tell me. Yeah, so on. You get the idea. The first thing is, This unknown person that just messaged you now is your friend. And again, But I'm not hating on crypto. Before someone says that. But the nature of crypto is that. Usually it is a crypto offer. So you're looking for a job. You didn't get a job. Do you have savings? How are you surviving? You say, yes, I have five to six months of savings. I'm still surviving on it. I didn't get a job. So there's no problem. But now my expenses are not going well. You say, man, Savings are being devalued. You know, There is no value of Pakistan rupees. So I was looking for a job. So my friend told me that this is an app. Invest in this. You get a lot of money. And this is it. And then he'll keep sending you his investment portfolio like this. He'll send you screenshots. He'll show you his performance in the app. He'll say, look at how much money I've made. And he'll say something like this. Look, now I feel like I shouldn't even look for a job. And he'll trap you. Eventually the time will come. He'll tell you about your helplessness. You're not getting a job. You're getting a job. You're getting a low salary. And you have five to six months of savings. One, two lakh rupees. Three lakh rupees are saved, let's say. So he'll trap you. Okay? And what will he do? And this is a very trustworthy network. To show people that there will be a proper app with screenshots. It will also be listed in the Play Store. That's the worst thing. That the app will also be listed in the Play Store. And it will also have reviews. Fake reviews. Everything. The website will also be made. Everything will be made. And then you'll be like, man, this is just like another app. Crypto is famous. Binance, etc. exists. So I'll try this. You'll try. You'll put money in it. Then you'll put a little more. You'll get a return. Everything is fake. Everything you'll see so far. All the performances you'll see. Everything will be fake. When will the problem arise? When you try to get the money out. When the day comes. Okay, I've put 1.5-2 lakhs on it. I can see it in the app. I have 10 lakhs now. I have to get the money out. And what will happen? That money will not come out. And you will never get it again. Your friend who became a friend. He is missing. He will never message you again. And then you'll go online. And be like, this app is a scam. He cheated me. He cheated me. This, that, blah, blah, blah. And unfortunately, from day one. You were stuck in a big cycle. And you won't be alone. Together. One. It's said. In one go. 1000 people. 2000 people. 3000 people. All together it will be a scam. Okay. And that app will disappear. Disappeared from the Play Store. Disappeared from the website. Everything is missing. Every person took lakhs of rupees. Took crores of rupees. Disappeared completely. The whole point is. That scam. That time has gone. That give me your pin. Or. Give me an easy load of 100 rupees. That time has gone. Now scams are very complex. And have started to be emotionally targeted. So what I want you to understand is. That if you are in a vulnerable position. Please. Please be. Extra careful. Especially in today's tech era. Where everyone's information is out. And if you're like. I am very smart. Nothing can happen to me. I am from the world. From the sky. I know everything. Trust me. People who are like this. They have bigger scams. Me included. I always used to think. Being at the center of tech. I have also been handed a few times. But Alhamdulillah. Because I had some. Best practices in place. Because of that. They saved me. Like the scam. Was successfully done with me. But where my money was lying. There were blockers in front of them. So they didn't go anywhere. Let's discuss later. But just be aware. That this is a real thing. And this can happen to everyone. And if you're like. My information is not there. It's not there. It's not there. Okay, man. Then you must be a kid. You haven't found a job yet. Because if you are looking for a job. Then in LinkedIn. Looking for work. That's why I picked this example. That even the most educated. Sensible guy. He must have written. Open to work on LinkedIn. Or post-mortem. I need a job somewhere. So it's very easy to figure out. What is your situation? What is your situation? I did a new term in cyber security. I don't know if it's fully relevant. Or not here. But it's called. Auscent. Open source intelligence. Very easy these days. And in countries like Pakistan. It's very easy now. Okay. So just be careful about. Big butchering scam. If you're interested. More about it. There will be a small write-up. With the full show notes of this episode. On the website. You can read that. And there will be links also. As always. For you to educate yourself. Better. Okay. That being said. Some best practice stuff. Which I talked about. Yeah. Look. Simple advice. Don't talk to an unknown person. Okay. Don't even bother replying. I know. It's human nature. Today I was talking to my wife. A call was coming from a random phone. I picked it up. Hello. Yes. Rafiq is speaking. So I said. Just cut the call. She said. No. I will tell her. It's a wrong number. So that she knows. I said. No. No need to talk. Cut the call. And I understand. That's our human nature. We want to be nice. And we want to be like. Even if I call on a wrong number. I would like to be informed. That I called on the wrong number. But no. You have to just block it. And if. There's a lot of problem. Or a lot of calls are coming. Or a call is coming from a different number. Send an SMS. Because SMS. Even now. Our country's system. Internet connected. There is no SMS. Although. That might change. Soon. Soon. So that might be a safe way to do it. But again. If. You can help it. Anytime. Random message. Or random call. Just cut it there. Block it. Let go. Okay. The second thing is. That. Whenever we talk about investments. Now in Pakistan. Investment opportunities. There is a lot of work. So I understand. That urge. That I have money. I want to invest it. Pakistan Rupees. It is being devalued. And there is no point in keeping the bank. Please. Look. Do some basic. Regulatory. Research. There is a government registered body. And all this can be faked. Just understand that. But the goal is that. The people who usually get stuck in these scams. They are in that loop. They have built trust with their new friends. They don't bother doing any research. So like. Always do research. Regardless of whether you are a friend or not. Or anything. Any investment opportunity. Always do research. And always understand. Whenever you invest into anything. Invest with that money. Which you can afford to lose. So. Like this is just like. General best practice and advice. Unless you have crores of rupees. And you don't care. That's fine. But this is more of a message for people. Who only have their. Roti. How much money has been saved. That money. Please. Please. Never put it in any investment scheme. Especially those who will say. Bro. You will get a very big return. It doesn't happen. There is no easy money. Easy money only happens. When you have a lot of money. That's the rule. And. Lastly. The best practice. You can do for yourself. Check your personal information. Check it. Where are your phone numbers. Publicly. Where is your email. Where are your addresses. Or not. There are a lot of websites. That do. This. Have I been pawned. It's a very famous website. You can go and see it. Daraaz. Foodpanda. Kareem. You have saved your addresses. Try. Delete them. If you are not using any app for a long time. What most people will do. Will go to Kareem. Will put all your addresses. Will stop using after 6 months or a year. Before you stop using. Go to that app once. To delete your data. Again. That doesn't ensure. That the company has deleted it or not. But you have done your job. Your. Saved addresses. Saved payment methods. Saved information. I have often seen. People have saved everything. From such websites. Openly. And the passwords on them. They are also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Because they will think. This is not my bank. Its password is not necessary. No. This information. Is scary. And this information. People have it. Stay safe. That being said. I want to end the show of. Some of the personal experiences. Which happened in Pakistan. Actually. Realistically. So that. You get a little awareness of that too. First of all. What happens these days. Whenever you download this app. Rando app. Which is more. Trusted now. Contact access. The most. First of all. And I. Made a rule. In my life. One. I have kept two phones. I have kept two numbers. So this is my number. Which I share with everyone. It has nothing to do with my banking. My private things. It has nothing to do with it. So I don't care so much about that number. And then there is a number. Which is dedicated to these things. So if you can afford it. Highly suggest you do this. But if you can't. Then understand. When you are sharing numbers with someone. So what happens is. You shared a number with your father. Or you shared a number with your friend. That is all good. But your father or friend. There will be one app. Who will have contact access. And he will pick up your contacts. And throw them all online. Or sell the data to someone. And then what happens to you. After a month. You get messages from the ACFIX people. You get messages from the lottery sellers. Why are they coming? Because your data. Has been sold out. So if you have experienced this. Buy two numbers. Don't share with anyone. Share one. And you will realize after six months. You will get a lot of spam messages in one. Like our telecom people. And the government people. They were spamming so much. Then this spam started coming from above. So again. Start valuing your mobile number. Okay. In Pakistan. One sim. One ID card can. Under five numbers. Use that feature. Keep two or three numbers. And. Nowadays anyway. Everyone talks on WhatsApp. Buy a sim. Make a WhatsApp account on it. Break that sim and throw it away. Like your work will continue on WhatsApp. You can make two WhatsApp accounts on any phone. So you have no excuse. That you can't buy a sim for 500 rupees. Just to enhance your security. So okay. Take this as an advice. Start using two numbers please. As soon as possible. Secondly. Every new Android or iOS phone. I can't say anything about the old ones. But in the new ones. Unknown senders. The default options to filter or block have come. Search a little on it. And enable them. You get a lot of unknown messages. If you are in a business. Where a lot of unknown messages are going to be done. Then it's the same thing. Refer to point one. Keep a sim in which there is no tension. But on your main primary number. Unknown messages by default. Start blocking. The scams that I am going to tell you. These have actually happened to me. Number one was. DRAZ shipping scam. Now this used to happen. One or two years ago. When you buy something with DRAZ. They didn't share your information with the seller. Because they were like. If you share it with the seller. Then the seller will be direct. Will start selling directly. But now because DRAZ has become so big. And they have so much monopolistic power. They said okay. You share it. The seller and the client keep fighting with each other. Don't talk. Whatever the scene. I don't know. DRAZ has started sharing. Something has happened. But I have noticed. In the past one or two years. The seller gets a WhatsApp message. Leave the review. Five star is for me. You bought my product. Direct WhatsApp message comes. Now. I noticed. That some DRAZ sellers. Actually. Those who are selling something. They are selling all the data ahead of the order. What happened recently? On my acquaintance's phone. A message came. That the shipment of your order has failed. Kindly go to this link. And update your address. Your address is not correct. He went to this link. Clicked on the link. Saw the address. Updated the address. It was a page of Pakistan Post. Exactly the exact copy. When he continued. It was written that. Because your shipment failed. There will be charges of Rs. 100 to reship. Kindly put in the details of your card. And do the next. Now what is the problem here? Most people's cards. These days are saved. In Chrome browser. Right. When that friend. The guy clicked on it. On the form. And it got autofilled. In the blink of an eye. Or without thinking. Continuously clicked. Put your CVVV. And then there was an error. Says. This payment did not work. What a useless website. Pakistan Post is bad. This and that. He sent me. I said. Look up. I saw the URL above. It was something else. When I clicked on the logo. I went to the Pakistan Post website. But the URL that came in WhatsApp. That was a phishing URL. So phishing is basically a scam. It's like this. Where. Where your critical information. Is input. Like a bank login. Website. Facebook login. Some important login page. It has an exact one-to-one copy. There the link is sent to you. Just like this. In a realistic situation. I have shipped the order. So it will be the message of my order. So you are more likely to click on that link. And then you will be like. Yes. This is mine. And a fake order number must have been given. Everything is very realistic. I wish I could show you the image of that. And then you will be like. Yes. This will be of my order. And you. Get confused. You put in the information. And then you know. It becomes a problem. They just lost your card. With CVV. Now it has happened with most banks. With CVV. I think. There is a limit of 2,500-3,000. Some have a limit of 5,000-10,000. They can do transactions up to that size. So. Another best practice you can have. Is if you have the option. You will call the bank and say. Don't charge my card without CVV. Oh sorry. Don't charge my card without OTP. And then. If your transaction. Is above 2,500-3,000. Then apart from that. You will have to give permission for OTP. So this is a. Real situation. It happened 1-2 months ago. The second one is. Facebook marketplace. Now on Facebook marketplace. I don't understand what is happening. But there are other scams going on. Because all that I talked about. Pig butchering scam. In that you have to make an app. You have to make a website. And you have to do a lot of research. There is a new scam going on in Facebook marketplace. That yes, we will go to Facebook marketplace. We will see the sellers who are very popular. We will pick their images one to one. We will pick their description. We will pick their everything. We will change a little bit. And we will launch our product. We will keep the price one rupee less. Or we will keep the zero price. The new thing is that yes. Zero price is written in the description. Contact for pricing. That's why there is an option for pricing. So whenever he filters. Lower to high. All those fake ads were coming. In which zero price is put. Anyway. The scam is that on Facebook. Whenever you buy something. If you have experienced that. You have to send money first. Otherwise they don't ship things. And they are like brother. We will ship only when you send money. Otherwise we will not send. There is no cash on delivery scene. So here is the same thing. That order cash on delivery. If someone is not offering cash on delivery. Unless you have very good proof. In Facebook groups. There are a lot of messages. Talk to that person. It took one and a half to two months. Then do it. Otherwise I would just say. Avoid Facebook marketplace. Because I don't know anyone. Who uses Facebook marketplace. And there has not been a single scam. Lastly. One thing here. Talking about investment. That our property files. That's a big scene. Everyone is sitting with a G-property file. And full disclosure. I am also sitting with one. To get attention. So that file is a scam or not. That's a different thing. But the scam is this. That often when you bought these files. Your number went out. He went to the dealers. Dealer network. Promoter network. Ad network. Whatever network. It has reached there. And what happens. Every six months to three months. Or nine months. You expect that. You will get a new call. Where you will be given an offer. Yes. Who are you selling to? Okay. How much are you selling? How much do you live? Okay. Now you are selling. You will get a discount. You will say. Okay. I will sell it. After going to the office. No, no, no. Not after going to the office. You have to get it through a verified dealer. Then you will get it. And this is also unfortunately a scam. He will get you easy money or something. And these days there is a limit of easy money. There are 10 lakh rupees. So. You can get a good amount through it. And it goes on and on. It had nothing to do. With the official party. And. Yeah. But if you have bought the file. And you are making payments. Always. The official channel in their office. Go from there. Pay in front of him. Brother. Do not trust online systems here. Especially when it comes to investments. But as I said. The episode at the end. I want to say. Like. At the end of the day. Wherever there is any investment. Or too good to be true. Or any such thing that is going on these days. In which your mobile number. Or personal information is involved. Just understand. That your situation is public. Okay. Live your life in such a way. That your situation is going on. Current financial. Economical situation. Understand that it is public. Everyone knows. How many cars do you have? How many houses do you have? Did you take the file or not? Are you looking for a job or not? What is your income? What is your savings? Just. Live as if all that information. Is public knowledge. And that way. Whenever someone approaches you. You will know. That there is an ulterior motive behind it or not. Because that's what I want to leave you with. In Pakistan. Like. Safety. And. All these things. Which the government does not advocate. Unfortunately. There are no tech channels here either. So that's why. I wanted to record this episode. That this will become a kind of evergreen episode. Just to give you the mindset. Mindset and landscape of scams in Pakistan. So tomorrow you have a friend. Or you have a family member. Who doesn't understand these things. They want to be understood in simple words. I hope. These are simple words. So you can easily. Send them a link. That listen to this. Okay. Again. Let me know. How do you like this new format? We are going to pick like topics. That are going to be evergreen. And help you in the long term. As a Pakistani citizen. Who's. Wanting to be in tech. Or keep some interest in tech. Maybe. Time and time. We do something with news. If something very impactful comes. We can cover it as a topic. But. Ongoing I think. This kind of approach. That shorter topical based approach. Would be nicer to manage. Given the resources I have. And again as I said. Any feedback. Podcast at sknxs.com. Go there. Email there. Otherwise on social media. Wherever you go. Sknxs. You will find it. Thank you very much. As always see you next time.