Currently, a popular prank on TikTok is mimicking voice phishing methods. People call their friends using an automated answering machine voice that poses as the customer service of a large online store. They tell them that a large amount of money is about to be debited from their account. No matter how the victim replies, the next thing the answering machine says is, “Thank you, your order has been confirmed.” The victims think the funds are going to be withdrawn and panic. Interaksyon reports that the clips, tagged #amazonpurchase or #purchaseprank, have collected over 36.6 million views. Kaspersky warns that the joke copies a real fraud scheme, and its researchers counted about 350,000 vishing emails between March and June 2022, almost 100,000 of them in June alone. Back in 2021, Kaspersky described how these fake PayPal and Amazon purchase confirmations carry no link, only a phone number, behind which scammers wait for login credentials or card details. The pranksters only want views; the people on the real hotline want your card.
