The expert on bank cards was divorced. Analysis of tricks. Mixed up woman.

[Brother]

Two hours ago, I gave scammers $ 250, although I am an expert in bank card technologies, as well as an experienced psychologist.

It's amazing that I ignored a lot of alarm bells. And most importantly, I believed until the very end that it was just a mistake. Even when he had already stopped giving money.

And I decided to do an analysis of psychological tricks and tricks.

I think there is a lot of sales psychology here that salespeople really need to learn from.

The story itself is briefly at the end of this post. The point is that the woman in Tinder says that she is going to the concert, the seat next to her for 1900r is free. In the process of "buying" a ticket, a "double write-off" error occurs, and it took me another $ 200 rubles to "fix" it.

Content​

• How is it done technically
• How to make the "first alarm" skip
• How to relieve alertness when the victim has already climbed into the trap
• How to Maintain Trust When Serious Weirdness Has Begun
• A brief history of the entire divorce

How is it done technically​

The site hosting the schedule and ticket selection is phishing (comedys-standup.ru). It is given by "passion" in a personal conversation. Judging by whois, hidden behind CloudFlare . When you try to pay, you go to another fake site - paykassir24.ru Everything is like in real stores.

After the "payment error", a call immediately comes from the phone +74991106809, which, apparently, belongs to the IP-telephony operator (the caller just sits at the computer with a headset).

This call calms down and offers to resolve the issue with support on the site. But this is for an additional divorce, which I also fell for.

The transaction that went through is not a purchase transaction, it is a Card2Card transfer transaction. Could have alerted, and even slightly alerted. But now the form of "payment" by transfer to a card is very common, it has already become familiar.

The paykassir24.ru site simply imitates Internet acquiring, and then it’s not difficult anymore ... The fraudsters now have all the necessary card data, all that remains is to enter the 3D Secure code.

But all this in the process has a lot of suspicious places, which for some reason I skipped over. And here I wonder what psychological techniques were used to make this possible.

How to make the "first alarm" skip​

1. I would like "this product"​

I was on Tinder. Here they want to meet, they want to "find a dream." Those. people are "ready to be deceived" (no). They are ready to make contact and take risks.

As a man, I am quite ready to invest in relationships, incl. financially. True, do not spend money on it ahead of time.

2. I did not spend "on her", I spent "on myself"​

A beautiful and interesting woman offered to attend an "interesting concert". She "already has" her ticket, she will "go" there independently of me. I kind of spend money only on myself, not on her. Only for a ticket for myself.

3. Danger aside from the main action​

Let's be honest, in the "relationship market" we all want to "sell" ourselves as expensive as possible, and "buy" another as cheaply as possible. In this regard, I really do not want to be deceived. This is a difficult and risky trade.

And that is why all the attention is focused on this "deal". There is a danger of cheapening. The danger is imaginary, but we react to it. Plus there is excitement from the upcoming interesting acquaintance.

There is not enough attention for the second danger. Only in the second case is the danger already real.

Those. the point is to "divert attention." Make you focus on flirting. And then you will not notice some of the details of buying a ticket.

There is, however, something else:

4. Don't be a miser!​

Now, when there is a "bait" (an interesting acquaintance is about to happen), when they calmed me down (I spend only on myself), and I look the other way (at the woman, and not at the buying process), this social stereotype works ...

To refuse a purchase is like to explicitly say "I am a miser". As you can imagine, this can be fatal for dating.

5. There is a possibility of return​

I almost refused, but the magical possibility of returning changed everything. I was still asked to book, then I can refuse (if we don’t like it at a personal meeting) and return the money. Everything, I'm ready to buy. I go to the site

Sales lessons from this introduction.
1. When a person comes to your website, account, store, telegram channel, etc. - he already wants your product, he already has a need. The seller's task is to identify it. Or, more precisely, you need to understand your target audience well, it already wants to buy something that you want to sell by itself.
2. We direct the buyer's attention to the fact that it is he, the buyer (not the seller) who gets the benefit.
3. If you are dishonest ... Although no, I will not write this conclusion.
4. Some stereotypes prevail over the potential client. Or, as they call it now, the client's fears. I do not propose to exploit them, but it is imperative to know them. Helps understand motivation.
5. It is possible to finally remove the resistance with a guarantee of return, or in general, by any other means, at least partially roll back.

How to relieve alertness when the victim has already climbed into the trap​

I was influenced by the "desire to be consistent". It's from"The Psychology of Influence" by Cialdini.

The main secret of all further events.

1. Simulating an error​

Instead of being shown a successful payment page, I was again shown the "confirmation code" entry page.

I don't see any psychological trick here that could force me to enter all this several times. In addition to this very desire to "be consistent", of course. But there was one aggravating circumstance : for the second day I was in a subdepressive state. I think it lowered my guard a lot.

However, the main thing here is that the "double write-off" was done on purpose. This error is deliberately created. So that this scenario will go later.

2. Hooking: immediate call (+74991106809)​

To prevent the victim's suspicions from developing, she must be reassured.

A confident male voice told me after a few seconds that I had an error and I needed to contact the support service on the site. It is curious that his script was very tough, he simply ignored my words, I even thought that I was talking to a robot, but no, I got a few interjections. However, I was already on the hook.

That call in the bud almost quelled the anxiety, but there was another important factor that worked very powerfully until the very end. Even after I stopped doing destructive actions, I still believed that it was just a mistake. All because of this factor ... But still more about it later.

3. "Support" responds quickly and convincingly​

It was the speed of reaction, clear instructions, the minimum delay in responses that did not allow my suspicion to grow enough.

By the way, if in Sberbank it was possible to get through to the manager as quickly as possible, then I think it would be possible to slow down the transaction. But you know Sberbank.

"Support" asked me to fill out a form, enter the booking number and something else. They immediately warned that to return for some reason you would need to have exactly the same amount on the card, supposedly the money would be held, and then all will be returned at once.

The site paykassir24.ru is located somewhere in the USA, I suppose - on cloud services. As well as the site comedys-standup.ru, on which this divorce took place.
As you can see from the correspondence, I made several mistakes myself, and this is directly the key to manipulation. When a person knows about his mistake, he is very accommodating. And so I did not catch myself.

First, I entered the wrong Expiration Date. And I saw a text that was strange for a layman. For the layman, but not for me ... I am a programmer, and the debug output did not surprise or alert me. But this is no longer their trick, this is my feature that helped the scammers here.

Salesman lessons.
1. If you make a process so that there is a high probability of an error on the part of the client, his criticality to what is happening is noticeably reduced, because he feels guilty. A very malicious trick ...
2. The sooner (better in advance) you inform the client about some unpleasant changes, the less negative you will get, the easier it will be to resolve all issues. A very powerful and useful trick. When I was an entrepreneur, I appreciated it very much.

However, without one strong factor, I would have been on my guard several times already. And we move on to the main thing.

How to Maintain Trust When Serious Weirdness Has Begun​

All this time, in the next window, in a telegram, Katyusha was actively communicating with me. The one next to which I seemed to buy a ticket. And she worked 150%. I made a very high quality "look amazed".

She did very important things:

1. Emotional background "there is no deception, I already bought it myself." And softly, she did not say these particular words.
2. The feeling that you are not alone with a problem, so calmer
3. And most importantly, she sent all three signals that trigger a sense of community. This message is "you are important to me", "we are connected", "we have a common future." For a single person from a dating site - just a balm.

These signals are miraculous when it comes to bringing people together and strengthening their common potential. This social psychology is my main passion. And the fish here use this thing to the fullest.

There is nothing technically interesting here. The Internet is full of such stories. Just for the sake of completeness.

Conclusions​

My main blunder is the confidence that "I will not be fooled." After all, I understand this topic.

I'll try to initiate a criminal case. I intend to talk about this experience here.

Support me, it is very important for me now. I coped with unpleasant feelings in many ways, but your reaction will support me very much.

PS Well, now how it looked consistently.

I am single, so I am registered with Tinder. An interesting girl appeared there, who easily and cheerfully communicated, which is a rarity in my city. I invited her to meet, she said that this evening at a stand-up concert. To my question, she drops the link and says where she is. I go to the site (comedys-standup.ru) and look at the free places, next to her place is free. I click "buy", and I see the price of $ 300.
I can afford it, but it’s a little too much for an acquaintance. Moreover, I do not like this genre. In the end, we agree to meet an hour before the concert, and then, if anything, I will refund the money for the ticket. I am studying the terms of return - it is quite normal. I'm trying to pay. For this, for some reason, you need a phone number, full name and e-mail. HM. Switching to Internet acquiring. Tinkoff card is not accepted
I try again, with savings - it comes I enter the code for 3D-Secure, but instead of a successful payment I see again the page for entering the 3D-Secure code. Weird. I check - there have been no write-offs yet. I enter again. Again. Again.
And then there was a transaction of withdrawal of $ 300, then a full refund, then twice withdrawals for $ 300.
A few seconds later, a call from the number +74991106809, they immediately drop it, immediately call again, pick up the phone. They tell me with a confident and apologetic male voice that I had a double write-off, I need to contact the support on the site.
I am addressing. I am offered to fill out a form, but for a number of reasons, first the funds will be temporarily frozen from the card, then everything will be returned in full. I do, $ 50 is debited from the card. The fact is that I make one "mistake", and I think that I myself am to blame for the fact that the return did not happen.
In "support" they offer to fill in correctly again, but this time, in order to return the entire amount in full, now it is necessary that the card has already $ 100. There is not so much on the card ... I go to the ATM, put it in.
All repeats. Then it starts to dawn on me ...
But the "support" from the site disappears (literally, the widget disappears). Madame in the telegram goes offline.