Shadowing Practice: How scammers steal iPhones - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Now here's a scam with a bit of a difference.
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Here the scammers will be stealing the most expensive phones available.
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And it's the victims who will be paying for them.
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And this time the scammers aren't from India, but from neighbouring Pakistan.
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And of course, because I can see the scammers computers, we can see exactly how their scam works.
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We're going to see two different organisations operate the same scam.
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The first of them is called Royal Tech and the second is called OCS Solutions,
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but both are just a few miles apart in the city of Lahore in Pakistan.
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To get an idea of how the scam works, let's have a listen in to what the scammers are saying.
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Hello?
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Hello?
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Yeah, hi.
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This is Ali here from O2, your network provider.
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How are you doing today, sir?
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Yeah, I'm good, thank you.
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That's wonderful.
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Sir, actually the reason behind this call is to inform you
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that your number
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which is ending with 2614 has been selected by the O2 head department for a promotion
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and we are reducing your bill up to 40 % off.
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That mean upcoming six months you will pay only just £7
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and you will be having the same tariff that I'm using right now, alright?
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Yeah, ma 'am.
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Thank you.
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- Yes, you're taking my seat.
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Yes, yes.
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So for the discount procedure, we are going to send two text messages from my side over to UK
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Which is one is your 40 % discounted code and the second one is security warning message.
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First of all, we are sending the security warning message for your security and awareness.
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In the security warning message, we have clearly mentioned that be alert from frauds and scams.
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And the code we are sending is your one -time code.
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And you are only authorized to share this code only one time in this recorded line.
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After my call, you don't share this code even with Odoo staff, alright?
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So as you may have guessed, this scam is all about taking over this person's mobile phone account.
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The scammer has taken a note of the mobile phone number he's just called
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and he sends this mobile number to his boss.
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His boss then enters the password reset screen of the O2 website.
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When you use the forgotten username section, you can enter a mobile phone number and
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that will generate a 6 digit one time code which will be sent to the victim's phone.
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When you receive an SMS from the mobile phone provider it looks like this.
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Although there's a clear warning that you should never read one time codes out to anyone including O2 staff.
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This is often ignored.
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The second SMS message was what the scammer described as a discount code.
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It's no such thing.
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It's a code used to reset a password.
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And if the victim genuinely believes they'll get a discount if they read out the code, they are just about to lose their O2 account to a scammer.
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And if the victim does read out the code, this is what happens.
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618, right?
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Yes.
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You can't share this code to anybody else because it's a one time generated code for you.
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When the one time code is entered by the scammer's boss, they now have access to this per person's account.
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And it's for situations just like this that I'm pleased to say
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that I've teamed up with Aura .com to help protect you online.
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As technology grows more complex and advanced, so do scams, cybercriminals and fraudsters.
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So Aura provides all -in -one proactive protection to stop threats before they strike.
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It's a multi -platform app which gives financial fraud protection, identity theft protection, privacy assistance and parental controls.
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It'll even offer data broker removals.
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Data brokers are the people who trade in your personal information
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and are the reason why so many people get lots of robocalls.
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So through the app you can remove yourself from lots
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and lots of these data brokers and that should reduce the number of robocalls you'll get.
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So head over to aura .com /gym for your free 14 day trial.
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Now back to our scam.
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The scam boss who can see all of the victim's personal information including payments, sends the information to the female scammer.
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You are paid £35 .00.
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but the fix found for the air time and for the separately for the device plan is 21 pounds right
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Since they're reading out accurate billing information, the victim is far more inclined to believe that they're genuinely speaking 202.
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Now the scammers describe what they will be sending to the victim.
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You are also eligible for a free of ghost gift hamper.
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Along with the discounted papers we will also be sending you
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the discounted confirmation paperbacks as well as a free of cost gift hamper.
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Okay?
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So being a loyal customer everyone's told to expect a gift hamper and some paperwork.
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But instead the boss uses the victim's own account to order the most expensive iPhone available on the website.
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But of course this phone can only be delivered to the customer's home address, so how do the scammers get their hands on it?
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When the victim contacts who they think is O2 on the number that just called them the previous day, they're given instructions what to do with the phone.
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Yeah, are you there Mr. Paul?
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Yes.
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Alright sir.
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So right now the thing is that you receive a parcel that belongs to another customer.
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But you don't need to be worried about that.
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Do you have a pen and paper with you right now?
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Alright sir, so I'm going to provide you the address, please write down that address on that paper.
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And this address is key to stealing the phone.
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Alright, so the normal number is 147.
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That's all right.
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4, 7, yeah.
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And it's Manor Road.
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M A N O R Yeah.
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Manor Road, Mitcham.
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The address being given by the scammer is in fact a vacant property.
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And as the victims post phones to these addresses, a courier will go to pick up whatever package they find on the doorstep.
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When I reported one of these addresses to the police, they were there ready to arrest the person who picked up the package.
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The courier was a young lad who had been paid to pick up the phones and deliver them all to another address.
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This second address was raided by the police, and they uncovered what they described as an Aladdin's cave full of very expensive phones.
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So at least some of these phones were recovered.
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However, there were very many more phones which would have been stolen before I had access to these computers.
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So what happened to all of these phones?
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To answer that question, we've got to have a look at who runs this scam.
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from the files in the various computers, I was able to work out the structure of OCS solution.
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The boss of the operation was someone called Zulkarnin.
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He didn't seem to own any of the computers in the offices, but there definitely were some which belonged to some of the higher -up managers and the agents on the phones.
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Indeed many of the people in these offices were elated, they could be cousins and one seemed to be the fiance of one of the bosses called Ahmed.
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I was able to get some of their photographs from Facebook and Instagram.
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Undoubtedly, almost all of these social media accounts will disappear pretty soon after I release this video.
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Indeed the boss, Zulkarnain, seemed to own a mobile phone shop in Lahore.
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You can see his name in the top right.
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Some of the phones would have been shipped to this store and sold to unsuspecting customers.
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I have reported this to the Pakistan police, but I'm still awaiting any results.
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And I was able to get someone in Lahore to take a photograph of the boss of the operation.
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Here he is.
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We'll see what happens to his shop once this video gets released.
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The scammers occupied office 1 and 4 in this building, Zainab Towers.
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As you can see from this property video, it's actually more of a shopping mall than anything else.
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So undoubtedly it's a sort of operation which would lend itself to be anywhere in the city.
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And I'm pretty sure once this video gets released, they'll simply walk away from these offices and set up in a different location.
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And that brings me to a second group running the same scam.
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Royal Tech.
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Royal Tech rent office space in these buildings, Al -Hafiz Heights.
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Online adverts give a rough idea what it looks like on the inside of the scam call centre.
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Pretty basic stuff really.
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It was much more difficult to put together an organisational chart for Royal Tech, however I did know two of the supervisors.
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They were called Newman and Shari Shek.
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One of the agents was called Ibrahim Shek, but I have no idea whether the two were related.
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I'm almost sure that this is Newman's Instagram, but I've left it blurred just in case.
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And as Newman and the 10 or so agents tried to steal phones, I was getting the various addresses of where they were being sent to.
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Over a period of about three weeks, at least 10 different addresses all over the UK were used to receive the phones.
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There was no clear pattern to this, but most of the properties seemed to be unoccupied or for rent.
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What was clear, however, was the way that they corresponded with their victims.
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They would use a domain name similar to the company they were pretending to be.
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Here they've got a domain called o2shop .uk.
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obviously close to the O2 rail domain
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And they would send convincing looking emails to all of the
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victims to make sure they complied with sending the phone to the right place.
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Indeed this is a tactic used by very many scammers who operate the similar scam.
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Here's one pretending to be Carphone Warehouse, a major online retailer of things like mobile devices.
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One thing that sets these type of emails apart
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and can let you know that there might be something suspicious is that there's a phone number plastered all over it.
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Normally legitimate companies go out of the way to stop you from calling them and would prefer contact via an email, app or online conversation.
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Rarely do you see a phone number on real correspondence these days.
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These Carphone Warehouse scams have been going on for years.
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Here's just some of the correspondence I've received personally, and here's some of the domains that I've also seen being abused.
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I even received this script from my friend and fellow scam bader, Dan Glee Balls.
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Check out his channel, the link is in the description.
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The company who run this scam are again in Lahore and Pakistan, and they're called Influx Tech, and they're quite close by the two that I've already covered.
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Thanks to their Facebook page we can get an idea of what their offices look like.
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Great if you love the colour orange.
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And apparently back in 2021, according to their Facebook page, they were looking for marketers and agents for a UK campaign.
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I think we know exactly what that campaign was.
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But this scam not only applies to the UK, but there's a whole host of similar scams happening in the USA.
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If you're there, you've probably heard this robocall.
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This is a courtesy call for AT &T and DirecTV customers.
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We have a promotion running in which we are helping our customers dropping down their monthly bills.
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So, if you are not happy with bills and want to lower your bills, press 1.
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But I think there's a far more general problem with any websites
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which allow you to reset a password using only the phone number.
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And Amazon is a prime example.
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Scammers need only know your phone number in order to trick you into reading out the one time passcode.
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This gives them immediate access to your account and from that point on they can sound very convincing.
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So I'd like to call on all major companies to consider
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removing the ability to reset a password knowing only a phone number.
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It may be inconvenient
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and perhaps the right idea is to ask not only for a phone number but a second piece of information.
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But at least it will prevent these sorts of scams which seem to be absolutely rife at the moment.
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I'd also like to call on the police in Pakistan to clamp down on the various organisations on their doorstep.
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These scams have been running for years and please don't turn into another India
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when it comes to tolerating this sort of scam.
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I am very happy to provide much more evidence of the scams happening, far more even than you see in these videos.
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If someone with an official police email address reaches out to me, I can provide this to them.
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But even without the assistance of the police, I'm still going to keep on exposing and fighting scammers.
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And if you would like to help me in my fight against scammers, please consider becoming a patron.
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You can do this by following the link on screen, or if you'd prefer just to buy me a coffee, there's even a way to do that as well.
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I'm also on Twitter.
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I'm Jim Browning 11 there.
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And finally, Thank you very much for watching my video.
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Understanding the Scam Dialogue: A Real-World English Learning Tool
The video takes us inside a phone scam operation, where scammers pose as network providers to steal iPhone accounts. This realistic dialogue is packed with everyday English phrases, making it perfect for practicing conversational skills. By analyzing the conversation, you’ll not only learn how scammers operate but also pick up practical language used in customer service and casual calls.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "the reason behind this call is to inform you" – A polite way to state the purpose of a conversation, useful in work or personal calls.
- "be alert from frauds and scams" – A common warning phrase, great for giving advice or sharing safety tips.
- "one-time generated code" – Tech-related vocabulary often used in password resets or secure transactions.
- "you are only authorized to share" – Formal language to specify permissions, helpful in professional settings.
- "as you may have guessed" – A natural way to connect ideas, making conversations flow smoothly.
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video
Shadowing is a powerful technique to improve pronunciation and fluency, and this video’s dialogue is ideal for practicing. Here’s how to use the shadowing technique with it:
- Listen and Repeat Immediately: Play a 5-second clip of the scammer’s call, then pause and repeat it aloud. Focus on matching the tone and speed. This "shadow speech" helps train your mouth to form English sounds naturally.
- Emphasize Key Phrases: Pick 2-3 phrases from the list above and shadow them repeatedly. Notice how the speaker stresses words like "only" or "never" – this adds meaning to the conversation.
- Record Yourself: After shadowing, record your version and compare it to the video. Did you capture the intonation? Adjust until your "shadow speak" sounds similar.
- Practice with a Partner: Role-play the conversation with a friend. One person plays the scammer, the other the victim. This mimics real communication and builds confidence.
Using a shadowing site can also help, as many tools let you slow down the audio or loop clips. With consistent practice, you’ll master the rhythm of English and sound more natural in daily conversations. Remember, every minute of shadowing brings you closer to fluency – so hit play and start speaking today!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.