You've Been Scammed | |
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Created by | Nigel Latta |
Original release | |
Release | 3 July 2023 |
You've Been Scammed by Nigel Latta is a New Zealand television programme which teaches its audience about scams. It is hosted by psychologist and television host Nigel Latta, and has four episodes. [1] [2] The programme details eight types of scams and the human weaknesses they exploit. Several scammers were contacted within the programme, and several victims of scams were interviewed, including a woman who lost $100,000. [1] [2] Latta compared scammers to magicians within the show. Magician Brendan Dooley featured within the programme, who carries out scams on unsuspecting victims. [3] The programme was first aired on TVNZ 1 on 3 July 2023 at 8 pm. [4]
The production team made multiple contacts with scammers for the programme. Latta said that a scammer "sound[ed] very plausible, very believable and very convincing," saying that "We knew he was a scammer but in the middle of that conversation even we were starting to doubt ourselves". [1]
The opening sequence of the programme features a hooded figure surrounded by code. [2] The Spinoff described the theme tune as "a powerful dubstep beat drop that will really get you in the mood to squash some scammers". [2]
The programme included safety expert Sean Lyons from Netsafe and cybersecurity specialist Daniel Watson. The programme interviewed victims of scams who included a woman who lost $100,000, a woman in her 60s who started blowing referee whistles into the phone when she receives calls from unknown numbers, and a lawyer in her 30s who fell for an Instagram story claiming to be a cash prize draw. [2] Podcaster Frances Cook was also featured on the programme, who talked about the people impersonating her in attempt to scam her followers. [3]
On the first episode the magician appears and acts as if he is a sound engineer. While he places microphones on the victims he steals their ties and watches. Further on in the episode, Latta sets up a fake website for the programme's production company. It was used to carry out a phishing scam, emailing people to provide credit card details to prepay parking. These emails included a misspelling of Latta's name, which victims dismissed. [2] The production team asked participants for four-digit numbers and scoured their social media profiles. Latta then used this information to act as a mind-reader, which appeared magical to the participants. He then guessed their bank PINs using the four-digit numbers. [3]
An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be used to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim to pay or simply disappears.
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