This Post is from Your Local Bank

 Went down a rabbit hole of videos about a guy called "Pierogi" who catches internet scammers. It was great fun, but admittedly hard for this old Ferrerman to keep up with, what with all the computer stuff. Pierogi has a team of hackers working alongside him, but he's clearly THE guy when it comes to catching these internet crooks. They have great fun doing it, though their work is quite serious as they are saving unsuspecting people (usually elderly) from losing their savings. As I slide into late stage Ferrermanism, I am quite concerned about crimes against people in my age bracket and beyond. I've always been against scumbags who prey on the elderly, but obviously it hits closer to home now.

I don't want to be jingoistic here, but it sure seems like the bulk of these scams originate in India and Pakistan. This is because there is safety in being a scammer a world away as far as the law is concerned, and India has a buttload of people who need work and don't care what that work is. These people also pretty much speak English. Furthermore, since it's cheaper for legit American corporations to sub out call center activity to countries like India, people are somewhat used to dealing with foreign voices on the phone. I'm sure they don't relish this, but sometimes if you are ordering burgers in a Mickey D's drive-thru, you are dealing with someone in Bangladesh for your Big Mac even though there are people right inside the fucking building putting your order together. How the HELL is that cost-effective??This is what I hear though. On the rare occasion I get McDonald's, I go inside to order. I hate drive thru's! If you find late stage Ferrermanism to be a trip, late-stage capitalism is trippier. Our entrepreneurial billionaires stay up all night snorting coke, looking at child porn and thinking of new ways to fuck American workers. 

Anyways, scambusters like Pierogi are most definitely doing the Lord's work. They may not always be able to save a little old lady from losing her life savings to a guy named "Steve" in Delhi, but they can take over the guy's computer and flood it with water. Not literal water, mind you, but they can make their screen look like it's flooding, very much disrupting their nefarious activity. As someone who likes fucking with people who need fucking with, I respect that.

Make no mistake that it is only foreigners running these scams. A few months back when I foolishly answered my phone when "Chase Bank" popped up as the caller, it was all white people on that end of the call. I don't bank with Chase (and of course it wasn't actually Chase), but I assumed it was a legit call about something and so, I was curious. I have a natural curiosity about fuckery, so I wanted to see where it was going. We went through that many posts back so, no need to go all over that again, except suffice to say, when they finally got around to telling me I needed to put up my own money- which would be refunded to me- to catch an evil Walmart employee, it was then I knew where they were going and I said goodbye. It took them a while to get there though. That adds legitimacy, I guess, but it seemed like a long way to go get $2400 bucks out of me. But if you do that all fucking day long, I imagine it is bound to work a few times.

Long story shorter, if your phone rings, DO NOT answer it! Why would you? If Gen Z has taught us anything, it's to text instead of call. Phone calls are invasive. It's as bad as dropping by someone's house unannounced. This ain't the 70's anymore when we did those things because other options hadn't been invented yet. Everybody I know texts if they want to tell me something. I do the same. It is very civilized in this uncivilized world. Safer and cheaper too, if you think about it.