Who would study psychology if they didn't have some kind of problem?

Chapter 490 Identity Transformation and Sunk Costs of Time
The PowerPoint presentation was still showing the subsequent verbatim draft.

The students below also began to understand that the case Nan Zhuren was presenting was indeed different from the fraud cases they had heard of before.

Their curiosity grew stronger and their attention became more focused.

Scammer A: "I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry... Please wait a moment, I need to consult my supervisor about this situation. I'll transfer the call to an internal line in a bit and let our supervisor handle your problem. I'm so sorry."

W: "Okay."

Five minutes later.

Scammer A: "Mr. W, we're transferring you to our supervisor's number now."

A phone rang, signaling a transfer.

Scammer B: "Hello, is this Mr. W? Do you want to cancel our diamond membership?"

W: "You're their manager, right? It's not a refund, it's that your people made an operational error and inexplicably gave me a yearly membership. Now they're saying they'll forcibly deduct 98 yuan for the membership fee, and that if they don't deduct it, it will affect my credit score. What do you mean by this? Are you trying to force me to buy something?"

Scammer B: "Okay, okay, just a moment... Mr. W, our backend has transferred the data to your account, and we need to verify your identity information again. Could you please provide the date and order number of your most recent online purchase?"

W: "Troublesome... My last online purchase was three months ago. I bought a razor. The order number is 23XXXXXXXXXXXX90."

Scammer B: "Wait a minute... No."

W: "How could there not be?"

Scammer B: "It's probably because it's been too long, the backend updates it in real time... Please wait a moment, let me see if there are any other identity verification methods... So, do you have Taobao's payment tool linked to your account?"

W: "Yes, I have it, PayEase, MSI."

Scammer B: "Okay, let me see... Can you find the payment interface for MSI now? Tell me your balance."

W: "What are you doing?"

Scammer B: "Because these two are linked to our payment backend, they can also be used to verify identity."

W: "Trouble... My Alipay balance is 98.67 yuan, but I have no money in WeChat."

Scammer B: "Okay, just a moment... Okay, no problem. I can tell you don't usually shop online. May I ask what you do for a living, Mr. W?"

W: "University professor, all my money is with my wife, so you can't deduct any money from my account. Your customer service representative said this would affect my credit score, is that right?"

Upon seeing this, some of the students couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Nan Zhuren waited a moment and forced a smile: "I believe everyone can see now that Mr. W is confident that he won't be cheated out of his money."

The laughter from the audience grew a little louder.

"His financial situation is about the same as that of the students here at the end of the month."

The laughter grew louder, and the classroom was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

But then Nan Zhuren changed the subject: "But it was also because of this that his vigilance was exceptionally low, which was an important factor in him being tricked later."

"And it is precisely because of this similarity in economic strength that this scam could be practiced on W, and it can also be implemented on you."

This case is really suitable to share with students.

As he spoke, Nan Zhuren pressed the laser pointer, and the red light jumped between a few sentences on the PPT.

"In the previous slide, the fraudsters elevated Mr. W to a high position, which has both advantages and disadvantages. At this point, if they want to use some enticing language or say something forceful that doesn't fit his 'lower' status, it's easy to break the atmosphere they've created."

"So now they've cleverly changed the subject of the conversation to a 'manager' and a 'leader.' In this situation, W can now remain angry and positive while also accepting some rather rigid guidance."

"At the same time, this process of switching identities and transferring calls also increases the authenticity of their disguise." Nan Zhuren circled a red dot at the end of the conversation: "The fraudsters' request for the balance is actually a very effective way to raise awareness. But here, under the conditions of identity manipulation, emotional manipulation, the creation of a false environment, and 'confidence' in his own financial strength, Mr. W did not raise any questions and seized the opportunity to escape."

"This also gives criminals the opportunity to choose scams that are appropriate to the circumstances."

Nan Zhuren continued switching between different PowerPoint presentations.

Scammer B: "It still doesn't work. We can't cancel it here. It's probably because your account hasn't had any activity or changes in balance for too long."

W: "Then what should we do?"

Scammer B: "Could you try transferring the money from your Alipay account to your own card? Please be careful and make sure it's transferred to your own card, otherwise it will be difficult for me to explain, and it could get into trouble, like being accused of fraud..."

W: "Okay."

Scammer B: "Wait a minute, let me check... It's still not working on my end, and it doesn't even show any changes to your account. Could you tell me what operations are available in your [Personal Center] interface?"

W: "Balance transfer, funds, Huabei, Jiebei, Yu'ebao..."

Scammer B: "I just tried transferring money, but it still can't activate your account to cooperate with our operations. Can you try something else?"

Nan Zhuren switches slides.

In the subsequent verbatim transcript, it is clear that Teacher W is becoming increasingly impatient and speaking more and more aggressively, while fraudster B continues to communicate with W with a sense of impatience, but also with the need to be patient due to professional requirements.

"In this situation, Mr. W successively completed the opening of Alipay's fund, Alipay's Huabei, and Alipay's Jiebei, and borrowed 5 yuan. Finally, he completed the opening of Yu'ebao."

Each time Nan Zhuren switched a slide, Mr. W completed a function under the fraudster's guidance.

It may seem complicated, but there's actually only one key point.

That means I opened a Jiebei account and got a balance of 5 yuan.

"This is the second remarkable trait of criminals—patience."

Nan Zhuren pointed to a section of the PPT: "In the cases you've seen before, they're usually only described in a few hundred words; at the same time, the process has been simplified, so students may have some misunderstandings about the fraud process."

“You might think that scammers will get straight to the point, that they will be impatient, and that the whole process could be completed in ten minutes or even a few minutes. They will cast a wide net and specifically target gullible people. If they encounter someone who is even slightly wary, they will immediately switch targets and not waste any time.”

"But that's not actually the case."

Nan Zhuren returned to the PPT and began replaying it page by page, word by word, starting from the page where the fraudsters confirmed Mr. W's payment function.

"During this process, fraudster B guided victim Mr. W to try all the functions of Alipay, which lasted for half an hour."

"Because of her high level of involvement and concentration, victim W did not give up as time passed; instead, she became increasingly impatient."

“In typical cases, fraudsters use small transfers as a kind of sunk cost to lure victims into making a large transfer at the end.”

Nan Zhuren said, "But here, the criminals are very clever. They also used sunk costs to involve the victims, but instead of using money as the cost, they used time."

Nan Zhuren tapped the projector: "Only now have the criminals attempted to get the victim, Mr. W, to perform the [transfer] operation for the first time."

"But it wasn't a straightforward 'demand for money,' but rather a continued pretense."

The slideshow continues.

Scammer B: "I'm sorry, let's try one last thing. We'll try sending a verification code to our backend using your transfer function."

Scammer B: "You need to enter a 10-digit serial number in the transfer amount field and a 2-digit account number in the transfer account field. You definitely don't have a 10-digit balance, and the 2-digit account doesn't even exist. We just need to send a backend message through this function."

(End of this chapter)