Exactly right. It’s actually a fun exercise in social engineering, and can be a fascinating sociological experiment if you’re into that sort of thing.
The most successful persona unfortunately is that of a slightly senile senior citizen. Senile enough that you seem gullible to the caller, but believable that you have enough money and sense to continue with the transaction.
Correct. Sounding old and slightly senile is what gets them on the hook most effectively.
Unfortunately - when they're calling, they also seem to have all your personal info, and know your name and how old you are. So I put on my best senile guy voice, they confirm my name, and then they hang up.
I have several personas that have made the rounds in the underground somewhere. It’s actually kind of interesting - I made up a persona back in 2016 or so and even six years later I’ll get calls for that “person”.
So while sometimes the information is legitimate - especially if you’re not opted out of the major internet people search engines (ref optery which is a yc graduate company) - but you can also “poison the well” enough to get your fake persona disseminated.
In my experience it's usually a 2-step system. I get a spam call frome either a robot voice or someone with a heavy accent. This company is generally not based in the US. After collecting some basic information like your name and eligibility for Medicare, they forward you to a US based company.
I'm not a lawyer, but even though the foreign scam call company illegally called you, I don't believe the US based company is liable for anything because the scammers make you agree to be transferred to a Medicare licensing office.
You have to sound like a potential buyer (sucker) in order for them to properly identify themselves.
This is true for Auto Warranty, Medicare, Timeshares, etc. robocallers.