TikTok Trap : A Cybercriminal's Confession

COLOMBO (News 1st);In an exclusive interview, an individual forced into committing cyber crimes revealed the intricate methods used to deceive and defraud unsuspecting victims.

The individual, whose identity remains concealed, provided chilling insight into the world of online scams.

"We start by finding your number through TikTok and sending you a message, posing as a female character. We tell you that you can connect with us and start chatting. Over a few days, we engage in casual conversations, learning about your life and assessing if you might fall for our scam. Once we have your trust, we introduce the idea of investment programs, claiming successful returns from previous investments.

Initially, we direct you to a fake e-commerce website, resembling eBay. You are encouraged to 'sell' items on this platform, with the promise of profits. As you continue to 'sell' items, we ask you to invest more money to unlock higher profits. This cycle continues, with demands for increasingly larger sums, sometimes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.

"The website doesn't even resemble eBay in name or appearance. However, most people fall for it due to their lack of technological knowledge. Once they visit the fake eBay site, we tell them there are items available for sale and that they need to click a button to sell them. When they click the button, we inform them that they've made a sale and earned a profit of $25 for the day. They can then withdraw this money," said the scammer.

"On the second day, we encourage them to invest more money, claiming that the initial investment's returns are locked and they need to invest additional funds to access them. This is similar to a bait-and-switch tactic. For example, if they have 40 items to sell that day, after selling 10 items, we tell them they need to invest a small amount to continue. Without this investment, they can't proceed. On the third day, if they have 40 items to sell, after selling two or three items, we ask them to invest $100. After selling 10 items, we ask for $500. As they sell more items, we demand increasingly larger sums, sometimes up to $20,000 or $30,000. Once they finish selling all 40 items, they can't access their profits. We then tell them they need to pay taxes based on their earnings. These taxes must be paid through fake bank accounts or cryptocurrency addresses. If they pay these taxes, we continue to demand more payments, claiming various fees and charges. This cycle continues until the victim's funds are completely drained.," explained the scammer.

The scammer said that their tactics include video calls where they appear as a female, further convincing the authenticity