[Spivakov]

Here is an interesting story in which a scammer almost got me but failed because he knew me "too well":

One morning in college I was awakened by a call after staying up all night working on some project. The caller claimed to be from my home country's embassy and was investigating a fraud case I was involved in. He started by confirming my personal information such as DOB and passport number and he had them all correctly. He asked me to physically visit consular office, which I told him was impossible because I was in some program.

At this point I sort of give in, but he asked if I was preparing for piano/music rehearsal - a huge red flag that awakened me from foggy mind. During adolescence I attempted to becoming a pianist and dedicated lots of time to training and competitions, but this is a past that was never mentioned on resume or to friends. There couldn't be legitimate way to relate that experience to me.

I said yes and asked why he knew it. He began talking about my musical experience and what awards I won, without knowing that all these bits sounded to me like a pretentious show of being knowledgeable about my life.

One lesson from this and Op's story is that the scammer can attempt an attack at any moment, including downtime of brain activity.

[533474]

Crazy, was it someone you knew?

[Spivakov]

No, not to my knowledge. It seems that they obtained/built my pre-college profile many years ago, but they attempted scam until later and failed to match it up-to-date