Comment by listenallyall

> This sort of thing has existed for a long time

Not to this scale, level of sophistication, global reach, ease of finding victims and the scammers being victims (of human trafficking) themselves. Using crypto, human trafficking to force people to contact victims nonstop, having scripts and actors, legitimate-looking websites showing fake profits is new and novel.

Now add AI into the mix, along with large-scale data breaches - would not be surprised if, by 2030, the majority of individuals over 60-70 years old are contacted by at least one very convincing scammer that the victim will have difficulty distinguishing from an actual family member. It's already happening - only a matter of time before it's more widespread.