Scammers ruin the lives of their victims by taking hard earned cash. But the resolve and creativity of some criminals makes us wonder why they can't find a legal route to make profit.
Case in point, after HBO recently announced that a portion of the next season of Game of Throne will film in Seville, Spain; four men devised a Game of Thrones phone scam. The hoax featured a phony GOT website with a fake number for individuals to call and obtain information on how to be cast as an extra in the Spain production of HBO’s hit series.
Game of Thrones is one of HBO’s most watched shows of all time. Nearly trumping the viewership record held by The Sopranos, GOT’s last season was one of the most expensive produced for TV. The excitement made even the Queen of England set up a trip to meet the cast.
With a chance to appear in season five, focused in part on Prince Oberyn, thousands of Spain-based fans and actors clamored to have a part in the show by calling a phony phone line that charged by the minute. After waiting nearly six minutes, eager actors paid roughly $13.50 total before being given the real casting email address in a taped message. Over 10,000 calls were made in a 24 hour span, netting $134,000 a week, according to Spanish police. A spokesperson told reporters that the site was almost identical to the real Game of Thrones Spanish casting company's website.
If you can come up with something as genius as this, why can’t you come up with something legal?
