Inside a scammer’s daily routine of stealing personal information

You’re sipping your morning coffee when your phone rings. It’s a number you don’t recognize. On the other end is someone claiming to be from your bank, asking you to “confirm a recent charge.” Sound familiar?

Scammers don’t operate on luck. They don’t just throw darts at the phone book and hope to hit a target. Their calls, texts and emails are carefully planned. They already know things about you before they ever reach out, enough to make their pitch sound convincing.

So, what does a scammer’s day actually look like? Let’s step into their shoes for a moment.

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STOP DATA BROKERS FROM SELLING YOUR INFORMATION ONLINE

Hacker looking up the information stolen from an unsuspecting victim. (Kurt “Cyberguy” Knutsson)

Step 1: Morning scroll: Where scammers find your data

Scammers don’t need to hack into top-secret databases. They start their day by tapping into data broker sites, those shady online directories that trade your personal information like baseball cards.

Here’s what they can instantly see about you (yes, you):

• Full name and age
• Current and past addresses
• Phone numbers (landline and mobile)
• Relatives’ names
• Property records and estimated home value.

Some sites even list email addresses, voter registrations and criminal histories (whether accurate or not.) Imagine starting your morning with a full profile of someone, where they live, who their spouse is and what car they drive. For scammers, this is their to-do list.

Step 2: Building the perfect scam story

With your profile in hand, scammers craft a story that sounds tailor-made just for you.

• If you’ve recently moved (public real estate records show this), they’ll call pretending to be from a “utilities department” asking for deposits.
• If you’re retired, they might pose as Medicare reps offering “free benefits.”
• If you’ve recently lost a loved one (obituaries are public), they’ll offer fake “bereavement services.”

Scammers don’t invent details; they borrow them from your life. That’s why their calls are so believable.

HOW SCAMMERS TARGET YOU EVEN WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA

A man receiving a fake scam phone call. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Step 3: Dialing for dollars

Once the story is ready, it’s time to call, text, or email. Scammers often use auto-dialing software, blasting out thousands of calls a day. They acquire your personal and contact details from various data brokers. Imagine hundreds of scammers scraping the same databases and finding your profile. That’s why you get repeated calls. That’s why the scammer “knows” who you are when you pick up. And even if you hang up or reject the call without picking up, they log your number as “active.” Which means you’ve just made their list for the next round of calls. 

Step 4: Afternoon profit: Cashing in on stolen trust

Scammers don’t actually need every target to fall for the trick. They only need a small percentage. Here’s what happens when someone gives in:

• Banking info stolen: Fake “fraud department” calls trick people into reading out card numbers.
• Identity theft: A scammer collects your Social Security number and date of birth, then opens accounts in your name.
• Wire transfers: Many victims are convinced to “verify funds” by wiring money, which is gone forever.

It’s a numbers game, and personal data tilts the odds heavily in the scammers’ favor. 

Step 5: Evening: Expanding the list

At the end of the day, scammers aren’t done. They feed the information they’ve gathered back into the data cycle:

• New phone numbers? Added to calling lists.
• Addresses confirmed during a call? Updated in their files.
• Relatives mentioned? Added as next targets.

And the cycle continues tomorrow, with an even bigger pool of potential victims.

(Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Why removing your data makes scams harder

Now, imagine if scammers couldn’t find your data online in the first place.

• No name connected to your phone number.
• No recent address tied to your age and relatives.
• No property value or real estate history to suggest you’re “cash-rich.”

Scammers would have no storyline, no details to exploit and, most importantly, no way to personalize their attack. When you remove your data from people-search sites and data broker databases, you don’t just “clean up the internet.” You slam the door shut on scammers’ playbooks. You could spend hours (or days) going site by site, filling out opt-out forms, sending emails and keeping track of who complied. The problem? Data brokers don’t stop. New ones pop up every week, and old ones often sneak your data back in.

That’s where a data removal service comes in. While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice.  They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy.  These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites.  It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet.  By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com/Delete

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com/FreeScan

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Kurt’s key takeaways

Scammers don’t stumble on your phone number by accident. They map out your life, one data point at a time. That’s why protecting your information online is the single most powerful step you can take to cut down on scam calls, phishing emails and identity theft risks. Remember: every piece of personal data you remove is one less tool in a scammer’s kit.

What’s the most convincing scam attempt you’ve ever received? Let us know in the comments below. Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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