Most scams in Chile begin with a purchase: 64% of scams in the national crime survey happened when buying a product or service, and nearly three quarters reached the victim over the internet, through an online message (46%) or a fake website (27%). Fake sellers on Facebook Marketplace and Instagram take payment and send nothing. Text messages are the other main route: an expiring bank reward, a parcel held by the post office for a small fee, an unpaid motorway toll, a tax document or a benefit to collect, each with a link to a fake site. Police estimate these messages rose 30% in a year.
By phone, in the 'cuento del tío', callers pose as bank executives, detectives or regulators, tell the victim to withdraw their savings to protect them, and send a fake official to collect the cash. Some of these calls are made from inside prisons. SERNAC says young people are hit mostly through digital wallets and online shopping, and older people through fraudulent transfers of their phone number. Women made 55% of the fraud complaints to SERNAC, and two thirds of phishing victims were women.