It definitely is a thing, especially for the elderly. I’m not sure what percentage of scams are done that way, but it’s much easier to scam someone if they don’t have a chance to think much about what’s happening.

That being said, most of the scams I know of that do this don’t ask you to install an app on your phone. They just ask personal questions or for login details or something like that

Not from Wisconsin, but what am I supposed to do if this happens to me? Is there a way to go about making it less likely to happen (other than not posting your SSN online obviously)?

I just joined Lemmy! I tried to a while back but I struggled to find communities to subscribe to. I found much better tools this time and I think I’ll be staying. It’s such a relief to feel like I can upvote/downvote/interact with things without being tracked or modifying my feed. Hello Fediverse :)