Advanced Automated Social Engineering Bots: The High Tide of Social Engineering Bots and the Scammers Riding Them

This report examines the rise of social engineering during COVID-19 and profiles an automated OTP/SMS capture bot service ('SMS Ranger') marketed on criminal forums and Telegram, detailing its capabilities (text-to-speech robocalls, multi-language support, bank/Pay/2FA modes), pricing/subscription tiers, and simple operator workflow for harvesting one-time codes to enable account takeover and fraud. It also describes the supporting ecosystem (ASC forum, data leaks fueling targeting) and concludes with practical safeguards to help users and organizations resist voice-phishing and OTP-harvesting scams.