Starting in January, online scammers started contacting me through various social media channels wanting to chat. But what was clear from my interactions with them was that they were really shitty convincing me they were legit. I know I'm not alone getting these utterly incompetent solicitations and I'd like to hear stories from others out there that received messages from scammers who clearly didn't know how to scam.
Stupid Scammer Stories
- Thread starter a93dipqx
- Start date
I'll start this one off. I received a DM on LinkedIn one day from someone named Emma_Davis who wrote I was part of an "excellent circle" and wanted to be friends. Being bored, I replied back asking to what "excellent circle" I belonged that made her want to reach out to me. At the same time, I checked that user's LinkedIn profile which included photos of an attractive woman in her twenties or thirties on a sailboat and also taking a selfie of herself. According to the profile she had a Master's degree, but in her education section, only showed a Bachelors degree awarded in 2007 from Stanford. I checked the Stanford.
She replied that my background in computers interested her and she wanted to learn more and by the way, could we chat on WhatsApp. She claimed to be a Russian immigrant, living in Atlanta, who arrived here in the United States five years ago. I ignored her reply for a couple of days, but she did not give up, send a note each day over the weekend expressing hope that I had a good day. Her persistence--and I use the pronoun her because of the name, not because I knew there was an actual woman on the other end of the chat--intrigued me enough to engage further. I knew it was a scam, and a scam in which the participants were incompetent, but I thought I'd have some fun.
She sent me a few photos--nothing sexual--asked for a picture of me, and we chatted back and forth. She claimed to be a widow after "hooligans" killed her husband when the gang members stopped their car. She claimed the pair were on their way home with their three-year-old daughter and she managed to scoop up the toddler, run through the woods, and call the Russian police. When they arrived, her husband lay in a pool of blood on the highway. She picked up and moved the United States leaving her daughter in Russia with the girls grandparents. Every June, the girl travels to the United States to visit. I asked why her daughter did not come to the U.S. with her, she wrote back that her daughter would be lonely and that her lifestyle was not conducive to raising a child.
Uh-huh.
Let's start at the beginning. Anyone know a native Russian with the surname "Davis." Seriously?
Then there is the utterly unbelievable "my husband was murdered" story. She ran through the woods, carrying a toddler while at the same time calling the Russian police. Did the person on the other end of this chat really think I believed this bullshit?
Within a few days, she started claiming she was falling in love with me. I did a little search and thought this might be a romance con where the "woman" gets the mark emotionally tied to her then starts getting him to send her money. That remained an option until I started asking about how she lived, and she said her aunt in New York taught her brilliant bitcoin trading strategies that yielded her a lucrative and steady income.
There it was.
"Emma" kept periodically sending me pictures--still nothing sexual--and wanting to have a video call. But, she warned that she used filters for her photos and that on video she wouldn't look like the pictures. Additionally, I noticed a regular pattern to her chats. Then never arrived before a certain time in the late morning where I live and always cut off twelve hours later. In addition, "Emma's" personality seemed to change between morning and evening and also from day-to-day.
When we finally did a video call for a moment, the person on the other end of the camera wore a poorly fitting blonde wig and appeared to be Filipino. I lived in Hawai'i for three years and got the chance to interact with a number of East Asian cultures that included Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese. When she spoke, her accent and her word usage indicated Pacific Rim. Definitely not Russian.
When I called it out, she immediately blocked me on the chat channel.
I just could not believe the people on the other end of this chat, and I suspect there were at least three or four different people, thought I actually believed their line of crap. Definitely not a group of competent criminals.
She replied that my background in computers interested her and she wanted to learn more and by the way, could we chat on WhatsApp. She claimed to be a Russian immigrant, living in Atlanta, who arrived here in the United States five years ago. I ignored her reply for a couple of days, but she did not give up, send a note each day over the weekend expressing hope that I had a good day. Her persistence--and I use the pronoun her because of the name, not because I knew there was an actual woman on the other end of the chat--intrigued me enough to engage further. I knew it was a scam, and a scam in which the participants were incompetent, but I thought I'd have some fun.
She sent me a few photos--nothing sexual--asked for a picture of me, and we chatted back and forth. She claimed to be a widow after "hooligans" killed her husband when the gang members stopped their car. She claimed the pair were on their way home with their three-year-old daughter and she managed to scoop up the toddler, run through the woods, and call the Russian police. When they arrived, her husband lay in a pool of blood on the highway. She picked up and moved the United States leaving her daughter in Russia with the girls grandparents. Every June, the girl travels to the United States to visit. I asked why her daughter did not come to the U.S. with her, she wrote back that her daughter would be lonely and that her lifestyle was not conducive to raising a child.
Uh-huh.
Let's start at the beginning. Anyone know a native Russian with the surname "Davis." Seriously?
Then there is the utterly unbelievable "my husband was murdered" story. She ran through the woods, carrying a toddler while at the same time calling the Russian police. Did the person on the other end of this chat really think I believed this bullshit?
Within a few days, she started claiming she was falling in love with me. I did a little search and thought this might be a romance con where the "woman" gets the mark emotionally tied to her then starts getting him to send her money. That remained an option until I started asking about how she lived, and she said her aunt in New York taught her brilliant bitcoin trading strategies that yielded her a lucrative and steady income.
There it was.
"Emma" kept periodically sending me pictures--still nothing sexual--and wanting to have a video call. But, she warned that she used filters for her photos and that on video she wouldn't look like the pictures. Additionally, I noticed a regular pattern to her chats. Then never arrived before a certain time in the late morning where I live and always cut off twelve hours later. In addition, "Emma's" personality seemed to change between morning and evening and also from day-to-day.
When we finally did a video call for a moment, the person on the other end of the camera wore a poorly fitting blonde wig and appeared to be Filipino. I lived in Hawai'i for three years and got the chance to interact with a number of East Asian cultures that included Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese. When she spoke, her accent and her word usage indicated Pacific Rim. Definitely not Russian.
When I called it out, she immediately blocked me on the chat channel.
I just could not believe the people on the other end of this chat, and I suspect there were at least three or four different people, thought I actually believed their line of crap. Definitely not a group of competent criminals.
Saint_Ann
Enter Title
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- Dec 25, 2017
- Posts
- 10,386
tl;dr
goldytheGoldfish
Virgin
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2024
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- 554
You got to get out more. You know, break the cycle and stuff.
The primary reason why I visit the Lit forum.
goldytheGoldfish
Virgin
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- Feb 10, 2024
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- 554
Can I check?
RosevilleCAguy
Unsane
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2002
- Posts
- 12,331
Send me one. Credit cards work too. I'm a Nigerian prince short on cash.
goldytheGoldfish
Virgin
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2024
- Posts
- 554
Sure. Here comes the plane.
goldytheGoldfish
Virgin
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2024
- Posts
- 554
Maybe nothing they have or are will ever be good enough for you. I'd just move on.
Wylie3
Virgin
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2004
- Posts
- 173
Had the old email from one of the Nigerian Prince idiots, so for a bit of fun went back to him and told him I had a friend who was interested, member of the KKK. The fool came back wanting more details, told him he would leave his calling card a burning cross on his front lawn. The idiot still didn't get it.
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