GuyOnAWire

FINAL UPDATE BELOW! 1/14

**UPDATED 12/10 with NEW Conversation below!

Scammers are everywhere and they try dozens of methods to swindle people out of their hard-earned money. The problem with these scammers is that they use the likenesses of the people you know and love. For example, here’s my ex-wife’s Mother’s name being used in an attempt to scam me. At first, I was so busy at work, that I assumed she forgot her old password and created a new Facebook profile. In the fervor of my job, I ignored my instinct and responded to this bait. Then, I began to enjoy the prospect of messing with the scammer.

*Note: I truly apologize for all of the typos on my end; they almost prevented me from posting this conversation, but the following was too much fun to keep to myself:

I’ll admit, I forgot my suspicions because this person waited three days to respond, but I soon realized the error of my ways and wanted to see how far this would go.

I then decided to take a turn and see if they’d respond to vulgarity.

Her husband’s name is Mike. He loves NASCAR but not the Ravens.
Let’s see how far I can take this narrative.

She was always trying to shill this free money and never worried about Bill. My impromptu narrative led me through a darker path.

Okay, so I went further down the rabbit hole of darkness… But Thanksgiving was the following day and that proved to be more fruitful for the yarn I was spinning.

Remember, this is Thanksgiving Day.

He talked to MY agent about MY account? That’s illegal!

Same old boring conversation and then finally; the mechanism of this scam was revealed.

I began to question their method of communication.

The family’s PISSED now.

 

 

I just called you out on your lie, there’s no way you’re going to make this sound any sketchier…

So much for Cousin Lowell’s Baby. That poor kid will never get any of the DHHS money give out offer from the Financial Domestic Assistance Agency…

I thought the conversation was over… That he’d move onto his next victim. Then, a few days later, I received another message and decided to go off the deep end. The following took place on December 2nd, four days after our last communication:

You know, for the rest of us?

WHAT? You’re taking this too far, sir. He’s even using my name in the same disappointing tone. Time to up the ante.

Those stupid Facebook emoji stickers are too easy to hit by accident. I wanted him to try to somehow prove his identity, so I gave him an option.

I was so hoping for Google Image Search Results complete with watermarks. I took it another step further deepening the narrative of this family’s history.

 

Then nothing for another eight days. I still see him log into this account often. In fact, as of updating this post, he was active an hour ago. He’s waiting for me to make the next move. That, or he has the ability to open a bunch of Messenger accounts at once.

I’m going to press this further, call him out on his bullshit, and see if he owns up to the lie. Standby for more updates.

It’s a shame that his account finally got removed. I had sent a report to Facebook the DAY he messaged me, but it took them almost three weeks to investigate it.

Well, I suppose that’s the end of the fun… For now. I’ll let you know if any other scammers come a-callin’.

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-Jamie @GuyOnAWire