There it Is

This morning, some texts:

Now, I'm already looking at the out of Idaho area code. But as cell numbers are portable and have been for years, it's not uncommon to get calls or texts from numbers that ain't local to Idaho.

Also, we do have dogs. We have neighbors who love to complain about things like lights and imaginary nonsense. So I'm a little sensitive to this situation.

But I'm also skeptical. It's true our dogs are indoor dogs and don't spend the night outside.

So it went on:

They did send a video.

I was hesitant to click on it. but I did.

It certainly did include a dog barking at night. But there was an outdoor fireplace in the video that I did not recognize as belonging to anyone close enough to be bothered by a barking dog. I spend enough time looking at my own property on Google Maps to know. Now, I know the info there isn't 100% up-to-date, but another red flag.

Still, I went on:

Tiburon. I Googled it, and it appears to be a chi-chi suburb of San Francisco, which matches with the out-of-Idaho area code. So another red flag. But the conversation was winding down.

Until: There it is.

Yeah. Softening me up for the kill. I'm sure had the conversation gone on longer, it would have resulted in a scam. Maybe money. Maybe blackmail over naughty photos. You never know.

And I won't either. Immediately blocked and reported as spam.

And I didn't even feel bad about it.

??

Apologies to Tad if you really are a real person with innocent intentions. I mean, I try not to assume that everyone I meet online is a scammer waiting to fleede me of my one million golden pazusas. But I'm also a paranoid and suspicious bastard who looked at the "??" you sent and figured your desire to engage couples with the typical scammy double question mark were enough red flags.

Well, that and that you haven't come back and denied anything. A real person would at least get indignant, particularly as that person kept on trying to engage in conversation.

Oh My Gosh My Waffle! Oh the Humanity!

So I got a text from someone likely involved in smishing or pig butchering, but as I was in a weird mood, I thought I'd interact with them.

The best part: THEY REMEMBERED THE SECRET GOVERNMENT EGGO PROJECT.

I'm sure they did an image search when I posted my "photo" and realized I was in it for the lulz. They haven't contacted me again.

Yes, I should have ignored it. They know the phone number is active since I responded. But maybe they'll see I'm on to their game and not likely to fall for . . . whatever it was they wanted. I feel bad I never even got to the scam. I was going to bring my boss, Dr. Jemima, into the mix.

The Secret Government Eggo Project, for the uninitiated:

In Case You Need A Reminder: The Product is You

This is how much Facebook cares about stopping scammers on their platform:

I've since deleted the many comments this scammer left on a post of mine, but the gist was he didn't want jokesters contacting him but if we sent him a direct message some very exciting things, possibly involving a Tesla though it wasn't clear, would happen.

Of course, the only thing that would happen would be phising or a pig butchering scam.

But apparently the comment itself didn't violate anything, so be it.

I searched for the offending profile on Facebook. Many like it, but none the same. I wals also unable to highlight either the name or the profile pic to go to their page to report them.

So not only does Facebook not care that these scammers are on their platform, they're aiding and abetting, likely for a fee.

As always, if the service is free (as it is on Facebook because who'd pay for this) the product is you.

On another Facebook note: I've reported here before that someone used my work email account to set up a fake profile of me on Facebook. I kept getting notifications at my work email about friends I should be contacting. I reported the initial contat to our IT department, but the messages kept coming.

Last week, they stopped. So either the account is dead or the messages are going to spam or the IT department was finally successful. I should check to see if I can link my work email to my personal account now. Though that might make IT seek to get me shut down after a year. . . 

UPDATE: They're still trying.

My friend did mention the word "prize" in a response, so that one's on him.

Scammers are Dumb

Consider the many things wrong here:

1. Spelling errors.

2. Missing punctuation.

3. Spoofed email address that's a "no reply" from a company not associated with the one in question.

4. Sense of urgency.

5. "Inability" to withdraw during the process, meaning "We need time to steal your monnay so we're the ones imposing the inability."

6. (And this is from a nerdy English major perspective) Writing not done in parallel style.

And the biggest one of all:

7. I don't have a Coinbase account, zitbrains.