Blind Item #6 - The Imposter Scam
It would be easy to spin this as a cautionary tale: some celebrity slides into someone’s dms on Twitter and starts scamming her. We hear of predators and their confederates targeting their next mark, harassing critics, intimidating victims, but there is a new twist: real time deep fake videos.
Let’s start from the beginning: a woman finds that a famous name with a blue checked account has slid into her dms. Seems innocent enough but as the friendship progresses, there are requests starting with iTunes cards and working up to bigger things. Then there is a calamity, planted drugs, police trouble, frozen bank accounts, and the request for a large amount of money, ostensibly for a lawyer.
Of course, if this was Neve on Catfish, the big question is did you talk to him? Video chat? The assurance is yes, many times. It looks and sounds just like the famous actor.
A bit of googling and you would find that there are a number of impostors out there trying to scam the gullible. It’s an old con, predating celebrity culture and the internet (even the 16th century had Martin Guerre.)
But with the internet age comes advances in technology and those that will take advantage of it. One way to get a blue check is to meet certain requirements, the other is to steal it. An abandoned account with a weak password is a takeover target, and next thing you know, it looks legit enough. Then the scammers start looking for victims to send them bitcoin.
So if the blue ticked big name is a scam, how can the face in video chat look legit? The technology for real time deep fakes is so advanced that all you need is a few photos of the celebrity and it becomes hard to tell it’s a fake. Of course if the scammer has mixed up the image files, then sudden changes in facial hair could become amusing.
I wish this was a one-of case, but if google pulls up results on scams, it means that there are more out there. If others speak up, we can take these scammers down.
Let’s start from the beginning: a woman finds that a famous name with a blue checked account has slid into her dms. Seems innocent enough but as the friendship progresses, there are requests starting with iTunes cards and working up to bigger things. Then there is a calamity, planted drugs, police trouble, frozen bank accounts, and the request for a large amount of money, ostensibly for a lawyer.
Of course, if this was Neve on Catfish, the big question is did you talk to him? Video chat? The assurance is yes, many times. It looks and sounds just like the famous actor.
A bit of googling and you would find that there are a number of impostors out there trying to scam the gullible. It’s an old con, predating celebrity culture and the internet (even the 16th century had Martin Guerre.)
But with the internet age comes advances in technology and those that will take advantage of it. One way to get a blue check is to meet certain requirements, the other is to steal it. An abandoned account with a weak password is a takeover target, and next thing you know, it looks legit enough. Then the scammers start looking for victims to send them bitcoin.
So if the blue ticked big name is a scam, how can the face in video chat look legit? The technology for real time deep fakes is so advanced that all you need is a few photos of the celebrity and it becomes hard to tell it’s a fake. Of course if the scammer has mixed up the image files, then sudden changes in facial hair could become amusing.
I wish this was a one-of case, but if google pulls up results on scams, it means that there are more out there. If others speak up, we can take these scammers down.
I had, on Twitter, a "Paul McCartney" follow me and start tweeting to me. It was bizarre, and it followed a tweet I had posted about having seen his Barclay's show that week. The guy had a blue check, and an identical account page down to all the fine print the real Paul has on his page. I had a couple of short twitter conversations with this person before I got a few responses that definitively told me this was a fake. I had to report it more than twice to Twitter before they went after that account.
ReplyDeleteWhy would someone continue to communicate with a so-called famous person who is asking them for money (even if that think it’s the ‘real’ person)? Are people really that gullible or maybe the better word is desperate?
ReplyDelete*they think
DeleteNever trust blue tick twitter accounts, usually hack 'journalist's' with mediocre opinions.
ReplyDeleteRemember when people here were falling all over themselves thinking they were talking to Robert Downey Jr? That was a fun scam.
ReplyDeleteI had a dm from “Dolly Parton” it was a hilarious conversation. She needed money her family was keeping from her. It was pretty funny
ReplyDeleteI'm curious why someone would think that a famous person was DMing them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe same ones that think a Nigerian Prince needs their help moving money.
DeleteBecause some of them are known to randomly contact or respond to fans out of boredom or irritation.
ReplyDeleteDavid Chapelle befriended his imposter on internet
ReplyDeleteDr phil has had shows on this. The people are normally older and lonely and very gullible.
ReplyDeleteThey choose older celebs to impersonate so it is in the right age range.
Even after Dr Phil shows them the truth, they prefer to have the chatting companionship, even if they are draining their savings.
I despise this crap. Catfishing is cruel enough without the money scam. Preying upon people's kindness might make them stupid and gullible, but it makes you despicable. Bottomline, is to break the connection the second anyone starts asking for money.
ReplyDeleteA friend of a friend’s dad is convinced that he is having an online relationship with Christie Brinkley. Apparently this man is otherwise sane, but his son CANNOT convince him that he’s being scammed. Super sad. Don’t know if it’s a money grab or what - I’ll have to inquire re updates.
ReplyDeleteFrufra-- That's awful! Ive caught a couple of the Dr Phil episodes on this subject, and it's heartbreaking just how strongly they cling to the hope and denial. Some are not even swayed by celebrity or "royal" title, just the idea of love, and wipe out their entire savings. Best wishes to the friend and her family!
ReplyDeleteJared Leto talks to some of his YOUNG fans on his Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThere's a woman on Instagram (she was also on Twitter until she was permabanned for making death threats) who is convinced that she was in a monogamous relationship with Billy Idol for nearly two years - without ever having met him. He texted her from a cell with a Minnesota area code and when it was time to meet, he invited her to come to his Las Vegas residency.
ReplyDeleteOf course she had to pay her flight there, as well as ticket and Meet & Greet ticket. He told her that they'd pretend not to know each other at the M&G, and meet up later after the show. The M&G was ended almost as soon as it began because some skank groped him and he walked away. She assumed she was going to stay in his hotel room and was stranded in the lobby of the hotel.
She also claims that he texted her that he was busted for DUI and needed bail, so she wired him money.
While all this was going on, he had two consecutive girlfriends and this woman (truly homely, btw) constantly trashed them on social media, making death threats to the current one.
She even tried to sue him for the money she spent going to Las Vegas and buying a ticket to the show with the M&G option.
Could this be the wiki links guy? Assuage or whatever? He is the only person I could imagine someone might think needs help.
ReplyDeleteMyspace was big on this. I remember getting a friend request from Miley Cyrus' sister Brandi, wanting to be my friend.
ReplyDelete