Large Scale Central

'Amy From Hong Kong'

General Discussion
#1

This falls into the ‘fair warning’ category.

About three weeks back I got a random text from somebody asking if I was a ski instructor. I responded, ‘No,’ and figured that would be the end of it/ Wrong numbers happen.

Instead, I received another text from the same number, all apologetic and explanatory. This time she introduced herself as ‘Amy.’ I responded with an anecdote or two about life in the frequently frozen north country. Again, I figured that would be the end of it.

Instead, she texted me the next morning, then migrated to something called ‘WhatsApp’ which apparently came with the phone. More exchanges followed. I sent her a few pics of the model railroad, which she liked, so I tossed in a link to this site.

About that time, little things started piling up.

First, there were her phone numbers - one for the texts, and another for WhatsApp. She claimed to be in LA, but the area codes were for Ohio and Tennesse. When asked, she claimed to have acquired the phone while traveling. Okay…this part of the world, we have a lot of temporary residents with out of state cell numbers.

Another oddity was her ignorance - she didn’t know about Safeway, nor did she know about Tarzan. And while she seemed interested in the mode; railroad and the stories I write, she continually botched the details.

Now, she claimed to be with the KKR Group (finance) early on, though money didn’t enter into the picture for the first week. It only barely entered into the picture in the second week, when she mentioned ‘Crypto’ a time or three and asked about my retirement.

That changed with an excited message followed by a video call (another feature I didn’t know my phone had) where I was invited to join a ‘Cryptocurrency’ scheme. By then, I already smelled a rat, so I told her I was not interested, hung up, and blocked the numbers.

Then I did some research. I gave a dollar to one of the internet phone books and found out both numbers were fake. It turned out that ‘Amy from Hong Kong’ was infamous in certain internet circles. Those who accept are pressured to invest in supposed high yield investments but apart from a taste or two at the start, are unable to take their earnings.

Now, as an author, I am deluged with internet scammers, most of them so-called ‘book promoters.’ I learned to spot the giveaways. What set ‘Amy from Hong Kong’ apart was holding off on the fake pitch for so long.

That said, I did give her the link to this site, and it dawned on me she might try the same with people here.

#2

Tim,

Thanks for the warning! Scammers are getting better each day. I am glad you smelled a rat before “Amy” sunk “her” hooks into your accounts.

Eric

#3

I frequently get texts from random, unkown numbers that say “Hi, how are you doing?” or similar. It’s the start of a scam conversation, sometimes ending up with sexting, blackmail and occasionally suicide [if you happen to be a teenager.]

#4

The "WhatsApp " they try to get you to download, is really controlled by a Russian company, and it’s used to “Data Mine” your computer. DON’T put it on your computer or phone.

The same goes for “TikTok”… all information from its use is sent to a Chinese Company controlled by the military and government . DON’T USE IT…!!! remove it from your devices.

The same applies to the “Telegram” app. Data Mining, your information .

The last “One of these, girls” that tried to rope me into “stuff” I kept her going for better part of a week… and than when she asked what I do for a living… I told her that if I told her she would never talk to me again… She assured me that she liked me and that would never happen… Then I said that I was a field investigator for the New Mexico Attorneys Generals office, in the Interstate Fraud Division…

Never heard from her again… and no one has tried to contact me again… must have scared her off… But it was fun while it lasted…

#5

Not yet, but I am an Ex Information Security Officer from the US Army. I am pretty suave at detecting this kind of activity…
Then again, I last night, forgot that I moved my stool away from my modelling workbench and went to sit down thus plummeting my butt to the floor. So…there is that! :scream:

-Deneh

#6

You should see this then :grinning:

#7

If they are not someone I personally know. I NEVER respond to random messages. There are too many bots and scammers out there. Example I get on FB at least twice a week friend requests from big boobed young ladies begging me to be their friends. They’re all fake or spam or sugar daddy accounts. Instant block.

#8

There are some crazy scams and inventive scammers out there that we all have to be on the watch for.

This was a weird one that happened to us and as we found out other real estate agents in our area. My wife got a call about listing some land a few towns over. She is such a sleuth and always suspicious and something didn’t sound right with the supposed sellers story but we still proceeded carefully. She asked for proof of who the guy was and he sent a photo of his passport that showed that he was the son of the woman that owned the land, she lived in a house next door to this vacant lot. It all seemed to check out s owe went up to take photos and I sent the drone up for some shots. We listed the land and the next day we got a phone call from the Mom that told us the land was not for sale. We told her that her son had sent a photo of his passport to prove who he was but it wasn’t him at all which was kind of scary. The Mom then said she would contact the Police and my wife did too. It was a total scam BUT what were they trying to gain? As the selling agents the money would be held in escrow by our company until the closing. There is no way a deal would ever move forward to the point that we or the attorneys are handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone that is not approved. I guess the scammers don’t realize this but maybe they had something up their sleeve to make it happen?

I like how you handled your scammer Dave T, that you are a a field investigator for the New Mexico Attorneys Generals office, in the Interstate Fraud Division…

If half of the scammers applied their skills to honest work they would do well.

#9

Facebook is infested with scammers. I have encountered at least two who impersonated best-selling authors. Yes, successful authors do visit Facebook - but they talk about writing or their upcoming book. The fakes always try to steer you towards a (Nigerian) ‘promoter.’ The sad part is I have read some very good books from African authors, but they get drowned out by the scammers.

#10

I spent 25 years in an IT career before becoming a sign fabricator. I think that I’m pretty savy when it comes to detecting a scam. But even with my diverse background, in a weak moment, I got caught by a Phisher.

A very legitimate looking email from Amazon said my card-on-file was expired and they needed an update. It just so happened that that card did recently change. I knew better, but I clicked on the link without confirming the URL was actually going to Amazon. It took me to a “security check” screen where I gave them too much information before I realized it was fake and disconnected.

We were about to leave on vacation, so I had no time to replace the card. I watched that credit card very closely. Wouldn’t you know, as soon as we left, I had a $5 fraudulent charge. The credit card company actually flagged it and alerted me by text. It was an easy recovery with that card cancelled and a new one issued.

Probably related, a week later while we were still traveling, my web hosting service got hacked and I was locked out of all my email accounts and web hosting. The hacker had subscribed to several new hosting services billed to me. It took quite a bit of time on the phone, with a dicey internet connection, to get it straightened out and the fraudulent service orders cancelled and refunded. One slick trick they used to insulate themselves was to change the “MX Record” for my email accounts to Google, which resulted in a connection failure. For those unfamiliar, the MX Record is how outside mail systems find your email sever using your email address. As a result, I could receive no email which made correcting the hack more difficult.