Scammers are constant. Landline scams, mobile phone scams, text scams, email, game chats, social media, phishing, vishing, whaling – they are everywhere!
I get them daily, usually emails but also all of the above. Everything from ‘I know what you did’ to ‘We are from the NBN’ to ‘You are owed $650,000,000 by the US treasury department’. It’s a pain in the arse. I’ve also had to install extra filters on this site itself due to the hundreds to fake messages put in the comments section with links to what I’m sure would be viruses to infect your computer.
But recently I was the subject of a targeted scam. This was a scam specifically aimed at me by people that did their research. Let me share it.
In the Transformers world I am an influencer (which means I have as many followers after a decade as a pretty girl taking a selfie would get within half an hour). Because of this website, my youtube channel, FB fan pages and of course The Transformatorium itself, I not only get invited to exclusive events, but I get sent products to review, sometimes by Hasbro or WOTC, but also sometimes by people just staring out their online businesses, hoping to get some exposure for their products.
It was in the guise of a new company looking for exposure that this attempted scam took place.
I was contacted by someone claiming to have a 3D printing business in Lithuania. They said they were fans and that they were hoping to print something for the main display in my Transformatorium in order to get some exposure for their business. They provided links to their Facebook and Instagram pages, showcasing a variety of 3D printed products. These were all along the lines of pop culture characters from movies, anime and video games. The messages I was receiving were in places poorly worded, but I put that down to a language barrier since English is not the primary language of Lithuania.
I informed them that I would be happy to review their products on the website (I never guarantee a positive review – if the merchandise is crap I’m not going to say otherwise) and if I liked their products enough I would also spruik them on the Socials. I also informed them that they should consider their budget as they would need to post the items to Australia as I will not review based on pictures alone.
They were happy with this, though seemed to not have a specific plan of what they wanted to send me. Instead of sending me a sampling of their products as is usual, they kept asking that I nominate something original for them to make. I found this unusual but decided to go with it and had a look around the net, trying to get some ideas.
After a week or two I found some examples of 3D printed Transformer stuff on other websites and sent them links with a message saying ‘Maybe something along the lines of this? Whatever you think will best showcase your talents’.
They contacted me back immediately and eagerly, saying they were ready to go into production. I found this odd as I wasn’t asking them to make those specific products, the patents obviously belonged to someone else and as a business they should know that.
Then the requests for money started…
Suddenly instead of simply sending me items to review for exposure, they wanted me to pay for both the items and shipping. When I informed them that this is not how it works, the stories of how they need to feed their families came into effect, but that I was going to get a discount. I again refused and became more suspicious by the minute.
Then they got more desperate “We are ready to print for you right now! We will give you big discount because you want so much printed” I was thinking ‘Print what exactly? We haven’t decided on anything”.
Another “We in office and ready to go into production right now for you!” and sent me a 3 second video. Oddly enough in that 3 second video I didn’t see a single 3D printer. What I did see was a room filled end to end with computer screens being manned by people that looked to be Indian. Yes I am aware there are Indian people living in Lithuania but realistically I knew what I was looking at, a scam centre not even in Europe but on a completely different continent. Obviously they hoped that I would see the video and go ‘Oh, well they are in an office environment, so it must be on the up and up’.
When I again refused and informed them they were wasting both my and their time they went silent. And guess what, very quickly their Instagram account, the one they had instructed me to check out so many times in the past, had disappeared! Completely gone!
I was able to take a screenshot of their FB page though before they thought to do the same to it.
I also checked out their FB Followers list, and seemed to be a heck of a lot of fake sounding names there.
So yes, yours truly was the potential victim of a targeted scam. Lets review the timeline of their scam in dot-point form:
*Contact me claiming to be fans and hoping to send me items to promote.
*Poor English and grammatical errors in all their messages.
*Direct me to check out their Instagram and FB accounts, no actual business website.
*Wont simply send me a sampling of their products, want me to nominate something.
*When provided examples of potential products, acted as though they would make me those products specifically, despite being copyrighted, which a 3D printing business should know is illegal.
*Start hitting me up for money, despite previously promising items for free.
*Give sob stories about how they need to feed their families.
*Offer me a discount.
*Send a video of them in the office ready to print, though lots of computers and no 3D printers in sight.
*Go silent when told they are wasting their time.
*Delete their Instagram account.
So there you go, Big Angry Trev was the potential victim of a specially tailored scam. Thankfully I saw through it all, didn’t believe their stories and didn’t send them any money, let alone give them any of my details.
If you believe you are the target of a scam, report it as I have. If in Australia go to Scamwatch and give the details of what has transpired. Sadly it’s unlikely the individials, unless based in Australia, will be prosecuted but you can at least make it more of a headache for them to try and scam their next victim.
And hey, in a way their scam did work – they got some coverage on the website after all – you are welcome guys!