SCAMS!

[Luke]

The Nigerian scammers have moved on to online dating sites. This 60 Minutes Australia story is heartbreaking and will make you angry. It's important to check on people who might be taken in by these lowlifes.

Exposing Nigerian online love scammers | 60 Minutes Australia

[Suranis]

Yep. Let me share my experience since to give you all a good laugh. This happened a few months ago.

Basically I got talking to a South African (white) Airline stewardess who sent me pictures of her in uniform and out of it. All seemed to be going ok. Then she sent me a message saying that she had figured out a job for me. She says she does it for a bit of extra money and it was legit and she managed a group of people, and the money was decent. I asked what exactly I would have to do in this job. It was "taking delivery of orders from companies and posting on the parcels."

I looked it up. You guessed it. Pasting on stolen goods via Post. Serious fraud. People have been thrown in jail for serious time, 10 years, for this shit, and becasue they were doing an online Romance.

And it was a wrench to stop talking to "her." A serious wrench. I was really tempted to keep going with it and going along with it.

Edited for excessive whinage.

[AndyinPA]

Nah. You were smart enough to check her out. I've got a piece of property in Arizona that's complicating my newly widowed life right now. And I've got a lot complicating my life right now. We bought it for "investment" 50 years ago. It was supposed to be developed into a resort area. Instead, we've paid taxes (low) on it all that time, and it's still desert. I understand from the agent it's a bit more useful today for people who want to live off the grid, which is a thing down there. I've been in the area, and it's pretty country, but it's just another aggravation to me now because the guy who sold it to us stole all the money and ran. It did teach us a relatively inexpensive lesson, though, so there's that.

[Suranis]

This is an unusual one. This is a romance scam that involves a real woman from Ghana. She actually is a sort of celebrity. She is a musician and basically had lonely men handing her cash. She even "married" one of them without even meeting them in person.



The 7 billion is SHS which equates to about $2 million USD. She has been extradited to the US.

Webpage link

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/influencer ... rly-ghana/

Crime
Instagram influencer charged for role in $2M romance scam targeting elderly

By Gina Martinez

May 15, 2023 / 4:46 PM / CBS News

A popular Ghanaian social media influencer has been extradited to the U.S. from the United Kingdom after being charged for her role in a lucrative romance scam targeting elderly Americans.

Prosecutors charged Mona Faiz Montrage, 30, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

Montrage is also charged with receipt of stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to receive stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, prosecutors said.

Montrage, who is from Accra, Ghana, currently has 4.2 million followers on Instagram. At one point her account, which uses the handle "Hajia4Reall," was among the top 10 most followed profiles in Ghana.

Prosecutors allege that from around 2013 through 2019, Montrage was a member of a criminal enterprise in West Africa that committed fraud, including romance scams, against individuals and businesses in the United States. The victims of the scheme's romance scam were typically "vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone," according to prosecutors.

The scammers allegedly would send their victims emails, texts, and social media messages that tricked them into believing they were in romantic relationships, prosecutors said.

"Once members of the Enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under false pretenses, to transfer money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when, in fact, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say that Montrage controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds.

Montrage allegedly received money from several victims who were tricked into sending funds by being told the payments were to transfer gold to the United States from overseas, resolve a fake FBI unemployment investigation, or even help a fictitious American army officer receive funds from Afghanistan, according to prosecutors.

With one of her victims, Montrage used her real name and spoke with him on the phone several times, prosecutors said. She sent the victim a fake marriage certificate that claimed the pair had wed in Ghana. The victim sent Montrage 82 wire transfers that totaled $89,000, supposedly to help Montrage's father's farm in Ghana, prosecutors said.

"Romance scams – especially those that target older individuals – are of major concern. The FBI will be tireless in our efforts to hold fraudsters accountable in the criminal justice system," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement.

As for why people get sucked into this, well a lot of times people know deep down its a scam. but they are so desperate for a connection that they hang onto the tiny possibility that it's real. Loneliness messes with your head.

[John Thomas8]

Coffeezilla does some good scam work:

[RTH10260]

Scam hunter

[RTH10260]

[MN-Skeptic]

Ok, I watched the entire colorblind glasses video claiming EnChroma is a scam and a rip-off.

Colorblindness runs in my family. My maternal grandfather was colorblind. My brother is colorblind. I have colorblind cousins and nephews.

Five years ago I bought my brother a pair of EnChroma colorblind glasses for Christmas. He loves them! My sister-in-law filmed him as they left the eye doctor's office (they were a prescription pair of EnChroma glasses). My brother was amazed to see the bright flowers on poinsettias in the entryway. He made her drive through a new car lot so he could see all the red cars, and continued to point out the red cars on the highway on the drive home. He loves the color purple which he can now differentiate from blue. When the following fall came, he was amazed at all the colors of the leaves.

Since the glasses work best with bright light, they recommend that if you only get one pair, to buy a pair of their sunglasses, so that's what I got for my brother. But, because he loved them so much, I also bought a pair of indoor colorblind glasses for him. My sister-in-law said that the was the first time she ever saw my brother working on a jigsaw puzzle with his daughters. With the glasses, he could finally differentiate the pieces enough to enjoy working on the puzzle.

I don't know what my brother now sees for colors, but I do know that the colorblind glasses make a real difference for him and for him they are definitely NOT a scam or a rip-off. It does sound like the companies may use shady advertising practices which is unfortunate, but they also say that the glasses may not work for everyone. Obviously they were a dud for the fellow making this video. But, just as obviously, they are a hit with my brother.

[Sam the Centipede]

Great to read that MN-Skeptic!

There are plenty of videos of people getting their new glasses and being wowed by them – enough that it's not scammers recruiting actors.

I'm not color-blind but if be interested to put on EnChroma glasses to see what difference it makes with normal color vision. My guess is that it would be similar to adjusting the colors on a television, perhaps making some colors annoyingly gaudy.

As the glasses use a notch filter, they won't improve color discrimination unless the notch wavelength matches the overlap in the sensitivity curves for the pigments causing the problem.

I had a pair of sunglasses which had a similar accidental effect in that anything red or reddish was enhanced relatively when I wore the glasses, which could be disconcerting, and made a meadow with poppies a riot.

Off Topic

I'm sure it has been explained before, but just in case, here it is again. In forms of color blindness where colors appear similar the problem is caused by dodgy pigments in cone cells of the retina (the screen at the back of the eye).

There are normally three different pigments, which make each cone cell maximally sensitive to one color: red, green or blue. In the most common versions of color-insensitivity, the gene for one of the pigments is slightly unusual and the peak sensitivity of the errant pigment molecules it produces is close to the peak sensitivity for another pigment, typically red confuses with green.

That means when light with wavelengths around that shared peak(s) hits those cones, both respond similarly, so the person effectively has only a two color retina rather than the full three color setup.

The EnChroma glasses filter out (discard) light of those shared wavelengths. So now all cones respond very differently to any monochromatic color, restoring the three colour system.

So it is excellent science. Doesn't mean everybody will want it, and it won't work well if the filter wavelengths are not appropriate to the patient's eyes, but it's good science.

[MN-Skeptic]

My sister (biology nerd with a PhD in a biology field) shared this video with me last week. It's interesting because it talks about the science behind color blindness and shows how color blind glasses can help some people distinguish colors.

[keith]

Excellent explanation. I was wondering how those glasses worked, and figured the explanation must have been along those lines, but I just couldn't put it together in my mind. The hype just kept getting in the way by making such absolute claims that I couldn't filter out what was and what wasn't happening.

Only criticism: they guy just talks too damn fast.

[neonzx]

I have a younger brother who suffers from the most common problem---- green and red confusion. He was gifted as an adult with those glasses so that he could sorta see what we see. It is not 100%. It is also not a scam

[RTH10260]

[Slim Cognito]

[RTH10260]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO I HAVE BEEEEEEEN BUUUUUUUUUUUUUSTEEEEED

From: <someone>
To: <me>
Subject: Your payment EZ9765

Hi there!

I regret to inform you about some sad news for you.
Approximately a month or two ago I have succeeded to gain a total access to all your devices utilized for browsing internet.
Moving forward, I have started observing your internet activities on continuous basis.

Go ahead and take a look at the sequence of events provided below for your reference:
Initially I bought an exclusive access from hackers to a long list of email accounts (in today's world, that is really a common thing, which can arranged via internet).
Evidently, it wasn't hard for me to proceed with logging in your account.

Within the same week, I moved on with installing a Trojan virus in Operating Systems for all devices that you use to login to email.
Frankly speaking, it wasn't a challenging task for me at all (since you were kind enough to click some of the links in your inbox emails before).
Yeah, geniuses are among us.

Because of this Trojan I am able to gain access to entire set of controllers in devices (e.g., your video camera, keyboard, microphone and others).
As result, I effortlessly downloaded all data, as well as photos, web browsing history and other types of data to my servers.
Moreover, I have access to all social networks accounts that you regularly use, including emails, including chat history, messengers, contacts list etc.
My unique virus is incessantly refreshing its signatures (due to control by a driver), and hence remains undetected by any type of antiviruses.

Hence, I guess by now you can already see the reason why I always remained undetected until this very letter...

During the process of compilation of all the materials associated with you,
I also noticed that you are a huge supporter and regular user of websites hosting nasty adult content.
Turns out to be, you really love visiting porn websites, as well as watching exciting videos and enduring unforgettable pleasures.
As a matter of fact, I was not able to withstand the temptation, but to record certain nasty solo action with you in main role,
and later produced a few videos exposing your masturbation and cumming scenes.

If until now you don't believe me, all I need is one-two mouse clicks to make all those videos with everyone you know,
including your friends, colleagues, relatives and others.
Moreover, I am able to upload all that video content online for everyone to see.
I sincerely think, you certainly would not wish such incidents to take place, in view of the lustful things demonstrated in your commonly watched videos,
(you absolutely know what I mean by that) it will cause a huge adversity for you.

There is still a solution to this matter, and here is what you need to do:
You make a transaction of $1250 USD to my account (an equivalent in BTC, which recorded depending on the exchange rate at the date of funds transfer),
hence upon receiving the transfer, I will immediately get rid of all those lustful videos without delay.
After that we can make it look like there was nothing happening beforehand.
Additionally, I can confirm that all the Trojan software is going to be disabled and erased from all devices that you use. You have nothing to worry about,
because I keep my word at all times.

That is indeed a beneficial bargain that comes with a relatively reduced price,
taking into consideration that your profile and traffic were under close monitoring during a long time frame.
If you are still unclear regarding how to buy and perform transactions with BTC - everything is available online.

Below is my BTC wallet for your further reference: <____>

All you have is 48 hours and the countdown begins once this email is opened (in other words 2 days).

The following list includes things you should remember and avoid doing:
> There's no point to try replying my email (since this email and return address were created inside your inbox).
> There's no point in calling police or any other types of security services either. Furthermore, don't you dare sharing this info with any of your friends.
If I discover that (taking into consideration my skills, it will be really simple, because I control all your systems and continuously monitor them)
your nasty clip will be shared with public straight away.
> There's no point in looking for me too - it won't result in any success. Transactions with cryptocurrency are completely anonymous and untraceable.
> There's no point in reinstalling your OS on devices or trying to throw them away. That won't solve the issue,
since all clips with you as main character are already uploaded on remote servers.

Things that may be concerning you:
> That funds transfer won't be delivered to me.
Breathe out, I can track down everything right away, so once funds transfer is finished,
I will know for sure, since I interminably track down all activities done by you (my Trojan virus controls all processes remotely, just as TeamViewer).
> That your videos will be distributed, even though you have completed money transfer to my wallet.
Trust me, it is worthless for me to still bother you after money transfer is successful. Moreover, if that was ever part of my plan, I would do make it happen way earlier!

We are going to approach and deal with it in a clear manner!

In conclusion, I'd like to recommend one more thing... after this you need to make certain you don't get involved in similar kind of unpleasant events anymore!
My recommendation - ensure all your passwords are replaced with new ones on a regular basis.

[John Thomas8]

We recently closed on the house we were renting.

The amount of scam snail-mails has been staggering. Demands to buy various reports (appraisal, survey, etc) on official looking letterheads is amazing.

The only reason I haven't gone after them is that there are legalize weasel words in very fine print at the bottom stating they're not actually an entity that can demand payment. I do wonder how many people don't get to the bottom and read the weasel words, getting scammed out of $50-$300 for papers that their agent already gave them.

[Slim Cognito]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO I HAVE BEEEEEEEN BUUUUUUUUUUUUUSTEEEEED

From: <someone>

Jeez, I hope these lying, stealing sick bastards suffer a horrific slow painful death for all the terrible things they're doing.

I came close to getting phished a while back. After Hubs passed, I was selling some of his stuff on Facebook and somebody asked me if they could pay with Zelle (sp?) My credit union doesn't take it so I suggested Venmo. Here is where I screwed up. I rarely use Venmo and had forgotten you don't use your email, you use an ID, so when he asked for my email, I gave it to him. Then the phishing started. I was immediately suspicious bc the email asked for my bank info and Venmo already has it so I responded via messenger to the "buyer" this was fishy and I wasn't going through with it. After a back and forth, he told me he'd sent the money and if I didn't pay up, "the FBI will put you in prison," to which I responded, "My brother works for the FBI." (He doesn't).

The buyer did an immediate disappearing act and I'll never make that mistake again.

[roadscholar]

Nicely played, Slim.

[Flatpoint High]

6tijfdrtiljc1.jpeg (324.23 KiB) Viewed 5682 times

[neonzx]

Saw that posted elsewhere. Not same shoe(count the lace holes or whatever they are called) but equally no-quality as tfg's.

[Slim Cognito]

6tijfdrtiljc1.jpeg

Get out the sharpie.

[RTH10260]

On Temu this kind of sneakers sell for about $20, with variants upto $35.

On Ali Express they sell in bulk for retailing at about $5 to $10 a pair.

[keith]

I love that this is being discussed in the SCAMS! Thread

[RTH10260]

[Mrich]

I almost didn't watch this episode because I didn't want to watch them butchering actual pigs. I have never heard the term before.
It sounds a lot like a "catfishing" scheme except for the amount of money involved. I can't imagine investing that kind of money without going through my investment advisor.