What name did the scammer use?:
Andeng on OkCupid, andrea santos on Google Hangouts, can't find gmail.
How old did the scammer say they were?:
26
What site/app did you first meet the scammer on? Please provide a link if
possible.:
OkCupid.com
Who made the first contact?:
They contacted me first.
If they asked you to leave the site/app and go elsewhere, where did they
take you?:
Google Hangouts
Any other social media profile links used by the scammer.:
FB adrea.santos31,
FB nguyen.ryan.3532,
FB courage.alison
If they gave you a phone number, please add it here.:
They didn't
Scammer's Skype name.:
N/A
Scammer's Skype username (right click their photo/avatar and click "view
profile").:
andrea santos on Google Hangouts
How much money did they demand?:
$300-500
Name you were told to send the money to.:
No name.
What country/city were you told to send the money to?:
No country.
How were you to send the money ?:
Western Union
What steps, if any, have you already taken to block the scammer?:
Reported & blocked on Hangouts, reported incident to OkCupid, made my
friend's list private and a lot of photos/details. OkCupid would have it in
chat logs but the scammer unmatched me.
Are there any other details you wish to share? Anything you say may help
prevent someone else from being scammed.:
The girl pretended to be from Philippines, travelling here for family, and
was tired from jet lag. Rushed into a video within 30 minutes. Video
quality looked good from the girl but a bit weird like a web cam recording.
Scammer used multiple names which was a bit weird, gmail looked similar to
Okc account but Hangouts name was different. Never paid.
#SocialEngineering is pretty scary in this day and age. An attack can
happen in a matter of minutes too.
Probably a good reminder to think about how much data we're actually
sharing online and how it could one day be potentially used against us.
(Hackers, malicious users, heck, even evil ex dates). I noticed Facebook is
basically relatively powerless for this (apart from outsourcing a malicious
content team in the Phillipines which scabs for this content as it's
uploaded to prevent FB turning into a pronhub) and is basically a goldmine
for malicious users. Careful what data and media remains public (and tags
of people, comments, reacts/likes) and don't share personally intimate
stuff online, it could be recorded by another camera, even on Snapchat but
less likely, but evil people are quite savage and will do anything for
extortion.
Hot tip:
- Don't share personal info such as personally identifiable email addresses
to people you're not sure about or haven't met yet (even if they appear to
be nice), also don't accept friend requests from randoms, and be weary of
newly created profiles on FB and other social networks.
- I would even go as far as to not share your full DoB, pets names even
with friends, you're just never sure how that data will be used.
- Cease all communication with a malicious user ASAP (no matter the damage)
and never pay a ransomware fee. It's online terrorism and they will never
follow through or ask for more money - extortion. Maybe a bit like an
ex trying to get back with you? Although sometimes that can happen
successfully(?)
- You can't live in fear either, then they win, but just be cautious what
goes out and to who and where.
- Always use the 'report user' feature on fake, spam or malicious user
accounts across any platform they contact you on.
Dating apps (especially the ones on desktop sites like OkCupid, eHarmony &
RSVP) are prone to the worse environments for this behaviour to happen too.
Lots of cat fishing goes on - they can screen record videos quite easily
using Hangout (and funnily enough Hangouts doesn't display the report
function on their mobile app), sometimes over months or years. It truly is
frightening.
=
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About Courage Alison
ABOUT COURAGE
so handsome
FAVORITE QUOTES
i'm still upcomin but am makin moni
