I was in the park with my son and his best friend. I saw 2 missed calls from a number I didn’t recognise. I Googled it - it was my bank. I told the other adults that I should call back in case it was important.
I was at a wedding when a friend called me. They said their brother was “redoing his finances” and they needed about a $1,000 and would pay me back after. I was actually apologetic I couldn’t help them it was just too much and I’m at a wedding, not a good time to talk about this in detail. That was all good and I went on my way but it did seem like a weird request.
I get back home and hear back from this friend. Turns out their brothers FB was hacked and who they thought was their brother was actually a malicious actor who gained access to the account. They managed to convince them to transfer about $800 VIA a bitcoin ATM since they were “redoing their finances in crypto” and obviously lost it all. Brother contacted them the next day when they regained access and saw all the messages the bad actor sent.
It was so surreal because at the wedding I didn’t even question that THEY might be getting scammed and I almost got involved! They didn’t mention crypto at the time but man do I ever wish they did. Obviously hindsight in 20/20 but I like to believe that it would’ve triggered the warning bells in my head.
I guess my point is that you don’t even need to be talking to the scammer to get scammed.
I was at a wedding when a friend called me. They said their brother was “redoing his finances” and they needed about a $1,000 and would pay me back after. I was actually apologetic I couldn’t help them it was just too much and I’m at a wedding, not a good time to talk about this in detail. That was all good and I went on my way but it did seem like a weird request.
I get back home and hear back from this friend. Turns out their brothers FB was hacked and who they thought was their brother was actually a malicious actor who gained access to the account. They managed to convince them to transfer about $800 VIA a bitcoin ATM since they were “redoing their finances in crypto” and obviously lost it all. Brother contacted them the next day when they regained access and saw all the messages the bad actor sent.
It was so surreal because at the wedding I didn’t even question that THEY might be getting scammed and I almost got involved! They didn’t mention crypto at the time but man do I ever wish they did. Obviously hindsight in 20/20 but I like to believe that it would’ve triggered the warning bells in my head.
I guess my point is that you don’t even need to be talking to the scammer to get scammed.