That Paypal impersonation scam that's going around, a thread:
🧵🧵🧵
(1/?)
unhinged eldritch abomination — That Paypal impersonation scam...
WHAT IS THE SCAM
It usually plays out like this:
-Person A makes a post asking for help (MA, etc)
-Person B replies something like "what's your paypal/venmo"
-Scammer enters, blocks person A, changes their @ to look similar to person A, and then replies to person B with their own Paypal/etc (2/?)
info. Sometimes accompanied by a request to send it as-
-"friends and family" so it will be harder to dispute.
-Person B sends to the scammer without realizing it, thinking they're person A.
-Scammer deletes the account and disappears, making moderation actions more or less useless. (3/?)
HOW TO DETECT THE SCAM
-Sadly, in a lot of cases, Person A will never know this has happened until it's too late. If you can check a list of who's blocked you, and see a recent entry with a name similar to yours, that's a scammer. Probably unnecessary, but you can try it if you want. (4/?)
-If you are Person B, the best way to pick up on this is to stop and read carefully. A lot of us don't by nature, and the scam relies on this. Check the username of the person replying to you. Is it *exactly* the same? If not, it's definitely someone trying to scam you. (5/?)
IF YOU GOT HIT
-First, don't feel bad. Anyone is susceptible to this shit, and it's almost scummy how sneakily it's done. No sense in beating yourself up.
-Second, let people know. Scammers frequently use the same email addresses for these scams in every attempt, so make people aware. (6/?)
)As a footnote: I don't know what the effectiveness of filing a dispute with Paypal/your bank/et al would be, but it's worth a try if you can stomach dealing with that.) (7/?)
As a footnote: I don't know what the effectiveness of filing a dispute with Paypal/your bank/et al would be, but it's worth a try if you can stomach dealing with that.) (7/?)
HOW TO PREVENT THE SCAM
You can't stop these losers from trying to scam people, sadly, but you can do a few things as due diligence:
-If you are asking for financial help, post your links in your original post and add a message stating that no replies will have information in them. This may (8/?)
help anyone asking for that information from being scammed.
-Consider an off-site link repository if that's a possibility. I've seen some people talk about Linktree, for example, but your mileage may vary here. I haven't personally done this so I can't say, but it's something to consider. (9/?)
- There is a labeler for new accounts/new posters, so adding this may help you detect a scammer in time as well (as these will often be either brand new accounts or were repurposed for scamming you) [I'll credit them at the end so they don't get spammed with notifs] (10/?)
bsky.app/profile/prof...
- If you are Person B and want to help out someone but their info isn't in the post, ask if you can speak offsite. This scam thrives on having these requests out in the open (scammers will simply search 'paypal' etc and reply to anything that looks like it's asking for someone's info, (11/?)
regardless of how old the post is or if it contextually makes sense).
Hopefully this clarifies a bit. One of my friends got hit last night by these assholes so I wanted to make people aware and hopefully help people head it off at the pass. (12/12)
(Credit to @bossett.social for the labeler, I think it'll be a huge help in combating this shit for the time being)
what if bluesky just changes how blocking works ever so slightly, because this scam is ancient.
your guess is as good as mine
thanks for making this thread! hope more folks learn about this since it's getting more common here.
Filing a dispute with PayPal probably won't get your money back, but if an account gets a lot of disputes, it is more likely to get shut down, so you should still do it.
I'm going to try to make a Bluesky bot that detects the fraud and replies a warning. It will take time as I never did a Bluesky bot before but I think it's possible.
Let me know if you do!
Gonna re-emphasize this. I've done IT security for decades. The fuckers ripping people off will never go away. They are parasitical, social predators.
Feeling bad about being scammed is OK but don't blame yourself, YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF A CRIME.
Just my two cents, :)
You know what pisses me off about these scams and so many others? How the dumbing-down of UI's and apps makes it so easy to confuse people. Apps and websites don't show critical info to verify an account because they want simple, "clean" interfaces. No handle, no URL, just a photo and text blurb
This almost happened to me, but luckily Person A knew about Person B and was on the alert for weirdness. Got the money to the right person, but now I'm super paranoid about it, so I do lots of checking before sending.
Oh, like this one:
@guylejeune.bsky.social
Sorry don’t use Swiss account it got issues on my side
Send through PayPal
ww2232@tutamail.com
Send through family and friends
yep, exactly that one (they already have me blocked so i know it's one of the scammers lol)
Or this one! (I reported these and more)
@mxmorgan.bsky.social
Unfortunately got no gfm link, you can PayPal few bucks you got for upkeep
ww2232@tutamail.com
Send through family and friends
Thanks.
yep, that one too (it's funny because he's started blocking me pre-emptively on all his new accounts, which just tells me he's Big Fucking Mad about it)
Oh, wow. Wonder if blocks should block down thread replies as well as direct replies to prevent this. Might be too expensive?
i mean theoretically yes but one of the parties would have to know they're being scammed before that could happen
I know if I block you, on Bluesky my followers don't see your replies to my posts. I may have misremembered that this is also reciprocal, which I was I was thinking of that gets very close to the behavior that would stop this. (That the block to conceal the scam would itself hide the scam reply)
Oh yeah, happened to me, I was Person B once. It was SO quick! Like under a minute, probably a bot.
Fortunately we quickly realized so no money lost.
this labeler flags new accounts
yep, i mentioned it downstream in the thread
o well now it’s also higher up in the thread a second time 😆
📌 (bookmarking for future reference)
this nullifies the effectiveness of that scam by putting a moderation flag on new accounts/accounts with new handles !
everyone should use it
bsky.app/profile/prof...
this labeller puts a flag on newly made accounts and newly renamed account for the purpose of catching impersonation attempts
it's all automated and based on public data
Subscribe to it!
Thanks for sharing this information with us.
Thank you very much ❤
📌 for reference
Similar Posts
WHAT IS THE SCAM
It usually plays out like this:
-Person A makes a post asking for help (MA, etc)
-Person B replies something like "what's your paypal/venmo"
-Scammer enters, blocks person A, changes their @ to look similar to person A, and then replies to person B with their own Paypal/etc (2/?)
info. Sometimes accompanied by a request to send it as-
-"friends and family" so it will be harder to dispute.
-Person B sends to the scammer without realizing it, thinking they're person A.
-Scammer deletes the account and disappears, making moderation actions more or less useless. (3/?)
I've noticed that I only see it on the TL now in replies of replies? ie if person A blocks me, person B replies, then person C (who I follow) replies to person B, it'll show me that above post of person B replying to person A.. I haven't seen it under the old circumstance
Lets say Person A makes a post and Person B replies to it. If Person B's reply gets a minimum number of likes (2 by default) then Person B's followers will see that reply, along with Person A's post. Person B's followers will also see any of Person A's posts that have been reposted by Person B.
no i'm talking about when person A quotes person B, and then person C (who is blocked by person B) replies to person A's post. like bro you can't SEE the quoted post!
I've always understood it to be difficult to win a defamation case. Like if person A calls person B a "rapist," then person B calls person A a "liar," and A sues B and wins the case then... Well, the conclusion about person B is inescapable.
A thought:
1) Person A makes a "No Nazis" mod layer
2) Person B subscribes to the list.
3) B writes a normal post.
4) Nazi replies with Nazi shit to B
5) B doesn't see it. Good! But...
6) Everyone else still sees Nazi shit on Person B's thread. Maybe a whole Nazi subthread. B would be mad!
You probably aren’t. If person a blocks person b, everybody in the thread will see a block message for person b’s replies and qt’s.
Here's the case I'm concerned about:
1/ Person A discusses a bunch of fun things with person B
2/ Person A then says something bad, e.g. racist and B points that out
3/ Person A wants to claim they're not racist
4/ Person A blocks B and pretends #2 never happened.
5/ Person C,D,E.. can't see #2.
For instance, I’ll see something like person A asked person B how their show is and person B says it’s OK and continues to watch the show. Then person A gets annoyed that person B didn’t keep speaking to them, but that’s not a healthy or general Neurotypical response. It’s passive aggression.
Something that people that are coming here from the other place need to know is;
If Person A and Person B are arguing and then A blocks B (or vice versa) then *everyone* who replies to B will see that the post from A is blocked/not visible.
It doesn't mean that you have been blocked by A.
person a: person b told me to do this thing and I don’t know what’s happening
me: did you call person b
person a: no and now they aren’t answering
person b: texts me freaking out about a request from person a
me: have you talked to person a
Now when I post to person a and person b posts to me do I then send a notification to both a and b?
I'm not a love expert, but...
When Person A confesses to Person B, and Person B rejects Person A, and Person A opts to get *revenge*...
...then whatever Person A ever felt for Person B is *NOT* anything resembling love.
ok if Person A tells person B they are not free until 9PM, then person B replies that they are going to be out and about, who is responsible for texting who to know they are free? person B right? because person A is free at 9PM that is the set time. B's is unknown!
putting a present to person A inside a box labeled for person B and telling person B their present is the gift of giving
A thing I've noticed (and apparently just got blocked for?)
Person A will say a thing.
Person B will agree with them.
Person A will reply negatively to Person B.
Person B will be very confused.
Person A will double down.
So, the idea, just to clarify - create a program where 2 individuals (Person A and Person B) can bad mouth someone else in the thread (Person C), and it's expected that Person B can screen cap the bad mouthing Person A gives about Person C, then give it to C, in order to chase A to another platform.
yeah, if you blocked person A or they have blocked you, and person B replies to person A, you will get a notification for person B's reply.
i'll write it when i get back to my desk
two people arguing, person A gets proven wrong, Person A blocks person B, conversation gets hidden, misinformation continues to spread, etc.
I have noticed that there is some weird desire by people where person A finds the content of person B objectionable, so person A insists that person B blocks person A to spare them. Seems like there's an easier solution.
is there a way to still see when person A reposts person B but hide it when person A reposts their own posts on here?
Yes re: threads. It's causing some weirdness in how replies show up in the timeline, though: person B replying to person A is periodically showing up as a thread from person B using person A's words.
If Person A doesn't want Person B to interact with them, Person A also needs to stop trying to interact with Person B!