Hey guys, Curtis Tucker a.k.a. Shaggs here.
I had a different podcast episode pretty much ready to go last week. I was on my normal schedule, getting it lined up around Wednesday or Thursday night, but I had a speech on Friday that I was getting ready for, so I got a little behind. Then over the weekend, something happened that was too funny not to talk about.
So I decided to bump that other episode to this week and go with this one instead.
This is one of those stories that’s kind of funny, but it’s also a little informative too. Because if you don’t really understand how some of these Facebook scams work, this is a pretty good example. And this one was so bad—so poorly done—that I still can’t believe it probably works on anybody.
But apparently it does, or they wouldn’t keep doing it.
The funny part is, this scammer was such an amateur that I was basically able to turn it around on them. I didn’t scam them out of any money or anything like that, but I did scam them out of about two full days of their life. And that means they weren’t out spending that time messing with other people.
So honestly, I felt pretty good about that.
How It Started
This all started Thursday night.
Now I’ve got a bunch of accounts, but I’ve got two main Facebook accounts. One is my regular Curtis Tucker account, and the other is Curtis Shaggs Tucker. The reason I even started that second one is because at one point Facebook wouldn’t let me monetize my original account, so I started another one. Then as soon as I got that second one going pretty good, Facebook finally let me monetize the original one.
So now I mostly use the main one, but I still keep the other one open in a different browser. I’ll have one open in one browser and one open in another. That way when I post something on Curtis Tucker or Enid Buzz in one account, I can go over to the other account and like it, which helps a little with engagement and spreading things around. It’s all part of playing the algorithm game.
Anyway, Thursday night, on my Curtis Shaggs Tucker account, I get a friend request from a lady whose name sounded familiar. And in my mind I’m thinking, I’m probably already friends with her on my Curtis Tucker account, and maybe she just wants to connect with this one too.
That happens sometimes.
I’ve had people add both accounts because they didn’t see where I said I don’t really post much on the Curtis Shaggs Tucker one anymore. So I was busy, I didn’t think much about it, and I accepted the request.
First Big Clue
If somebody sends you a friend request and you think you’re already friends with them, that ought to make you stop and look.
That doesn’t mean it’s always a scam, but it’s one of the easiest ways these scammers get people. They make a duplicate account that looks enough like somebody you know, and they’re hoping you won’t pay close attention.
I didn’t really pay close attention because I was busy and, honestly, I wasn’t too worried about getting scammed. It would take a lot for me to fall for one of these. I figured if it turned out to be a scammer, sooner or later they’d show their hand, and I’d just report the account and delete them.
Well, I didn’t have to wait long. As soon as I accepted the friend request, they immediately messaged me on Messenger.
That’s a huge red flag.
What the Fake Account Looked Like
Had I taken just a few seconds to check the account before accepting it, I would’ve seen all kinds of clues.
First off, if I had searched the name, I would’ve seen there were multiple accounts with that same name. In this case, it was one of these fake Julie Leach accounts. You’ve probably seen those. The “I won the lottery and I’m giving away money” kind of scams.
None of the accounts had very many friends. That right there ought to tell you something.
One of them had a little write-up saying something like, “I’m Julie Leach, $310,500,000 mega lottery winner. This is my giveaway page, and I’m giving away $50,000.”
These were terrible fake accounts. I mean just awful. No real history. Hardly any friends. Missing cover photos. Generic nonsense in the bio. Just all the classic signs.
Most People Aren’t Actually “Hacked”
One thing I think a lot of people get wrong is they’ll say, “My friend got hacked,” or “Somebody hacked their Facebook.”
That does happen sometimes, but most of the time that’s not what happened.
Usually what happened is a scammer made a fake duplicate account using that person’s name and profile picture. That’s different from getting hacked.
If you really get hacked, somebody got into your actual account, figured out your password, locked you out, and started using your real profile. That’s one thing.
But what happens a whole lot more is somebody just copies your name, grabs your profile picture, creates a new account, and starts friending your friends.
So to people who don’t look closely, it looks like it’s you.
But if they slow down for two seconds, they’ll usually see it’s a fake account with almost no friends and no real activity. A lot of these fake accounts don’t have a clean Facebook username in the URL. Instead, it’ll say something like profile.php with a bunch of numbers after it.
Now by itself that may not mean much to a lot of people, but when you combine that with the low friend count, no history, and the immediate message, it starts to become pretty obvious.
The Funny Part
Now here’s where it got funny.
This scammer was so bad at what they were doing, and so committed to the act, that I was able to keep them tied up for a long time. And the more I kept them going, the funnier it got to me.
I didn’t get anything from them except entertainment.
But I kept thinking, every minute this person is wasting on me is a minute they are not spending trying to fool somebody else. And if I can burn up a bunch of their time, then that’s a win.
So that’s basically what happened.
I ended up scamming the scammer out of their time. And honestly, for how dumb this scam was, that felt about right.
They really started believing I was going to come through for them.
I started pulling little tricks on them all weekend long. I kept stringing them along. Kept acting like I was almost ready.
Kept making them think those Apple card e-codes were just around the corner.
And they hung in there. Hour after hour. Message after message. Still hoping. Still trying. Still thinking they were working a real target.
Meanwhile, I’m over here basically reverse-scamming the scammer by eating up their time and laughing about it.
And again, the podcast includes the back-and-forth.
That’s part of what makes this episode fun.
You’re not just hearing me talk about it after the fact. You get to hear about the actual exchange, the ridiculous stuff they were saying, and the ways I kept them dangling out there chasing those mythical Apple card codes.
A Few Easy Signs to Watch For
If you’re on Facebook and don’t want to get caught by one of these idiots, here are a few easy clues:
If somebody you think you already know sends you another friend request, stop and check.
If they message you immediately after you accept, be suspicious.
If the account only has a few friends, that’s a big clue.
If the page has no real history, hardly any pictures, or looks half-finished, that’s another clue.
If it says they just joined Facebook a couple of days ago, come on.
And if they’re talking about giveaways, lottery winnings, grants, blessing people with money, or any of that nonsense, it’s almost certainly fake.
Final Thought
I know some of these scams seem so obvious that it’s hard to understand how they work on anybody. But they must be working on somebody, because these people keep doing it.
So I thought this was worth talking about for two reasons.
One, it’s funny.
And two, maybe it helps somebody out there recognize the signs a little quicker the next time one of these fake accounts pops up.
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