Your first thought is to respond something like, "You've got the wrong person." Many many people do respond like that.
Do that, and the scammer's tractor beam has started to pull you into his/her talons.
In my case, the scammer knew I lived in New
Hampshire. She said her name was Olivia.
I've since deleted the text thread from my phone, but I'm quite sure her opening shot across the bow said, "I'm planning a vacation to New Hampshire and your name and number came up in a travel group. They said you might be able to suggest a few great places to visit. I'm sorry if this is a big intrusion."
My scam radar was activated, but
it was a plausible scenario.
You may be one of many of my subscribers that have asked me about traveling to New Hampshire. You may belong to a travel group and innocently said, "I know the Ask the Builder guy. He gave me some great advice about the best places to visit."
Add to that, my cell phone number is all over the Internet via my Draw Plumbing Plans website. It's all over
my Ask the Builder website and shopping cart. It's easy to find out that I live in New Hampshire.
It's easy for a scammer to gather enough data about YOU if you hang out on FacistBook, Instagram, TikTok, and all the other social media dens of iniquity.
The scammers are trained professionals. They know exactly how to push your friendship
buttons!
Within minutes, I asked, "What's the name of the travel group where you heard about me?"
That question was ignored. I knew then it was a scammer.
I decided to play along to see where this would go. Within 20 minutes the scammer wanted to treat me to dinner
or lunch for being so helpful.
When that happened, I tested the scammer saying, "Thanks for the invitation, but She Who Must Be Obeyed might not think it's a good idea to meet up with a strange woman."
There was no immediate response. When "Olivia" did come back, she didn't say, "Oh, by all means bring your wife along."
She(he) ignored my concern.
BOOM, that was all the proof I needed. I then proceeded to block the number of the scammer on my cell phone.
A few days later, I shared the entire conversation with my
son.
He got a serious look on his face and said, "Dad, you were almost slaughtered."
"What?, what do you mean I was almost slaughtered?"
"Dad, there's a huge scam going on out on the
Internet where people get bilked in a very clever long-term play. It's called pig butchering. The scammers fatten you up like pigs over a period of weeks or months, then they kill you. I need you to watch this video."
My son queued up the following video. It was created by a comedian, but it's a very serious topic and he tries to lighten it up with a little bit of crude talk. You can handle it.
WATCH THIS VIDEO NOW.
One woman lost $2,500,000. Another young woman and her dad lost almost $500,000.
There are quite a few other videos on YouTube about Pig Butchering. I beg you to watch
them.
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