Today, I want to talk about a potential scam or phishing scam that happened to me very recently and I want to bring more awareness about the dangers of social media accounts and celebrities or famous people.
As they always say, if the account is not blue check marked and verified, you could be in communication with just about anybody in the world.
I did not want to give specific details because I feel like this can happen in any situation to anybody and everyone.
Recently, I attended a fairly famous musician's concert in New York City. I had recently followed this person, who had a verified blue checkmark, and enjoyed his music and passion for music. When this person announced that he was going to participate in a concert for another musician in New York, I did not hesitate to buy a ticket to support this musician. I ended up support every musician and performer at the concert because the concert was just great and gave me a different perspective in life, a perspective that I haven't explored in a long time.
Now, if you want me to talk more about the concert itself, I could totally do that in another post if anybody is interested. The purpose of this post is to highlight potential dangers of social media.
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| Concert Stage |
Feeling the high from attending the concert, I sent another reply message of support to the official Instagram account on supporting any future concerts. It was a public reply.
The next day, I saw somebody with a similar account contact me. The only difference is that there is a . between the name and a number at the end of the account. Normally, I am able to catch most impersonators of official accounts, but I think what threw me off was that the description of the account stated that it was:
-A personal account of the famous person that is not in verified status
-There were other people following this person to make it look like a normal account
For a short time, I thought it was really a personal account of the famous person. It's likely a personal account won't be a verified account, but it is a reason to be cautious.
Note: Just because the account says it is a personal account, doesn't mean it is a personal account of the real person.
Note: Just because the account says it is a personal account, doesn't mean it is a personal account of the real person.
I went ahead in following this account as well. I found it strange that a famous person would want to follow me. I am not exactly unknown on the internet, but I am not anybody that special.
The next day, the person began to private message me.
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| Private Instagram Message |
It began with a Japanese message, which I needed to Google Translate. This may not be a totally accurate translation, but it gets the message across.
The person claims to be the famous person and wrote that the person saw my profile and the person's heart "chose me" and decided to email me. The person thanks me for my support.
I wait a while before I messaged back. It was strange that a famous person would want to send me a direct message, but if it was a simple message of thanks for the support, I do not mind it.
I wrote "thank you" in English and also "thank you very much" in polite form in Japanese with arigato gozaimasu (ありがとうございます). It was a short response.
The person responded back in Japanese language again about thanking me for the support over the years. I was not a long-time fan so that is not accurate for me. However, I could think that maybe the person is generalizing this message to all his fans.
The person overcomplimented me and called me a "super fan".
In hindsight, these are some red flags of warning:
-If the user account is generalizing facts about who you are
-If the user account is overcomplimenting you without knowing who you are
At this point, I needed to respond in English because I didn't want to struggle with responding in Japanese. Again, I waited a bit and let some time pass before I respond back.
I told the account holder that I am not good at Japanese and asked him to translate what I wanted to write. I mentioned that I recently discovered the official account told him that he was inspiring as he is not only playing music, but has a strong passion for music. I tried to give this person some encouragement since he overcomplimented me.
At this point, the account holder switched to the English language and responded with thanking me for my support and encouragement. The account holder began asking me my name and where I am from.
Honestly, my full name is on my Instagram account. However, I will go with the angle that the person did not pay attention. I gave my first name and a general location where I am from. Even though I attended a concert in New York, it doesn't mean I am from this area.
The next warning flag came in. In my last reply, I wait a while before I answered because I was busy doing other things. The person wrote, "Are you busy?" since I did not answer the questions.
Warning flag:
-If the user account is impatient, something is wrong. If you do not know who you are talking to, there should not be hints of impatience.
Since I took my sweet time to reply, I think the person who I was chatting with has amnesia or another person took over to chat with me without knowing the previous conversation. The person thanked me again for my love and support and proceeds to ask me how long have I been a fan. I honestly answered that question in previous responses.
Warning flag:
-If the account holder is repeating the question there is a good chance this is not a human who wants to engage in conversation with you and may be a different person if the conversation is not flowing naturally.
Playing dumb, I reminded the person that I saw his concert recently and I gave the name of the concert.
Again, the responder only gave generic responses of thanking me for my love and support. He also sent a message ending with a question mark to wonder if I would stop listening to his music. The person asked me how long I was a fan.
Warning flags:
-If the person that is supposedly the famous person you are talking to, but only gives generic responses, there is a good chance that the impersonator does not know details of the actual famous person's career.
-If the person is doubting whether you would continue to be a fan, that person is not legitimate and an attempt at gaslighting the reader. Be strong. You alone should know when you are a fan or not.
-Again, the account holder should not ask you repeat questions. A legitimate repeat question would have some context.
This time, I used a somewhat direct and rude approach to the account holder. I asked, "Why not?" Why would the person doubt the legitimacy of being a fan. If so, I would say, don't bother contacting me if you don't believe I am a fan. I gave a direct response that I have never been to his concert. I don't count this particular concert as the musician was a musician at the concert and not headlining the concert.
The story continues with the person explaining that he was doing a Random check (notice random capitalized with the letter "R" and once again explained that the person came across my profile and that he suspects that I am a nice person. Then, he asks what the time is in my time zone.
Warning flags:
-If the person has grammar or spelling errors in their replies, it could be a sign of spam or phishing (or smishing or whatever you are using to communicate out there).
-If the person is suspecting you. Remember, we don't actually know each other in real life. Never put your trust onto somebody you just met online.
-Asking irrelevant questions or attempt to get your personal information.
There is no reason to ask me what time it is in my time zone unless there is context. That is irrelevant to me being a fan. The person responds to addressing me as "dear loyal fan" and told me that his message is "confidential" and to please "keep it a secret". Then, there is a story about how the account holder has a hard time sleeping and was checking up on the fanbase.
Warning flags:
-Think logically. If you are following a famous person who does not speak English well, why all of a sudden, the person is writing in English so well? While it is not impossible, but just be aware of details.
-Think logically. I gave the person my first name, the person is still addressing me in general terms like "dear loyal fan". It could be the person is working off a pre-written script.
-Asking me to keep the conversation a secret with or without a legitimate reason. Remember, only people who commit crimes or do bad things want to keep it a secret.
The person attempts to ask me my age. Again, what does this have to do with me being a fan? I thought to myself that I will draw the line when he starts asking about family members. Hoping to scare him away, I give him a big number like 42, but that was stupid because I am 42. I should give a fake age next time. The musician proceeds to ask if I am married with kids.
Warning flag:
-Asking personal information that has nothing to do with being a fan.
At this point, I am getting really upset, but curious to see where this is going. I gave a short "yes" answer. The person replied that was "cute" and I didn't see anything cute about it. I think the person is now getting to the point. The account holder asks if I often text on Instagram, but I give safe answers to say I don't normally chat on Instagram. The person asks where else do I chat. I gave a curt answer that I do not usually "chat". There is no way I will let this person into any other form of social media in my life.
Warning flag:
-Asking you to chat somewhere else where I believe they will then attempt to get more of your personal information to scam you financially.
Thinking about other chats that have the option to pay people and in certain chats that use your phone number, they might have access to it.
The person shows his or her true colors by telling me that they want to continuing chatting and knowing me more. The person suggests the LINE application. I give a quick response that I don't have the LINE app. As I mentioned, there is no way I would allow this person in my life like a stalker.
The impersonator promptly asks me to install LINE from my Play store. I have an iPhone so I don't use Play store, but I do not tell this person that detail. The person continues on and says it's "safer" to chat there and that the person can text me when he is less busy and we can get to know each other better.
What?
I don't think I need to explain to you why I feel red flags. This person somehow wants a deeper relationship with me on a different app. Get to know each other better? Are we on a dating app?
The last line I could tolerate from the impersonator is the impersonator asking me to download the app on Play store again.
Fact check: Instagram has end-to-end encrypted chats as per the link below so there is no reason to believe our chat messages are unsafe.
Warning flag:
-The impersonator giving you reasons to leave the current chat such as the thought that it is insecure.
-A celebrity or famous person wanting to get to know you better after being informed you are married and have kids. Does that make sense? Is this is fiction story or fanfic?
If insecure, why bother using it in the first place, scammer?
This is where I end the conversation because I won't be entertained further by getting on LINE to chat with this person.
I want to write an immediate post out there to ask everyone to beware of criminals or criminal wannabees who want to scam other people or do a type of phishing by impersonating a celebrity.
I know recently my mom showed me videos of a singer who impersonates the legendary Hong Kong singer Leslie Cheung, but come on, anybody in the fandom or Hong Kong entertainment realm knows that Leslie Cheung passed away years ago and this person is clearly trying to imitate him and immitating or making tribute music to artists is an actual thing, but I won't question the legality of it. People should know who they are dealing with in life.
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| Karaoke Time |
I want to write this post to make you thing twice before you think your favorite celebrity or famous person is chatting with you. Think about it. Unless you have a legitimate reason, met the real life person, or you work in the entertainment industry, there is no reason to believe that a celebrity or famous person would want to get to know YOU and I am not trying to say that in a insulting way, but to be careful. This might only work out in fantasies and well this experience definitely made me think of writing my next fictional story.
If you don't believe me, watch the film, Searching or Searching 2 about cyber crimes and hopefully, it will scare you into being careful. Of course, I am no exception and should have been more careful myself. This is a definite reminder! Luckily I don't let it go too far.
To summarize the warning flags (and there were many - 17 below and there could be more in general):
-A personal account of the famous person that is not in verified status
-There were other people following this person to make it look like a normal account
-Just because the account says it is a personal account, doesn't mean it is a personal account of the real person.
-If the user account is generalizing facts about who you are
-If the user account is overcomplimenting you without knowing who you are
-If the user account is impatient, something is wrong. If you do not know who you are talking to, there should not be hints of impatience.
-If the account holder is repeating the question there is a good chance this is not a human who wants to engage in conversation with you and may be a different person if the conversation is not flowing naturally.
-If the person that is supposedly the famous person you are talking to, but only gives generic responses, there is a good chance that the impersonator does not know details of the actual famous person's career.
-If the person is doubting whether you would continue to be a fan, that person is not legitimate and an attempt at gaslighting the reader. Be strong. You alone should know when you are a fan or not.
-Again, the account holder should not ask you repeat questions. A legitimate repeat question would have some context.
-Think logically. If you are following a famous person who does not speak English well, why all of a sudden, the person is writing good English? While it is not impossible, but just be aware of details.
-Think logically, if I gave the person my first name, the person is still addressing me in general terms like "dear loyal fan". It could be the person is working off a pre-written script.
-Asking me to keep the conversation a secret with or without a legitimate reason. Remember, only people who commit crimes or do bad things want to keep it a secret.
-Asking personal information that has nothing to do with being a fan.
-Asking you to chat somewhere else where I believe they will then attempt to get more of your personal information to scam you financially.
-The impersonator giving you reasons to leave the current chat such as the thought that it is insecure.
-A celebrity or famous person wanting to get to know you better after being informed you are married and have kids. Does that make sense? Is this is fiction story or fanfic?
It is better to pretend to be someone you are not until you are sure the person you are communicating with is verified. Never go somewhere to meet somebody you don't know in real life. Do you own verifications and confirm it yourself. Ask for evidence as necessary. Also, do not keep it to yourself. Let somebody know what is happening so that there is another person(s) watching out for your safety.
It seems only the person being impersonated can report fake accounts on Instagram:
Be careful on social media in general.
If you think you are speaking to me online, but are not sure. Please ask me to verify who I am!
I did not pay to get a verified checkmark and well, I am simply not famous enough for that checkmark. If it becomes out of control, I will invest in getting a checkmark on social media.
Please feel free to add more in the comments to inform others!
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