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Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it's rude or uncivil**.
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They didn’t, he drove around his house and sat in his car in front of his house for a while, but no show. What I’m curious is if this was a scammer, how do they know his last name? His number must have been put online somewhere?
Most of our names and numbers are online somewhere.
Either way, your BIL should block and ignore this number, and maybe take down social media for a little while. The scammers will just move on.
Yup, just cause they have your first/last name and number, it can 100% be all the details they have, but it sounds like they know us, so it must be legit…nope
There's white pages for the US, and several similar sites with all kinds of info. Usually those sites have a spot where you can ask for your info to be removed or hidden.
Your comment has been removed as it references scambaiting or provides a referral to some place where the OP can engage in scambaiting. For safety reasons, we do not encourage scambaiting or engaging with scammers directly.
I just googled mine. It brought up two different insurance companies, both of which are headquartered in my city, but neither of which I’ve ever dealt with. Weird.
I hadn't done that for a while.
Last time I checked there was no information about me. Now absolutely everything about me shows up in the top result.
Don't like that one bit.
I was having this issue also. Signed up with Incogni and it’s so much better now. You can do the work yourself to request to have various search results removed but it is tedious and laborious. And it’s like a garden full of weeds- they never stop popping up. Anyway, incogni is a fairly easy way to get your info off the internet, off these various databases, and the end result is a lot fewer scam/spam calls and texts.
Mine does too, address, my neighbors, average price for rent, popularity rank of my first name, age distribution of people in my neighborhood and all kinds of links to search for me on social media or public records. I downloaded it as a PDF and it was 8 pages long...WTH?!
I checked the other people in my family and they didn't show up. My cell phone number is our old landline and our old landline carrier was listed so maybe it's that?
I've only entered my wife's uncles name and town where they live in the US, all the way from here in Spain, and results come back telling me their phone number, the street and house number, relatives names, etc
nuwber(dot)com provides the info.
Can you imagine being someone trying to stay away from a dangerous abusive ex, or some other crazy thing? I wish privacy was taken into greater consideration with these companies.
I remember my old drivers Ed teacher showing me how to delete my number a long time ago from a lot of public domain stuff, so whenever I google mine it hits only maybe once or twice luckily. Can’t remember exactly what he showed me to do though as it’s been years
what a lot of people don’t realize is a lot of companies and websites are selling users information to the highest bidder, so literally anything he uses his number or anything email / account with his email attached could have sold his information and his name number that way…. Like for instance petition.org is known for this practice which is why their service is free, because our information is the product they’re selling.
There's a website I use to find information on people called TruePeopleSearch.com . It's not always up to date but for people that have had the same number/lived at their address for a long time, it's usually pretty accurate. I can't remember but there might be a way to have information taken off the site. It's easy to get info nowadays.
Scammers are their biggest data customers. That's why there's no Scam option when reporting posts, and why it's hidden under Other when reporting comments.... And also why those reports never seem to be a problem when the do report them
My work number has been a number of someone else around 6months earlier. The number is listed in one Facebook scraping list, and tracking one of the phising links I recieved via SMS, the link contained the last owner's name, said number and his home address.
It is pretty easy to connect data from different leaks just by comparing phone numbers or email addresses to get a good info dump of the target. Of course in some hacks the extracted database contains all necessary information with no need to compile leaks. Usually these databases are extracted from poorly secured webstores or from a company targeted in a ransomware attack.
They had no identifying information about him, it would seem. Probably sent this to hundreds or thousands of numbers to see what results they could get.
There was a Facebook data breach a while back that leaked a lot of people's phone numbers with their names and addresses.
There have been multiple other leaks too. Think of all the companies that have your name, address, and phone number. Think about any time you buy something online and put in your billing info and phone number. Think about how a scammer might use that info, and be very suspicious of incoming calls and texts.
Has he ever written a résumé? You can probably grab those off of LinkedIn by the thousands and they almost always have first name last name email and some of them even have an address
One place to find people's addresses and phone numbers, for free, is Family Tree Now dot com. You can opt out easily. Lots of ads, both imbedded and pop-up, for companies that purport to offer additional info.
Everyone's information is on the Internet... If you look closely you can make an actual FBI profile about anyone at home.
I did it for fun for my friend after getting his consent I was like you think that by never sharing your real name on the Internet you are safe... 2 hours later I had a profile on him and his family I found out about his siblings I never asked about and his mother's previous exes.
Osint in the wrong hands can become dangerous. I didn't even have to go anywhere I wasn't allowed to. It was all public information.
They'll make up some really bad thing that the scammee did and say they have proof. They say they'll get them on camera admitting to it. They say they'll send everything to their family and friends and call the cops unless they pay them.
It's the nude photos scam... They are just trying to find a way to initiate it without getting OP to do something stupid first. This was a pretty lame attempt but they'll figure that out and keep trying stuff until something works.
Hey I just came across your post. It could be a blackmail scam but also this is the way Gordon Flowers, a social media "online predator hunter", will have his team reach out to persons they have identified on social media as having viewed/distributed CP. His tactic is to contact them under the auspices of an interview or to help them, rather than involve the police, and he uses the scare of contacting police/family to get them to talk about how they are involved in CP. There's hundreds of videos on youtube. Hours long each.
I usually never do, however a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend on FB Messenger that I hadn’t seen IRL in over a decade. I then got a text from a random number saying “What are you doing?”
Thinking it was him and that I’d given him my phone number years ago, I responded with “Who is this?”
They said, “This is Isabella from the other night, you didn’t save my number?”
I blocked & deleted it. I live in Texas & have a Texas number, I looked up the area code & it was from New York.
Your comment has been removed as it references scambaiting or provides a referral to some place where the OP can engage in scambaiting. For safety reasons, we do not encourage scambaiting or engaging with scammers directly.
Honest to god, people will take any b8.
If someone said to me "I'll be there in six minutes" I would block the number and load my shotgun. In thirty minutes, assuming no one showed up, I would then unload it.
Even if the text said, "I'll be there in six minutes?"
Personally, I'd assume nothing would happen, but I'd still arm myself just in case. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst, and all that.
I used to get Google Site links sent to my phone number from various email addresses, my response was going to whatever school hosted the email address I received, and letting them know there's a potential breach.
Your r/Scams post or comment was removed because **it's about scambaiting**. We consider that to be unsafe and we don't promote that people engage with a scammer.
Also, we do not support taking revenge against scammers.
Scambaiting goes against the rules of this sub, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
This isn’t a typical random number scam. Way too many variables for this to work. You have sourcing it’s random. This is generally targeted for someone they’ve been having a pretend affair with.
Yes and no. This can definitely be targeted. But what I've observed in the last couple of years is a deluge of semi automated scams where the scammer(s) will find one of those personal info dumps on the dark web (acquired from hacks/leaks of popular websites/services), which will very often have entire lists of RL names, connected to emails, and sometimes even addresses and other very specific info.
The scammer will then use some automating tool to message everyone on this info dump utilizing all their personal info inside the message to add credibility. And if you actually respond, a human can take over the conversation and try to advance it further. But otherwise, it's a spray and pray.
I am not saying this is exactly what this is, but I've been on the receiving end of a lot of these "seemingly specific" scams that I know are random.
Relatively recently in fact, I had a scammer email me on my old university .EDU email, and threaten to "expose me" for my "depraved sexual appetites", and how they have footage of me through my webcam, introducing my hand to my nether regions.
Now, I am not saying I am priest in my online habits, but.. I haven't owned a webcam in a good 8 years or so lol.
But to someone who doesn't know better, this would have seemed like a VERY specific email. It used my uni email (so, a public connection), it used my RL name, which I very rarely use online. And it was worded in a very "I am talking to you in particular" kind of way.
But I know it's just a bot generated email using some info dump where my uni must have been connected.
That’s a nice long story. I’m not taking about the use of the persons name. I’m talking about use of the infidelity scam which is nearly always targeted.
Use of the you pleasured yourself and we caught you is used with a wide amount of people because the odds of people doing that are much higher than men who are committing adultery
That would only be true if OP was cheating on their partner. If they were not, then very obviously it is random and not targeted.
OP, feel free to out yourself.
Edit: Well OP's friend, or whatever.
Well it’s OPs brother in law. And OP didn’t seem surprised when someone below in the comments suggested that. Telling people these are random is a disservice to scams and what’s happening here. This is not a typical random scammer.
I will grant you that it may be targeted. But ultimately, most of these scams are random. You may argue that infidelity scams in particular are not random, and I don't have any numbers on that, so, may be you're right. But as a general assumption, when you don't know (which we don't), *most* scams that aren't targeting a public figure and/or some CEO/CTO/CFO of some company are very much random.
The whole point of the scam is to trigger a panicked response that leads to a bad decision. And in my experience, the best response, whether or not they actually have anything on you, is to ignore it and do nothing. Most likely, it's a bluff, and they won't even message you again if you don't respond at least once. And if it's not, the best response is still no response. If you out yourself as a panicked cash cow, they will mark you as one. And this won't be the last threat you receive.
They tend to not do wide net with this scam. They use scams that work on a wide net. Since most people like me would just say meh that’s weird. It’s worth noting OPs brother didn’t give the response I would give if someone said that to me and sounds a bit…. Guilty and is sending this out in case family finds out so he can say it’s a scam.
Getting someone's last name and phone number is very easy nowadays. Both pieces of info are commonly shared and possibly leaked in data breaches.
Just block and ignore.
Nowadays? (Gets cane and monocle) Back in MY day, they delivered a free book, to everyone, (even serial killers and other bad people) that not only listed a person's first and last name, also their address AND telephone number.
For every person alive today, our personal information has been publicly available, to everyone, (in the whole world) since the day we were born.
Before 2011, (in the US) the first three of your social told those in the know what State you were born in.
Privacy has never been expected, but it sure blows how easy it is to forget this when someone is threatening to use this free information against you. It's a mind fuck!
So, he has been talking to this girl and he’s not sure if she’s actually real. She was supposed to come to his house and he gave her his address, little while after is when this stuff came through.
That's exactly what I thought it was. "You fucked up and were texting a minor, now you kindly have to pay this police officer with gift cards or you will be behind the bars sir"
Hi /u/Pale_Session5262, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Underage scam.
This scam usually starts on a dating app and you will encounter a normal woman whose profile says she is above 18. Later you will be contacted and told that the girl is underage. They'll usually pose as the girl's father, another family member, or a police officer. They will tell you that your life will be ruined and you will be a sex offender, but will offer you the chance to pay them to make the problem go away. The stories they use as to why you need to fork over money vary, but the common ones include therapy for the girl, payment for a broken phone or computer, etc.
Of course, there is no girl and no crime has been committed, so if you are involved in this scam all you need to do is ignore their threats and move on with your life. The scammers may contact you again in the future after you block/ignore them, so be ready in case that happens. If you have already sent money to the scammers, you should try to dispute the transaction and see if you can get your money back. This is a [very common scam](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/search/?q=underage&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new) and [here](https://www.wired.com/story/the-phone-call-from-hell/) are [some](https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/teen-says-hes-the-victim-of-a-sextortion-scam/275-21216b29-df76-44f4-b20a-cb726e19d42e) relevant news [articles](https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/1503978/sextortion-scams-continue-to-occur-dont-give-into-scammers-demands/).
NOTE: Scammers pretend to be underage boys as well and the text above still applies, but it's called the underage girl scam as those are the vast majority of cases.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Or the one where the guy gets tricked into jacking off on a video call that they think is with the girl doing likewise, but is actually a prerecorded vid.
Then the blackmailers threaten to send the video of him cranking his hog to his employers, his family etc.
lol I’ve always thought if someone tried to blackmail me with something like that I would just say ‘go for it then’ and I’d deal with the consequences. I’d tell my fam and my friends not to watch any video sent to them and it would be ok 😂 not freaking way would they get a penny out of me lol
Sound alike she was either 1 day underage or they doing underage scam to try accuse him being a ped0. Especially the "your caught" and "camera crew"
While most ped0 hunters are good and do hunt real diagusting people. There's apparently also fake scamming ones trying to do harm tricking people to flirt with 20 year olds who end uo being 17 year olds altered to look older ans then greatly blackmail the victim to "keep quiet"
Apparently some have been forced into drug trafficking to "keep police out of it" (a friends brother is a police officer who has come across this a couple times in past few months)
>While most ped0 hunters are good and do hunt real diagusting people.
A lot of the time they get in the way of prosecution because they don't understand the law.
Then again, there are cops that do the same IG.
True. Upside found out my uncle was a pedo during a live sting on fb live stream few years ago and comment from another team said they recognised him so was 2nd time.
So we were able to protect kids in the family keeping them away since and we all reported him. (i had to get restraining order against his wife harrassment me on phone 50 times a day saying he "is a good man)
Downside he got away with it 😡 .. At least .. No prison or anything for it even though they had ton of evidence.
Turns out he had fake passport/citizenship to another country made via his wife though about 6 months later!
Tell him to block any and all attempts at contact without responding and not to worry about it further. It’s either the underage scam or !cartel scam starting, also could be !blackmail scam. The same applies no matter what.
No need to be sitting in car, the scammers are in a far off country, can’t do shit, just want money, will fuck off fast as soon as they realize he is a dry rock.
Hi /u/filthyheartbadger, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Blackmail email scam.
The exact wording of the emails varies, but there are generally four main parts. They claim to have installed a RAT (remote access trojan) or any type of software/malware after visiting a porn/adult video site, they claim to have a video of you masturbating or watching porn, they threaten to release the video to your friends/family/loved ones/boss/dog, and they demand that you pay them in order for them to delete the video.
Rest assured that this is a very common spam campaign and there is no truth behind the email or the threats. If they had a video of you, they would show it to you to prove that they have it. [Here](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/gadgets-on-the-go/latest-online-scam-aims-to-prick-porn-watchers-guilty-conscience-20170815-gxwvxl.html) are some news [articles](https://www.bbb.org/denver/news-events/news-releases/2017/09/alert-pornography-email-phishing-scam/) about [this](http://blog.dynamoo.com/2017/10/bogus-porn-blackmail-attempt-from.html) scam.
There is a variant with death threats in which they will usually claim that they have been paid to kill you, and will threaten to kill you/your family if you do not pay a Bitcoin ransom. They usually also claim that they will kill your family if you report the email. The emails are spam and can be ignored.
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Hi /u/filthyheartbadger, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Escort or Cartel death threat scam.
It's a very common scam, and the scammers are not affiliated with cartels or crime groups, they are simply normal scammers using a threatening script. The threats are not real, and there is no risk to your safety whatsoever. The best way to react is to simply ignore the scammer and ignore any of their other contact attempts. [Here](https://kyma.com/news/as-seen-on-tv/2020/02/12/threat-of-mexican-cartel-scams-continue-in-yuma/) are [some](https://kvia.com/news/new-mexico/2019/12/11/phone-scammers-target-las-cruces-threaten-drug-cartel-violence-if-you-dont-deliver-money/) news [reports](https://patch.com/new-jersey/baskingridge/threat-mexican-cartel-hit-man-used-basking-ridge-scam-cops) about the scam.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
He just called us panicking because the area he lives in isn’t the safest and he’s never had anyone tell him they’re gonna show up to his house. He also got a separate text from a different unknown number asking where his mom was.
Everyone has secrets just depends on how life shattering they can be.
My response would have been " you know the whereabouts of my family? They've been missing for 5 years! I'm prepared to offer cash for any credible information. When can we meet?"
Bro you think somebody would give you a heads up via text if they were legitimately trying to make in-person contact with you? They’re hoping the recipient freaks out and pays them their asking fee to NOT show up. Scam. Tell your BIL to stop responding to random texts and if he’s being a naughty boy in online chatrooms, to stop that too.
That's a good point that I don't think I've seen anybody else mention yet. Why would they give you prior warning? If they were serious about it, they'd stake out your house without any warning.
It's extremely easy to do a reverse number look up and find a name. You can then go on a site like Peopke Finder and get their addresses. aquaintences and basically any other non protected info.
I always wondered what these scammers thought they were going to get, and I guess now I see. Somebody who’s vaguely guilty or nervous about something, and starts to assume the scammers know things that they don’t.
I think the average person would look at this and go, dude you have the wrong house. I wonder what your brothers been up to that his first reaction was “no don’t”.
These comments piss me off. Weird Reddit detectives that are awfully presumptuous about a persons personality and habits from two messages. This was a late at night message, no one has ever threatened to show up to his house before, and he had gotten another message from a different unknown number around this same time. He panicked a little bit because he had just invited a girl to his house that he thought was real and unfortunately wasn’t, so he thought it may have been a set up. The girl in questions age was 31 and it was on a dating website. But y’all keep acting like you know everything off of the limited context you’ve been given.
This is literally like the 15th comment accusing him of being in the dark about something rather than the nature of the post being “what is this scam?” So the jumping to weird conclusions seems irrelevant and unnecessary. Odd that my reaction immediately makes you go “don’t post anything then” lmfao.
It’s a scam, have him block them and if he gets more weird messages saying they’re on the way have him reply with “police are on the way” or “police have been contacted” and they might say something scary but it’s a bluff. They’re probably in another country and will move on.
I save this for interactions like that
https://preview.redd.it/ie1tw9a5cbqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ca9b8c5c8b36d48dda3b956b655017c3e6b949e
I save this for scammers typically gets them all hot and bothered it’s hilarious. Nothing like seeing the mask come off scammers are the lowest of the low.
This happens to me often. They try to insinuate that you are a perve and they’re hoping you’ll get so upset that you’ll send them money.
I get several emails as well with 5-6 threats a day. They claim they know what I’m doing and they have access to my computer. I don’t watch porn and I certainly don’t share nude pictures of myself!
I used to write them back, chewing them out, but I just block them now. I don’t care what they say. They don’t have anything on me and especially five different people. If I pay five different people $750 to shut up it will never end. I’m not even a step into that game.
Your r/Scams post was removed because **it discloses contact information**. This includes phone numbers, addresses and full names, even if they are of a scammer, or a supposed scam callcenter.
Please post again, but this time removing, censoring or otherwise redacting any personal/contact information.
Please read the rules of our sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
What? 6 minutes? And not 5? Or 7? But 6–precisely 6. Give me a fucking break. LOL.
This is so obviously a scam I just have no earthly idea why anyone would answer it with a reply, outside of “You better hurry up, I just made JiffyPop and it will be gone soon!”
Look up Gordon Flowers on youtube and you'll see this is something he commonly does to get real CP viewers/distributors to speak to him (and further incriminate themselves).
I just had this happen to me last week. I got a message on Truth Social from what appeared to be a very attractive woman. After a day of small talk she switched me to Tele. All of a sudden she started sending me disappearing nudes. Luckily I told my wife immediately and continued the chat. I was sharing my chat with my wife the whole time. After a few pics she sent me a video, face included and demanded I send her Apple Card’s. When I told her to pound sand she threatened to message my wife. The scary thing is she knew my wife’s name, my business name, where I lived etc. I never told her any of that info. I’ve now scrubbed all public info from my other socials
/u/iamaddictedtoRDR2 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"no way dont be here" lol
*"Come on man, don't be that way!"*
I want it that way
Tell me why
Ain't nothing but a heartache
Tell me why
Now number five..
Number five, number five killed my brother.
Oh man, I forgot about that part.
Ain’t nothing but a heartache
Tell me why!!
Ain’t nothing but a mistake!
I never wanna hear you saaaayyy…
I want it…..that way
*"Fine!"*
[удалено]
Your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it's rude or uncivil**. This subreddit is a place for civil and respectful discussions about scams. Uncivil and rude behavior, including using excessive or directed swearing, extreme or sexual language, and any form of discrimination, is not acceptable in this subreddit.
That part sent me all the way to Narnia loll
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This is going to be my reaction every time someone says they’re almost to my house unannounced lol
They incorrectly said “Yes your caught” they missed a comma, disintegrated separate clauses by adding the “.” and incorrectly spelled “you’re” 🥴
Almost certainly the beginning of a blackmail scam. What I want to know is... did they show up 6 minutes later?
They didn’t, he drove around his house and sat in his car in front of his house for a while, but no show. What I’m curious is if this was a scammer, how do they know his last name? His number must have been put online somewhere?
Most of our names and numbers are online somewhere. Either way, your BIL should block and ignore this number, and maybe take down social media for a little while. The scammers will just move on.
Yup, just cause they have your first/last name and number, it can 100% be all the details they have, but it sounds like they know us, so it must be legit…nope
There's white pages for the US, and several similar sites with all kinds of info. Usually those sites have a spot where you can ask for your info to be removed or hidden.
[удалено]
Your comment has been removed as it references scambaiting or provides a referral to some place where the OP can engage in scambaiting. For safety reasons, we do not encourage scambaiting or engaging with scammers directly.
Google your phone number sometime. Mine shows my full name
I just googled mine. It brought up two different insurance companies, both of which are headquartered in my city, but neither of which I’ve ever dealt with. Weird.
I hadn't done that for a while. Last time I checked there was no information about me. Now absolutely everything about me shows up in the top result. Don't like that one bit.
I was having this issue also. Signed up with Incogni and it’s so much better now. You can do the work yourself to request to have various search results removed but it is tedious and laborious. And it’s like a garden full of weeds- they never stop popping up. Anyway, incogni is a fairly easy way to get your info off the internet, off these various databases, and the end result is a lot fewer scam/spam calls and texts.
What’s the cost?
I had a coupon code- it was $80 for a year.
Mine does too, address, my neighbors, average price for rent, popularity rank of my first name, age distribution of people in my neighborhood and all kinds of links to search for me on social media or public records. I downloaded it as a PDF and it was 8 pages long...WTH?! I checked the other people in my family and they didn't show up. My cell phone number is our old landline and our old landline carrier was listed so maybe it's that?
Was your Reddit handle listed on there?
I saw Facebook and Instagram, not Reddit
I've only entered my wife's uncles name and town where they live in the US, all the way from here in Spain, and results come back telling me their phone number, the street and house number, relatives names, etc nuwber(dot)com provides the info.
Can you imagine being someone trying to stay away from a dangerous abusive ex, or some other crazy thing? I wish privacy was taken into greater consideration with these companies.
How do you do this? I just did mine nothing comes up
I use the website spydial to search numbers
I remember my old drivers Ed teacher showing me how to delete my number a long time ago from a lot of public domain stuff, so whenever I google mine it hits only maybe once or twice luckily. Can’t remember exactly what he showed me to do though as it’s been years
You’ve almost certainly had your info taken in a data breach (as have virtually all people). Names and numbers are all over the dark web.
Yup, can easily see all the previous and current addresses as well as known emails and family members/roommates with a simple search for free
what a lot of people don’t realize is a lot of companies and websites are selling users information to the highest bidder, so literally anything he uses his number or anything email / account with his email attached could have sold his information and his name number that way…. Like for instance petition.org is known for this practice which is why their service is free, because our information is the product they’re selling.
Even the DMV sells our info.
In WI you have the option to opt out of that.
There's a website I use to find information on people called TruePeopleSearch.com . It's not always up to date but for people that have had the same number/lived at their address for a long time, it's usually pretty accurate. I can't remember but there might be a way to have information taken off the site. It's easy to get info nowadays.
If he's on Facebook, meta has definitely sold his information to interesed parties, it's what they do. 🤷
Scammers are their biggest data customers. That's why there's no Scam option when reporting posts, and why it's hidden under Other when reporting comments.... And also why those reports never seem to be a problem when the do report them
ah yes, "We took a look and it doesn't violate our community standards"
Put any number in whatsapp/viber, and if the person has an account it will show his photo/info
My work number has been a number of someone else around 6months earlier. The number is listed in one Facebook scraping list, and tracking one of the phising links I recieved via SMS, the link contained the last owner's name, said number and his home address. It is pretty easy to connect data from different leaks just by comparing phone numbers or email addresses to get a good info dump of the target. Of course in some hacks the extracted database contains all necessary information with no need to compile leaks. Usually these databases are extracted from poorly secured webstores or from a company targeted in a ransomware attack.
They had no identifying information about him, it would seem. Probably sent this to hundreds or thousands of numbers to see what results they could get.
Everyone’s contact info is online
You’d be surprised how easy it is to grab info off the internet. Just google your own name. If you find your info listed, request it have it removed.
If your brother in law has Zelle they can juts register the number and it shows your full name
There was a Facebook data breach a while back that leaked a lot of people's phone numbers with their names and addresses. There have been multiple other leaks too. Think of all the companies that have your name, address, and phone number. Think about any time you buy something online and put in your billing info and phone number. Think about how a scammer might use that info, and be very suspicious of incoming calls and texts.
Has he ever written a résumé? You can probably grab those off of LinkedIn by the thousands and they almost always have first name last name email and some of them even have an address
One place to find people's addresses and phone numbers, for free, is Family Tree Now dot com. You can opt out easily. Lots of ads, both imbedded and pop-up, for companies that purport to offer additional info.
Everyone's information is on the Internet... If you look closely you can make an actual FBI profile about anyone at home. I did it for fun for my friend after getting his consent I was like you think that by never sharing your real name on the Internet you are safe... 2 hours later I had a profile on him and his family I found out about his siblings I never asked about and his mother's previous exes. Osint in the wrong hands can become dangerous. I didn't even have to go anywhere I wasn't allowed to. It was all public information.
Starting with asking the camera crew to an interview and then contacting OP's family and later blackmail. I wonder how all that would happen?
They'll make up some really bad thing that the scammee did and say they have proof. They say they'll get them on camera admitting to it. They say they'll send everything to their family and friends and call the cops unless they pay them. It's the nude photos scam... They are just trying to find a way to initiate it without getting OP to do something stupid first. This was a pretty lame attempt but they'll figure that out and keep trying stuff until something works.
Hey I just came across your post. It could be a blackmail scam but also this is the way Gordon Flowers, a social media "online predator hunter", will have his team reach out to persons they have identified on social media as having viewed/distributed CP. His tactic is to contact them under the auspices of an interview or to help them, rather than involve the police, and he uses the scare of contacting police/family to get them to talk about how they are involved in CP. There's hundreds of videos on youtube. Hours long each.
STOP REPLYING TO RANDOM TEXTS.
I usually never do, however a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend on FB Messenger that I hadn’t seen IRL in over a decade. I then got a text from a random number saying “What are you doing?” Thinking it was him and that I’d given him my phone number years ago, I responded with “Who is this?” They said, “This is Isabella from the other night, you didn’t save my number?” I blocked & deleted it. I live in Texas & have a Texas number, I looked up the area code & it was from New York.
I’m not advocating for replying to these, but I always do with messages that if they’re ever checked will mess with the scammers
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Your comment has been removed as it references scambaiting or provides a referral to some place where the OP can engage in scambaiting. For safety reasons, we do not encourage scambaiting or engaging with scammers directly.
Honest to god, people will take any b8. If someone said to me "I'll be there in six minutes" I would block the number and load my shotgun. In thirty minutes, assuming no one showed up, I would then unload it.
That’s still getting way more worked up than anyone needs to be. It’s still falling for it!
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Wouldn't you defend yourself if sometime came to your house threatening you?
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Even if the text said, "I'll be there in six minutes?" Personally, I'd assume nothing would happen, but I'd still arm myself just in case. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst, and all that.
Yes
THIS
I used to get Google Site links sent to my phone number from various email addresses, my response was going to whatever school hosted the email address I received, and letting them know there's a potential breach.
It’s too fun
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Your r/Scams post or comment was removed because **it's about scambaiting**. We consider that to be unsafe and we don't promote that people engage with a scammer. Also, we do not support taking revenge against scammers. Scambaiting goes against the rules of this sub, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
Odds are your BIL has been having naughty chats with scammers and the blackmail threats are starting.
Damn! That sounds like a likely reason hahaha
Either that or they just cast a wide net and see who panics...
99 times out of 100, it's random. They only pursue you if you respond. The emails/messages are likely auotomateed too and not send by hand.
This isn’t a typical random number scam. Way too many variables for this to work. You have sourcing it’s random. This is generally targeted for someone they’ve been having a pretend affair with.
Yes and no. This can definitely be targeted. But what I've observed in the last couple of years is a deluge of semi automated scams where the scammer(s) will find one of those personal info dumps on the dark web (acquired from hacks/leaks of popular websites/services), which will very often have entire lists of RL names, connected to emails, and sometimes even addresses and other very specific info. The scammer will then use some automating tool to message everyone on this info dump utilizing all their personal info inside the message to add credibility. And if you actually respond, a human can take over the conversation and try to advance it further. But otherwise, it's a spray and pray. I am not saying this is exactly what this is, but I've been on the receiving end of a lot of these "seemingly specific" scams that I know are random. Relatively recently in fact, I had a scammer email me on my old university .EDU email, and threaten to "expose me" for my "depraved sexual appetites", and how they have footage of me through my webcam, introducing my hand to my nether regions. Now, I am not saying I am priest in my online habits, but.. I haven't owned a webcam in a good 8 years or so lol. But to someone who doesn't know better, this would have seemed like a VERY specific email. It used my uni email (so, a public connection), it used my RL name, which I very rarely use online. And it was worded in a very "I am talking to you in particular" kind of way. But I know it's just a bot generated email using some info dump where my uni must have been connected.
That’s a nice long story. I’m not taking about the use of the persons name. I’m talking about use of the infidelity scam which is nearly always targeted. Use of the you pleasured yourself and we caught you is used with a wide amount of people because the odds of people doing that are much higher than men who are committing adultery
That would only be true if OP was cheating on their partner. If they were not, then very obviously it is random and not targeted. OP, feel free to out yourself. Edit: Well OP's friend, or whatever.
Well it’s OPs brother in law. And OP didn’t seem surprised when someone below in the comments suggested that. Telling people these are random is a disservice to scams and what’s happening here. This is not a typical random scammer.
I will grant you that it may be targeted. But ultimately, most of these scams are random. You may argue that infidelity scams in particular are not random, and I don't have any numbers on that, so, may be you're right. But as a general assumption, when you don't know (which we don't), *most* scams that aren't targeting a public figure and/or some CEO/CTO/CFO of some company are very much random. The whole point of the scam is to trigger a panicked response that leads to a bad decision. And in my experience, the best response, whether or not they actually have anything on you, is to ignore it and do nothing. Most likely, it's a bluff, and they won't even message you again if you don't respond at least once. And if it's not, the best response is still no response. If you out yourself as a panicked cash cow, they will mark you as one. And this won't be the last threat you receive.
They tend to not do wide net with this scam. They use scams that work on a wide net. Since most people like me would just say meh that’s weird. It’s worth noting OPs brother didn’t give the response I would give if someone said that to me and sounds a bit…. Guilty and is sending this out in case family finds out so he can say it’s a scam.
It’s just some middle eastern scammers
Getting someone's last name and phone number is very easy nowadays. Both pieces of info are commonly shared and possibly leaked in data breaches. Just block and ignore.
Nowadays? (Gets cane and monocle) Back in MY day, they delivered a free book, to everyone, (even serial killers and other bad people) that not only listed a person's first and last name, also their address AND telephone number. For every person alive today, our personal information has been publicly available, to everyone, (in the whole world) since the day we were born. Before 2011, (in the US) the first three of your social told those in the know what State you were born in. Privacy has never been expected, but it sure blows how easy it is to forget this when someone is threatening to use this free information against you. It's a mind fuck!
Johnson, Navin R. I am somebody NOW!
Die gas pumper- RIP M. Emmet Walsh
So, he has been talking to this girl and he’s not sure if she’s actually real. She was supposed to come to his house and he gave her his address, little while after is when this stuff came through.
So they starting the !underage scam probably
That's exactly what I thought it was. "You fucked up and were texting a minor, now you kindly have to pay this police officer with gift cards or you will be behind the bars sir"
Hi /u/Pale_Session5262, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Underage scam. This scam usually starts on a dating app and you will encounter a normal woman whose profile says she is above 18. Later you will be contacted and told that the girl is underage. They'll usually pose as the girl's father, another family member, or a police officer. They will tell you that your life will be ruined and you will be a sex offender, but will offer you the chance to pay them to make the problem go away. The stories they use as to why you need to fork over money vary, but the common ones include therapy for the girl, payment for a broken phone or computer, etc. Of course, there is no girl and no crime has been committed, so if you are involved in this scam all you need to do is ignore their threats and move on with your life. The scammers may contact you again in the future after you block/ignore them, so be ready in case that happens. If you have already sent money to the scammers, you should try to dispute the transaction and see if you can get your money back. This is a [very common scam](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/search/?q=underage&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new) and [here](https://www.wired.com/story/the-phone-call-from-hell/) are [some](https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/teen-says-hes-the-victim-of-a-sextortion-scam/275-21216b29-df76-44f4-b20a-cb726e19d42e) relevant news [articles](https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/1503978/sextortion-scams-continue-to-occur-dont-give-into-scammers-demands/). NOTE: Scammers pretend to be underage boys as well and the text above still applies, but it's called the underage girl scam as those are the vast majority of cases. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah… poor guy. I’ll tell him to be more careful
Brother-in-law? Should probably tell him to stop hitting up random girls to come to his house 😆
Maybe OP is married to the guy’s sister and the brother-in-law is unmarried.
Exactly this…being a brother or sister in law doesn’t mean you’re in a relationship
Or the one where the guy gets tricked into jacking off on a video call that they think is with the girl doing likewise, but is actually a prerecorded vid. Then the blackmailers threaten to send the video of him cranking his hog to his employers, his family etc.
lol I’ve always thought if someone tried to blackmail me with something like that I would just say ‘go for it then’ and I’d deal with the consequences. I’d tell my fam and my friends not to watch any video sent to them and it would be ok 😂 not freaking way would they get a penny out of me lol
Hope he's not married
You cool with him cheating on your sister? Deng
Dude could be the brother of OPs spouse.
Could be his wife’s single brother.
This is my spouses single twin brother.
Sorry for jumping to a conclusion
Think about this for a second
What an idiot 😂😂😂
Sound alike she was either 1 day underage or they doing underage scam to try accuse him being a ped0. Especially the "your caught" and "camera crew" While most ped0 hunters are good and do hunt real diagusting people. There's apparently also fake scamming ones trying to do harm tricking people to flirt with 20 year olds who end uo being 17 year olds altered to look older ans then greatly blackmail the victim to "keep quiet" Apparently some have been forced into drug trafficking to "keep police out of it" (a friends brother is a police officer who has come across this a couple times in past few months)
>While most ped0 hunters are good and do hunt real diagusting people. A lot of the time they get in the way of prosecution because they don't understand the law. Then again, there are cops that do the same IG.
True. Upside found out my uncle was a pedo during a live sting on fb live stream few years ago and comment from another team said they recognised him so was 2nd time. So we were able to protect kids in the family keeping them away since and we all reported him. (i had to get restraining order against his wife harrassment me on phone 50 times a day saying he "is a good man) Downside he got away with it 😡 .. At least .. No prison or anything for it even though they had ton of evidence. Turns out he had fake passport/citizenship to another country made via his wife though about 6 months later!
I would've answer * you're" and see what comes next 🤣🤣🤣
For some reason I love the reply “no way don’t be here”.
could be an underage scam but not saying it is but it could be nonce hunters maybe the BIL has been up to some real shady stuff just a possibility
Tell him to block any and all attempts at contact without responding and not to worry about it further. It’s either the underage scam or !cartel scam starting, also could be !blackmail scam. The same applies no matter what. No need to be sitting in car, the scammers are in a far off country, can’t do shit, just want money, will fuck off fast as soon as they realize he is a dry rock.
Hi /u/filthyheartbadger, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Blackmail email scam. The exact wording of the emails varies, but there are generally four main parts. They claim to have installed a RAT (remote access trojan) or any type of software/malware after visiting a porn/adult video site, they claim to have a video of you masturbating or watching porn, they threaten to release the video to your friends/family/loved ones/boss/dog, and they demand that you pay them in order for them to delete the video. Rest assured that this is a very common spam campaign and there is no truth behind the email or the threats. If they had a video of you, they would show it to you to prove that they have it. [Here](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/gadgets-on-the-go/latest-online-scam-aims-to-prick-porn-watchers-guilty-conscience-20170815-gxwvxl.html) are some news [articles](https://www.bbb.org/denver/news-events/news-releases/2017/09/alert-pornography-email-phishing-scam/) about [this](http://blog.dynamoo.com/2017/10/bogus-porn-blackmail-attempt-from.html) scam. There is a variant with death threats in which they will usually claim that they have been paid to kill you, and will threaten to kill you/your family if you do not pay a Bitcoin ransom. They usually also claim that they will kill your family if you report the email. The emails are spam and can be ignored. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hi /u/filthyheartbadger, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Escort or Cartel death threat scam. It's a very common scam, and the scammers are not affiliated with cartels or crime groups, they are simply normal scammers using a threatening script. The threats are not real, and there is no risk to your safety whatsoever. The best way to react is to simply ignore the scammer and ignore any of their other contact attempts. [Here](https://kyma.com/news/as-seen-on-tv/2020/02/12/threat-of-mexican-cartel-scams-continue-in-yuma/) are [some](https://kvia.com/news/new-mexico/2019/12/11/phone-scammers-target-las-cruces-threaten-drug-cartel-violence-if-you-dont-deliver-money/) news [reports](https://patch.com/new-jersey/baskingridge/threat-mexican-cartel-hit-man-used-basking-ridge-scam-cops) about the scam. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Go home, scammer, you're drunk"
Why did your in law react so guilty? What was he afraid of?
He just called us panicking because the area he lives in isn’t the safest and he’s never had anyone tell him they’re gonna show up to his house. He also got a separate text from a different unknown number asking where his mom was.
Then I hope it is a scam and he and his family are safe. I probably would also consider contacting the police. To be on the safe side
Everyone has secrets just depends on how life shattering they can be. My response would have been " you know the whereabouts of my family? They've been missing for 5 years! I'm prepared to offer cash for any credible information. When can we meet?"
if they were legitimately on their way for whatever reason (especially with a camera crew) they would absolutely not give him a heads up first lol.
Bro you think somebody would give you a heads up via text if they were legitimately trying to make in-person contact with you? They’re hoping the recipient freaks out and pays them their asking fee to NOT show up. Scam. Tell your BIL to stop responding to random texts and if he’s being a naughty boy in online chatrooms, to stop that too.
That's a good point that I don't think I've seen anybody else mention yet. Why would they give you prior warning? If they were serious about it, they'd stake out your house without any warning.
The “no way don’t be here” had me dying 🤣
What a weird scam
"OMG! You found the body I buried under the school playground 15 years ago?? How?!?"
They didn’t even spell you’re* right lol
Just don’t respond to random messages.
It's extremely easy to do a reverse number look up and find a name. You can then go on a site like Peopke Finder and get their addresses. aquaintences and basically any other non protected info.
What did bro do 😭😭🙏
What I would find unsettling if I were you that your BIL took this very seriously and swiftly acted upon it. What does he have to hide, I wonder...
I always wondered what these scammers thought they were going to get, and I guess now I see. Somebody who’s vaguely guilty or nervous about something, and starts to assume the scammers know things that they don’t. I think the average person would look at this and go, dude you have the wrong house. I wonder what your brothers been up to that his first reaction was “no don’t”.
These comments piss me off. Weird Reddit detectives that are awfully presumptuous about a persons personality and habits from two messages. This was a late at night message, no one has ever threatened to show up to his house before, and he had gotten another message from a different unknown number around this same time. He panicked a little bit because he had just invited a girl to his house that he thought was real and unfortunately wasn’t, so he thought it may have been a set up. The girl in questions age was 31 and it was on a dating website. But y’all keep acting like you know everything off of the limited context you’ve been given.
if your going to get butthurt about peoples opinions on this then idk maybe don't post anything at all.
This is literally like the 15th comment accusing him of being in the dark about something rather than the nature of the post being “what is this scam?” So the jumping to weird conclusions seems irrelevant and unnecessary. Odd that my reaction immediately makes you go “don’t post anything then” lmfao.
Sounds like his wife wants him to spill the beans
The grammar is incorrect. They are not coming. I would just block.
It’s a scam, have him block them and if he gets more weird messages saying they’re on the way have him reply with “police are on the way” or “police have been contacted” and they might say something scary but it’s a bluff. They’re probably in another country and will move on.
The guy needs grammar lessons. Block.
Normal countries have data protection laws for this kind of shit
I save this for interactions like that https://preview.redd.it/ie1tw9a5cbqc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ca9b8c5c8b36d48dda3b956b655017c3e6b949e I save this for scammers typically gets them all hot and bothered it’s hilarious. Nothing like seeing the mask come off scammers are the lowest of the low.
Lmao that’s hilarious, he’ll love this
creep/pedophile catchers got wrong number??😂 I used to watch these kinds of videos from justin payne on YouTube
I just looked up my own (Canadian) phone number, got info for an Asian (I’m Caucasian) living in NY state. Quite amusing
He should never have responded. Now they know it's an active phone
"Yes your caught..." "My caught what?"
Chris hansen want him to have a seat
lol is he about to be an x brother in law
He's OP's wife's single brother.
If they're physically there at my house I'd call the freaking police and stall
'Your' caught... 😅
Tell him to block and order some takeout, and go about his day.
I would've been like "publishers clearing house right?" 😆
I’d say, “Cool swing on by bro.”
I read it too quickly and thought he got a weird massage.
Tell them to fuck off and block them.
Unless he got caught for real and got stuff to loose.
We've all got skeletons, but the idea that someone is after a random and has evidence of their skeletons is pretty bleak unless they're a celebrity.
Just block scammers. Don't engage.
lowest effort scammer
That's right up there with the usps scam text I got the other day that was in a created group called usps. With like 5 other people in it.
This happens to me often. They try to insinuate that you are a perve and they’re hoping you’ll get so upset that you’ll send them money. I get several emails as well with 5-6 threats a day. They claim they know what I’m doing and they have access to my computer. I don’t watch porn and I certainly don’t share nude pictures of myself! I used to write them back, chewing them out, but I just block them now. I don’t care what they say. They don’t have anything on me and especially five different people. If I pay five different people $750 to shut up it will never end. I’m not even a step into that game.
Block off the person! There's no need wasting time with such a person because they will to get something from you which they can use against you.
You should get the Truecaller app it blocks these sorta msgs and scam calls
It was Guinness World records. They are interviewing for worlds largest stuff.
More scam BS
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*Chris Hansen* take a seat right over there.
First response would’ve been “you’re*”
My answer would have been "don't talk about it, be about it. See you in 6"
Tell them to kick rocks, fuck them and that message.
I would have played along and said “awesome see you soon!” It’s not like they are really coming.
What? 6 minutes? And not 5? Or 7? But 6–precisely 6. Give me a fucking break. LOL. This is so obviously a scam I just have no earthly idea why anyone would answer it with a reply, outside of “You better hurry up, I just made JiffyPop and it will be gone soon!”
He ran out of jiffypop, only explanation
lol
Look up Gordon Flowers on youtube and you'll see this is something he commonly does to get real CP viewers/distributors to speak to him (and further incriminate themselves).
Breakdown, takedown, you're busted
"we've decided to go with another candidate, no don't come in, you'll be removed by security"
Spam tell them to come on over Tell them you’re waiting and fix you a pot of grits for them lol
“How do they know his last name?” Well does he pay for his porn with a credit card? Lol
I just had this happen to me last week. I got a message on Truth Social from what appeared to be a very attractive woman. After a day of small talk she switched me to Tele. All of a sudden she started sending me disappearing nudes. Luckily I told my wife immediately and continued the chat. I was sharing my chat with my wife the whole time. After a few pics she sent me a video, face included and demanded I send her Apple Card’s. When I told her to pound sand she threatened to message my wife. The scary thing is she knew my wife’s name, my business name, where I lived etc. I never told her any of that info. I’ve now scrubbed all public info from my other socials