Scam accounts

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rfsatar
rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
edited October 2023 in Introduce Yourself
Decided to string along a scam account. Usual stuff. Wants to friend you, all their details are private. Flattery and they almost always ask how you use MFP, what devices.
Then push to move to WhatsApp, Telegram.
Frustrated him a bit when he wanted to know if I was single or married (I just replied "I am ....."
When he asked which was it I replied "yep"
Then he moved on to sending me pics of his mythical kids so I said I wasn't actually interested in seeing the pics of some bloke's kids off MFP.

Strung him along for a bit saying I would be more than happy to chat about his MFP journey on here. Eventually I said what would be the point of giving him a number if he was US Army, (supposedly) based in Iraq and US based when I lived somewhere else.

At that point he must have blocked me or his profile had been taken down by complaints from the other 51 women he had tried to friend since joining YESTERDAY!

Always so much fun to mess with them if it stops them actually going after someone who is vulnerable and possibly could believe them.
But the sad thing is that for every one person who sees this for the cat fishing scammer he is, I worry that there is someone who does fall for it, so be careful out there folks!

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,174 Member
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    Was this by any chance one of the stephentownes IDs? Just curious.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    No it was a Christcj one. Same pattern as another one a while back …
    What do you use for mFP
    Beautiful and fit
    Single or married
    Then wanting to go straight into WhatsApp or Telegram
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,473 Member
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    I wish we had a bright red or unavoidable sticky that warned new members about scammers.

    You like to think people are aware when putting themselves online, but…..

    I’m a terrible over-sharer myself, but even I blanch when a new member posts “single/divorced/X number of kids/living in (insert town or state).

    It’s like open season on the blithely innocent, eager new user.

    I just shudder at the number of emails they’re fixing to get from stacked guys and clear eyed upright military guys in crisp uniforms- often with kids in the profile pics.

    It also *kitten* me off beyond reason that they do this on a weight loss site where people may be more self conscious and thus more vulnerable.
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
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    Exactly - I have long moved on from calorie counting and was diagnosed as a diabetic in 2017 so use the app to log and count my carbs but it just made me laugh out loud with the “I can see from your photo that you are so strong and I know you will get through this” - really? From a photo 4 years before I was diagnosed? AMAZING!!

    When he wanted to send me pics of his mythical kids I thought he would get the hint with the “oh that’s ok - I don’t want to nor did I even ask to see pics of your children” - just a lot of “that’s ok I understand”

    I dragged it out for as long as I could though.

    But you are right - people who are probably at a more vulnerable point in their life are the ones at risk for just that fraction of a second before they start to take solid control of their lives …
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,174 Member
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    @rfsatar, I hope you reported him to MFP? I encourage everyone to do that, so the jerk won't prey on others who may be more naive or vulnerable.

    You probably know this, but for others: IDs like this can be reported through the Chat under the Help link, or you can DM an MFP staff member. (We can DM the staff's IDs even if they aren't our MFP friends.)

    MFP staff IDs can be found here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10028709/meet-our-community-team#latest

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