Scam Spam? No Thank You, Ma'am! The tale of 'Ariana-not-so-Grande'.

“John, it’s been a long time, I’m Ariana. How have you been?”

Thus begins yet another attempted scam, the same as thousands upon hundreds of thousands initiated via messaging services every single day.

Her profile pic shows “Ariana” to be an attractive young lady smiling over breakfast - which leads me to wonder whether the best defence against these ploys is just a happy and committed relationship.

I briefly consider playing the part of naive victim long enough to discern which of the two most likely scams this will be - investment or romance? I can’t be 100% sure yet which of the deadly sins they’re attempting to exploit, but I know it's either greed or lust.

But I know better than to play along, and to give them credit WhatsApp warn me too: “This sender is not in your contacts.” They offer me the option to block or report the messenger; I do both.

The fact is, I already know where this is going.

“Ariana” isn’t the name of the person on the other end, and that’s not their picture either. And - please make sure you’re seated when you read this - there’s not even any 'John'.

The picture, shown above, is stolen from social media with the sole intention of soliciting responses to the “innocent wrong number” message. The scammers know that many people will want to believe they’ve made a connection with this young lady for not so pure purposes.

Even if a recipient is not moved by romantic notions (or baser instincts), how could they NOT trust someone who so clearly loves chips, hash browns, coffee AND croissants? They have so much in common!

The most likely scam here may not be what you’re thinking though. 10 years ago, I’d have put money on this being a romance scam, but these days I’m less certain.

Don't get me wrong: impersonating somebody attractive to garner interest in a feigned virtual relationship is how romance scams begin. But the other option that is just about as likely is an investment scam.

Whichever type of scam "Ariana" represents is largely irrelevant - and it definitely is one or the other; they're similar in most respects anyway.

The aim in either case is to get me, the victim, to send money to the scammer who is posing as "Ariana”.

The photo is the “hook” to get victims to respond for the reasons mentioned above - which is why I didn’t. Each response is like a vibration through a spiderweb - it confirms that my number is monitored by somebody who can be baited into replying. Just as spiders endeavour to cover a wide space, scammers don’t just send little old me a message - this is one of thousands. Triage is important for the enterprising scammer, and response rates are low, so if somebody does reply the scammer will hone in on the number. Thus, even if they evade 'Ariana', they'll be more likely to be targeted again in future.

If somebody does respond, the playbook for the scammer is largely the same whether the angle is romance or riches.

First - they will apologise, because I’m evidently not John.

Second - they will say that since we are in touch, now, anyway, “Ariana” would like to get to know me more.

Third - they will begin to send me pictures and details about her - all fake - to build a connection. "I like to ride bikes" or "I love to cook" or "I am going on a trip". OR: "I love to invest. Do you know much about investing?"

Last - once the 'connection' is built, whether hastily or over several months, they will solicit a payment. And they'll repeat this step as often as possible for ever-increasing amounts before eventually disappearing into the great, virtual unknown.

Aside from the general flow, there's many similarities in how the scammers will speak and act:

• They'll usually avoid using your name very much, which makes copying and pasting at least partly from pre-written scripts much easier.
• They'll typically avoid speaking through a social media account if it's well established, and try to take you to WhatsApp or another external comms channel. This is more so that they can continue the ruse through that account with other victims more easily.
• The situation will be, always, too good to be true. How many people do you know that have invested $300 and made $50,000? How many have met their one true love through a random wrong number? If it sounds like a movie plot, it's fiction as well.

There are some differences too, of course. Romance scammers will tend to generally invest more time and take things slower than investment scammers. Still very, very fast by relationship standards - but slower at least than investment scammers who seem to aim to fail fast and quickly move on. Victims give their hearts slower than their cash, it seems.

The other difference is the pretence for the eventual payment request. For romance, it’ll be tickets to help them come meet, or a Visa application fee, or a Passport cost, or money to afford minutes on their phone service or to pay an urgent medical bill. For investment, it’ll be the “banks hate us” type absurdly high guaranteed investment returns. "Algorithmic trading", binary options, an Elon Musk backed crypto venture, all of these and their like are common. Any websites they provide will be overflowing with pictures of celebrities and famous business icons, as well as "real people" and the crazy returns they made.

Of course, once money is sent, it's not used for these fake purposes. In fact, it’s gone and very difficult to retrieve, even for banks and law enforcement. Often scammers won't immediately cut contact after getting the first payment though. Just as responding may mark a particular mobile number as worth re-targeting, paying will very often indicate somebody who can be stung again, either through a continuation or a brand new scam.

This is how vulnerable people fall for #fraud.

Best steps to protect yourself and others:

• Ensure your friends and family members who are more vulnerable know about scams. Education is the best medicine!
• Especially for anyone who lives alone or is older... Check in regularly. Bring it up randomly. Normalise discussion of scams and scam victims - without judgement. Ask them: "have you had anyone contact you recently and strike up a conversation?" If you establish this habit now, it'll be that much less confronting and more likely to be believed when they say "actually... yes!"
• Do not respond to scammers, EVEN to waste their time. I get it, it's fun, the guys on YouTube do it, every second of theirs you waste is one that they're not scamming someone else... it doesn't matter. You can be exposed to vulnerability that you don't realise, or at the very least torrents of abuse.
• Double. Check. EVERYTHING. If somebody contacts you, contact them back at a reputable and verifiable number.
• Separate the pixels from the person. Remember that if you haven't met somebody face to face, you don't know them. No exceptions.
• Just because you see something or someone on a website, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, etc, do NOT assume it's legitimate. The World Wide Web is crawling with spiders.
• If in doubt, shout out. Talk to your bank, a friend, a family member. The ACCC has fantastic resources on their Scam Watch website
• Use those "report" and "block" buttons - don't hold back!
• Match the chat to the platform. Someone messaging me out of nowhere trying to get money for an investment is highly irregular. Someone messaging me randomly and wanting to be romantic is too. Even when the message matches the platform - romantic messages on a dating site, for instance - ALWAYS exercise caution. The "Tinder Swindler" was a real guy.

If you have any other useful tips for spotting Romance and Investment Scams, useful differentiations between the two, or ways for staying safe online, please leave them in the comments.

Until next time - may your spam only come in a can, and not via your mobile devices!!!