[Post #31 of the Blaugust Challenge!]
No blaugust bonus today since it's about real life anyway.
I was recently contacted on Facebook by an old schoolmate who lives overseas. She was asking for any amount of money to help her sick child since she was in a difficult financial position. I replied, asking what was wrong with the kid and what she told me sounded worrying but at least not life threatening. She was also very thankful for any help I could give her and provided me with her address and details. She also mentioned that the fastest way of getting support was through Western Union, which I know a bunch of people use but since I never have I decided to look up reviews of it in google. Hmm, apart from the possibility of extra hidden fees it sounded like they more or less always got the money to where you wanted it to go. What they didn't do is ever take it back if you sent it to a wrong person or purchased a dodgy item for example.
Interesting. Next step was to look up my schoolmate. I found her twitter pretty easily. One of her latest posts read as "Don't know what happened to my account. I was only informed about the problem today." Hmm, possible security flag? To be on the safe side, I decided to get a simple verification check from her - one that would prove she wasn't a hacked account. I request for a current photo of the person holding up today's newspaper, where I can clearly see her face and the date and front page articles. The next step would be to check and make sure that whatever newspaper was depicted -actually- had a front page that looked like that.
She replied saying she didn't have a webcam right now and instead told me of memories from our younger years. Memories I don't remember (because I have a bad memory). Memories that could have been shared to others. I politely asked again for the picture proof before I sent anything. It's been eight days now and I haven't heard back. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I didn't think it was an overly difficult test to pass.
In today's day and age you're being rather sensible, actually. As our means of getting in touch with others (and ripping them off) expand exponentially via the interwebs it's imperative that everyone learn how to safeguard themselves, their personal information, and their finances. So, thanks for the education!
ReplyDeleteGlad it might help someone else and thanks for posting! :)
DeleteYeah I've had rather "hot" women friend request me and then immediately ask me to text them, at a number that doesn't sound legit. Or they ask for your email, and then send you information to sign up for porn sites. I've not had it be someone that I knew already though. One way or the other, someone in that position *probably* wouldn't beg people for money. Sounds like a scam to me.
ReplyDeleteGood to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. Thanks Izlain!
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