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Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
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Earlier this week I had a very random direct message via one of my Instagram accounts.
The profile seemed to be a young man, late teens, to early 20s from the picture.
How is this odd you may ask? I’ll tell you.
The person asked for money for Christmas dinner.
I don’t know if this is a possible scam but I will be treating it like one.
For me, this is a new request. I’d had previous experience with money requests. Most were from scammers but most of those requested gift cards. I did have an account ask me for $500 USD once to pay bills.
I usually block these accounts and don’t interact with them.
I did this.
The DM
As I mentioned the DM seemed to be from an account that had a profile picture of a young man.
Can you send me 50- 100$ for Christmas dinner emoji happy face with love hearts dm me back thanks youuu
DM text
When I saw this DM I went and viewed the profile. The profile had a one-photo group of pictures that looked like they were from a High school or college dance. Possibly a 20-something’s wedding. They were mainly group photos of friends and the person who is the account holder.
Things that caught my eye
One of the big things that caught my eye was that the dollar sign ($) was at the end of the dollar request. That’s usually a tell tale sign that the person isn’t from the US. Most countries have their money symbol after the value amount. This may vary by country but I’ve seen it used on pricing for products that are sold outside of the US.
Also, the requested amount is weird too. If your going to ask a random stranger for money why ask for $50 to $100 USD? Why not ask for a smaller amount? You’d think you’d get more money that way. Maybe that’s just my thought on it.
Also, the typo of Thank was Thanks you. The extra u’s on you was a bit much too. almost like the person was trying to play up the person’s age possibly.
The sender also just cut to the chase no hi I’m sorry to bother you or anything. just can you send me money?
Trying to pry on charity
I get that it’s the holiday season and we want to be a bit charitable. But then again this is a random money request so I can see someone thinking this could be an act of kindness and send some money.
But again you don’t know much else aside from the money request stating it will be for Christmas dinner.
This could be a phishing scam
I can see how this could be a phishing or ID scam because if you reply back and ask for more info or where to send the money. You may be asked to send it via Paypal or a similar service or maybe even something like Zelle.
what you can do
If you are sent a request like this one you can block the account and report it to Instagram. You can also let people know that this is happening as well.
