Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
This post may contain affiliate links. If a product or service is purchased using a link(s) in the post below a small commission may be earned.
Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
Any info cited for this post was found via a general online search.
I had a new fake follower on Instagram today. The screen name claimed to be a charity. When I read the bio it shared that it was created by a 2019 New Jersey lottery winner. I had heard of this scam in the past. I think I may have posted about it as well.
Still, it seems this needs to be shared again. If you are contacted by a profile claiming to be run by Mike Weirsky it’s a scam.
Yes, he won a large Mega Millions jackpot but he’s not giving all of his money away.
a little background on the scam
This scam has been going around since Mr. Weirsky won the lottery in 2019. I’ve seen it a few times now. But this is the first time I’ve seen it on Instagram trying to masquerade as a charity.
I found this post via Impulse Finance that shares about Mr. Weirsky and the scam.
I’ve also found a few other sources.
Scamadviser has a video about this scam.
Scampulse has a few examples of this scam too.
This scam has been around for a while
I’ve encountered this scam at least twice before. One features this 2019 winner another features a woman who won a larger jackpot.
Both are similar in the tactics they use on social media to captivate people. Let’s be honest people won’t turn down the change at free money.
The larger the sum the better.
The IG profile
This profile followed me earlier today.
It claims to be a Charity program.
Let’s talk about the bio info for a minute. It reads as follows:
I’m mike Weirsky winner of mega lottery of $273m in NJ and I’m willing to help people with sum of $80.000.00 each to my first 1K followers.
Charity program bio text
here’s the thing
If you read the text you notice some words are missing and the text isn’t broken up into sentences. I understand Instagram has a character limit but it’s one long run-on sentence.
You should also notice that the lottery mentioned is mega, not mega millions so this is a scam profile.
The biggest red flag has to be that the profile is private.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again if a profile is private be suspicious or investigate it a bit more.
the money sum is odd
Why would you be so set on $80,000 USD to give away? You would think people would be happy with $1,000 or maybe even $5,000 USD.
But once again you need the higher money amount to entice people to follow back.
How is this a scam?
I have a feeling this could be a phishing scam or a guise to get you to sign up for something before giving you your prize money.
I came across an old post from Facebook from 2020 (that is still up) that had a similar offer. One person commented that they had been messaged and asked to sign up for cryptocurrency exchange.
what not to do
- Don’t reply back to these types of direct messages or followers.
- Don’t follow any links.
- Don’t provide any personal information (such as your address, phone number, credit card, or banking info).
don’t fall for this scam
Remember if it’s too good to be true it probably is. Always be cautious when it comes to these types of followers or direct messages.
You can report the profile to the platform you were contacted on. I reported this one to Instagram. You can also block them as well.
