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Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
header image provided by Pixabay
It’s 2023 and we are barely into our first week of the year. That being said Instagram direct messages never seem to disappoint.
I had an interesting DM interaction recently that left me puzzled and suspicious. I had a feeling the chat would have progressed into a relationship scam before long.
I’ll explain a bit more about that later.
the chat
The chat started off with someone random account reaching out to me. At the time of the original DM had a photo of a man by the name of Shane. The image has since been changed. That’s neither here nor there just a bit of background.
The messenger seemed to be inquiring about collaborations. the only reason I replied was that the person seemed to be in urgent need of an answer. Basically, they spammed me.
I have an auto-reply set up on my Instagram account to direct people to contact us via the correct page for collaborations.
Note: All screenshot images were taken from Instagram Desktop. My bubbles are gray the Messengers are white.
As the chat went on the person wanted to know more about me. I always find it suspicious because I’ve been contacted by profiles trying to sell me MLM and romance scammers too.
I made it clear that I wasn’t looking for a date or love via DM.
The one thing that caught my eye was the person’s repeated use of Are you here to be honest with me (it shows up again later in the chat). I found that odd if they were the ones who contacted me.
Now here’s where the DM gets a bit odd.
what they were selling
The messenger finally admits they are selling… Wait for it… dog and golds. You may think as I did what?
These are the most random items to sell together. Also selling animals is clearly against Instagram and Facebook’s terms of use.
I’d like to point out that the person is clearly from outside of the United States because they stated dog and golds. Not gold. So that raised a red flag.
The chat went on I clearly let them know I wasn’t interested in either product.
Things take a turn
After sharing I wasn’t interested in buying a gold chain from the messenger they keep talking. They once again used the honesty remark.
However, this time they state:
: Am here to be honest and reliable.
followed by: Am not here to hurt someone to make myself happy.
No, those comments made me wonder if this would turn into a romance scam.
They were determined
The messenger kept talking and mentioned that they were selling (dog and golds) to help support their family. Especially a daughter. Being familiar with some romance scams the use of children tends to be a ploy.
The messenger also mentioned that their profile was private because of scammers. (doesn’t that sound odd to anyone else or is it just me?).
Even after I mentioned I wasn’t interested they sent two photos of gold chains.
The chains have unique pricing (which I assume is the price) it seems to be from outside of the United States.
Here is a larger image of the first chain. The image source is unknown.
I once again notified the messenger that I wasn’t interested in their products and blocked the account.
what’s happened since
Since the original DM, the account has changed the profile picture to a group of chains but still goes by the name of Shane.
I have a feeling this was a profile from overseas. I also think the chat would have eventually been changed into a romance scam.
don’t buy products via DM
Don’t fall for these types of product scams. To me, this could have turned out poorly for someone who thought they were getting a good deal on a gold chain. I have a feeling this was a phishing attempt or a money-wiring scam.
