Cash App Scammers Are Using Coronavirus To Exploit People (qz.com) 34
An anonymous reader shares a report: Reyna is a teenager in Florida whose family is strapped for cash amid the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus. When the uber-popular beauty influencer Jeffree Star tweeted that he'd be giving out $30,000 via payment service Cash App to a random person who retweeted him, she did just that. Star's offer seems to have been legitimate -- and drummed up a lot of attention for the influencer. A woman actually won the $30,000, and Reyna missed out. But then another Twitter user messaged Reyna asking whether she wanted to get $250, she told Quartz. "My goal is to help those in need or need emergency cash," the person said. The catch was that she'd have to pay $25 first. "Your deposit along with our other earnings allows us to immediately send you your payment," the person said. Reyna sent the cash, and that's when the Twitter user blocked her, and her money was gone, she said.
What happened to Reyna is a popular Cash App scam called "cash-flipping," according to Satnam Narang, researcher at the cybersecurity company Tenable. Con artists are taking advantage of the coronavirus by pretending they are helping the needy. While Reyna simply got a direct message to lure her in after she expressed interest in a legitimate giveaway, other scammers have been promoting fake giveaways in public tweets adding "#coronavirus" in order to reach more people. Sometimes they will request money through Cash App pretending that it's a verification mechanism. "They'll say, you won this giveaway, send us $10 to verify to win 500 bucks," Narang said. The scammers say they have a special way of modifying the transactions through payment applications like Cash App, Paypal, Zelle, Venmo, or Apple Pay, Narang wrote in a blog post explaining the scams. "All they ask for is that the recipient share the initial cut with them for providing them this so-called service." This, of course, is all made up.
What happened to Reyna is a popular Cash App scam called "cash-flipping," according to Satnam Narang, researcher at the cybersecurity company Tenable. Con artists are taking advantage of the coronavirus by pretending they are helping the needy. While Reyna simply got a direct message to lure her in after she expressed interest in a legitimate giveaway, other scammers have been promoting fake giveaways in public tweets adding "#coronavirus" in order to reach more people. Sometimes they will request money through Cash App pretending that it's a verification mechanism. "They'll say, you won this giveaway, send us $10 to verify to win 500 bucks," Narang said. The scammers say they have a special way of modifying the transactions through payment applications like Cash App, Paypal, Zelle, Venmo, or Apple Pay, Narang wrote in a blog post explaining the scams. "All they ask for is that the recipient share the initial cut with them for providing them this so-called service." This, of course, is all made up.
Re: (Score:3)
If you are dumb enough to fall for this, you deserve to be scammed.
Actually, no. Someone can be a wonderful person, a hard worker, do everything and anything for their wife and children, and be gullible. They don't deserve to be scammed.
On the other hand, if someone scammed Donald Trump out of a billion dollars, I would applaud them.
The apps could fix that (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
So make it even harder for smaller businesses to start out is your solution?
Like stating someone with a lot of cash bills must be a drug dealer...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So make it even harder for smaller businesses to start out is your solution?
Like stating someone with a lot of cash bills must be a drug dealer...
A small business would have an EIN and business license that could prove they are legit as well as a way to identify them. A scammer is not likely to have that or provide the necessary information to obtain one.
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt it. Fill in the blanks:
A ____ and his _____ are soon parted.
Re: (Score:1)
Ooooo, Mad Libs, I love these! Let me try!
Trump, presidency
Re: (Score:2)
Ponzi (Score:3)
Even if she got paid (which obviously she wouldn't), it would still be a Ponzi scheme.
Grift and greed (Score:3)
As if any of this was anything new, except the topic of how you're going to get some money.
Next there will be a touchless three card monty online.
cash-flipping? (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't this simply a version of the Advance-fee scam [wikipedia.org]?
Or does it have a new name because it's through an App?
Re: cash-flipping? (Score:2)
Re: cash-flipping? (Score:1)
Yeah it's the "Advance Fee Scam, On A Phone." There's a patent on it, ya know...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Take it out of my winnings (Score:4, Funny)
I've probably had 10-15 of these offers over the years. The first time I was 18 didn't have the 'seed money' and asked why it couldn't be be deducted (hang up). Ever since it has been instinct.
Rules to live by (Score:3)
Nice try (Score:2)
Stuff like this... (Score:2)
Scammers (Score:3)
Speaking of never letting a good crisis go to waste...
Aliens could be bombarding the planet from orbit and some asshole would send email: "Send me $25 now and get my patented Alien-Be-Gone rock! Guaranteed your house won't be turned into a smoking crater if you buy this rock!"
Somewhere along the line, we as a species learned to dream, and to work to realize our dreams. That ability has made us the most physically capable species ever to inhabit the Earth. The price we pay for that evolutionary flexibility: asshats.
Calling SMOD (Score:3)
uber-popular beauty influencer
Fuck off.
Pleased to see... (Score:2)
that the last couple of bitcoin wallets that the parasitic fake blackmail assholes sent me the addresses of two days ago remain empty.
Perhaps we're getting slightly less dumb.
A fool and their money are soon parted (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Really? (Score:3, Insightful)
The catch was that she'd have to pay $25 first.
Well if you want to send me $250 but need $25 first... just send me $225 and keep the extra $25. Duh. Anybody who falls for this was going to lose that $250 to something stupid at some point...
Money only goes one way (Score:2)
Only scammers say: "here's some, now send some back" or "pay some first and you'll get a lot more"
I've told my family and friends that: "Money only goes one way". /still had a friend get scammed. Hard learner.
A good lesson (Score:3)
On the plus side, $25 is pretty cheap for an excellent lesson on being sceptical.
The best lessons are not those that are told, but those that are experienced.
It was $1 (Score:1)
This used to be a thing but it was $1. Anyone asking for $25 needs to offer me a lot more: A verified name and email and address and company number. Randomly appearing in my Twitter feed would probably result in a Google search.
This is a miniature version of the Nigerian scam.
If they want money, they are scammers (Score:2)
If a lottery wanted to hand me $1,000,000 in cash, but the cost of secure transport to my home is $1,000, they would just put $999,000 in a suitcase and send it to my home for free. If they ask for $1,000, it's a scam. Some stupid people think "but if the chance is only one in 1,000 that it's genuine, it's still a good deal". The chance isn't one in 1,0
Re: If they want money, they are scammers (Score:1)
The lottery wants to give me 40 million but I must give them $2 first, and even then they probably won't actually give it to me.
Re: (Score:2)
Lottery: Buy a $2 ticket and you could win millions!
Scam: You won millions! But we need you to pay us so we can give it to you.