ATS Catfishes Beware.

a reply to: windword

True, I said several times everybody must be careful ...
That includes men and women.
Every member of ATS!

What cannot be denied though is that we are under a collective phishing type of attack.

Bad people see our vulnerabilities.

Say, when we drink or share too much info.

And they have ways of coaxing it.

I admit - I let one person go.
But I know the circumstances.
That's one lucky break.
That could have been somebody's entire inheritance.
But it wasn't yet.
But that was lucky chance.
I won't do it again.
Next time it's Interpol.

a reply to: halfoldman

Im not a fat lonely old person..... im not worried when someone beautiful talks to me....

a reply to: halfoldman

Would you like pics of me genitals...... there is a difference between vulnerable and desperate.. tons of free porn out there man. Flesh always has and always will come at a price.

a reply to: Aeshma

Exactly!

Preach it brother.

Love don't come for free.

a reply to: halfoldman

The louder the screm, the fatter the teet.

a reply to: Aeshma

Cattle - quite a construct.

They come in the night, and they cut the sinews off the cow's legs.

Dreadful.

Now it's up to the farmer to kill those cattle all at once.
It's heartbreaking.

originally posted by: halfoldman
"I love you ... and my sister lives in your part of the country."
You'll be surprised what you reveal to a complete stranger.

Most guys are putty in their hands.

I know a LOT of people. Out of hundreds, there might be one dude I know who would fall for anything of the sort.

Most, when experiencing a "dry spell" will just, ahem, "take matters into their own hands" - long before becoming desparate enough to fall for such obviousity™

You know, a lot of people ask, how can I ever enter a cult, or how can I ever be played?

Well, it happens every day!

call me stupid - but i am unable to comprehend how // why most of these scams get any take-up ?

on farcebook - yes i do usse it extensivly - i get at least 2 spurious friends request // week

and just ignore all of them - as its so bloody obvious - its painfull .

some people i suspect are not scammers - but just genuily delusional chumps playing the " who ever dies with the most farcebook friends wins - game "

and with 5 active email accounts -in addition to the usual crap - i now get scams claiming to be one of my other identites - which is strangely ammusing - esp when i use my full real name on 3 of the accounts

maybe its just me - but i dont actually want to meat some stranger who shows no evidence of any shared interest or activity

thanks for the "`warning " - but i suspect that those who actually need to listen to it - are already too far gone

a reply to: ignorant_ape

They always got a different mode.

You're single and male, and some random woman tells you she loves you.

She got you by the ...

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I suppose you're right.

I'm curious how they choose their 'prey'.

As far as ATS goes, some of us are quite open about our personal lives (not last names or any of that) and I suppose someone could glean enough information to make some sort of assessment regarding loneliness or assume some sort of financial situation.
I've made some very dear friends on ATS but, those initial steps required trust and some risk and, fortunately for us, they were worth it (well I speak for myself, of course).
I have a male friend on FB who routinely falls for 'catfish'. He refuses to heed my warnings and won't listen to any reason. It's to the point that I almost don't feel sorry for him anymore. He's not an idiot (completely), he is just desperate for romantic love and that is his vulnerability and weakness but, I continue to support him (we've been friends for 20+ years) and hopefully one of these times will be the straw that breaks the camel's back (so to speak).
I suppose I get, on average, 2 or 3 random friend requests per week on old FB. The attractive gentlemen are 90% dressed in military attire, stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan and divorced. I ignore it and within 2 days, the profile has disappeared.
I wonder if these 'scammers' pick names or letters of the alphabet and send requests to everyone with that name or name that starts with the letter?
Another friend, is quite vocal in his dislike of any picture I take so I replaced my profile pic with an actual pic of my dog. For those couple of weeks, the requests actually increased so, I don't think the 'scammers' are basing their fishing tactics on pictures alone.

Anyway, sorry that's happened to you. I was 'catfished' once, it didn't get far enough along for money to get involved. It hurt none the less when I discovered that the friendship was not genuine (or reciprocated) and, basically, nearly everything that I had been told was a lie. My children's father will ask me (my advice rather) if someone approaches him that seems 'too good to be true' or he is sceptical of them. If there's someone that you trust out there in your world, perhaps you could run these 'new' friendships through them first. A second set of eyes couldn't hurt.

Good luck to you.

originally posted by: halfoldman
Say if somebody likes a song in a music thread.
She's got a very cute name.

A woman tells you she loves you with private messages.
Most dudes here won't say no.
What guy would?

Let's get better acquainted...
And in five minutes she has a ton of info.

You might as well have posted your name and location on the thread.

Man, I know you don't go for the ladies, but you must think that there are a lot of us who do, that are idiots. Everyone I know, who isn't 14 (I don't know any 14 year olds btw), knows that a random friend request or unsolicited message on social media is dodgy.

It's when you already know them, for years, knowing who they know and how the interact with others, that's when you have to be wary... speaking from experience. Pretty girl invites you to facebook, from a forum left best unnamed, you go, bides her time, gets to play with you for a while with promises, then you discover what they're really like and you're likely one in a string of blokes she's decided to just have fun with.

Only it didn't cost my bank account, just my heart. For what? a silly princess' game. See how many men she can wrap around her little finger, and worst, the people who became aware of it are still seduced by her intoxicating allure, and turn their back on you when you yell into silence, for no one to hear, coming across like some mental patient in a ward "I swear she was, I swear she was real." resulting in "You need to get medical help." Even when evidence of what happened is presented, blind eyes see nothing, and deaf ears only hear what they want to.

But the "Hi, I saw you post, I think you're really nice." message with a profile with 5 brand new busty pictures with collagen lips, 9 friends all named rahjib, and some comments saying "Vry Nice I love you" in her picture posts, who is gonna fall for that.

And if anyone does, then lesson learnt to them in time. And if not, then darwin gives one more award...

Now you must excuse me, I have to reply to Barbara on facebook, I don't know her, but she has such a pretty duck face and huge .. eyes.. I'm sure she means it when she says I'm sexy.

originally posted by: halfoldman
a reply to: Snarl

No, but they were setting me up.

But what they did find immediately is where else to find me - that didn't take them long.

If I know someones name in the US and a general location, I can find their voting records, criminal records, date of birth, address, phone number, pictures of their house, who they are relatives with, etc.

And I can get that just from observing, no need to interact. One problem with facebook that way, enforced real names. and open accounts, not closed. One post, I can see who likes and comments, and from that extrapolate even more details.

It's so stupid... it really is.

This is why I never used my real name till I stopped being like that, but circumstances changed that.. still, we don't have such records easily available online in Australia. Not that I'd give two hoots, you can't get blood from a stone, and you sure as hell can't do anything to force my hand. I'm one whisper away from completely off the grid. Can't find an old fart in a strong wind...

originally posted by: kosmicjack
There are no chicks on the internet. That's as crypto as Bigfoot and Nessie.

Haha No lie, an online game I played, for years, there was a chick, Jessica. We became friends over time, with me always taking the proverbial from her, making her mad at me, till she realised I was not some scumbag, and it was teasing. Met her on facebook.

His name is Harry.

Lmfao...

originally posted by: Natas0114
Synchronicity man...

I was prowling around yesterday and saw an avatar of a member that almost made me choke-

I had to stop and show the wife. We both laughed, like yeah, sure, some chick that's absolutely smoking hot is so bored she found here way here.....

I can vouch for one smoking hot chick who has been here a long time, she uses her real picture.

Sometimes a cigar is jut a cigar.

originally posted by: FissionSurplus

originally posted by: halfoldman
"I love you ..."

If only that wasn't too good to be true.

But yeah, it's a powerful thing to say to somebody.

Most guys would give a lot for that.

ANYBODY, man or woman, who barely knows you and already is professing undying love is either extremely mentally ill or looking to hook a sucker. Most guys should give a lot for real love, which only comes after a sufficient time with the individual in person, and not online.

Well that's a lie, I know of two people who met online, from facebook, and we were all inundated with private messages from his wife, saying how he was lying to us all and to think of their kids, and now they're getting married.

So.... whatever.

Had this happen to me not long ago, ie 20 minutes ago lol, got a request from some random hot chick, didn't get any message but I'm not going to accept or reply to any message i do get.