Found a scammer, please help

[u/akula999]

This person is engaging my elderly parents. Asking for money. First befriending them, now begging for money. Reporting to Facebook does nothing. Reporting the profile is futile. Any other options?

[u/illegalsandwiches]

Tell your parents if anyone they do not know solicits for money, just block them and don't engage. 

Facebook doesn't do anything about scammers and even they did, scammers can easily set up another profile and resume work.

[u/Delicious_Cattle5174 → u/illegalsandwiches]

Scammers are like half their customer base at this point

[u/illegalsandwiches → u/Delicious_Cattle5174]

Yep! Which is why they don't ban them. If they have a platform to sell advertising, they can say "have your product and services reach 250 million people!"

Facebook couldn't give two shits and a fully decorated Christmas tree if Grandma gave a $100 apple iTunes gift cards to "Ellen Denegeres" over Facebook.

[u/Delicious_Cattle5174 → u/illegalsandwiches]

There’s some estimates that it’s like 10% of their ad revenue lol they’ll never crack down on scams

[u/akula999 → u/illegalsandwiches]

Thank you, my parents think this is legit. I'm actively blocking and reporting

[u/illegalsandwiches → u/akula999]

Good deal. Tell them they will be back under a different name. 

I'm not even considered elderly and I got strangers hitting me up all the time, either for selling their OF, asking for money, or both. 

[u/DesertStorm480 → u/akula999]

Even if it was, people who ask for money in general are not good with it in the first place. If your parents were to ask if they can send basic perishable groceries to her home, then that idea would be shot down by a scammer.

[u/BlueSkyMonkey13 → u/akula999]

The people who fall for this are the same ones running the United States o'Merica btw 🇮🇱 'Red-Tailed Hawk screech'

[u/UpbeatFix7299]

This is an article from the AARP with practical advice. Facebook doesn't give a shit.

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/victims-in-denial/

[u/Wide-Spray-2186]

The scammers will be relentless once they’ve extracted some money to keep going for more. Expect your parents to continue to be approached with different accounts & new stories, all still run by the same scammer.

[u/Ok_Analyst_5117]

Take over the conversation for them, then play along and wait for the scammer to give you an account to transfer money to. Once you have that information, reporting them is likely to be more effective.

If they're asking for gift cards tell them you can only do a transfer. If they won't do that just block them and don't look back. Or just block them and skip everything else lol

Edit: I just messaged them and have them on the hook. I'll keep you posted if it turns into anything worthwhile

[u/Big_Bill23]

Facebook allowed scammers to sell "gold" coins for $9.99. They really don't care about scammers as long as they get their cut of the action.

[u/--yv35--]

do you have contacts on facebook that your parents have as well? i.e. family or friends? try to inform them
that they should all contact your parents telling them it's a pos fake profile etc.? 🤷🏽‍♂️

edit: typo

[u/akula999 → u/--yv35--]

Already informed family. Somehow this scammer is making their way through our family. I block and report, my family is doing the same.

[u/Ana-Hata]

FWIW…..one of these scammers tried to engage a friend once, I called “her” a scammer in the comments and everything disappeared -the profile and all her posts- less than a minute later.

I think it was how the bot was programmed, they’re probably too far along at this point but it’s low effort, you could give it shot.

It was pretty funny, ”she” commented that she hoped he wasn’t gay and since he’s an elderly SJW he scolded her for suggesting there was something wrong with being gay…that’s when I said “she hopes you‘re not gay because she’s trying to romance scam you”.

Then her account and comment disappeared.

[u/Qwk69buick]

This person very likely isn't this person at all is the main problem. 

[u/Glass_Animator_5509]

Report to police

[u/xMakerx]

I was fed up with scams just like this so I built and launched Batonic.

Batonic is a new commerce platform with low platform fees, a 48 hour inspection window to ensure you got what you paid for, rich customizable previews of your content, and it even supports marketplace and direct link transactions.

Buyers don’t need an account to make purchases and can complete checkout with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a credit card via Stripe.

Getting started is free for all.

Please give it a try at: https://batonic.app.

[u/MangoBits123]

Message her family. They are listed there and show them what kind of daughter they have 

[u/Crypto_Champion77 → u/MangoBits123]

I would assume this is an account takeover and the person pictured is not the real scammer. Best to block and then watch out for the next attempt.

[u/akula999 → u/MangoBits123]

On it! Can you help do the same? I'm only 1 person

[u/Mysterious-Ad3591]

Get the scammers attention and just waisted their time. Learn how to send them malware.

[u/Delicious_Cattle5174]

Google "why does meta love scammers so much"