When it comes to scams involving people negotiating fraudulent checks, there are many variations. Just a few years ago, Car Wrap Scams gained popularity online with people looking to make easy money. From what I've seen, those have decreased to make way for new waves of social media scams.
In your fraud shops you may be noticing more schemes involving victims creating content which scammers pick up on and exploit. A musician thinking someone is paying for their song creation. That up-and-coming digital artist who is contacted by an art connoisseur. But scammers are still limited here because this takes someone who is actively generating content. This frustrates the scammer...but only for a minute. There is another way to get people involved in this scam.
Take the picture above as an example. A man with an epic beard and his duck (Bill). This man, let's call him Bob, posted the picture across his social media profiles. He wasn't trying to sell anything. He just wanted to share the moment with his connections.
Now along comes a social media scammer. Maybe they like beards. Maybe they like ducks. Maybe not. Doesn't really matter because they are going to contact Bob anyway. They are going to tell him that the picture is great and they would like to buy it off him to be able to paint it (there are other variations).
Bob wasn't expecting this, but he isn't one to look a gift scammer in the mouth...or is it horse? The proposed transaction is simple. His recent connection will send him a check which he can deposit. Easy money.
After the check is deposited, his connection relays that they need a portion of the funds sent back for paint supplies to be able to complete their project. Not thinking about the possibility of the check returning, Bob sends the person payment. He's made a few hundred bucks in the process and he and his duck will be immortalized on canvas soon. Or so he thinks.
A day later the check returns, setting him back the amount he sent the scammer. At first he thinks it is a mistake. He calls his bank, who relays that the check he negotiated was counterfeit. He is then ghosted by the person who was going to paint him and his fowl. The whole thing is foul.
This type of scam is very scalable for scammers because of all of the images and pictures that people post on social media. Couple that with individuals who wouldn't mind making some side money and you have a lower dollar scheme that can span a lot of people. So what do we call this thing? It is obviously a social media scam. I've taken to calling these and the examples above "Artwork / Music" scams.
How we stop these schemes starts with social media platforms and the education and intervention they can drive. While that may be limited, a little can go a long way in this space. If someone approaches you to buy your image, art, or music, be wary and be careful. The message is simple, but it is a start. So many schemes start on social media. It is a scam war zone. More fraud fighters need deployed here to stop scams from the start. We need to do more to protect Bob and his duck Bill!
[Ironically while listening to music and writing this, Take A Picture by Filter was the first song that came on my playlist. Also, with the picture above, why does AI always screw up hands? It is creepy].
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