TrueLife - The Twitter Scam Challenge…

Episode Date: June 13, 2022

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Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scar's my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark. fumbling, furious through ruins

maze, lights my war cry Born from the blaze The poem is Angels with Rifles The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini Check out the entire song at the end of the cast Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the

True Life podcast I got a fun story for you this morning A little painful but I think ultimately humorous. It is the idea of a new scam and willingly participating in one. You see what I do for you guys? You're going to love this.

Have you been on social media lately? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. There's all these people trying to scam you. It's really big in the crypto community. It's really big in the gaming community. People are always trying to. to steal money from you to try to get you to send them stuff. And it's, first off, let me just tell you, I'm a huge fan of the con game.

Not that I'm a con man. However, I'm always curious as to how people fall for scams and how intricate the people doing the scams are. If you think about it, the scams have to be somewhat lucrative if they keep going. They have to be somewhat complex if they're not getting caught right away. And it's just fascinating to me. It's fascinating to think how close the scam game is to the reality game. How much of the stuff do you buy in your daily routine that is kind of scammy?

You know, how much of our governments are kind of scammy? In a way, it's not one big scam. So what I've learned is that if you can, watch and engage with the low-level or mid-range scammers, you can learn a lot about society. You can learn how they game society. You can learn how they socially engineer people. You can learn a lot about personality and psychology and philosophy by engaging with the scammers. You're probably going to have to invest a little bit of money. But for me, I like it and it's worth it. And so here's the one I participated in.

Currently, if you go on Twitter, this is where I found it, there's a lot of people selling psychedelics. Different kinds of psychedelics, whether it's MDMA or mushrooms or LSD or ketamine. You name it, there's a scam for it. I had been recently getting a lot of attention from these scammers. I'm sure everybody has. And I would periodically look through their pages and see how they were doing stuff. and I came up on one that was really well done. And let me explain to you exactly the process.

So I get a DM or a direct message from a mushroom scammer, someone that was selling magic mushrooms. And so I click on them and I read their little bio. And, you know, they had quite a few followers. They had like two, I think maybe 200 followers or something like that. and they had clearly put in some of their own good reviews and so I said

these guys look pretty interesting. Let's see what they have to offer. So once they DM you, there's all these different links. And the first link I go to takes me off of Twitter and onto their webpage, which was a really good web page. It was done really well. It had multiple pages,

the pictures were clear, the prices seem to be legit, and just for just for example, for those in the know, this particular website was selling ounces of mushrooms for somewhere between 180 and 250, depending on the species that you bought. And it looks really good. I believe what happened is that they just ripped a website or they copied a website that

was a legit website and had all legit information on it, and they just mirrored it. Because it was really good. I was really impressed with the different pictures, the breakdown, the, all the little intricacies on the site were really well done. That's what made me think it was a mirror. The first crack in the scan that I saw was when, after putting an item in your cart, I chose the least expensive thing, which I think was an ounce of mushrooms for, I think 120, like a blowout or, you know, whatever it was.

And so I chose the least expensive thing. I put it in my cart. And then when it came for a payment method, that they accepted cryptocurrencies and debit cards and, you know, I don't want to pay with any of that. So I chose to try the PayPal checkout. And in this particular method, what they did is you put the amount and you chose PayPal and then the site kind of closed and a few minutes later you got a confirmation email. And in that email, there was,

a nice little message with a phone number that you could text so that you could PayPal them the money. So I says, well, that's pretty interesting. You know, here they are. They've figured out a way to circumvent the payment system, and you can just do person to person. So that should be your first sign. It's a scam. But it's pretty well thought out. I mean, if you were going to be a legit person,

You could have a burner phone and then just have your customers text you. That could work. And so I text the person, hey, how's it? Here's my confirmation number. What do we do? And then this person texts me back, okay, you text me the money, right? Text me the money. A little Jerry McGuire, show me the money.

And then I will text you back a confirmation number and then see, you know, how long your order will take. And I ask some more questions like, hey, how do I know this is not a scam? And then their rebuttal is, it's definitely not a scam, which makes you think it is a scam. And so then I ask them, what's the turnaround time? Oh, it's about three business days. They were really quick. Clearly it wasn't their first day. And so I was thinking about it, like, you know what?

Let's just see what happens. So I pay them the $120. And I say, okay, I've given you the money. When do you think my product will be here? Oh, about three to four business days. And part of me was like, man, maybe it's the job. Maybe these guys are just a bunch of lunatics that are trying to send stuff through the mail. I don't know.

Lo and behold, a couple days passed, and then I get a email that says, your package has been held up in customs. You must send $500 in Bitcoin to this address. So now there's no doubt it's a scam. and it's kind of funny it's it's kind of funny but let me tell you why I think it's interesting it wasn't just a quick

give me your money scheme it thickens up okay give me your first payment you want to here's a fake product buy it from me okay now now your product is caught in customs

pay me this much money of course I I'm definitely not doing that and so I email them back like. Listen, this is a pretty good scam. The next sentence I said was, why don't you just do it legitimately? Like if you can get people to pay you money, why not just send them the product? You would probably make a lot more money be a lot more effective and a lot more efficient. Clearly, you have a burner phone. Just send people the product. You could even mark it up another

probably 100% and people would still buy it. And then you would have longtime customers. It doesn't take as much time. It takes just as much time to do things to the right way as it does the wrong way, even when what you're doing is wrong. And so the next email they send back is, this is classic, they send back an email, listen, this is not a joke. We're going to give your product to the cops, and the cops are going to put you in jail because you ordered something illegal. Okay, it's so fucking funny to me. I lost 100 bucks. I put in 100 bucks to do it, that's why it's funny to me too. So I'm reading this email like, oh shit, these guys, now they're going to try to put the pressure campaign on you. So you first off, they get you to pay

once, then they try to pay, they get you to pay to get your product. And when you don't do that, then they start threatening you. They come with the hard sell, right? Listen, man, you might go to jail if you don't pay us. This is an illegal product. I'm going to give it to the cops. and then I send back okay listen who do you think they're going to put in jail the person that sends it or the person that receives it

and I just let that I send that one out and this is all via email so after I send that one then I get a text message from the original person hey man I just talked to the shipper and like the text message came no less than a minute after the email

so you know the fucking guy was on the computer and had his phone right there with him. He goes, hey man, I just got a message from the shipper and, you know, you could be in real trouble because this is an illegal product and we're going to give it to the cops, so you're going to go to jail. You know, and it's so funny, right? So then I have to text this guy. Well, you should be the one worried because I'm actually talking to the shipper and I told the shipper that I, I have the phone number of the guy that sold it. And on top of that, you're going to go to prison forever.

Probably your family is going to go to jail. So then no more phone call comes, but another email comes. This is very serious crime. Your whole family could be, go to jail. Like, they just start sending me this crazy shit, right? So then I fire back with, okay, listen, you're right, this is serious. And I like you guys. So I'm going to give you one chance right here.

you guys if you really want to establish trust I'm going to give you the deal of a lifetime you send me one Bitcoin and I'll send you five I send that to him you don't fucking laughing my ass off and immediately they come back with

this is not a game listen we are not joking around you're in big trouble oh it was fucking hilarious it was hilarious it was hilarious And so I guess the whole meaning of this particular little podcast is that be careful the scams out there. You know their scams.

But more than that, I want to establish a challenge. Here's my challenge to you. If you have, no one, not everybody has an extra 100 bucks or can play stupid games like that to fulfill their need, to understand. understand the the game that is scams. Not everyone wants to feel the psychopathy out there. And I got to admit, it's, like, it's a pretty interesting feeling to be threatened like that. Like, even though I know it's a scam, like for a minute, you're like, oh, man, these guys, you did something illegal and they're going to tell on you. even though you know, like that would never happen.

You could see how people that maybe were unaware can get caught up in it. And I think that's important. I think it's important to understand the mental faculties of somebody who feels as if they're being exploited. And it's also important to understand that everybody can, can be exploited. Everybody has something that maybe they're not proud of or something they're ashamed of. And if a person finds that out, they can't exploit you. Only if you let them.

Only if you let them. Maybe some embarrassing news comes out. Maybe you lost 100 bucks. Maybe you said something that you didn't want people to find out. But fuck it. In the end of the day, the exploitation someone is doing to you is way, worst than the thing that you did. You should know that. And if you can catch yourself while you're being exploited, try to laugh about it and be like, ah, these fuckers got me. They got me for lying.

They got me for 50 bucks, 60 bucks, 100 bucks, 300 bucks, you know, whatever it is. But don't keep digging the whole deeper. Once you've established that there's a problem, once you have figured out in your mind that there's something wrong, you should stop right there and go, Okay, what should I do? And that's when you throw something back at the people that are trying to exploit you. And here comes the challenge. If you find yourself in a period of exploitation, try to scam the scammer. Try to exploit the exploiter.

In this case, these people are trying to hustle me for money. And so I tried to hustle back with the you send me one Bitcoin and I'll send you five. Like, that's the ultimate fuck you, I think. Maybe not the ultimate fuck you, but it's the. It is the scamming the scammer challenge. Try to see how long you can get them to do things. Hey, can you send me a picture of the stuff I'm getting? Hey, where are you guys located?

You know, just try to see how long you can fuck with them. Try to get them to send you stuff. On some level, it's really gratifying. I know it sounds crazy. I know it probably sounds silly. But I think it's really funny and it's kind of fulfilling. if you can scam the scammer. You know, I remember this one movie that I saw.

I forgot the name of it. But I think Danny DeVito was in it. And all I remember is this one scene. Danny DeVito's at home doing something and somebody breaks into his house. And it turns out like his neighbor was a cop or whatever and he was on the phone with him. But somebody breaks into Danny DeVito's house

and he tells the guy on the phone, fuck, someone broke in my house and he hangs up. So the robber comes in and his, holding Danny DeVito at gunpoint and then the neighbor runs over kicks down the door and like arrests the robber

and while he's arresting the robber you know he's asking Danny the neighbor is asking Danny DeVito what happened he's like oh he stole a bunch of stuff you know he's got a bag over there he put all stuff in there and like the robber's like that's bullshit man but before they take the robber

to prison Danny DeVita goes and the guy stole my wedding ring so the robber's like, bullshit, this is my ring. And the cops like, come on, man. You just broke in this guy's house. You robbed all this stuff. I'm supposed to think that's your wedding ring.

So Danny DeVito gets the robber's wedding ring. It's like this big diamond ring. And it was just funny to me. And I think his last line was, dude, I scammed the scammer. The guy tried to steal my shit. I stole his shit. So think about that.

If you have an opportunity to engage, if you have the time, the stomach, and you're not afraid of losing a little bit of time or money, then do yourself a favor and feel what it's like to be in the middle of an exploitation conundrum. It's kind of rewarding. And if you can scam the scammer, email me, tell me the story, and I'll give you a free t-shirt and $20. How about that?

I'll give you a true live podcast t-shirt. Come on the podcast. tell me your story and I'll give you 20 bucks too. It's kind of interesting. And I think it builds empathy. I think you can better understand people, yourself, even the scammers. I think it's an interesting psychological experiment. So if you have a strong stomach, give it a try.

That's what I got for today, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed that. Let's get up and get at them. Aloha. Thank you.