Celebrity Scams

 Scamming on social media can be so creative.

A very intelligent university economics professor was shocked when his loved Russian girl friend didn't show up after he sent her money to join him and live happily ever after. "And we  shared so many wonderful conversations over the internet."

I suspected a plea from a girl friend whose purse had been stolen in Wales that morning and needed money was probably not true, especially since she and I were drinking tea together during our morning break as I read the email to her.

This past week, I could have been scammed by two celebrities: a singer and a writer.

I suspect I asked for it by saying something nice on their legitimate postings. I amused myself by playing along, being careful to not say anything that couldn't be easily found on the net.

One claimed One had a message for me, the other said it was urgent.

The singer started by asking if I were a journalist. He said he'd been hurt by people pretending to be journalists then writing bad stories about him. His management team didn't know he was contacting his fans.

The writer's management team allegedly had concerns.

The alleged singer who in real life is multi lingual wrote in excellent American English. He disappeared after I asked questions on the dialect from the area he was from, something that wouldn't be easy to answer.

Naturally the alleged writer's American English was perfect and I'll admit that our exchanges were delightful not surprising with two writers if he was for real.

I thought scam, although i wished they weren't. I tried an exchange in German. He passed,but he could know about Google translate. 

The writer suggested conversation, but didn't want to use Facebook. He wanted to use Telegram. I try to keep my phone aps to the minimum. We back and forthed.

My husband thought going that step left my bank accounts and other things vulnerable.

My last exchange he told me it was urgent. I can't imagine why a world famous author would find anything urgent to contact me about. His calling me "sweetie" also added another check mark in the scam column.

I've heard there's a scam group operating out of Virginia. Since the format from both the singer and writer, I picture two men sitting at their computers and calling to each other, "I think I've hooked this one."

I could picture trying to entice other scammers and put it together in a story for The New Yorker or The Atlantic.

In a way, I wish it were real. The real writer and I could talk about any number of things where our lives crossed over the decades. Maybe the singer would have given me tickets to his next concert.

It is not to be.