Ah, scammers… the parasites of the online world looking for easy prey to take advantage of. But fortunately, not all netizens are equally unsuspecting. (Not all scammers are as good as they think, too.)
Redditor u/wrighttc was one of such netizens. Not only did she realize that her new pen pal was a scammer, she used the chance to give them a taste of their own medicine and created a made up story, too; one that would leave the online community in tears.
Bored Panda has reached out to the OP and she was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find her thoughts in the text below.
This redditor said she had “the best fun she ever had with a scammer”
Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages (not the actual photo)
It all started with an email asking her for a favor
The scammer told Tiffany about their ill friend and asked for her help in the form of iTunes gift cards
Tiffany decided to have a little fun with the person on the other end of the correspondence
She made up new characters as the story developed
The netizen eventually sent what she was asked for… almost
The scammer soon realized that it wasn’t what they hoped for
Tiffany’s last email was the perfect cherry on top
Image credits: wrighttc
Exodus 20:15, "You shall not steal."
Tiffany’s goal was to keep the scammer replying for as long as she could
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
“I had so much fun writing it,” Tiffany told Bored Panda in a recent interview, revealing that she didn’t have a storyline prepared in advance. “[It] was truly just ridiculous responses at first, to try to see how far I could go before the scammer would give up.
“When I realized that the replies would keep coming, it became my mission to keep them invested as long as possible, and I figured the best way to do that was to provide a ‘time’ that the gift cards would be purchased.
“Hilarity ensued, with the scammer even seeming interested in certain aspects of the tale, like the health of Captain Tinkles,” the OP pointed out. Some redditors were curious if Captain Tinkles was real, but in the comments under her post, the redditor revealed that it only existed in her dreams; so did another important character, her “son” Balthazar.
“I guess I’m a weird person, because the responses were basically made up on the spot,” Tiffany shared. “I have a gift for producing the most random things, who knows from where—a warped imagination?”
In addition to the eventful storyline and detailed descriptions, Tiffany expressed her creativity through unique sign-offs, too. “They’re a play on the old ‘Dear Abby’ sign offs, just more absurd in nature,” she said, adding that your sagacious friend was her favorite. “We don’t use beautiful words like that enough, do we?”
Asking for gift cards is one of the telltale signs of a scammer
Image credits: https: 401(K) 2012 (not the actual photo)
In this day and age, it’s difficult not to encounter a scammer at least every once in a while. Whether they’re sending messages saying that you’ve just won the lottery (one that you never bought a ticket for), calling to let you—a single child—know that your brother is in trouble, or using other means to enthrall you, chances are they will reach you. But when they do, it’s up to you to figure out if the sender seems trustworthy or not.
The answer to that seems clear now; however, it might not be when the scammers start working their magic. AP News emphasized that the first thing they do is get the person in a heightened emotional state, so they’re not thinking clearly. That’s why, in such situations, experts suggest to pause for a second and take a deep breath.
“I think anyone who has participated in the digital economy has received multiple attempts daily that have some sort of scheme, whether that’s, ‘Your account has been locked’ or ‘Your package delivery is delayed,’” chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center, James Lee, told AP News. “Again—just take a breath—and verify.”
Lee continued to point out that gift cards are one of the red flags when it comes to scams. Assistant director of the Division of Marketing Practices at the Federal Trade Commission, Will Maxson seconded the idea. “Just don’t pay people with gift cards,” Maxson said. “No legitimate company or individual is going to ask you to buy large quantities of gift cards and then read the numbers off the cards. That is exclusively a payment method of fraudsters.”
Gift cards might have been a telltale sign for Tiffany too, suggesting that her pen pal is indeed a scammer. So, after she had her fun, the redditor ended the correspondence with a cherry on top—a hint to the message, saying “You shall not steal”, to which the scammer did not respond.
“Unfortunately, the scammer never replied to my last email,” Tiffany said. “A relationship just wasn’t meant to be for us. Que sera, sera.”
The woman answered some of her fellow redditors’ questions
The online community seemed to have loved Tiffany’s story
