The message you see in the original post is a rather persistent spam message unique to Lemmy as far as I can tell; has it appeared on other Fediverse platforms?
I do not have proof of this but it strongly appears to be a pig butchering scam. This is a long-term confidence trick wherein the scammer never directly asks for/demands/extorts money from the mark, instead they pretend to be a friend or even romantic partner for a long period of time, building trust, until they mention making a lot of money in an investment, which the mark asks how they can invest too, and they are directed to a legit looking app or market, put in a bunch of money which they never see again.
If you haven’t been on Lemmy long, you’ll probably get a DM from “Nicole” sooner or later. We’re kind of fond of her because our little platform has grown big enough to attract at least one scammer.
I think it’s up for debate. Personally, I think “Nicole” doesn’t know that her webcam screenshots are being used for this, and it’s a harassment campaign against her.
Yeah I’m willing to bet the woman in the picture has no idea that we can call her the Fediverse Chick. I kinda wonder if she’s a Youtuber or Streamer or something and if this should be brought to her attention.
Do we have a Peter explains the joke sub here? I don’t get it.
I got you.
The message you see in the original post is a rather persistent spam message unique to Lemmy as far as I can tell; has it appeared on other Fediverse platforms?
I do not have proof of this but it strongly appears to be a pig butchering scam. This is a long-term confidence trick wherein the scammer never directly asks for/demands/extorts money from the mark, instead they pretend to be a friend or even romantic partner for a long period of time, building trust, until they mention making a lot of money in an investment, which the mark asks how they can invest too, and they are directed to a legit looking app or market, put in a bunch of money which they never see again.
If you haven’t been on Lemmy long, you’ll probably get a DM from “Nicole” sooner or later. We’re kind of fond of her because our little platform has grown big enough to attract at least one scammer.
Thanks for the explanation! Also, this is the first time I’ve heard the term “pig butchering scam”, and it’s definitely a wild one.
PS: I’m truly honored she found me on Day 3.
John Oliver did an episode of Last Week Tonight on pig butchering scams, it’s worth a watch. Glad I could be of help and welcome to the Fediverse.
Jim Browning on YouTube recently had a video of one such compound of romance/pig butchering Scammers getting arrested at a very large scale.
I like and support that guy but I got tired of listening to him talk.
I think it’s up for debate. Personally, I think “Nicole” doesn’t know that her webcam screenshots are being used for this, and it’s a harassment campaign against her.
Yeah I’m willing to bet the woman in the picture has no idea that we can call her the Fediverse Chick. I kinda wonder if she’s a Youtuber or Streamer or something and if this should be brought to her attention.
Yesterday I saw someone on Mastodon talk about having received Nicole spam:
https://mastodon.de/@ErikUden/114168458849376666
It looks like she’s branching out.