One very annoying thing in the crypto space is how rampant the scams are. Everywhere you look there's one scam or the other looking for victims to devour whether it be their funds, their time, or maybe even their social media accounts to grow their scam network. I came in contact with one recently, and from the start, I already knew where they were going, but then I was feeling funky and decided to mess with the scammer a bit and see where they were going.
Usually, scammers come in immediately with something mouth-watering to draw you in using greed, but this one was a bit more subtle.
This one saw me in another group from a project I was keeping an eye on and he decided to try and build a small connection using that. But he did a bit of foreshadowing to his plans by mentioning he buys into fair launch projects in their early stages.
Next, he tries to gauge his potential profits by learning where I am from and how much I have been able to make. I made sure not to give him any definite value, just played along to see where he was going.
Again he mentions how much profits he has made to try to pique my interest and draw me in, but I play it cool.
The next few days he messages me once to just "check in" and there's no important message there. At this point, I am already thinking maybe this guy isn't a scammer. But I didn't know he was just a very patient scammer. Perhaps he thought I was a potential cash cow for him.
3 days later he arrives with the killer message and then, I am back to believing he is a scammer.
Making sure I am prepped and also a bit of subtle glazing. He leaves it a day so it won't seem like he is desperate for my money.
He comes in a couple of hours before starting the scam, then he shows me his wallet with a lot of funds in it, a way to show he has skin in the game so I won't be scared to put in a decent amount of capital.
He then proceeds to ask that I show him what I am ready to put in. I decline using the "I have experience" card, and this he can't argue with cause he doesn't want to insult my intelligence. He goes back to glazing.
Like clockwork at exactly 12pm on the dot, he drops the contract address and then a screenshot of him buying into it. I checked the contract address on dexscreener and sure enough, there's a newly launched token there. Everything he says seems to check out, but I'm not buying cause it looks like it could be a honeypot (forgot to screenshot all of this). I just go through the transactions and see a 406 dollar buy so I keep it in mind that that's my buy lol.
Then he brings out the scam sheet, to try and get me to "buy" more. At this point, I am wheezing behind the phone because this is the most absurd attempt at getting someone to buy into something. I tell him I am fading and then he starts to get desperate.
He starts asking for screenshots and ignoring some of my questions. Of course, I am not going to show him my wallet cause I don't have any. He shows me his PNL and I whine him small.
Man was super desperate to be sure he had scammed me of my money, I started wondering how many people he must be trying to scam. Or perhaps he went through all this trouble for just me? I highly doubted that. Was probably rounding up different people during the days they weren't checking if I was a good target.
Then he started saying I was cheating on him, and that the $406 purchase was by his friend lol. The odds of that are 1 in thousands, Such a comedian.
And then he started showing proof of him selling to show me it wasn't a honeypot (man thinks I don't know about whitelisting wallets). A smart scammer.
At this point, man was already having enough of my bullshit.
Then he tried changing strategies. Asking for my wallet address. As if I don't know why he needs it. I ignored that.
Later on, I came to tell him I swapped out, and man realized he was wasting his time. Didn't even bother to reply me. I can imagine how pissed he must have been to realize he wasted his time. I buzzed him today if he has any opportunities hehe. I doubt he'll reply though.
I checked the contract address of the coin on dexscreener today and it no longer exists. That could have easily been my money if I had fallen prey to his scams. I have reported his account multiple times but it is standing strong. Hopefully he hasn't successfully scammed anyone ( I doubt it though). Anyways, I am sharing this just to show you how scammers are becoming more patient, "wise", and more diabolical.
They try to weigh your pockets with small talk, then draw you in by tapping your inner greed, then they drop the bait and hope you are caught in their web. I wasn't caught, but I am sure many more have been caught. Don't get caught friends, stay safe.
THANKS FOR READING
Cover Image created by me using Leonardo AI
Posted Using InLeo Alpha