Easy Prey10 Feb 2021

Romance Scams with David McClellan

Catfishing is when a person creates a fake identity often with corresponding social media accounts, phone numbers, photos, and addresses targeting a specific victim for abuse or fraud. These catfishers are organized, patient, and have a playbook that they follow to gain the trust of their target over the course of weeks, months, or even years. Effective deceviers even get advice from other scammers on how to proceed for their own success.

Today's guest is David McClellan. David was an internet marketer and website builder for over ten years. He ran and executed SEO strategies for CNET where he added 1.4 billion visitors to the portfolio. He branched out as a visionary and entrepreneur 6 years ago when he created SocialCatfish.com. His website became the fastest growing company in Riverside, California and is an Inc 500 company.

Show Notes:

[1:10] - David shares his background as an internet marketer turned entrepreneur and the start of SocialCatfish.com.
[2:01] - He and his business partner used to build websites and then flip them but discovered that there was no resource out there regarding catfishing. So they started the website and it was an immediate success.
[3:34] - Once David and his business partner figured out how to monetize their site, they were speaking directly with their customers and hearing their stories.
[4:21] - David also began a YouTube channel that shares real stories, interviews with scammers, and David even got his hands on a playbook used by scammers.
[4:50] - There is also a Facebook watch group where people can upload pictures of "scammers" to look out for.
[5:22] - Romance scams are part of catfishing. David explains the similarities.
[6:19] - David shares one of the most upsetting client stories regarding a lawyer sending cash to Nigeria. But through it all, she was able to send a tracking device and use SocialCatfish.com to meet the real person behind the stolen photo.
[8:47] - David shares another story of a client who lost her husband and survived cancer herself being scammed through online dating.
[10:38] - Romance scammers, especially those overseas, will spend hours talking to someone everyday because if it results in thousands of dollars, that is a lot of money where they live.
[11:35] - Another story of a client building a relationship with a scammer and who she thought was his daughter. She had been secluded from her friends and family and the scammer even told her to commit suicide.
[13:29] - Effective scammers will seclude a victim from their friends and family using a convincing story and are very emotionally manipulative.
[14:50] - A newer trend in romance scams is that scammers are now starting to send inexpensive gifts to victims such as balloons, flowers, and cheap jewelry to build trust.
[15:51] - When interviewing scammers, David asks them what happens if they don't get money and the answer is that they always get money. They even refer to victims as clients.
[16:40] - Another new trend is when scammers reveal themselves and convince the victim that they really did fall in love and need money to get out of their very poor country.
[18:09] - David shares the noticeable differences between men and women who are victims of catfishing and romance scams.
[21:01] - Although victims who are lonely, depressed, widowed, or divorced are the prime targets for scammers, David shares that even married people are being sucked into scams.
[23:09] - Chris shares a story about a previous podcast guest using other people's videos in video chat is not always a reliable method of confirming identity.
[24:19] - David explains that there is open source software available where he could record anything and make the people in the video say whatever he wants them to say.
[25:25] - People whose images are stolen to use by scammers are victims, too. David also tries to help these people as well.
[26:19] - David shares a story about a man who was catfished, convinced of their real identity, and killed the woman he thought the scammer was.
[27:09] - If you are contacted randomly by a stranger, including games with chat features like Words with Friends, and someone ever asks you for some form of money, that is a big sign of a scammer.
[28:05] - Scammers will also tend to try to get a victim to chat outside of the dating app so their profile does not get reported and taken down.
[29:00] - Most of the time, scammers tend to start asking for money after about 90 days, but David says that sometimes they'll wait less time or more time before asking.
[31:21] - Financial crimes seem not to have the same level of consequences when caught than in-person crimes. Many crimes like this are sometimes not even reported.
[33:06] - It is not illegal to give somebody money. When it is reported to law enforcement, there's not much police can do. You should still report it, but it is a civil issue.
[35:18] - David also shares that sometimes there are people in the United States that are helping scammers overseas.
[37:39] - There's not enough education surrounding internet safety. Education is empowering.
[38:51] - Chris shares an experience with his bank and how they are starting to be trained on making sure people are wiring money to someone they've actually met.
[39:54] - We are seeing it more and more that bank employees are noticing and advising clients that they are likely being scammed.
[41:22] - Social media sites and companies are getting better with helping educate people and prevent scams, but scammers are also getting better and more convincing.
[44:05] - David has a private Facebook group called SCF Seekers which is all about information without judgment.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

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