[00:00:03] Tim Nugent: This is not me.
This is somebody impersonating me, and then, you know, panic sets in.
Facebook and Instagram has pretty much been zero help.
It’s just been a nightmare.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:00:29] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host Bob Sullivan.
Maybe you’ve dabbled in Twitter or Instagram or Facebook; you have only a handful of connections.
But first, let’s meet Tim Nugent.
It becomes a life preserver.
Let’s, let’s get things moving.
[00:01:55] Bob: So tell me about this um, this small business that you’re running.
[00:01:59] Tim Nugent: Yeah, so um, I run a hardware merchandise company.
I do licensed and a few unlicensed, you know, shirts for movies.
I do original art.
I collab with other artists.
You know, I, I do a hot sauce as well.
[00:02:27] Bob: What do you mean by horror?
[00:02:46] Bob: So, so t-shirts depicting scenes from the film or characters from the film.
[00:02:50] Tim Nugent: Yeah, or original art.
[00:03:18] Bob: Most of the people who buy Tim’s merchandise find him via Instagram.
Images of the original art can sometimes go viral.
[00:03:43] Bob: So Tim makes merchandise for horror movie buffs, and makes hot sauce.
Oh, and he also has a taco truck that he brings to breweries on weekends.
But um, yeah, it’s a lot of work.
[00:04:28] Tim Nugent: Yeah, exactly.
[00:04:30] Bob: But how scary was that step to take?
[00:04:32] Tim Nugent: Yeah, it was definitely scary, you know.
But everything was kind of pointing in that direction.
I was doing, you know, anywhere from 50 to 250 orders, you know, a week.
[00:05:05] Bob: Instagram is absolutely essential to the leap he’s taking.
[00:05:09] Bob: Okay, so how important is an Instagram account to a business like that?
Yeah, it was pretty much everything.
And um, yeah, this is how a lot of us uh, make our living.
Crypto, like bitcoin, have been in the news a lot lately.
Tim has heard the stories.
He has even invested a little in cryptocurrency before.
But this post is different.
It offers a chance to get in on the development of a new coin and promises fast money.
[00:06:42] Bob: So tell me ab out the post.
So that’s kind of how I made the leap initially.
[00:07:16] Bob: What specifically was she offering?
you’re able to get back this much.
[00:07:39] Bob: What was your first reaction to the ad?
[00:08:05] Bob: And Tim already in risk-taking mode decides to go for it.
[00:08:11] Bob: Uh, did you take the plunge, you know, five minutes later?
Did you think about it for a week?
[00:08:15] Tim Nugent: I made the plunge the same day.
What did you do?
This is uh, someone who’s involved in the program.
And it was like a random name.
And then I was like, “Uh okay.”
He has to make a video endorsing the project.
A video like the one his friend made.
[00:09:08] Tim Nugent: Yeah, I essentially said the same thing she did.
[00:09:11] Bob: Here is the audio from that video.
You get it fast.
It’s as simple as that.
[00:09:24] Bob: He’s beginning to get uneasy about the money, and about the video.
But they promise he’ll soon start getting some cash back.
I don’t know, I don’t remember exactly what they said.
[00:09:54] Bob: The next day or so is a bit of a blur for Tim.
He isn’t quite sure why, but he starts getting some strange messages from customers.
What’s with all this bitcoin stuff, and all this, all this mumbo jumbo?
[00:10:11] Bob: These are private messages from friends and customers with more questions.
But he hadn’t sent his followers anything.
This is not me.
This is somebody impersonating me, and then, you know, panic sets in.
He realizes she’s probably a hack victim too.
But more important, he can’t access his 14,000 followers.
Instead, the criminals are using his account and his video to give a shot to scam his customers.
And he can’t stop them.
Instead, he can only wait and watch as messages come in from other victims.
[00:11:29] Bob: I, I can’t imagine what kind of panic that was.
He says the company was unresponsive.
They’re borderline, you could’t even contact them without issues like this.
There’s no really customer service or help center or anything.
So it’s just been a nightmare, it’s been an absolute mess.
Like this guy does not care about anybody or anybody’s story.
It’s, it’s absolutely insane.
The incident has been devastating to his fledging business.
You’ve gone from taking say a couple hundred orders a week to, to what?
And that’s in, yeah, in a whole month.
[00:13:16] Bob: Oh, dear God, they basically killed your business.
[00:13:18] Tim Nugent: Yeah, basically killed my business.
[00:13:24] Bob: Eva Velasquez is CEO of The Identity Theft Resource Center.
It has a free hotline that offers advice to victims of identity theft.
So she’s heard plenty of stories like Tim’s.
Why would anyone want to hack my Instagram account?
How could that be valuable?
It’s your followers.
It’s your professional web link.
[00:14:41] Bob: When a criminal steals your account, they steal your connection.
Eva tells anyone who will listen about what she calls the chain of victimization.
So it just keeps moving on.
I don’t even know Jim.
The followers, thinking they were helping a friend, donated to the fake fundraiser.
But there are even more awful imposter crimes happening.
I, I don’t post explicit content.
[00:17:53] Bob: How awful, though, what a terrible thing to go through.
[00:17:57] Eva Velasquez: Again, it’s the tentacles.
[00:18:36] Bob: “At the root of the problem is misplaced trust,” Eva says.
Thats the end goal of these scammers.
This is not the same as a face-to-face interaction.
Like maybe theyre using language they dont normally use.
Maybe theyre, they always capitalize I and they arent this time when theyre typing or vice versa.
Pay attention to those cues.
That is your brain noticing something is amiss and get in touch with that person through another method.
Dont continue to have the conversation on direct message until you verify, no, that actually is you.
[00:21:20] Bob: So you’re in the middle of a crisis.
Uh, what, what are the steps people should take?
I would disengage from that platform altogether until you get the issue resolved.
So no judgment here, just advice.
[00:22:21] Bob: And just how do you get back into that hacked account?
Well, that’s not very clear.
[00:22:57] Bob: Well what does Instagram say or do in these cases?
I haven’t even heard back that my, my complaint or my issue has been received.
And the only way to get in touch with many of these platforms is digitally.
I’ll, I’ll let you have it back."
[00:25:09] Bob: Tim is still feeling the effects of his account takeover.
As we recorded this podcast, he still hasn’t been able to wrestle back control of the account.
“The cut from ID theft crimes is often very deep,” Eva says.
[00:25:25] Eva Velasquez: My, my heart just goes out to him.
And that’s, thats one of those very, its thematic in financial crimes.
Its often not just one individual or one issue.
It really takes over a lot of different aspects of your life and your business.
[00:26:40] Bob: Tim, he’s still trying to pick up the pieces.
[00:26:44] Bob: I am so sorry.
That just sounds like such a nightmare.
Do, do you have any advice for folks like that?
How about a phone call, right?
A phone call could have probably solved the whole thing.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch connection Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
He is, in turn, asked to make his own testimonial.
