L'il Spock and the Dating App Scam

[Spock]

Had an interesting evening last night.

I am so glad that I met Mrs Spock years before the onset of online dating.

As the evening progressed we figured out this is a common scam on dating sites.

He recently turned 25 and just a few days ago signed up for a new (to him) dating app called Plenty of Fish.

At about 3 PM yesterday, he was matched with a 24-year old nurse (ostensibly) in a town about 80 miles away. They interacted for about 2 hours and the following quote on Sextortion from the internet fits their interaction to a "T"

>>>>"The sextortionist starts a private message with their victim, quickly moving into conversations of a flirtatious and sexual nature. They eventually lull their victim into sending compromising messages, images, and/or videos"<<<

She wanted a dick pic from him and when he wouldn't send it-she stopped responding to him and very quickly deleted her profile on the site.

Then about 7PM, the shit hit the fan. His phone started blowing up with texts that were ostensibly from her family and the authorities.

Her mom sent one that she is only 15 and she tried to commit suicide over him and that social services was trying to take her away and what kind of hold did he have over her.

Then one from the Grandpa saying that his family was very important to him and that he (Li'l Spock) was a pedophile and would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Somewhere along the way, it was mentioned that it would cost almost $6,000 for a psych eval-etc and that they did not have the money for that or insurance that would cover it.

Then in a twist that really freaked L'il Spock out, he got a call ostensibly from the County Sherriff department where the girl was (it showed up on his phone as being from that source) and the deputy told him he was a pedophile and would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

That is the point (8 PM) he told us what was going on. It didn't seem like the sherriff department would act like that-but to cover that base-I called our family attorney and asked him what to do.

While I was on the phone, Lil Spock was looking on the internet and seeing that this is a common scam-so he started to settle down. My attorney told us to call our local sheriff's department and report the scam and if, for some reason, he gets called in for questioning have an attorney present. (I was already going down that road with him as I was trying to get him to settle down.

I note they did not specifically ask for the money. I suspect that wanted him to apologize and ask if there was any way he could help. Maybe if he offers the money, instead of them asking for it-it would be harder for them to get in trouble.

He read somewhere this morning that the scam takes 2 paths-if they get the dick pic they go that way, otherwise they go the "underage" girl route.

I wasn't to worried about the phone call ostensibly from the sheriff department as I have previously seen numbers that say they are from something and they are just a telemarketer using that number.

Poor kid-now I suppose he will be gun shy for awhile. He deleted that app (Plenty of Fish) last night.

[Beebs52]

This supremely creepy. Good luck with everything. Tell Lilspock to be strong.

[Spock]

Oops, after talking with Li'l Spock a little more about it-I guess they did basically ask for the money in that flurry of texts between 7PM and 8PM in the guise of telling him he needed to step up and be a man type stuff and that he needed to work with the family and such.

Weird how he got that flurry of activity between 7PM and 8PM and then it just ended.

Beebs>>>"This supremely creepy. Good luck with everything. Tell Lilspock to be strong."<<<

Thanks-it helped him when he saw that this is a common scam.

[mellytu74]

Sending hugs - what an awful experience.

[He read somewhere this morning that the scam takes 2 paths-if they get the dick pic they go that way, otherwise they go the "underage" girl route.]

There has got to be a network where people learn this - there was a thing in our neighborhood over the winter (although a different app, IIRC) with the requests for dick pix/underaged girl deluge. We didn't know anyone caught up in it personally but there is a local "Next Door" group that shares info for various neighborhoods and neighboring townships and there were quite of few posts with warnings of it.

Then, some "upstanding suburban citizens (non-political division)" got trapped in an underage girl sting by local police. The whole thing seemed to dissolve right after that.

[Spock]

Sending hugs - what an awful experience.

[He read somewhere this morning that the scam takes 2 paths-if they get the dick pic they go that way, otherwise they go the "underage" girl route.]

There has got to be a network where people learn this - there was a thing in our neighborhood over the winter (although a different app, IIRC) with the requests for dick pix/underaged girl deluge. We didn't know anyone caught up in it personally but there is a local "Next Door" group that shares info for various neighborhoods and neighboring townships and there were quite of few posts with warnings of it.

Then, some "upstanding suburban citizens (non-political division)" got trapped in an underage girl sting by local police. The whole thing seemed to dissolve right after that.

Thanks.

There are no indications that the scammers were in any way local. The "Mom" had a South Carolina area code and the "Grandpa" had an Ohio area code.

I assume that the "24-year old nurse" that he was interacting with had a local-ish area code to facilitate the scam-but that is apparently an easy thing to come up with.

[silverscreenselect]

She wanted a dick pic from him and when he wouldn't send it-she stopped responding to him and very quickly deleted her profile on the site.

Weird how he got that flurry of activity between 7PM and 8PM and then it just ended.

Women don't want guys to send them dick picks. That should have alerted Lil Spock right there that this was either a guy or, more likely, a scam.

These scams only work if the potential mark acts quickly on them. If your son hadn't bitten in an hour, the odds are he wouldn't and the more they contacted you, the greater the risk to them.

That "nurse" probably had multiple profiles and just moved on to the next one.

[silverscreenselect]

Apparently, Plenty of Fish is "famous" for the underage girl scam. The scam often includes telephone calls from "law enforcement officers." A number of those arrested were operating the scam out of a South Carolina prison.

https://www.thedailyscam.com/plenty-of- ... f-sharks2/

[Spock]

She wanted a dick pic from him and when he wouldn't send it-she stopped responding to him and very quickly deleted her profile on the site.

Weird how he got that flurry of activity between 7PM and 8PM and then it just ended.

Women don't want guys to send them dick picks. That should have alerted Lil Spock right there that this was either a guy or, more likely, a scam.

These scams only work if the potential mark acts quickly on them. If your son hadn't bitten in an hour, the odds are he wouldn't and the more they contacted you, the greater the risk to them.

That "nurse" probably had multiple profiles and just moved on to the next one.

Yeah, it was run in an absolutely textbook fashion.

I realize we live in an age of internet speed-but what I find most amusing (for lack of a better term) after the fact is how quickly they started threatening him. Within a few minutes, they were all "You had the chance to work with the family and you didn't take it"-etc etc

Damn-they try to panic the mark as fast as they can.

[kroxquo]

I'm sorry to hear about this. I met my wife on Plenty of Fish and we are happy, but I know there are lots of creeps out there.

[Spock]

I'm sorry to hear about this. I met my wife on Plenty of Fish and we are happy, but I know there are lots of creeps out there.

Good to know there is some good stuff there-Thanks, I will let him know that.

When he signed up for PoF-he did see some people that he knew on there.

[SportsFan68]

These people have no limits. A local police cadet (age 21) was hit on by a young woman he thought was 18, and he succumbed. He should have checked; she was actually 14. The next thing you know, he's being threatened a dozen different ways, but only one of them came true. He lost a promising law enforcement career forever.

[Spock]

These people have no limits. A local police cadet (age 21) was hit on by a young woman he thought was 18, and he succumbed. He should have checked; she was actually 14. The next thing you know, he's being threatened a dozen different ways, but only one of them came true. He lost a promising law enforcement career forever.

There must be all kinds of permutations of this.

My assumption in his case is that there was no girl-underage or not-just an attempt to scam him.