I think this is the scam
'Our chosen platform for this podcast is Facebook … '
Over the past year or so, I’ve received dozens of very weird invitations to be interviewed on podcasts — sometimes offering thousands of dollars for my time.
They all seemed scammy, but I couldn’t figure out the angle. Examples:
“We’re reaching out about a fantastic opportunity for you to showcase your talents and insights … featuring diverse discussions on fitness, fashion, lifestyle, music, and more, including the challenges and joys of compensation for your participation.”
“I hope you are in good health. … I wanted to extend a heartfelt invitation for you to join us as a guest on [redacted]. It’s a paid show and we will pay you a good compensation for your participation …”
“During the podcast session, we will delve into aspects of life, including its challenges and triumphs … as well as human rights and social issues such as socialism. Our chosen platform for this podcast is Facebook … we are pleased to offer a compensation of $3,000.”
As much as I’d love to imagine that some random podcast might be willing to pay me thousands to hop on a remote call and wax poetic about … um, socialism? … it all made my Spidey-sense tingle.
So, I moved them to trash and moved on. Now, it looks like someone has figured out the scam.
‘Getting me all hyped up’
Writing on The Wrap, Kayla Cobb said she talked with an influencer with 2.1 million TikTok followers and an entire business wrapped around his social media channels who responded, got taken in, and very nearly lost everything.
Magic Singh (real name: Amardeep Singh Dhanjal), as Cobb writes, has had some good success, and he had recently signed with a management company. So, it didn’t seem crazy to imagine that an email inviting him to appear on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” might be legitimate.
“They wanted to interview me and talk about magic, my career, what I’m up to with my socials and the shows I’ve been doing,” he said. “They were getting me all hyped up.”
The whole story is quite interesting, but let’s cut right to how the scam (almost) worked.
In short, this wasn’t actually anyone associated with sportswriter and podcaster Bill Simmons; instead, their whole goal was to get Magic to do a “test call” via Facebook, which turns out to be important.
During the test call, the “tech guy” supposedly working for the podcast told Magic he had sent him an invitation to the podcast on his Facebook Events page. When the invitation didn’t pop up (I’m assuming because it didn’t exist) the “tech guy” asked Magic to share his screen so that he could troubleshoot.
From there, it didn’t take long for the “tech guy” to walk Magic through a few steps on his Meta business page and ask him to generate and share a link — again, all under the guise of helping him set up the interview.
‘It’s a business’
Minutes or even seconds after sharing the link, Magic’s business partner realized that there were suspicious login requests on Magic’s Meta Business Suite account.
It looks like this was the scam: an elaborate attempt to take over at least one of his monetized social media pages.
Fortunately for Magic, he’d enabled two-factor authentication, so simply having the link wasn’t enough, but the scammer(s) kept trying for 24 hours until the link expired.
The article goes on to cite at least one other person who fell for a scam like this, and wound up losing several social media accounts temporarily — although he was able to regain control after appealing to Meta.
“It’s mad. It’s a business for these people to take people’s accounts … wipe everything clean,” Magic surmised; the idea perhaps being that they could rename the channels or accounts and sell them.
In retrospect, some of the weird invitations I received also included the idea of doing the interview via Facebook; that struck me as odd at the time but didn’t stand out.
Maybe now we know why.
‘Hey Bill, this is Marco Rubio …’
Frankly, it’s probably only going to get easier for scammers to at least attempt these kinds of things — and probably to become much more sophisticated.
I suspect they’ll quickly move past just using emails. We’ll soon hear about people getting phone calls or video messages from AI-enabled deepfakes that impersonate celebrities.
Maybe you won’t just find an email from someone saying, “Hi, I’m an assistant to Big Name Interviewer;” instead you’ll wind up with a phone message or on a video call that makes it look and feel like you’re actually talking with the big name himself or herself.
If it sounds far-fetched, the government revealed a few weeks ago that an “unknown actor” used AI to impersonate the voice of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and “contacted … three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress” pretending to be him.
The trick with that one apparently was that they left voicemails, and then didn't pick up when the calls were returned. Then, they called back and left additional voicemails mimicking Rubio's voice that were of the "Sorry we keep missing each other, but what I wanted to ask you to do was ..." variety.
Yeah, we’re at that point.
Lessons learned: Be wary, be skeptical, and turn on two-factor authentication.
And maybe spread the word.
Just because you know now, doesn’t mean your friends and colleagues know, too.
7 other things worth knowing
President Donald Trump on Monday said he will work with European allies to “set up food centers” in Gaza, disagreeing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assessment that there is “no starvation” in the war-torn strip. “Based on television, … those children look very hungry,” Trump said. “But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.” Trump later added: “Some of those kids are — that’s real starvation stuff.” (Politico)
The Democratic Party’s image has eroded to its lowest point in more than three decades, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll, with voters seeing Republicans as better at handling most issues that decide elections. The new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party—the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33% who hold a favorable view. That is a far weaker assessment than voters give to either President Trump or the Republican Party, who are viewed more unfavorably than favorably by 7 points and 11 points, respectively. A mere 8% of voters view the Democrats “very favorably,” compared with 19% who show that level of enthusiasm for the GOP. (WSJ)
A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years for a 1981 double murder he did not commit, including a decade on death row, is suing five former law enforcement officials. John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023, who cited prosecutorial misconduct. A Maryland board approved $2.9 million in compensation. Just 18 years old at the time of his arrest, Huffington said neither of his parents ever got to see and understand that his name had been cleared and he was set free. Questions about the case arose after The Washington Post investigated in 2011. (The Independent)
Animal shelters are crowded as high costs squeeze pet owners: Millions of animals are stuck in increasingly cramped shelters because their owners are struggling to pay rising vet bills and other expenses. (NBC News)
Welcome to the grocery store where prices change 100 times a day: Electronic shelf labels are spreading at grocery chains in Europe and the U.S., enabling instant price drops—and raising fears of surge pricing. (WSJ)
He Read (at Least) 3,599 Books in His Lifetime. Now Anyone Can See His List: After Dan Pelzer died this month at 92, his children uploaded the handwritten reading list he kept for 60 years to what-dan-read.com, hoping to inspire readers everywhere. (New York Times, What-Dan-Read)
A new Taiwanese television series that imagines the run-up to a Chinese invasion is getting rave reviews from viewers, who said the first programme featuring the sensitive topic is a wake-up call for the public facing heightened Chinese military threat. The drama focuses on several scenarios Taiwan might face in the days leading up to a Chinese attack, including a global financial collapse, the activation of Chinese sleeper agents and panicked residents trying to flee the island. (Reuters)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.
well, I found today's UNDERSTANDABLY in my junk file!! I went there looking for something else - so glad I did! I guess it's because you had "scam" in your subject line!
Love the 'What Dan Read' link. Difficult to see/read his notations, but I'll give it a try. I wonder how many I'll add to my list of 'want to read'...
And I'll be interested to watch 'Zero Day Attack' - I hope it'll be available.
so sad about the crowded animal shelters. I remember that happened after COVID lockdown opened up.
It’s odd and a testament to what’s important to people now that this is the kind of scams going around. Another example: employment scams. This goes beyond ghost jobs and the cesspool of job listings that LinkedIn and Indeed have become. I have been almost scammed twice in the past three months, one getting dangerously closer than the other one. I consider myself fairly educated and able to spot scams, having grown up with “Nigerian prince” cautionary tales, but AI has enabled these bad actors to become more and more sophisticated, with the red flags and tells becoming increasingly difficult to spot (slightly different fonts on one document, questionable grammar that gives one pause, remote work offers that seems too good to be true). What started as text messages offering remote opportunities that pay $1,000 a week “when you click on this link to get started” has evolved into a suspicious head of HR offering me a job I didn’t apply for and attaching my own resume to the message.
I know this is already being written about and there have been a few LinkedIn posts by influencers over there, but I consider this as spreading the word about these scams too in case someone out there thinks they’re getting the employment lifeline they so desperately need. Don’t get got! If you’re ever unsure, google the name of the person emailing you and ‘scam.’ Saved my neck.