31 Aug 2025 - AJ
Last week’s posting was updated to include a slightly different version of the scam.
(For those curious, it’s basically the scammer reflecting the PayPal setup email with the same scammy refund scammer text instead of the developer invitation.)
I’ve also been keeping up with new versions of another scam thanks to a friend who’s more into the fandom scene. Apparently along with the scammy fake artists, fanfiction authors are now seeing fake editors and promotional services, still wanting to lure the authors off-site. My friend notes that these scammers are now trying to seem more “real” - kudosing (basically a thumbs-up of sorts) on the Archive of our Own website and making comments that seem like they’ve read the fic.
This week’s scam is an example of scammers adapting to people becoming increasingly wary of a certain form of fake payment scam - so they’ll pretend to send a payment while not sending one at all. Interestingly, I ran across it during my usual perusal of r/scams where someone was asked by a supposed robbery victim tourist to get money from the ATM in return for payment via payment app.