Granny (120 years old) made a peach cream cake

Facebook must be the number #1 platform for frauds and scams. And Meta is doing next to nothing about it. There are tools to report frauds, but their artificial intelligence (or staff) is not smart enough to understand the frauds attempts. These days my Facebook is flooded with AI-generated images of old people (as old as 120 year old) having made their own birthday cake - and thousands of people are falling for it, wishing the non-existing person in the picture happy birthday.

Why is this clearly a fraud attempt?

Well, the comment list itself is a list of thousands of gullible people who are much more likely to be fooled, and so the next step for the scammers should be to contact them directly to engage the next step of the scam: Get their money.

Another thing the scammers might do is to eventually change the content of the post so that it's suddenly about some crypto-scam. It will look like it has a serious following because of all the comments, likes and shares, but these engagements were made on an entirely different premise. 

I reported a few of these pics, but it's no point. Meta don't get it and don't know what's going on on their own platform.

The text is consistently the same (except the name and age):

"Hello everyone, I am Jane. I am 120 years old, I made my own birthday cake with peach cream and filling, I started decorating cakes from 5 years old, I love it, and I can’t wait to grow my baking journey"

The oldest person on earth is 117 years old right now (March 2024), and I doubt she's facebooking about her cake baking journey. 

All these images are generated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). They can look real, but sometimes they really don't. 

Apple Camfrog PRO scam

Just got an email claiming to be from iTunes:


"Your Apple ID was just used to download Camfrog PRO 6.99£ from the App Store on a computer or device that had not previously been associated with that Apple ID.

This download was initiated from Morocco.

If you initiated this download, you can disregard this email. It was only sent to alert you in case you did not initiate the download yourself.

If you did not initiate this download, we recommend that you go to https://apple.com to update your information, then see Apple ID: Security and your Apple ID for further assistance.

Regards,
Apple"


This email is NOT authentic. It is sent from some scammers who are trying to get you to give them your personal information (apple ID, credit card number or similar).

LuxStyle / LuxGroup (snoring pills, hair removers, gambling ads) - scam?

LuxStyle.no is a valid Norwegian domain. So it appears to be more legit than the common scam. However, this domain is owned by a Danish company. They have a website at luxgroup.com where you can access the local sites easily.

I will not go as far as calling this a SCAM. I don't have enough proof to support that. However, it's definitely not a serious company. Why? Well, they don't show you that you are on a secure website. You normally see a padlock next to the website address if you are on a secure site. There was no indication in my browser that I was about to send my credit card information on a secure connection. All serious internet shops should show you that you are on a secure site. Despite this, they ARE in fact sending your credit card information over a secure socket "under the hood". But the normal customer can not know this and should only deal with websites that have the credit card information form with the padlock showing by the address bar. Otherwise it's too easy to trick/scam people.

However... I could say a few more things.

Once I had picked my products and went to the cart, I had to go through 6-7 steps of deciding whether I wanted to buy 5-6 other products as well. Hair removers ("LuxSmooth"), fake eyelashes ("QuickMax"), snoring pills ("Snore Killer"), facial mask ("Blackhead Killer"), detox bandages, a product to get rid of "skin worms". Snoring pills? Just ask at your pharmacy, if they don't have it, you should not be eating them.

When I finished the order, they had an ad for an online casino. This is not legal on Norwegian web sites. Again, no serious online shop would have illegal advertisements like this.

I assume all products are sent from a different country than yours, probably from Denmark. This means that you most likely has to pay additional fees when you get the shipment (VAT etc.)

On their web sites they have 4 "user reviews". However, these people are not identified with full names. They are not connected with Facebook either, so anyone could have written these reviews.

My overall judgement: Not a scam (unless the products doesn't work as advertised, which I know nothing about), but semi-legit and not serious enough. I would not recommend it at this time. The owners of this shop should get their own SSL certificate and use it on their web site so that people can see that it's secure, remove their gambling ads, have more believable reviews, possibly an official Facebook page so that you can see what other people are saying about this company.

George Abraham Banker in Abu Dhabi "Nigerian" scam

You might have received an email from a guy called "George Abraham" who claims to be a banker in Abu Dhabi.

The email might go something like this:

"This message might meet you in utmost surprise; however, it’s just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I am George Abraham a banker by profession working in First Gulf Bank in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity transferring the left over funds in tune of (USD $17.5M) SEVENTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS of one of my bank Customers who died along with his entire family on 15th July, 2009 in a plane crash in Northern Iran, who had no relations to claim the fund and I want you to help me receive the fund in your country. Is an opportunity for us to claim the fund and give our lives a complete definition.

Hence, I am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between two of us in the ratio of 50/50 percentage. If you agree to my business proposal. Further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail, further details and information should be forwarded to you, try to send your responds with your telephone number so that I will call you for more clarifications.
You can contact me through this my alternative email address :(ga015946@gmail.com)
I am waiting for your urgent responds.
Have a great day,
Sincerely,
Best Regard's
George Abraham.
READ AND REPLY URGENT"


The guy also has a LinkedIn profile and he actually tried to add me as a contact today. Check it out here: http://ae.linkedin.com/pub/george-abraham/a5/3a9/bb2

It has "Nigerian scam" written all over it. A problem typically occurs before he can send you the money, and you have to pay someone to be able to let the transfer proceed.

I'm wondering if people still falls for these scams...

MaxMan / Musclepharmm / MensDiet scam

This time Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson got ripped using "MaxMan" (possibly in combination with some of the other fake products that I've mentioned before). They didn't, of course, but that's what the scammers want you to believe.

It's a Facebook ad that leads to you an "independent" magazine/website at robwilliams.net (they use many domain names, some of them are listed at the bottom). This website looks identical to the one used in Titanium Pro X except that it's a different product this time. The headline might say something like "Men'sDiet", making it look like it's related to "Men'sHealth" (the legit magazine).

If I decide to proceed and buy a product I will go to the site maxmanpower.eu. But only if it's my first visit! If it's my second visit they will send me to "www.xdating.com", probably because they want to try to cover their tracks (in their minds, you only need to go there once to make the order, no need to come there a second time to look closer at it)

When I proceed to payment I am transferred to PayPal. This means that this is not a credit card scam. So what option is left? Well, they will take your order and your money, but they may not send you the product. Of course, I have not made an order myself and tried to send them money so I can't know for sure. But this concept has SCAM written all over it. They lie and deceive you on their web pages, so there is no reason for me to believe that they will not steal my money - if I send it to them.

Also, ask your self: What are the ingredients in this product? Does it say on the web site? Well, I could not find it. Why would anyone want to buy a product that they don't know what is or what it contains?

A related website called musclepharmm.com appears to be selling supplements. However, when they ask for your credit card information you are not on a SECURE web site. This means that they don't have a valid SSL certificate. ALL (no exception) serious internet shops who accepts credit card payments have an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate makes sure that the information you send them is encrypted so that no one else can "see" the information and abuse it. However, even if they had a valid certificate, they could still abuse your information. Do you want to give your credit card details to people who already has lied and deceived you? Would you trust them?

They have the domain name "musclepharmm.com"... Did you see the TWO m's at the end? They're trying to make you think that they are the legit company called "Muscle Pharm". Another attempt to deceive you.

Read more about Titanium Pro X to learn more (same scammers, probably)

The people behind this scam have posted about 130 videos on YouTube during a month. Each video is related to a different product. Can you imagine how much effort these people put into this? And yet, we don't know their identity.

Take a look, each of these products appears to do wonders for you:

Or you can check it their youtube channel yourself: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdyWbeDOvEs5NLhjv_euvnw/videos

The voice on these videos modified (or computer generated). They don't sound real at all. Why wouldn't they want to use a real voice? In many cases the comments are deactivated. Obviously, they don't want any bad feedback in the comment area.

Keywords and similar/related web sites:
Dwayne Johnson Scam
robwilliams.net Scam
Reporter Bryan Stevens Scam
TentiGoPower Scam
meatandmuscles.com (Meat and muscles)
themusclegarage.com
supplementchitchat.com (fake reviews)
themuscleflex.com
MySkinMD.com
FocusOnWeightLoss.com
MensHealthOnline.net
JudgeMyPenis.com (!)
WeightLossForMe.com
revolutionaryhealthandfitness.com
musclepharmm.com

Buy PureLife Credit Card Scam / Phishing

Another nice Facebook ad appear on my news feed today. This one is intended for girls who wants to lose weight.

A new page called "Mellisa Thomas" creates these ads, where "Mellisa" comments that "No wonder women gets crazy over this product". 

This is a new trend on Facebook to try to sell some "easy to sell"-products. But instead of actually sending you these products, they are more likely to abuse your credit card information. Also, they lie through-out their whole marketing campaign. 

They set up 2 web sites or so. Website 1 is trying to appear to be an independent party, usually a "health magazine" or something. The purpose of this website is to "independently" praise this product. Incidentally, they also have direct links to where you can buy it online. 

Website 2 is the actual product website. Here you are supposed to buy the product and leave your credit card information - but do you know who REALLY gets your credit card information what what they can do with it? What do you really know about this "shop"? Who are they?

Here are some comments/observations about this particular shop:

1) The shop is using a valid SSL certificate, which is normally a good thing. However, this doesn't mean that they will not abuse your credit card. It only means that they have made a bigger effort to make this look serious.

2) The comments on website 1 (womenshealth-magz.com) are always dated with today's date. You can check tomorrow, and you will see the same comments with tomorrow's date (maybe in a different order). They claim the comments have been closed because of "abuse", but this is a lie. They don't want REAL comments. They have made the existing comments themselves. See if you can find a single negative comment? You'd think that at least ONE person would be negative about it?

3) Do you really think that these celebrities used this product to lose weight? They're rich, they probably have personal trainers who tell them how to exercise and what to eat. Try to google somewhere to see if there is any other information about how these girls lost weight. Do they admit to using this product? Guess not.

4) The owners of the domain names are hidden. It's very difficult to find out who these people are or where they operate from. How can you hold them responsible if there is a problem with your order?

(Will try to continue this article later...)

Keywords:
Gaia Detox Tabletter
Pure Life Green Coffee
PureLife
Maria Bodøgaard
womenshealth-magz.com
buypurelife.com
Mellisa Thomas

"Norges drone kampanje 2014" scam

So, you saw a Facebook ad where you could buy a drone that had flown across the Atlantic ocean to your country? Well, don't waste your time and try not to lose all the money you have in your bank account.

The Facebook ad links to a page at http://jublr.tkr.me/droneno (or similar for another country). There they have some "special offer", in Norway they are adding in a couple of magazines if you buy a drone for a very low amount of money (10 USD / 50 NOK).

They collect your credit card information and they do not do this on a SECURE page. This is proof on its own that this is not a serious business and (unless they are really stupid) they are most likely going to try to empty your credit card as soon as you give them your information.

If you have given them your credit card information already, make sure you cancel your card as soon as possible. It will not take them long to start abusing your card and start stealing your money.

On the Norwegian page they try to pretend to be representing a Norwegian website called "Bonnier Shop". This shop is real, but it is not found on this URL.

Have you found a similar Facebook ad in your country? Please comment and give the rest of us more information about it.

Edit: I just noticed that the Norwegian magazine "Illustrert Vitenskap" has a REAL campaign which looks exactly like the one mentioned above. The scammers have copied the real campaign, so they look very similar. However, once they ask you to fill in your creditcard details, you need to make sure you are on a SECURE page. Usually indicated by a padlock to the left of the URL in the address bar. The address itself should start with https://... (the s in https is important)

The real campaign is here: http://shop.illvit.no/node/37177/form?media=dagbladet&ms=1&popup=1 and once they ask for your credit card details, they have taken you to this address: https://secure.incab.se/verify/bin/BPI/index? which is a secure address as it contains the https in front (should the browser ever complain that a "SSL certificate" is not valid, you should follow the recommendations and stay away from the site).