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Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

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31–40 of 192 posts

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#31

In this day and age, if you fall for something like that, just refuse to pay and say you'll tell people it's an AI fake. I think the days of this sort of scam being very effective are over, or will be soon.

This should be the top comment as it may in fact save someones life.

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#32
post #30

In this day and age, if you fall for something like that, just refuse to pay and say you'll tell people it's an AI fake. I think the days of this sort of scam being very effective are over, or will be soon.

Why do we keep thinking that people will wise up to AI-generated content just because it'll eventually be mass-produced and anyone can do it? Anyone can write absolutely anything with little check and balance on substance, and MILLIONS still believe tabloids and headlines. We've been able to reliably edit photos/video/film for 80 years with an exponential increase in its efficiency within the last 30 - and we still h…

You say that but I’ve yet to see an AI deep fake have any real impact so far. At least in the west, the political ones I’ve seen really haven’t got much traction and were quickly dismissed by the mainstream. Sure, there will always be idiots on the fringe who will believe anything that aligns with their current beliefs, there’s little we can do about that, but so far I’m surprised there hasn’t been an AI deepfake that didn’t fizzle within days. I guess we’re early in the game, so time will tell.

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#33

In this day and age, if you fall for something like that, just refuse to pay and say you'll tell people it's an AI fake. I think the days of this sort of scam being very effective are over, or will be soon.

this doesn't help victims who are stressed like crazy with threats. "oh you'll be fine"

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#35
post #30

In this day and age, if you fall for something like that, just refuse to pay and say you'll tell people it's an AI fake. I think the days of this sort of scam being very effective are over, or will be soon.

Why do we keep thinking that people will wise up to AI-generated content just because it'll eventually be mass-produced and anyone can do it? Anyone can write absolutely anything with little check and balance on substance, and MILLIONS still believe tabloids and headlines. We've been able to reliably edit photos/video/film for 80 years with an exponential increase in its efficiency within the last 30 - and we still h…

Robocalls aren’t effective anymore. Emails don’t do much except once in a great while. Mail hasn’t worked since the 80s. I have to imagine IM clients will lose their effectiveness for scamming the same as all the others.

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#37
post #34

I don't understand what would motivate someone to ever send an explicit photo of themselves to a stranger. The whole premise of this scam makes no sense. Like, is this not the most basic of the basics of online safety?

The short answer is horniness. They are hoping to get some. And indeed, as I understand it, they've received what they think are explicit photos of someone else, so they believe they are in a reciprocal context.

If people were all that good at being rational about safety in the face of possible sexytimes, it's true this wouldn't happen. And we wouldn't have STDs or unintended pregnancies, either. But as the man says, life finds a way.

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#38

Why is it called "scam" and "fraud"? It is typical revenge porn, sexual abuse and distribution of child pornography. There is a strong network to support rape victims, and it should be used for such cases.

[dead]

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#39
post #9

[flagged]

And how exactly is a local cop in the US supposed to enforce the law against someone who (both legally and physically) is a resident of a country on the other side of the globe (Nigeria)? Asking because that’s the situation the article in the OP is talking about, and I don’t see how any of what you said applies to it.

> And how exactly is a local cop in the US supposed to enforce the law against someone who (both legally and physically) is a resident of a country on the other side of the globe (Nigeria)? > Asking because that’s the situation the article in the OP is talking about, and I don’t see how any of what you said applies to it.

The perpetrator I am thinking of was a foreign national, but was a student in the USA, attending a US university.

The problem is law enforcement.

Re: Scammers are targeting teenage boys on social media and driving some to suicide

#40

Why is it called "scam" and "fraud"? It is typical revenge porn, sexual abuse and distribution of child pornography. There is a strong network to support rape victims, and it should be used for such cases.

It is called a scam because that's what the perps are going for. Their goal is to extract money. From the article: "The price was $300. He transferred the money via Apple Cash and pleaded to be left alone. But it wasn’t enough. Now Dani wanted $800."

Maybe you know different teenagers than me, but I'm not expecting that the boys described here would be big on joining a rape support group.

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