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Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

theguardian.com

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Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#41

Post by skciva »

totallywrong wrote: post #8

I've been thinking for a while now, as we've had social media for many years already. What good has it brought to society? Scams, addiction, FOMO, cancel culture, gossip, missinformation, bullying, and the most self-centered generation in history, to name a few. All of it instantly and on a global scale. It's truly one the worst things that ever happened to society IMO.

Your username is hilarious in context of this post. Sure there are a lot of horrible things that it's introduced. Replace social media with any other technology..what good have computers brought? What good has the automobile brought?

It is all perspective and humans will use tools for good and bad. There is plenty of good in the world thanks to social media.

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#43

Post by disco_framework »

totallywrong wrote: post #33
waboremo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those things are exclusive to social media, some of them aren't even bad (gossip), and the rest have equal positives (misinformation = abundant information, bullying = uplifting each other). I always question what intention does someone have painting social media in such broad strokes. Especially when we consider who actively gains from narrowing where information can be accessed.

I see your point, the problem with social media is the exposure and scale. Kids these days can't fool around like we did, someone is always recording and you can go viral. I read not long ago about kids with severe anxiety in school due to the constant fear of the wrong photo or video going on social media. And the abundant information, is that really a good thing? How much of it is good? Remember the Trump election,…

I think there was a sweet spot right before major social media adoption where lines were more clearly drawn. By that I mean you could find information if you needed/wanted to but you were constantly bombarded with it in tones that spoke it with 100% confidence with the sole purpose of getting you to click on something.

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#44

Post by AniseAbyss »

totallywrong wrote: post #8

I've been thinking for a while now, as we've had social media for many years already. What good has it brought to society? Scams, addiction, FOMO, cancel culture, gossip, missinformation, bullying, and the most self-centered generation in history, to name a few. All of it instantly and on a global scale. It's truly one the worst things that ever happened to society IMO.

[dead]

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#45

Post by er4hn »

SkipperCat wrote: post #35

I think a lot of this is because a large amount of our society grew up without the Internet. To them, everything that looks professional is professional. They are easy targets for scammers. Millennials and Gen-Z were raised on the Internet and therefore have an innate understanding of what is real and most importantly, what can be faked. Its a lot harder to scam. them. If I told my parents about a Nigerian oil execut…

Scams, and scammers, evolve. There will always be members of society that are lonely, desperate for money, or have some other situation that causes them to ignore red flags in a Nigerian 419 scam.

Technology also enables new scams as time goes on. You can now use automation and AI-esque tools to research potential marks, simulate the voice of a loved one in a plausible distressing situation, and call to ask for money. That sort of thing was much harder 20+ years ago and is today as plausible as setting up a cold call list for selling home insurance was back in the day.

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#46

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

spicymapotofu wrote: post #10
totallywrong wrote: post #8

I've been thinking for a while now, as we've had social media for many years already. What good has it brought to society? Scams, addiction, FOMO, cancel culture, gossip, missinformation, bullying, and the most self-centered generation in history, to name a few. All of it instantly and on a global scale. It's truly one the worst things that ever happened to society IMO.

Many people who never could afford to call international family now speak and see each other daily. I also disagree that technology has made anyone more self-centered, but disagreeing with Socratic proclamations is as old as society itself.

> Many people who never could afford to call international family now speak and see each other daily.

I get why electronic communication is a boon but I am sometimes confused by folks who prefer a public communication medium for their private comms.

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#47

Post by stubybubs »

lordfrito wrote: post #39
stubybubs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the most self-centered generation in history Boomers? Also I'm not sure cancel culture is a bad thing. It's just negative branding for what is essentially the first time marginalized groups could have their voices heard. People who are used to writing op-eds and never hearing any criticism of their ideas are finally getting some negative feedback and they're super mad about it. You get absolutely unreal outrage abo…

> what is essentially the first time marginalized groups could have their voices heard > There has never been a right to say what you want without being shamed or shunned So... when the marginalized groups start getting cancelled, do I get to say "well they don't have a right not to be shunned"? Live by the sword, die by the sword. We're living in a new McCarthyism.

> So... when the marginalized groups start getting cancelled,

After all the things that have happened to marginalized groups throughout history, mean tweets are worse?

We're all living by the sword and dying by the sword called free speech. Conservatives are boycotting Bud Light. That's their right.

The backwardness of all of this is that people keep going on cable news and writing op-eds about various subjects and when they get criticized, they call up their friends at the NYT and get their opinion blasted to millions of subscribers complaining about a nobody in the middle of Ohio who called them a jerk on Twitter and got 10k likes.

Is nobody else seeing how this is lopsided?

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#48

Post by sebzim4500 »

SkipperCat wrote: post #35

I think a lot of this is because a large amount of our society grew up without the Internet. To them, everything that looks professional is professional. They are easy targets for scammers. Millennials and Gen-Z were raised on the Internet and therefore have an innate understanding of what is real and most importantly, what can be faked. Its a lot harder to scam. them. If I told my parents about a Nigerian oil execut…

Presumably all the gullible people will lose their money to AI scams and then there won't be any AI scams.

Re: Victims speak out over ‘tsunami’ of fraud on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp

#49

Post by pengaru »

disco_framework wrote: post #38
pengaru wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mmm, overpopulation. Will you be blaming social media for their overcrowded trains too? https://imgur.com/gallery/2Xo9x

The comment you're responding to refers to India as their country. I'm assuming they've witnessed the changes first hand in that case.

Social media (or any other means of advertising, past or present) has affected these things everywhere.

Even I complain about my inability to be alone on a trail in CA, or struggling to find campsites, occasionally shaking my fist at social media for it.

But the linked images from India showing extreme overcrowding has far more to do with the population size than social media. When you have that many people, any little force generating focused interest is getting multiplied by a huge number.

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