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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't.
#26921575 - 09/06/20 04:56 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Here is a tale from many years ago, when I was active in a game. We're keeping it vague.
This guy and I were becoming friends, seeing each other daily for hours, it creates a bond. It was a friend from one of the poorest nations in the EU.
There was something about him and his friendship towards me.. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The level of friendship we had didnt add up, because there were emotional detachments in places there shouldnt be, at that level of friendship. It was a bit.. hmmm?
It needs mention that I had some obvious pricy bought assets in the game. At the time I mentioned the advice to get into gold if he could spare the investment, it would considerably increase in value. Ai! Fatal mistake!
A story began to develop. He reluctantly began telling about how, about 7 months from now, he was going to get evicted, this causing me alarm in more ways than one.
As the time progressed more and more came to the surface, yes he had a sizable debt that he couldnt pay, and was going to be evicted for.
Then the story came out oh so reluctantly and woefully. He had had a leaky outdoor tap for the garden, that because of depression he hadn't fixed and was dripping away, note the dripping part, for almost a year. His debt he owed to the city's water company, was to the tune of €10,000 euros.
An anvil dropped on my head. At once I knew the situation.
My poor, destitute, close yet distant friend was pulling a longterm social engineering scam on me, spanning 3/4 of a year. Gradually building up the tension, the distress, the anguish of my friend towards me, the more affluent friend. A situation culminating in his total ruin which I could prevent with a generous donation, a Godsent.
But see..
I'm a thinker.
€10,000 in drinking water from a dripping, leaky tap for almost a year. Roger that. Lets check the water price of his municipal water supply.
Ah, just like basic split second math spat out: that would in the local price be enough water to fill almost 3 olympic sizes swimming pools.
We are talking about 7 million liters of water. Given that the tap leaked for "almost a year", lets say 10 months, thats about 700,000 liters a month, or 24 thousand liter a day, or two buckets per minute, more than a wide open tap can provide. The Internet volunteered the info that a leaky tap could "leak up to 20,000 liters a year". His, allegedly, did this in 20 hours, every 20 hours, gushing a thousand liters per hour while he was sitting by.
Almost three olympic sized swimming pools. His house would be the center of a sizable swamp!
I remained empathic and observed him some more. I noticed him planting seeds of worry at regular interval, subtly dropping seemingly unrelated comments that hooked back to the situation, and noticing more things that just didnt add up to him being in the situation he said he was in and didnt add up to him being honest in his ways.
My spirit guide congratulated me on unmasking the situation and proposed a plan of action.
I stuck around with him 2 months more, observing the scam in motion, subtly baiting it, being oh so empathic, playing it off as unaware, and then, with the deadline of his endgame in sight, under suggestion I might do something, reacted a bit histrionic to a minor squabble we had and when he upped the ante, wanting to be right I suddenly, completely, severed ties with him out of the blue over a total piece of nothing.
He was like that his half year of social engineering was for naught, called me some spectacular names that made clear he had viewed our time spent an an investment, logged out and immediately unsubscribed his account.
Ha fucking Ha Ha.
But seriously, have anyone of you ever been in a situation online that wasnt a regular nigerian scam but where someone in person tried to gain your trust or abused your trust in order to part you with money or other incentives?
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,232
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 1 hour, 4 minutes
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Re: Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't. [Re: Asante]
#26921590 - 09/06/20 05:06 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I had a similar experience in an MMO where the stories just did not add up. After seeing where it all went, I told the other person I would help him,by wiring money to his bank account, but due to my countries laws we needed an established connection and asked he send a check for the equivalent of 100US to me. When I got the check, said thanks for the money friend, donated to his in game characters name to a charity that operates in his nation and said "Now don't you feel really good about yourself?" He had some choice things to say to me too and immediately unsubbed so I couldn't have a mod track his behavior but gave them the info anyway and they IP banned him... He followed up with some choice emails to that, as he was planning on making a new account. I should note this was many years ago when things like VPN/spoofing IPs where not nearly as widely used for these type of scams.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Re: Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't. [Re: Ice9]
#26921601 - 09/06/20 05:13 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ice9 said: I had a similar experience in an MMO where the stories just did not add up. After seeing where it all went, I told the other person I would help him,by wiring money to his bank account, but due to my countries laws we needed an established connection and asked he send a check for the equivalent of 100US to me. When I got the check, said thanks for the money friend, donated to his in game characters name to a charity that operates in his nation and said "Now don't you feel really good about yourself?" He had some choice things to say to me too and immediately unsubbed so I couldn't have a mod track his behavior but gave them the info anyway and they IP banned him... He followed up with some choice emails to that, as he was planning on making a new account. I should note this was many years ago when things like VPN/spoofing IPs where not nearly as widely used for these type of scams.




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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,232
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 1 hour, 4 minutes
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Re: Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't. [Re: Asante]
#26921611 - 09/06/20 05:21 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Not to one up you, this was in the early days of Everquest and the stories where so similar I wondered if it was the same dude lol.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,795
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Re: Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't. [Re: Ice9]
#26921622 - 09/06/20 05:32 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Its great how you turned that around. It would have been awesome if it had been the same dude having these two harrowing experiemces in sequence.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
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Ice9
3X Ban Lotto Champion



Registered: 03/20/14
Posts: 11,232
Loc: daterapeville,USA
Last seen: 1 hour, 4 minutes
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Re: Social engineering: the in-game friend that wasn't. [Re: Asante]
#26921623 - 09/06/20 05:34 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Could be, life is funny like that sometimes, small world and all.
-------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Brenard Shaw
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