Facebook scams

[brianvds]

Years ago I created a professional FB page, specifically for posting my work, instead of mixing social posts with professional ones. At the time it seemed like a good idea - people interested in my art will not necessarily want to read through my jokes or political opinions, so in a general sort of way, it is probably best to separate one's social media in this way. For a while it sort of worked too; I got some followers on the page and even sold a painting or two.

But it never really took off. I wondered whether I should keep on bothering, did so anyway, never really grew a following, but one gets into the habit. Until recent weeks, when it became necessary for me to fend of a seemingly endless stream of scam artists trying to defraud me.

The last one was also the last straw. As with all of them, he pretended interest, gushed about how beautiful my work is, offered to buy some on the spot etc. etc. When they do that it's usually an NFT scam, so I told him I don't sell anything as NFT. No, he says, that's not it, he wants to buy an original - and then he proceeds to try catching me with a well known Paypal scam known as the overpayment scam - they pay you way too much, claim it was an accident, ask for a refund - which they now want to be paid via a less secure method. And then they cancel the original transaction. So you lose the money, and if you have already sent the artwork, you lose that as well.

And thus, before I even gave him a price, he informed me he had already paid $250 into my Paypal account. For me, thanks to the exchange rate, it's a pretty big fortune! Lucky for me, I'm only partly stupid. So when he asked me whether I had received it I told him "no" (because it hadn't been paid in yet), and informed him that I would in any event cancel such a transaction.

"No offense," I told him, "but my scam alarms are going off." Upon which he sent me a rather charming message, which I am going to attempt to hide here behind a "spoiler" barrier, because it contains some, er, vocabulary that might offend...

Spoiler: John's final message

I then tried to report him to FB, only to find their software for doing so doesn't really work, so he's probably hard at work trying to scam other people.

Anyway, final straw. I'm deleting that FB profile!

Any others here with similar tales? Perhaps this is a good time to warn one another about all the scams going around. Most of us are just run-of-the-mill artists rather than big art stars, meaning we're desperate for sales, which in turn means we are prime targets for scammers.

 

[Grapes]

I only get those NFT offers which I don't even answer. They mostly go to spam folder somewhere. If l get any message from this John Billy, l just send him a copy of your Spoiler.
Thanks for this warning!

 

[Hermes2020]

I've never been on Facebook, but heard that deleting one's profile completely requires some special steps. There are some YouTube videos that guide one to do it.

 

[brianvds]

I've never been on Facebook, but heard that deleting one's profile completely requires some special steps. There are some YouTube videos that guide one to do it.

I don't think it will matter if they keep it alive in some or other hidden corner. We'll see what happens.

I have not deleted my personal FB account; only the business one. Now I'll see whether I suddenly get accosted out of the blue on my personal account, by more "John Billies" desperate to buy my work or sell me Bitcoin.

I doubt it, because I nowadays follow a simple rule on all social media: I put the "social" into social media. In practice, that means I do not have any FB friends who are not in fact real friends or at least acquaintances. After years and years on FB, my total number of FB friends is still under a hundred.

I find that in this way I avoid virtually all the pitfalls of social media: the spammers, snake oil salesmen, hate campaigns, nasty gossip, all of that stuff. I actually find FB a very nice way to keep in contact with friends, share pictures and so on. The trick is not to try to befriend the entire planet. It's simply not possible to keep track of thousands upon thousands of FB "friends," or indeed to even have that many actual friends.

At one point I thought it might be useful to accept all friend requests, and then simply put them on mute - that way they'd still see my posts but I wouldn't see any of theirs! Nice way to stealth market, perhaps? But the fact is, social media marketing is almost all hype - for the most part, it simply doesn't work, and it turns what should be fun into something that feels like work. If people really want to see my posts, they can follow me instead of trying to be my "friend." I don't care one way or the other.

And if someone who doesn't know me in real life really wants to be FB friends, the least they can do is send me a private message explaining who they are and why they want to be FB friends - I am perfectly open to that (e.g. I have some FB friends that I have only met online, in groups like this one, and I consider them genuine friends.)

I follow the same policy on Instagram - I follow artists whose work I want to see, and no one else. I do not care whether they follow me back. Those who want to follow me on IG can do so if they like. I am most likely not going to follow them back, because I simply cannot keep track of thousands of artists, and I do not have time to go through a feed of thousands of posts every day. If I'm not going to see any of their posts, then what's the point of following?

The whole thing has turned into this absurdist competition about who can gather the most followers, but these followers do not actually see your posts, because they also follow thousands of other artists, often in the hope of being followed back, so they can increase their "follower" numbers. It's a completely ludicrous game. I'll leave it to teenaged girls.

After all the tech advances in social media, the best format is probably still a moderated board such as this one, where everyone shares an interest and where spammers and other nuts and dolts quickly get thrown out. But at least for the moment, I find FB and IG perfectly worthwhile - as long as I use them instead of allowing myself to BE used.

Mark Zuckerberg will no doubt have an apoplectic attack if he ever reads this post, because for all the talk about "connecting people", the very last thing he wants is for people to use social media as a medium of genuine social contact.

 

[Artyczar]

For Facebook, you have to delete your profile permanently for it to work. Otherwise, they are just putting your account on hold until you decide to come back. Make sure it's a permanent delete.

I haven't had a Facebook profile in many years. I'm not so into it because it didn't seem like people were into photos of art like they are on Instagram. I've sold a few things on Instagram, but never on Facebook.

I also get those spam people. Not so much for NFTs, which I always say no to, but for the refund-type scam. That's an old, old scam. I have never got one on Instagram, but I get them directly from my website. They don't care that artists are desperate for sales or are good people, or have limited resources; they are out for making money with their scam. That is what they typically do for a living in Nigeria (and some other places, like Malaysia). They have fewer resources than any of us, so they don't care about making a living this way or hurting artist peeps.

Once in a while, they fool me and I think it's a legit inquiry like when the grammar is not horrible, but one other email and I'll know what is going on. Just beware.

 

[pcj]

I don't think it will matter if they keep it alive in some or other hidden corner. We'll see what happens.

I have not deleted my personal FB account; only the business one. Now I'll see whether I suddenly get accosted out of the blue on my personal account, by more "John Billies" desperate to buy my work or sell me Bitcoin.

I doubt it, because I nowadays follow a simple rule on all social media: I put the "social" into social media. In practice, that means I do not have any FB friends who are not in fact real friends or at least acquaintances. After years and years on FB, my total number of FB friends is still under a hundred.

I find that in this way I avoid virtually all the pitfalls of social media: the spammers, snake oil salesmen, hate campaigns, nasty gossip, all of that stuff. I actually find FB a very nice way to keep in contact with friends, share pictures and so on. The trick is not to try to befriend the entire planet. It's simply not possible to keep track of thousands upon thousands of FB "friends," or indeed to even have that many actual friends.

At one point I thought it might be useful to accept all friend requests, and then simply put them on mute - that way they'd still see my posts but I wouldn't see any of theirs! Nice way to stealth market, perhaps? But the fact is, social media marketing is almost all hype - for the most part, it simply doesn't work, and it turns what should be fun into something that feels like work. If people really want to see my posts, they can follow me instead of trying to be my "friend." I don't care one way or the other.

And if someone who doesn't know me in real life really wants to be FB friends, the least they can do is send me a private message explaining who they are and why they want to be FB friends - I am perfectly open to that (e.g. I have some FB friends that I have only met online, in groups like this one, and I consider them genuine friends.)

I follow the same policy on Instagram - I follow artists whose work I want to see, and no one else. I do not care whether they follow me back. Those who want to follow me on IG can do so if they like. I am most likely not going to follow them back, because I simply cannot keep track of thousands of artists, and I do not have time to go through a feed of thousands of posts every day. If I'm not going to see any of their posts, then what's the point of following?

The whole thing has turned into this absurdist competition about who can gather the most followers, but these followers do not actually see your posts, because they also follow thousands of other artists, often in the hope of being followed back, so they can increase their "follower" numbers. It's a completely ludicrous game. I'll leave it to teenaged girls.

After all the tech advances in social media, the best format is probably still a moderated board such as this one, where everyone shares an interest and where spammers and other nuts and dolts quickly get thrown out. But at least for the moment, I find FB and IG perfectly worthwhile - as long as I use them instead of allowing myself to BE used.

Mark Zuckerberg will no doubt have an apoplectic attack if he ever reads this post, because for all the talk about "connecting people", the very last thing he wants is for people to use social media as a medium of genuine social contact.

I find your “leave it to teenaged girls” comment extremely offensive ! When I was a teenager I was certainly not interested in anything so stupid .I was in a science program and also getting my pilots licences. Your are an extreme chauvenist.
Patricia

 

[stevenD]

My Facebook Artist page is only a couple of months old. I invite any Artists here to follow/friend me there @ ARTography by StevenD.

I get lots and lots of NFT and/or other Scam attempts there and I have learned to have fun with them, I ask them questions, drag things out then start insulting them creatively (not vulgar) and keep it going until THEY BLOCK ME...!

LOL, then I report them as a Fraud/Scam, I have no idea if they get removed, but they do leave me alone and move on...

 

[Marksmomagain]

I've never been on Facebook. But I have in the past asked many a phone scammer (in as gravelly and breathy a voice as I can muster) "mmmm, what are you wearing?"

 

[snoball]

I've sold many legitimate works on facebook but have also had basically the same scam tried on me. The guy kept asking if the payment had gone through on paypal. Insisted that he had sent it. I just kept telling him no, I did not receive it. Would have never sent anything without a real payment.

Scammer:
Hello, I have successfully sent the payment as a
"business" with purchase protection included and the confirmation showed an email confirmation has been sent to us so please check for the email.

Me:
Nothing in my email at this time. I'll check again when I get in from doing chores.


Scammer:
Kindly check your email inbox or spam junk important because I received the same email as well.


Scammer:
Did you got it ?

Me:
No, nothing in any of the email boxes and I checked my PayPal account and there is no activity. I hope you can understand my caution, I have been scammed before.

Me:
I find no John Marco in Quitman, GA and when I go to the address you have given me, I find a different person living there.

 

[brianvds]

I find your “leave it to teenaged girls” comment extremely offensive ! When I was a teenager I was certainly not interested in anything so stupid .I was in a science program and also getting my pilots licences. Your are an extreme chauvenist.
Patricia

As far as I can work out, stats indicate that girls are more prone to social media addiction than boys. The boys, instead, get addicted to video games. In both cases, screen addiction is now a major disaster for childhood development.

If it makes you feel better, outcomes for boys tend to be much worse - boys seem far less able to cope with the modern world than girls. As they get older, lots of girls move on to college, whereas boys stay in mom's basement, playing video games. Hence more than half of college students are now women.

Apart from the research, this has also been my experience teaching school classes - the girls are more docile and open to being taught; the boys tend to do worse at school, and have all the usual problems that have now become ubiquitous: can't focus, have no interest in much of anything, rude, etc.

I.e. my comment wasn't intended as some insult to girls or women, but my experience is that girls really are more interested in social media than boys, and far more likely to get sucked into its poisonous atmosphere. On the positive side, because they are more social, they often have just the skills necessary to function in modern life, now that hunters and warriors with axes are no longer as urgently necessary as they were in the past.

 

[brianvds]

My Facebook Artist page is only a couple of months old. I invite any Artists here to follow/friend me there @ ARTography by StevenD.

I get lots and lots of NFT and/or other Scam attempts there and I have learned to have fun with them, I ask them questions, drag things out then start insulting them creatively (not vulgar) and keep it going until THEY BLOCK ME...!

LOL, then I report them as a Fraud/Scam, I have no idea if they get removed, but they do leave me alone and move on...

I don't get the impression that the powers that be at FB particularly care about scammers, but I may be wrong.

One can of course play with them, but my major issue is not so much fear of being scammed as simply that they waste my time. I can usually smell a scam from the very first message, but then, not being absolutely sure, I have to go through the same old motions, over and over.

Anyway, I have now become extremely reluctant to sell anything directly. Seems to me it is simply much safer and less hassle to use a go-between like Etsy. I don't use it myself - on Etsy you have to pay them a fee up front, and thanks to an unfavorable exchange rate, it isn't entirely trivial. I also don't think it likely that I'll have much success there.

But we have something similar around here, and henceforth, I will simply refer buyers to the relevant link.

This whole problem may become ever worse in future: as it is, I sometimes get the impression I'm not talking to a human, and AI scammers will become ever more common. It may be that before long, no one who likes to hold on to his sanity will hang around on the web anymore.

 

[pcj]

As far as I can work out, stats indicate that girls are more prone to social media addiction than boys. The boys, instead, get addicted to video games. In both cases, screen addiction is now a major disaster for childhood development.

If it makes you feel better, outcomes for boys tend to be much worse - boys seem far less able to cope with the modern world than girls. As they get older, lots of girls move on to college, whereas boys stay in mom's basement, playing video games. Hence more than half of college students are now women.

Apart from the research, this has also been my experience teaching school classes - the girls are more docile and open to being taught; the boys tend to do worse at school, and have all the usual problems that have now become ubiquitous: can't focus, have no interest in much of anything, rude, etc.

I.e. my comment wasn't intended as some insult to girls or women, but my experience is that girls really are more interested in social media than boys, and far more likely to get sucked into its poisonous atmosphere. On the positive side, because they are more social, they often have just the skills necessary to function in modern life, now that hunters and warriors with axes are no longer as urgently necessary as they were in the past.

Stats can be made to prove anything. Regarding college, women were not admitted to college at all or had the vote until the suffragettes fought long and hard to gain them. Women were regarded as brainless twits who were expected to stay home and keep house. Now on to the warrior subject, have you ever heard of Boudicca ? That was her real name but the Romans called her Boadicea when they invaded England, she was Queen and the Romans murdered her husband the King, she was a warrior, also investigate the Nightwitches and numerous others but again, the airforce and army did not allow women fighter pilot or in combat role at all until the last few decades, they were not even allowed as airline pilots until 40 years ago. Stats should be gathered on individual and presented as such eg this person showed these qualities and then their sex etc period just state the facts without grouping under men and women. Regarding present day women, the past history of women might just have some bearing on that too . Perhaps not on teenagers though because they don’t seem to teach history anymore. I was certainly affected by the airforce not taking women for pilot training. I had to get all my licences at civillian flight training schools. There still exists some prejudice against women pilots. By the way, I am married to my wonderful husband , we are both pilots but I am the professional commercial pilot and it was job, my husband is a private pilot and flying is his hobby.
Patricia

 

[brianvds]

Stats can be made to prove anything. Regarding college, women were not admitted to college at all or had the vote until the suffragettes fought long and hard to gain them. Women were regarded as brainless twits who were expected to stay home and keep house. Now on to the warrior subject, have you ever heard of Boudicca ? That was her real name but the Romans called her Boadicea when they invaded England, she was Queen and the Romans murdered her husband the King, she was a warrior, also investigate the Nightwitches and numerous others but again, the airforce and army did not allow women fighter pilot or in combat role at all until the last few decades, they were not even allowed as airline pilots until 40 years ago. Stats should be gathered on individual and presented as such eg this person showed these qualities and then their sex etc period just state the facts without grouping under men and women. Regarding present day women, the past history of women might just have some bearing on that too . Perhaps not on teenagers though because they don’t seem to teach history anymore. I was certainly affected by the airforce not taking women for pilot training. I had to get all my licences at civillian flight training schools. There still exists some prejudice against women pilots. By the way, I am married to my wonderful husband , we are both pilots but I am the professional commercial pilot and it was job, my husband is a private pilot and flying is his hobby.
Patricia

I am perfectly in favor of equal opportunities for all. You are of course right that throughout most of history, women were either denied an education, or they had to get one in institutions that were geared for males. One can argue that today's schools are geared for girls rather than boys, but one could of course also argue that considering that for the past ten thousand years, women had to just put up with a male-oriented education, perhaps it is time then for boys to just adapt, or go without an education.

It is an endless debate. Many psychologists argue that boys have a different style of learning, and schools should keep that in mind, though one is tempted to then say "who are the snowflakes NOW?" Or we could have separate schools for boys and girls, but then you run the risk of "separate but equal" all over again.

I'm not sure this was a real issue in the 1980s when I was at school, but in those days, teachers were armed with lengths of cane, and under those conditions, such things as ADHD among boys were remarkably rare. I guess we won't see a return to that any time soon, and being childless I have no strong opinions on what else can be done. Or rather, I have some unorthodox opinions, which I mostly keep to myself because if you think my teenaged girls comment made you angry, you should see your, and everyone else's, reaction to some of my other opinions.

Anyway, as you can see from the above, I'm not a chauvinist. I do think men and women do differ on average, but I'm not in favor of judging individuals by the average, and neither am I in favor of government setting quotas for how many people in this or that profession should be of this or that gender (or race, creed or whatever else). But I guess we are edging dangerously close to politics.

It occurs to me that the vast bulk of internet scammers are men...

 

[txomsy]

Didn't want to step in this discussion, but... part of the trends we see today stem from more polarized views about almost anything, which in turn raise blisters in thin skinned people who hold different views.

Whether it is prehistoric "art", any art style, digital "art" (to mention some strong feeling raisers I've witnessed in art-related forums (fora), or anything else is totally inconsequential.

In my most humble opinion, we are all sliding into a dangerous and isolationist path, maybe driven by electronic interactions and enhanced after the pandemic lockdown (who am I to know?), but I sure certainly distinctly remember it wasn't so as far as twenty years ago, when we all understood some comments were not to be taken literally, some expressions were figures of speech, unconscious cultural tweaks, traditional expressions, and some terms had a dual (generic and gender-specific) meaning...

Nowadays, it seems one can say, (very bad) e.g. "any man[*] makes mistakes" and most likely almost everyone will understand one is using a "generic" "man" and not the gender-specific word. But if now one said "any woman makes mistakes", all hell would get loose. First for using "woman" and not the generic "man", and second because "any" can also be dually interpreted as "every". Never mind if one uses man/woman to balance speech, any use of the second would ring bells. OTOH, one could say "any man/woman makes mistakes" (though surely someone would complain we "always put" "man" first) or "any woman/man makes mistakes" (and someone will complain we are implying more women do err than men). Or we take a long, twisting road to make sure nothing is misinterpreted.

[*] I know, "person" is best and is also available, that's why I say it is a very bad example.

40 years ago everybody understood written communication on the Internet lacked face-to-face non-verbal messaging and we were ALL (men, women, LGTBIQ+ and whatever you may imagine) taught never to take anything literally, much less interpret it to the extreme, because most (>90%) people is good-hearted and do not intend an offense, but it is all too easy to err in reading a post.

And, anyways, for many thousand years, every kid has been taught to be polite, cautious and tolerant to live in society.

Can't we behave online at least as we do in-person? Can't we accept most of the time we make mistakes in our interpretation without face-to-face interaction? Do we really need to be offended, jump and complain against every sentence that just by chance might remotely be misinterpreted as offensive? Do we need such long justifications as the ones above for any innocent or unfortunate comment?

And worst of all, should one need to write such a long rant as this just in order to say "please, calm down, it is obvious no offense was intended"?

Sorry for the rant.

 

[stevenD]

Meanwhile... back on facebook....

 

[Artyczar]

We are bordering on some divisive subjects here regarding gender. I may need to close the thread, especially since it's now becoming off-topic. The topic was about scams, and scams via social media. I agree, the vast majority of the scammers are probably male. Most of them are from other countries where their patriarchy is worse than the West.

Just a note on how "unfair" everything is because people have to watch what they say more than they did decades (and hundreds) of years ago. Trust me, women were just as offended a hundred years ago as they are nowadays when hearing "everyone" as men, "man/fellow man," etc. We live in a society that changes, adapts, evolves, and hopefully, improves. There are words and sentiments that can be hurtful toward all kinds of people who are not white and male. The majority of people no longer use those words in reference to certain minorities. If the world can do that, they are capable of changing their antiquated views (eventually, right?), especially if they don't mean harm! If one doesn't mean anything harmful by it, then maybe don't say it.

Also, it's no one's right to shame someone for their feelings, especially if you're not even a woman and it's in reference to one. If you're not one, you can't know how offensive something is, and for another man to pile on, it's just not cool. Normal etiquette is to listen to the other person's view and try to apologize if it was misunderstood, or if their intentions were good, etc. We are supposed to be civil here and not get into the subjects of politics, religion, gender stuff, etc. It's pretty important that we all get along while we talk about all the other things we like to talk about.

 

[txomsy]

On the topic of scams, I would like to raise a warning about novel kinds: scammers are starting to use AI to direct or even to perform the scams. I've recently got (non-person) contacts that were obviously machines trying to convince me they were legit 'automatic' operators. You know the like "This is an automated call on representation of X and we are most interested in your work and want to make you such an advantageous offer... (or to increase your exposition, or give you space to show your work for a ridiculous price or...)", you get the idea.

The nastiest thing is they (AIs) have loads of data gathered from social networks and Internet use, so the "interested in your work" is actually "we have seen your x,y,z work..." followed by opinions on it that make it seem as someone has really cared to review. Plus, they (AIs) can also gather enough information on the "supposed buyer/cicerone" to give details and seem a legit one.

So far it was easy to tell (the items they'd mention would not be mine, related or worth, or some other similar) or the offer was blatantly a rip-off, but any time now crooks will get AIs better trained and then it may get more difficult to tell.

I think the old advice is now as good as ever, "don't talk to strangers" and "don't take candy from strangers" -no matter how tempting their offer looks, and specially if it does- and try to limit transactions to identities that can be fully verified.

I confess this makes me uneasy: one might be losing opportunities, but on the other hand, if there are legit, verifiable/guaranteed ways to deal (though they'd add to cost), maybe not; and any way, if works start getting more difficult to get, maybe they will increase in value. Not ideal, and certainly misses the promise of direct interaction of the Internet, but let's be real, we talk humans here and we all know how humans have behaved over the ages. There is a reason there have always been dealers, mediators and merchants.

One last thing: I never answer these "calls" (not e-mail, SMS or such, and hang straight away on the phone without talking). That verifies who you are and how do you react, you writing style, voice, etc., something that is also worth for them as they can sell that information too and tune for next time (or impersonate you). I would advice you to do the same and don't give out anything back. Rude, but this is becoming a rude new world.

 

[pcj]

Didn't want to step in this discussion, but... part of the trends we see today stem from more polarized views about almost anything, which in turn raise blisters in thin skinned people who hold different views.

Whether it is prehistoric "art", any art style, digital "art" (to mention some strong feeling raisers I've witnessed in art-related forums (fora), or anything else is totally inconsequential.

In my most humble opinion, we are all sliding into a dangerous and isolationist path, maybe driven by electronic interactions and enhanced after the pandemic lockdown (who am I to know?), but I sure certainly distinctly remember it wasn't so as far as twenty years ago, when we all understood some comments were not to be taken literally, some expressions were figures of speech, unconscious cultural tweaks, traditional expressions, and some terms had a dual (generic and gender-specific) meaning...

Nowadays, it seems one can say, (very bad) e.g. "any man[*] makes mistakes" and most likely almost everyone will understand one is using a "generic" "man" and not the gender-specific word. But if now one said "any woman makes mistakes", all hell would get loose. First for using "woman" and not the generic "man", and second because "any" can also be dually interpreted as "every". Never mind if one uses man/woman to balance speech, any use of the second would ring bells. OTOH, one could say "any man/woman makes mistakes" (though surely someone would complain we "always put" "man" first) or "any woman/man makes mistakes" (and someone will complain we are implying more women do err than men). Or we take a long, twisting road to make sure nothing is misinterpreted.

[*] I know, "person" is best and is also available, that's why I say it is a very bad example.

40 years ago everybody understood written communication on the Internet lacked face-to-face non-verbal messaging and we were ALL (men, women, LGTBIQ+ and whatever you may imagine) taught never to take anything literally, much less interpret it to the extreme, because most (>90%) people is good-hearted and do not intend an offense, but it is all too easy to err in reading a post.

And, anyways, for many thousand years, every kid has been taught to be polite, cautious and tolerant to live in society.

Can't we behave online at least as we do in-person? Can't we accept most of the time we make mistakes in our interpretation without face-to-face interaction? Do we really need to be offended, jump and complain against every sentence that just by chance might remotely be misinterpreted as offensive? Do we need such long justifications as the ones above for any innocent or unfortunate comment?

And worst of all, should one need to write such a long rant as this just in order to say "please, calm down, it is obvious no offense was intended"?

Sorry for the rant.

I quite agree. I will stick with men and women and that is who I was referring to in my previous rant. Obviously they think differently but I was trying to explain why women think differently than he ( a man ) was saying that we women were thinking !!
Cheers
Patricia

 

[brianvds]

So far it was easy to tell (the items they'd mention would not be mine, related or worth, or some other similar) or the offer was blatantly a rip-off, but any time now crooks will get AIs better trained and then it may get more difficult to tell.

Yup, that's the problem: before long you won't necessarily even be able to tell whether it's a friend or family member. But systems to control this kind of thing also evolve; one may soon see AIs trained to control other AIs! Anyway, if needs be we can always switch off, tune out and return to the library.

I confess this makes me uneasy: one might be losing opportunities, but on the other hand, if there are legit, verifiable/guaranteed ways to deal (though they'd add to cost), maybe not; and any way, if works start getting more difficult to get, maybe they will increase in value. Not ideal, and certainly misses the promise of direct interaction of the Internet, but let's be real, we talk humans here and we all know how humans have behaved over the ages. There is a reason there have always been dealers, mediators and merchants.

Yes, indeed. The thing is, they know how most people think: we don't want to miss out. This makes it extremely tempting to take up some or other offer. Alas, the more tempting the offer, the more likely it's a scam.

One last thing: I never answer these "calls" (not e-mail, SMS or such, and hang straight away on the phone without talking). That verifies who you are and how do you react, you writing style, voice, etc., something that is also worth for them as they can sell that information too and tune for next time (or impersonate you). I would advice you to do the same and don't give out anything back. Rude, but this is becoming a rude new world.

The robot phone calls are indeed even more annoying; unlike e-mail, they are noisy. Also sometimes weirdly sinister. For a while there, I kept on getting called by robots who would say "This is an important consumer announcement" and then summarily end the call without making the important announcement or anything else. I considered blocking the numbers, but there are always more numbers, and it may be that they are actually just testing to see whether my number is active and in use so they can sell the information.

Who knows? My phone isn't even connected to the web, and I don't have any kind of contract; just have some prepaid phone time in case of emergencies. I have gotten to the point where I never answer when called from any number I don't know. It is virtually always a spammer.

So what's the phone good for then? Well, it takes nice photos, I have a whole library of books on it, and I can watch videos on it. Now I just need to work out how to disable the "phone" function.

 

[pcj]

Yup, that's the problem: before long you won't necessarily even be able to tell whether it's a friend or family member. But systems to control this kind of thing also evolve; one may soon see AIs trained to control other AIs! Anyway, if needs be we can always switch off, tune out and return to the library.



Yes, indeed. The thing is, they know how most people think: we don't want to miss out. This makes it extremely tempting to take up some or other offer. Alas, the more tempting the offer, the more likely it's a scam.



The robot phone calls are indeed even more annoying; unlike e-mail, they are noisy. Also sometimes weirdly sinister. For a while there, I kept on getting called by robots who would say "This is an important consumer announcement" and then summarily end the call without making the important announcement or anything else. I considered blocking the numbers, but there are always more numbers, and it may be that they are actually just testing to see whether my number is active and in use so they can sell the information.

Who knows? My phone isn't even connected to the web, and I don't have any kind of contract; just have some prepaid phone time in case of emergencies. I have gotten to the point where I never answer when called from any number I don't know. It is virtually always a spammer.

So what's the phone good for then? Well, it takes nice photos, I have a whole library of books on it, and I can watch videos on it. Now I just need to work out how to disable the "phone" function.

Brianvds
Did you see my reply to txomsy ? That is what I was trying to say to you , I guess I didn’t explain it very well . Men and women obviously think differently from each other , only women know how women think and only men know how men think , I don’t have a clue how men think and would never give any opinion on how they think. It irritated me that you ( a man ) was giving your opinion on how we women think . .. and you were getting it wrong. Also I wanted to give you some of the history of women since you were getting that wrong to. I’m talking about men and women, there are only 2 sexes.
Cheers,
Patricia