As a health care writer and patient advocate for people in pain, I spend a lot of time online on venues like Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter). I am visible. And because I am visible, many people reach out to me seeking help or doctor referrals to the few clinicians who are still prescribing safe and effective opioid pain relievers. In recent years, I have also been contacted by scammers. Most of us have. Not all of us may recognize that they are scammers until after we’ve been victimized.

On some level, we probably realize that no real employer would solicit us to “work from home.” And there really are no attorneys overseas seeking a U.S. “agent” to invest $20 million from off-shore funds in somebody’s Last Will and Testament. But we are still gullible, greedy, or lonely. Especially lonely.

Scammers are exploiting all three of these trends. They rely upon our suspension of disbelief or ignorance of an old and proven principle: if something is “too good to be true,” it is very likely exactly that. This principle, unfortunately, also applies to social media messages that come to us unsolicited “seeking friends.” I see such inquiries every week on Facebook and Quora. Some claim to be from a female non-commissioned officer stationed in the Middle East or a single mom working on a cargo ship at sea. Many are from people whose profile pictures display attractive (often quite chesty) young women who claim that they saw something they “admired” in my online profile. They want to get to know me better or learn from me. Lately, a lot of online profiles claim a university education in France or Singapore, or Beijing, and mention experience in marketing, fashion, or finance.

Profiles vary from year to year. But many are variations on old scams called “The Lonely Hearts Club” or “The Badger Game.” Each contact seeks to engage me (or you) in some sort of online dialogue that will become increasingly intimate or sometimes sexually explicit. Each exchange will, at some point, solicit money by untraceable online transfers such as phone cards or Western Union wire. Some will seek to compromise you for blackmail.

Fortunately, there are “red flags” that help us recognize such scams. One flag is that the inquirer probably won’t know much about you as a person. If you ask how they located you, they will try to deflect your question or distract you with unrelated responses. As artificial intelligence chatbots get smarter, this may change. But for now, there are red flags. Another marker is a request to open a dialogue in other internet communications mediums such as WhatsApp or Telegram.

Here is what Perplexity.ai (a relatively new artificial intelligence search engine) has to say about WhatsApp:

Scammers often propose using WhatsApp as a preferred communication medium for several reasons:

Anonymity and ease of use: WhatsApp allows scammers to create accounts easily without requiring much personal information, providing them with a level of anonymity.

End-to-end encryption: WhatsApp’s encryption makes it difficult for authorities to track or intercept scammers’ communications.

Cost-effectiveness: Unlike phone texting services, WhatsApp uses internet data, making it a cheaper option for scammers to reach potential victims, especially when targeting people internationally.

Versatility: WhatsApp allows sharing of various media files, enabling scammers to distribute malware or send fraudulent documents more easily.

Large user base: As one of the world’s most popular messaging apps, WhatsApp provides scammers access to a vast pool of potential victims.

Platform switching: Scammers often try to move conversations from initial contact platforms (like dating apps or social media) to WhatsApp to avoid detection and continue their scams more discreetly.

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Exploitation potential: WhatsApp has had security vulnerabilities that scammers can exploit to gain unauthorized access to victims’ devices.

Contact list access: If a scammer gets added to a victim’s contacts, they may be able to see the victim’s other contacts, potentially generating new targets.

To protect yourself from WhatsApp scams:

• Be wary of unsolicited messages, especially from unknown contacts.
• Don’t share personal information or verification codes.
• Avoid clicking on suspicious links or downloading unknown attachments.
• Verify the identity of contacts through other means before engaging in sensitive conversations.
• Be cautious of requests to switch communication platforms, especially early in an interaction.

If you get an unsolicited message either by email or on social media, wanting to “get to know you,” then you need to be prudently suspicious. Be aware that in March 2024, a data breach exposed the personal information of around 73 million AT&T customers, including names, phone numbers, and postal addresses. Another breach in July involved the theft of phone numbers and call records of nearly all AT&T customers, affecting approximately 110 million people. This data is being machine-processed, even as you read this alert, by scammers in Russia, North Korea, China, Nigeria, Kenya, Southeast Asia, and other Third World countries.

Your profile may be untouched by human hands, even as scammers prepare to victimize you. But you don’t have to become a victim if you recognize the red flags and refuse to be taken.

Richard A. Lawhern is a patient advocate.