How to identify this typical Tumblr financial scam
I've gotten multiple of these things now across the last several weeks, and I wanted to help folks identify this scam because I work in the financial industry. I'm not licensed, but I do administrative work, and I am very much tired of seeing these sorts of scams, and would love to help folks on here identify them to avoid falling victim.
If you see a blog that has just followed you in the last few minutes or hours, then you get a message that begins with a simple "Hey" or "Hello" and absolutely nothing more, be wary. Do not give any extra information like your name, location, what you're doing, etc. The reason these scams begin with something so vague as a single word greeting, is so the scammer can eventually steer the conversation in any given direction to gather information off of you for future use. Things such as your interests, hobbies, activities, etc. may seem harmless at first, but in the case of a scammer, any information on you is a gold mine because they'll use family members against you, steal their photos for blackmail and photoshop them to possibly make things seem threatening, they'll use your voice or image to generate AI videos and audio to use against you and those you know, etc. You name it, it's all fair game for scammers. Nothing is off the table.
If you get one of these messages, and you're unsure if they're a scammer, simply respond with something just as generic. Something like "Hi" or "Hey, how are you?" Give them nothing indicative. A response, no matter how vague, will trigger the next part of the message.
Thus, the scam itself begins. The scammer will say they reported your account by accident, and provide a screenshot of the "report".
Don't respond to these. They did not report you, nor did this report actually happen. Tap on the three dots in the corner of your message window, and report this as spam. DO NOT RESPOND!!!
If you respond, the scam continues on, and the scammer will say that they can help you by moving to a third-party service, oftentimes Telegram or Whatsapp, and there you have the catch. The reason scammers do this, taking you off platform, is because that eliminates the restrictions of the platform they begin with (such as Tumblr in this case), and allows them access to more of your information such as phone number, address, and more data that Tumblr does not use. In addition, those services can be quite easy to hack, thus they may possibly hack you there and begin taking even more information. Again, anything is possible with scammers. Don't follow them to another platform. Period.
Tumblr, or any official service, will not tell you to leave the platform to handle a report at all. Reports are handled inside the website and app service itself, never outside. Tumblr in specific handles its reports via Zendesk to send you updates and response emails. I've sent several service emails to them in the last year for technical issues, and Tumblr will specifically notify you in the email that their staff responses will be sent through Zendesk.
Now, let's take a closer look at this image the scammer sent me.
You'll notice my icon and blog name, the whole email looks pretty official, but there are some key aspects to look at.
Notice how the message expresses much urgency in the first half, and the second half says legal action will be taken against me, and that law enforcement will be given my account information as necessary. It sounds very threatening, and that is the point.
Scammers use urgency to induce fear into those they're scamming, specifically to entice you to take action and lure you deeper into their scam. The threat aspect is designed to make you afraid so you're inclined to listen to what the scammer says, and follow their lead on how to "solve" the issue. There is no issue. They will not solve anything. Nothing needs solving, they just need to be reported and blocked.
What's key to me is, the scammer's image claims that the reason I'm being reported is due to financial fraud. It states, "Due to the majority of claims, the user will not be notified."
Once again, I work in the field of licensed finance and investments. And although I am not licensed myself, I am fingerprinted with the government to do plenty of administrative work for financial professionals and advisors. And I will fully promise you that, within the USA at least, if financial fraud is committed and authorities have been notified about it, you absolutely will be contacted by investigative services. There is no reason whatsoever, and no case I can imagine, wherein you would not be contacted by especially the IRS in regards to fraud. To say that the user will not be notified, goes against the lawful procedures of financial investigation practices. Especially if there were multiple reports made against me (which there were not), I myself would've been notified a while ago by investigative authorities because of the fact that I am fingerprinted by the government for administrative financial work, and I am being monitored constantly to ensure I handle all financial work properly in accordance with state and federal law. I am audited at least every year or two to ensure this, and would've been told ages ago if an investigation was being done into my financial history, I'd have lost my job, and been fined or sent to prison depending on the actions taken against me. And the only place I've been in the last month is at home recovering from surgery, not prison. So I know for a fact this is a definite scam!
These scams will almost always involve something with finances because the ultimate goal of the scammers is to be blackmailing you like such to drain you of your money. Ultimately put, these are finance scams. If the scam continues, they'll be asking for things like wire transfers or Western Union, and other untraceable methods of sending huge sums of money, while threatening you to entice you to continue sending money. Do not send them anything. Do absolutely nothing except for reporting and blocking them!! If needed, PLEASE contact your local authorities to ensure they are notified of these scammers!!
Lastly, the contact info of the supposed support is another major dead giveaway that this is a scam.
Tumblr staff doesn't use Discord for support services. Again, this goes against their standard practice. All their support is handled through the Tumblr website or app, with emails sent using the Zendesk service.
I even went ahead and searched Discord for that username, dingofficialsupport, and it turned up absolutely nothing. No user with that name exists. I also did a reverse phone number search on several services I use at my job. The phone number provided turns up a person with an entirely different name than Hao Ding. That means this is a complete sham using a fake or spoofed number. Hao Ding doesn't exist, he is not working for Tumblr support, and that is not his contact information even if he is real.
So! Overall, how can you identify these scams?
Be wary of anyone who follows you, and immediately, or very shortly after following, sends a vague "hi/hey/hello".
The user will tell you they reported you, and provide a screenshot of the supposed report. It looks official, but check for spelling errors, and grammatical mistakes (such as extra spaces, missing punctuation, and incorrect punctuation).
Said screenshot will show an urgent message that sounds threatening to you the user, to entice you into taking action, thus luring you into their scam.
The scammer messaging you will try moving you to a third-party app or website like Telegram, Discord, or WhatsApp, to easier continue their scam against you.
The scammer offers support from a seemingly-professional service, which you can search the information of the "professional" to verify if it's legit. If said information turns up a different identity or no identity at all, it's a scam.
The report involves some financial aspect to it.
The report or message says that you won't be notified, and has vague references such as "proper authorities" or "law enforcement". A proper report would likely indicate the authorities being contacted, and USA financial investigation in particular will absolutely lead you being notified, as that is USA law.
How can you avoid these scams when they begin so vaguely as seen above?
Don't give any of your information to the scsmmers, period. Don't say what you're doing, where you live, your name, gender, age, who you follow, etc. Keep it vague as hell. Give nothing.
Report and block! REPORT AND BLOCK!!!
Verify the information sent. Check the email address of the screenshot, the contact information provided for the "support", and so on. If it looks fishy, chances are it is.
Change your password, and add any extra verification steps that you can to ensure your account is safe and secure.
REPORT!! AND!! BLOCK!!! Seriously, that is so essential to do. Do not leave them unblocked, and do not hesitate to report.
I hope this helps, as someone who works in the financial professional world, these are absolute scams. Don't fall for them.
