crying lightning @strikingtaemin - Tumblr Blog

Violet Butterfly Pea Tea Soda / Dream Ball Parfait

idk but when i discover new books and music i’m just excited to be alive again. yes a bit dramatic but that’s how i feel when i discover them

#text post

missmountain-deactivated2021101

#art

deviika

—Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, tr. by Judith Thurman, from "She Satisfies A Fear with the Rhetoric Tears,"

#quotes

brehaaorgana

I miss when I would get Tumblr asks that actually said things and weren't just digital panhandling scams.

brehaaorgana

If I was a sociologist, I would definitely be doing a study on the methods and language of charity scammers. Especially the use of emojis, and identification by copied messages vs stock phrases.

For example, these four are all the same, with only slight variation in #1:

(I actually have duplicates from some of the "self-identified" anons above.)

But these two anons share the same new stock phrases:

"days are heavy" / "days that feel impossibly heavy."

brehaaorgana

Fascinated with the random person who commented on this post saying they've reported me for "genocide denialism."

Not to put too fine a tin foil hat on it, but:

That is the kind of threat someone involved in these kinds of financial scams and the social engineering behind them *would* make! It's a threatening statement to the existence of my blog which usually means heightened fear/anxiety of the target, which makes people more likely to fall for a financial scam. Social shame and embarrassment are also heightened emotions! Bullying works! This would make an excellent social engineering counterpoint (if tugging on heartstrings doesn't work!) and might even be effective on many people!

Sure, you can search the supposed connected usernames those anons claimed and find out specifics that way — but not a single one of those screenshots I showed specifies what they're referring to! The IDENTICAL messages from four "different people" never actually mention what their "family's struggle" even is! There's zero fucking context in the space of those messages. They're all IDENTICAL. I literally cannot be committing denialism about anything specific because those asks don't actually say anything I could be denying. How does this person know that these anons aren't a recently impoverished Nigerian prince?

So now you're asking why don't I just click on the usernames and find out more details? Simple. Because they're fucking fraudsters who sent me the same message like, six times with 4 different usernames attached AS ANONS. Why as anons if they have their own blogs and could send the messages that way? SIMPLE AGAIN: because if they're not logged into the blog accounts, you could have whole teams of people copying and pasting these anon asks to various Tumblr users constantly, and you can probably just bypass the ask limits by changing VPNs or going incognito or something. This is a DEDICATED scam. Is it a bot? MAYBE! But that also would explain some of why it doesn't work *while logged in* to the blog accounts — because being anon probably makes it easier to focus on volume.

Anyways a fool and their money are soon parted.

jewish-microwave-laser

may i also encourage the hypothetical sociologist studying this to compare and contrast why this scam is different than all other scams, in that this is one where you are shamed for rightfully pointing out how shady it is, whereas nigerian prince scams or like that one brad pitt catfishing scam are all joked about. there are entire youtube channels dedicated to catching scammers and wasting their time that are super popular, and yet this scenario is one where you are a bad person if you don't throw away your critical thinking and throw your money at the scammer(s)

slenbee

As one of Tumblr's local scam busters I'm going to come out right and admit that i, myself, have had to turn off anons because of this kind of spam.

It's the same copy/paste message over and over, and no matter or means of blocking and reporting seems to stop it other than turning anons off.

Every day I'd wake up to 5-8 messages like this, even after deleting the ones from the day prior. All with different 'families' but the message was all the same.

I cannot and will not out right call mutual aid blogs scams. I just won't do that.

But spam is spam, and this? This isn't how you ask people for help.

Nor is guilt tripping people in DM's saying things like:

"If you don't donate money to me you're killing my family/child and are a participant in the genocide." "If you don't donate $50 to me right now my child is going to die because of you." "Can you donate today? No? -next day- what about today can you donate $50 today? No? -next day- I really need $50 for food can you donate?"

Yeahh... that's not how you ask strangers for help.

Then there's the newer blogs cropping up that straight up steal images from google from events that happened all over the world years ago, blatantly steal from other mutual aid campaigns, or use AI to make images, or manipulate ones belonging to other people.

Trust your gut.

If they're openly spamming like this in asks, @ spam tagging people in the comments on their posts (you'll know if they are, either the man account will or a secondary/alt will do it), threatening or guilt tripping you in DM's, and you don't like that?

Then block and ignore. That's all you can do.

Search their usernames on tumblr, too. You might find interesting bits of info others have said about those users. :)

#important

neon-junkie

You know those "please donate to help my family fleeing the war" DMs you get on the regular? The ones that are all worded almost exactly the same? Yeah, they're spam. Total bullshit.

It's such a shame that somebody is trying to benefit off a war that is currently happening, but sadly, there are disgusting people like that out there. People who truly need help won't be spamming strangers on Tumblr - the only people spamming you for 'donations' are sickos trying to benefit off other people's struggles.

Either way, just report and block anyone who sends you those DMs. Don't feel bad. It's fake. It's spam.

#important

toptony

DOCTOR WHO 1.13 ➩ "The Parting of the Ways"

#doctor who

It's my 14 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

#14 year tumblrversary #tumblr milestone #it was 2 days ago but okay xddddd

nature-and-culture

Interior, Paris, via shabby_white

#photography

yms1

do u ever miss your own energy. like damn what happened to me

#text post

Me when Americans whine they have to go from Ohio to New York, because the artist they watch has only like 12 concerts in USA in New York, when European tour means Amsterdam and London because Eastern Europe don't exist

SHINee [Atmos] Prismic Atmos

#shinee #kpop

vavuska

Let's be clear.

If a random user you never interacted with pop ups asking and begging for money.

If this user keeps harassing you and others over and over.

It's a spam.

It's a scam.

Maybe 1 out of 100 could be legit, but most is people trying to fraud you.

The obvious bot behavior tells you everything.

Most messages are a copy paste of each others, the pics are stolen from news websites, the beneficiaries of the crowdfunding are people living in the US or in Europe. GFM doesn't work in Israel/Palestine, the transaction tooks months and most banks are currently blocking money movements to Israel and Palestine. Even if one of them is legit, what makes you think that a third party that isn't mentioned anywhere in the post and you don't know would actually give the whole lot of money to the person in need?

And also... Why the fuck choosing tumblr? A obscure indie social media that does not have the numbers, the visibility or the money flux of Tiktok or Instagram? Why they have to harass random people on tumblr and not Instagram influences or Tiktokers?

Easy peasy:

Instagram filters spammy messages

Tiktok does the same (as far I remember, I haven't used it for a while)

Twitter is full of Elon Musk and Maga bots, so it's not their target

Bluesky have a strong anti-spam policy

Instagram and Tiktok would require a bigger effort into posting images and videos, so the scammer have to search/edit/AI generate the right content every time, while tumblr doesn't require to build a consistent public imagine for their Gaza/Palestine persona.

Tumblr is infamously known for the proficiency of bots and for the ineffective staff menagement.

It's easier for a person with malicious intentions to perpetrate their schemes here.

Protect yourself.

Don't fall for this.

Donate to reputed charities instead.

#important

vexheart

just in case no one tells you today…..you’re worth having around. you’re worth committing to. you’re worth appreciating. you’re worth loving… you're worth reassuring. you're worth risking it all for. you're worth everything...

#positivity