How I Got Scammed on Medium: A Cautionary Tale
I always thought I was too smart to be scammed. I figured I’d be able to recognize the warning signs and dodge potential threats. So, I…
I always thought I was too smart to be scammed. I figured I’d be able to recognize the warning signs and dodge potential threats. So, I feel a little foolish to share how I was scammed on Medium last week.
An article by Allison Wiltz moved me to write a comment sharing my thoughts. (She’s a great writer — check her out.) A day later, I received a message that Allison had commented on my story reply. I was foolishly giddy when I read that she was inviting me to a private Medium writers’ community to share my work and interact with other Medium writers with the common goal of improving our art.
I jumped all over this. I mean, I’ve been writing for Medium for a while and haven’t seen the success I anticipated. However, with a renewed dedication to the craft, I thought a writer’s community would serve as the accountability partner I needed.
Now, I did think it was weird that the directions instructed me to contact a number on WhatsApp. But I have several other WhatsApp chats and a few with whom I’ve done business. So, although communicating outside of Medium seemed odd, I didn’t deliberate any further.
The spammer laid out the rules. I’d need to provide my Medium username and email address and pay a small fee ($80) to participate in the writer’s community. I didn’t hesitate.
I sent my information, Zelle'd the appropriate account, and waited for a confirmation email. The email arrived after the transaction cleared, and it appeared to come from a Medium account. The email included additional instructions to send $65 to join a subscription service.
My ignorant butt sent a message to the scammer asking for a breakdown of fees. They responded immediately with a plausible explanation.
Ok, here my dumb ass goes again…I send the additional $65.
Why Shaunte? Why did you do that?
Well, remember how I told you I have a renewed sense of dedication to Medium? Such a fool! I was so blinded by the thought of making writer besties that I lost my sensibilities.
I envisioned my new friends, you know — Allison, Eve Arnold, and Tim Denning, sipping wine, on Zoom as we discussed my latest masterpiece.
Although the second payment was delivered, the scammer claimed they didn’t receive it. That’s when I realized something was up.
I refused, and the scammer “graciously” offered to pay half of the second payment for my inconvenience and requested that I submit an additional $30.
I may have been ignorant, but I’m not an idiot. (Although I kind of feel like one, to be honest.) I immediately went to Medium and, to my surprise, found the same scammer commenting on another writer’s comment with a similar message.
You can see here that Allison’s name is spelled incorrectly.
So what did we learn?
Let this be a warning to you.
After I realized I was scammed, I reached out to the original writer, Allison, to inform her what was going on in her name.
I returned to the WhatsApp chat and asked the scammer if they would talk to me about scammers’ lives. How did you get into this? How much do you make compared to the effort it takes to create fake accounts, comment on pages, etc.?
The scammer replied: “No Comment.”
Key Message: So what do you do when you’ve been the victim of a writer scam? You write about it. I may have been scammed, but I now have a cautionary tale to share with you. Be better than me, act smarter than me, and don’t be so thirsty as me that you turn a blind eye to your intuition.
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