Donald Trump is cashing IN on that mugshot
by selling literal mug shots. + scams on scams on scams & fans are behaving BADLY
Angels!! How the hell are you??? I spent the weekend touching a lot of grass and finding a LOT of geocaches (srsly, if you don’t already, start geocaching - it’s like a scavenger hunt irl and it’s honestly the best shit ever.)
I also caught up with my high school besties and we reminisced on the time we were Year 10 and won the entire town science fair (it was an excellent display of bullshitting on our behalf) but we got a GIANT NOVELTY CHEQUE which I think at the time was worth more to us than the actual money:
Love u angels and hope your weekend SLAYED!!!
Bookies!!! You got your latest episode of the book club podcast!!!
And we’ve been TREATED to a peek inside Bel’s diary for her Sunday newsy:
Tech Support: Scams on scams on scams
Donald Trump is cashing IN on that mug shot
A racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville leaves 3 dead
Taliban ban women from visiting a popular national park
Fans are behaving BADLY
Tech Support: Scams on scams on scams
This section was brought to you by our mates at One New Zealand, who are helping New Zealanders stay safe online!!
Ok, you’re not going to believe this, but just as I sat down to write this section for you I got a phone call from someone telling me that my online banking was hacked. Usually, I don’t pick up numbers I don’t recognise (or many phone calls at all tbh, because I’m gen Z), but I was waiting for a few important phone calls, so today I did. BAD IDEA, because it was a person claiming to be from my bank, telling me that some HUGE charges were being made on my cards and that they needed some info from me to sort it out. I smelled a rat because they said they were calling from Australia, and immediately messaged Rubes:
Thankfully I’d figured something weird was going on, but I couldn’t help but marvel at the timing of all of this, because I’d JUST asked all of you to send in your stories about scammers. Here are some of the things you said:
The fake death:
“I clicked on a Facebook link (stupidly) and it sent a message to everyone I’m friends with on Facebook telling them I had died in a car crash. My gran phoned my mum in tears thinking I was dead.”
The ‘gift card’ scam (we got MULTIPLE of these):
“I fell for a scam from someone pretending to be my CEO. He emailed me on my work laptop and stupid me didn’t see the signs, or the obviously fake email address, until after I had already given them $200 in…. APPLE GIFT CARDS… that I WALKED TO THE STORE DURING MY SHIFT TO BUY.”
Who wants to be a millionaire (in two years)?
“My parents had just migrated to Toronto in 2009 and they got an email saying that they just had to give away a bunch of personal info (small stuff like phone number, and email address), and they would get a million dollars. They accidentally roped their friend and his wife into the same thing. They were told that they would get the money a year later. They waited for 2 years.”
Tech Support with One NZ:
First things first I’m seeing a lot of self-blame in these stories - enough of that! Scams are meant to be deceiving, so don’t beat yourself up for being fooled - it happens to the best of us
REPEAT AFTER ME “I WILL TURN ON 2FA (TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION) OR AN AUTHENTICATOR WHEREVER IT’S POSSIBLE. These tools are just another layer of security for you, and are offered by most big apps these days in settings!
Look at the message closely (as if you’re gonna have to do a reading report on it). Are there grammar mistakes? Does it address you specifically? Do you know the source? Were you expecting the message? Is it trying to make you click a link? Is the sender trying to rush you to do something? Our friends at One NZ say scam emails often have a similar address to the real one - so check it against one from the real company that you know is legit!
Let people know about it when you get a scammy text! Tell people who might be susceptible (younger people or older people.) Tell the banks/ service providers. Tell your mates. Spread the word because they are only getting more common! (If you’re in NZ you can easily report scams by forwarding the message to 7726!!!)
I hate to say it but these scams were just scratching the surface of what’s out there besties! So stay safe, savvy, and head here for more tips!
(Also, if you have a scam story, comment below!!)
Donald Trump is cashing IN on that mugshot
By selling…. literal mug shots. Trump’s campaign has said that since he got his mugshot taken last week and they’ve started putting it on merch on his store, they’ve raised $7.1m.
Taliban ban women from visiting a popular national park
Yikes, over in Afghanistan women have been banned from visiting the Band-e-Amir National Park, because the ‘acting minister of virtue and vice’ said women haven’t been observing hijab there.
This is just the latest restriction to be put on women in Afghanistan. Last December it was preventing them from attending schools, just recently they ordered hair and beauty salons to shut, and they’ve also stopped women from sitting the national university entrance exams.
A racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville leaves 3 dead
Content warning: racially motivated violence.
Over the weekend a 21-year-old man armed with a high-powered rifle and a handgun killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida. The man, who turned the gun on himself, had authored “several manifestos, for his parents, the media and federal agents, detailing his hatred of Black people, police said.”
There is no doubt that this was a hate-fuelled and racially motivated crime, and despite the killer being “briefly detained for 72 hours in 2017 under the Baker Act” (mental health legislation that allows the involuntary detainment of an individual for treatment), he was allowed to purchase the weapons legally.
Fans are behaving BADLY
Wrote my first ever culture vulture newsy about something I’m calling ‘fandominance’ and whether we’re seeing it come to an end. Fans are behaving badly, artists are sick of it, and honestly, it’s getting kinda embarro. Go read it if u want!
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I was just scammed the other day.... I received a message via messenger from an acquaintance asking for my phone number, for a contest she was participating it. I gave it to her and immediately regreted it and became suspicios. "she" said i would recieve a text from FB, because the contest was in partnership with them, and that I should hurry up and send the code because the contest was ending. I did not receive any text but an e-mail from fb. Luckily, I was already suspicious, so I carefully read the e-mail and saw that it was a request to change my password (!!!). Then "she" continued to message, telling me to trust her :'D
I told my family about it, because they all know her and the next day my sister got the name message.... it turned out that of course her account had been hacked like a week before
My mom was scammed. Called by the bank "fraud" department. Wound up giving them passwords, answers to security questions, and the verification text numbers. She said she realized towards the end of the call something was fishy.
Thankfully she didn't lose anything. The bank caught it and let her know.