Words with Friends is basically a Scrabble rip-off.
And Scammers LOVE IT.
You can go onto the app download it from IOS or Android and start playing straight away. There’s no sign up required and you can open up a chat option to chat with people you’re playing in the games.
I got contacted very quickly after downloading this app by somebody – an attractive younger woman – and I thought this looks a little bit suspicious. Why would an attractive young woman be contacting a middle-aged man? I immediately suspected the beginning of a scam so I thought i’d go along with it. Afterall, if I can keep the scammer busy for a while they’re not scamming somepne else who might be more susceptible.
It wasn’t long before this person asked me to join them on Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts is a common app used by scammers. She then proceeded to tell me that she was a student studying nursing etc etc and kept asking me for photographs.
I managed to get a photograph out of the scammer before they got one out of me. I told them a few lies, told them I was a paramedic and eventually I got a photograph sent by them to me. This is where I was able to confirm that i was being scammed as suspected. I did a reverse image search of the photograph they sent me and after a quick check found that picture existed on google along with lots of other photographs of the same person.
It turned out the photograph was or a pornographic actress called Alex Chance.
The video below explains how it all unfolded. It also explained how Words with Friends has been used for various ‘romance scams’ with some estimates of over $100million being paid to the fraudsters.
I kept this scammer busy for 4 days and hopefully protected someone else from being ripped off. Enjoy!
Businessman, camping enthusiast, Formula One fan and Real Ale drinker.
