Twice now I’ve gotten messages from someone who says their boss would like to hire me for my space expertise, but when I say, “Great, email me,” the response is, “Oh, she only communicates via WhatApp and Telegram.” To which my response is that I don’t use WhatsApp for security reasons, and to use Signal, but beyond that, I don’t do business with people who won’t use email. Anyone have any ideas what kind of (likely) scam this?
[Update a couple minutes later]
The most recent exchange:
Me: I can’t do business with someone who only communicates in that manner. In particular. WhatsApp is a security risk. Email me, or do business with someone else.
Unknown person: My boss is very busy and needs to deal with a lot of work emails. You can use Telegram to contact my boss.
Me: I’m a work email. I don’t use either Telegram or WhatsApp. I’m busy, too. What kind of scam is this?
[Update a while later]
Final response: “My boss is also very busy. If you can’t meet my boss’s requirements, stop communicating with me and don’t waste my time. My time is also very precious.”
It’s suggested in comments that they’re after my phone number. That may be it.
FOIA?
Sounds like something that happened to me after commenting on a Youtube video. Seems like a way to find out your phone number.
Yes, I’ve gotten responses from (apparently) YT presenters, telling me to contact them on Telegram. After the first one, I now ignore them.
Scams and con games have existed as long as humanity, but the internet threw them into hyperdrive.
FYI you still have a “Rand Simberg Rand” imposter on Facebook.
I know. No idea what to do about it.
If you go to the imposter profile page you should be able to click on the “three dots” menu button (right hand side, above posts) and select “report profile”.
In most cases, they’re playing the long game, socially engineering contacts until they finally start to send them enough information to take over a bank account and/or turn you into a package mule.
The phone number is to convince you to confirm a Google Voice verification code that allows them to take over your number by attaching it to their Google Voice account.
If it’s not someone I’ve met in person, I rarely interact on LinkedIn.