Let's talk about a PSA and the comments section....

[@WildwoodSon]

Old adage : When someone offers you something for free, you are the product.

[@BogeyTheBear]

Everybody pays. When they don't ask for coin, they expect you to give them something that they dared not to ask for upfront.

[@scarpfish]

New adage : When your "product" discovers how "expensive" that free something is and stops using it, the product is no more.

[@deltacharlie3639]

new adage: if a pizza shows up, and you didn't order a pizza, you don't want that pizza

[@justsayn5255]

A ball of string will eventually have some knots. And macrame can be beautiful and frustrating for some. 🤔

[@RhizometricReality]

Humans are exploited by capitalism. Nuff said

[@ryanb7186]

So this is what George Santos has been doing in his spare time.

[@shawnr771]

Lol

[@johnscott2849]

you win

[@garfield2439]

ND

[@rhodawatkins4516]

I bet he's the Nigerian prince so many people have been in correspondence with all this time!

[@lauriebennett6257]

😄😂🤣😄☺️😉😁

[@jeannamcgregor9967]

I've gotten plenty of those responses. I may be a 70 year old lady but after 20 years as an IT manager I pay attention with a healthy dose of suspicion. Thanks for the PSA...it's needed.

[@playmusic8056]

Also keep in mind that a lot of the Latin character sets have nearly (if not completely) identical looking characters in other sets (for example, upsidedown exclamation marks that look just like a lowercase i), so even if it looks 100% legit, it still might not be, and you might want to manually type it in to the address bar to be certain, rather than following a link.

[@panhandlersparadise1733]

When David Pakman made a similar PSA video, he pointed out he noticed scammers often target people who include their age in their comments. I'm not trying to tell you what you should or should not write in your comments, but it is something to be aware of.

[@staceye2851]

Same. About four+ months ago, I left a comment on one of Beau's videos and got one of these scam replies about connecting with Beau on an app I don't use, and never heard Beau talk about, so I ignored it.

[@raymondg7565]

70 here as well, and having been in the business world for over 50 years, I do not respond to such blatant scams. However, I do have information on your car warranty . . . 🤣😅🤣

[@jeannamcgregor9967]

@Detrumpificator Very cool! I love the scammer payback channels.

[@ryanjohnson3615]

Dang that means I'll probably never actually receive my Beauregard's Beautiful Balsamic Beard Balm prize😥

[@markmiller897]

Damm! I'd buy that!

[@jamesschrader6855]

Lol 😆 🤣 😂

[@patrickjordan2233]

🤣😂🤣😂 too funny! Simon Whistler actual sells/adverts beard oil directly on his channel(s)...all 13,000 channels (JK 😁)... ROFLMAO 🤣😂🤣😂

[@KMCA779]

@@patrickjordan2233 how many does he actually have though?

[@sophierobinson2738]

@@KMCA779 I counted 6 at last count.😊

[@theAverageJoe25]

It never ceases to amaze how KZbin can come up with alll kinds of solutions for nonexistent problems like when they decided to disable the dislike count, but they can’t be bothered to fix actual problems like scammers, bots, trolls and fake accounts

[@jessehachey2732]

Follow the money 😒🤦🏼‍♂️ Don’t get me started on YT demonetizing hard-working smaller content creators for coverage of Ukraine 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@nhokonhokopuala]

You are wrong, they do... I'm not going to tell you how horrible the moderation on KZbin is because then i would have to explain to you videos about animal cruelty, human cruelty and so much gruesome things that the people working on it develop serious mental problems... And yes.... They are humans. I often find people making assessments about things when they know of the thing... Only 10%. Help them by reporting. That's all that is required.

[@reforest4fertility]

Wow, hear here, now & how, YT!!! Hello, KZbin?!

[@angelikalindenau943]

There obviously is a bonus for KZbin in not intervening. Might that be in a percentage for the numbers of shares/reactions?

[@madshorn5826]

Being disliked can be pretty tough for some people. Never forget that you can't judge the resilience of others by referring to yourself. Also how do you identity a scammer, a troll and a false account automatically? (One scammer can create enough noise to require 10+ fact checkers) This is currently one of the hottest topics in AI research and billions of dollars are thrown at this problem. It may turn out to require general AI - or even a weakly godlike AI as even humans have a hard time identifying those things. (Btw how would you feel right now if this was so obvious to everyone that your dislikes were 1560 to your 85 likes?)

[@alien5589]

I appreciate you taking the time to make this! If at least one less person is scammed because of this it’s worth it

[@markkujii4247]

Like a good lantern, he wants to illuminate many dark corners that can be found anywhere

[@erinmac4750]

Absolutely agree. Not of all of us pick up the same nuggets of wisdom in our web experiences. 🍀✌️😎

[@taobarb1]

Yep. I received one of these messages as a response in one of these comment sections. A phone number…wrong state…insisted a call be made though WhatsApp. Yep yep yep….thanks Beau!😵‍💫

[@famillerfggvtremblay18]

Thanks for the PSA.

[@TraderRobin]

Hey, what's the big idea calling me a "less person?" I'm just as much of a person as you are! 😆😉

[@renenowicki]

FYI- the post office does not need your credit card to get a corrected shipping label. Beware of text and email messages pretending to be from USPS.

[@KMCA779]

most of the scam emails I get are Amazon

[@chezmoi42]

You can report scam emails to the FTC in the US.

[@lexyswope]

I had on that I ignored.

[@elmersglue6259]

@@KMCA779 I got those along with USPS, Wal-Mart, Costco, home depot and had a few trying to claim if I didn't contact them right now that my computer would crash and another claiming they were my bank and that there was an error in my account (name didn't match my banks name). Always be on the look out because they are always new ones that pop up.

[@christineputman4850]

Scammers use Amazon and PayPal that have messaged me

[@johnelectric933]

Aww, I was so flattered that you wanted me to contact you directly! At least 3 times now!😪

[@thedocklighter]

LOL!

[@adams8407]

Oh I thought I was special...

[@neliusbresnan3766]

SEMPAI HAS NOTICED ME!

[@andreaslach691]

I had the same reaction. Dang. Beau is recruting me now for his secret underground guerilla force. Yeeess 😎😁😆

[@olddoggeleventy2718]

Yep, that was my reaction too! then I thought...Nah!

[@machintelligence]

Those scams are ubiquitous on KZbin. I just ignore them. You would think that the platform would be able to recognize and eliminate them.

[@DesertUrbexer]

When reported, they are recognized.. take a second and report them.. thank you!

[@LowTide941]

Don’t ignore. Report.

[@lyinarbaeldeth2456]

KZbin doesn't even screen their ads for obvious scams.

[@mikejones8866]

@@DesertUrbexer It's a bit more complicated, but go to the users page, click on "About" and click on the flag on the lower right. Next, click on "Report User." Select "Impersonation, and then ...impersonating someone else" You'll be asked for the URL to the channel being impersonated (I open a different tab to get that URL before going to the offenders page). Almost done, there's a box for "Comments." I copy and paste the offenders message, FINALLY, click "Submit." Like I said, it's more steps, but seems to have better results in having the SCAMMERS removed. I also report the actual comment as "Unwanted SPAM."

[@garfield2439]

@@DesertUrbexer I do

[@neilish13]

Anytime I see those scams in the comments, I report them as pornography. Don’t know if KZbin actually does anything about them or not, but I’m trying to help out my fellow Beau Peeps. Stay safe all! ✌️

[@BennilocoLoves]

Report them accordingly.. they fall under spam category.. Thank you for helping!!

[@Sableagle]

They're spam, they're misinformation, they're an attempt to abuse someone's child-like innocence, they're an attempt to get someone to engage in activity harmful to that person and you can report them as whatever your mouse happens to click but they'll still be there.

[@elmersglue6259]

They will also target your email accounts as well and send text messages on your phone saying all sorts of stuff. A rule of thumb is - if your contacted by someone saying you won a prize in a contest you never entered its a scam. If you get a notice saying your purchase from Amazon had an error on the payment end and you don't order anything for Amazon, it's a scam. If they send you a message saying you won the lottery and never bought a ticket, chances are it's from another country and it's a scam because they want you to send money to get the money you supposedly won. Always be on your toes for scammers. If it sounds too good to be true, then it is.

[@cproteus]

Then block them. Every click counts.

[@brianniegemann4788]

I'd say report them in the correct category, otherwise it wastes yt time. Not that they care

[@robbylock1741]

Thanks Beau the saddest part of all this is that youtube will do nothing about these scammers, heck so much of what is advertised officially are scams! Looking forward to your next video.

[@Radiodragonofdoom]

I know right? At this point if KZbin shuts down all the scams the entire platform shuts down.

[@Muritaipet]

KZbin has given you tools to report scammers! Click the scammers channel icon or name, go to their about page, click the flag ⚐, take 1 minute to report them. There is a comment box available, copy and paste what they've done. Then go back, click the three little dots ⁝ at the side of the comment, and take 10 seconds to report them. We all want to be rid of spammers and scammers, but you have to do your bit.

[@fuzzlemacfuzz]

@@Muritaipet and when you do that I get a message back saying they are not taking any action.

[@Muritaipet]

@@fuzzlemacfuzz The message usually says they will "review it according to their guideline" or similar. I'll confess that I usually go through the comments (because they always spam a whole page) and report 10 or so of their spams. Then I report the channel, which usually seems to get deleted. These systems are probably automated. I assume they need to get a lot of reports, before it gets escalated to a real human who can take action.

[@typacsk]

@@Muritaipet I report them anyway -- and any particularly scummy ads (Ep_ch T_mes, Pr_g_rU, Confederate merchandise shops, etc.). They probably won't do anything about the people putting the ads out, but after enough feedback, at least *I* stop seeing them.

[@heyjoewhite]

I have just been reporting those profiles as impersonating you, Beau. Every time I do it I feel like there’s one less a-hole trying to take advantage of others. I might not be making much of a difference but I sure do feel like I am!

[@heyjoewhite]

Then that profile and all of their comments just disappear into the ether of the Internet! It made the conversation about the post that wasn’t there anymore a bit confusing to those who tried to read it later. I’d rather have that than some douche bag pretending to be Beau trying to get commenters to WassApp them and stuff.

[@BennilocoLoves]

It feels like you are making a difference, it's because you are! Keep up the great work! And thank you!

[@fritzthelibrarygoblin]

There has been a noticeable difference lately, so thank you for your effort.

[@geroffmilan3328]

It's all you can do, it doesn't take much as we know; how much impact it has is hard to ascertain - but it's above zero

[@Muritaipet]

I made my own comment, and saw yours afterwards. Can I suggest before you before you report the comment, report the channel!! Click on the channel icon or name, go to their about page, click the flag ⚐, report them as a scammer, and copy and paste what they've done in the comment box available. We all want to be rid of spammers and scammers. KZbin has given us tools to do this.

[@creepingbert]

But what if they wanted to send me a big bag of M&M's??

[@ladnitnnyldivad]

You mean Maya's?

[@patrickjordan2233]

I'm holding out for the HerShey's...🤣😂👍

[@RoninXDarknight]

@@patrickjordan2233 Hold out too long and you'll be holding out for Hims instead. 😄

[@bettycarey2446]

DO NOT GIVE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO TUCKER CARLSON 😎

[@Bahamut_Mega]

I get these replies to my comments all the time. Just sucks that the only thing we as users can do is report them as spam. We don't even have an option to mark them as a scam. This has been going on for what feels like a year plus and still KZbin has done nothing about it.

[@angelikalindenau943]

That would indicate a payback for the company, right?

[@Sableagle]

@@angelikalindenau943 It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that they've bought an Official Spamming Licence, like an $8 blue check mark.

[@akinpaws]

You can only report the comment as spam, but you can report the channel for impersonation. You need to note Beau's channel ID from the About tab, go to the scammer channel, and report it from there.

[@LukeMingst]

What's really frustrating is that, when you report these things to the platforms, they ignore them and do nothing to take the pages / sites down or block them.

[@LC-sc3en]

I think they have a threshold of number of reports and a review process before they will take them down. Jerks are out here reporting people they don't like for things to try to get them taken down incorrectly. Plus I am sure they have a large queue. Though with the state of AI I think that would be changing soonish.

[@Whatnews2]

I wish everyone listened to Beau's matter-of-fact civics lessons every day

[@egoranonymous3223]

Damn you kids!! How can we trust you to program our remotes if you're falling for simple scams?? And call more often! Love Pappy.

[@brianedwards7142]

I report them but it feels like pissing in the wind.

[@BennilocoLoves]

You are not pissing in the wind.. Lots of us report them, and they are becoming fewer.. We have almost gotten rid of the porn bots! Look at it as a civic duty! Thank you!

[@brianedwards7142]

@@BennilocoLoves Thanks

[@denisekeeran9883]

Same. I figure I'm at least trying.

[@KMCA779]

@@BennilocoLoves Thot Bots have been a bit rare on livestreams lately now that you mention it.

[@barbaramcspadden6351]

It does hide the comment which is good. Think about comments that show "1 reply" and you click on it and it doesn't show any replies. 😁

[@furiousapplesack]

I always report them as spammers/bots/whatever. But before I do that, I usually respond to the tale end of the thread with a comment about how the person had scammed me out of thousands of dollars and to avoid them. In case someone was going to fall for it, my comment would be the last one in the thread and hopefully they'd see it. So that's my two layers of response to that BS.

[@strezztechnoid]

Seen a lot of these Beau, they're so poorly done I don't see how someone falls for this. That doesn't make it okay, the scammers are scum in my book. Thanks for speaking to it as it is terrible to see someone taken advantage of especially if they are educating themselves by watching your videos. Appreciate ya...

[@Jcewazhere]

Being poorly done is a screening tactic. Someone not familiar enough with the language, or who feels for the silly person making the comment, or for whatever reason can't/won't see the poor grammar is more likely to fall for the scam. It's a screening tactic.

[@jerushamaxwell281]

@@Jcewazhere I got my first one faked from Jimmy Kimmel, then saw a bunch of the same scam efforts on Beau's channel comments.

[@jamesmyers8971]

Night shift, ready for knowledge.

[@mattstyles2498]

11 to 7, baby!

[@KMCA779]

@@mattstyles2498 second best shift in my opinion, it's right behind 7-7 though. (I love my 3-4 days off a week)

[@TimelyAbyss]

I really hopped that Beau’s audience would have been, on average, far too wise for these stupid hoaxes.

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

*hoped

[@Pbav8tor]

You were right.

[@dylanwaters3146]

anyone can fall victim to a scam once, that's why it's always helpful to share this info

[@geroffmilan3328]

@@dylanwaters3146 it's true that there is a pretext for everyone, it's something I teach my younger red team trainees. But the low-energy nature of the stuff we see on YT should really not get many people whose skill level is "competent user" or above. It's weak sauce.

[@superclaymaster]

Everyone wants to believe in the Nigerian prince

[@victorybeginsinthegarden]

I always report these scammers

[@DesertUrbexer]

Thank you..

[@fritzthelibrarygoblin]

And I appreciate that.

[@CaroAbebe]

One impersonator actually used a channel name without underscores etc. They used a platform that channel wasn’t using, so they were free to use any name… Thanks for making this video. Personally, I haven’t fallen for any of those scams yet, but as I get older, who knows what might happen.

[@veramae4098]

I fell twice, years ago, as soon as I'd sent my info sanity set in and I called the bank and cancelled that credit card. Still, one time I lost over $3,000 to someone who got access to my checking account (I have no idea how); bank was no help. I'd had other problems with that bank and this was the last straw, moved to another bank and found much better service.

[@chadtaylor7633]

Davey504 gave this announcement as well. Thanks for keeping caring about us.

[@mybachhertzbaud3074]

But, did he slap it?

[@jvcyt298]

I got sick and tired of reporting these scams. Sometimes I can't even be bothered with looking at comments if I see any troll activity.

[@LostCylon]

I have been contacted by ''Beau's'' quite a few times (At least weekly, usually more often) and on other channels. It's a big scourge on KZbin atm, and quite frankly, I am surprised they havn't cracked down on it. By not doing so they are aiding and abetting felonies.

[@waynehead7271]

I am older, have been seeing them for a while, and I report them to KZbin.

[@dkyelak]

My biggest clue was when Beau responded and the name had several characters in the name. The message basically said I would be shown a good time.

[@jerushamaxwell281]

Isn't it southern to retort in good humor, "Don't threaten ME with with a good time!" (?)

[@gengraded]

@@jerushamaxwell281 true, but it's best not to respond to bots.

[@jerushamaxwell281]

@@gengraded I had written that joke as comment, but never respond to bots. Thanks!

[@sandrat66]

I could see only the icon, not a full name.

[@garryferrington811]

Kind of a weirdly horrible suggestion.

[@Eviltwin531]

How are people still this trusting on this hell-space known as the internet? Clicking links, trusting questionable accounts, believing any hot, local singles in your area are actually interested in you... did it take people this long to stop responding to chain letters back in the analog days?

[@keithduthie]

Most scams are fairly obvious if you take a moment to check. This is a feature - it's the scammer's first filter to target gullible people who won't take that moment to check.

[@BlueBeetle1939]

I've had a good day hope yall are doing well stay safe out there people!

[@Lizablue0608]

You too! The weather was beautiful here in Oregon and it was a great weekend. 👋🏼

[@tiananewbauer-hampton7885]

For a little humor for those who have have confronted scammers in creative ways, Mark Robert’s glitter bomb stories (more recent) & James Vietch’s scamalot stories . Sad people do this, but it’s a big business, so glad you’re doing a PSA on it.

[@veramae4098]

Robert's said he's going to quit the glitter bombs, but people are betting him to continue. His recent squirrel Olympics was fun; would be weird and delightful to live next door!

[@Sally4th_]

There's a UK YT-er called "Atomic Shrimp" who does a nice line in scam-baiting. He has far more energy than me, or maybe just more time on his hands. Can highly recommend if anyone wants cheering up with a bit of Brit humour.

[@ruffEdgz]

I report those as much as I see them myself but great PSA for sure!

[@BennilocoLoves]

Thank you!

[@knightscape]

Thank you for this PSA... I'm in IT and the number of people who perpetrated these is frustrating.

[@veramae4098]

On the other hand ... think of the creativity, persistence and effort that go into these! Given an opportunity they'd be great business people. In places like Nigeria and India though, there aren't many opportunities. Hinduism in India says poor people deserve to be poor and miserable because of misdeeds in past lives (now that's a WONDERFUL religion for oppression) and Nigeria is being torn apart by gangs, tribes, etc.

[@amookable]

As a long time IT professional, I have often assisted very intelligent people who simply slipped up, gotten distracted, were concentrating on something else and clicked a link. All ages. Sometimes our older people are actually more astute once they're made aware of some of the tools and tactics. The best way I've been able to say it is "Never do business with somebody who came to you." If you think something legitimate arrived in an email or a message, close it down and contact that party directly - preferably through an address or a phone number that didn't come from the message. It's not impossible to still get scammed, but it's a great deal harder.

[@rennnnn914]

As a scambaiter in my spare time, I think you. Some of these attempts are better than others, and some are so good that it can pull just about anyone in. No-one should look down on anyone who gets taken by a scammer.

[@TheSuzberry]

I’ve reported every note where I’m asked to contact ‘you’ as unwanted advertising. Is that the correct category? BTW, 74 here. Old not ignorant.

[@1337w0n]

Sure there's a prize; identity theft. It's not a very _good_ prize, but a sufficiently wrong definition will mean it technically qualifies.

[@dcookie4444]

**Also- Report it to KZbin. Click on those three dots to the far right side of the (suspect) comment and select "Report." Then check the box that says "Unwanted commercial or Spam" or whichever works for you.

[@Telcomvic]

FYI: We almost sent our house downpayment to a scammer. Some versions of Microsoft mail show the spoofed email address if you hover your mouse over the sender it in the incoming email. You have to do an actual REPLY to sender to see the real address where the email will be sent.

[@krejados1]

Good tip. Thanks.

[@thefaboo]

Email *so* easy to fake and mail apps do very little to help you spot fraudulent email - in part because it can be difficult for even big companies to do all the right technical things to get email right. It's a frustrating state of affairs :-/

[@RandomFandomDragon]

Seeing a lot of these with banks and credit unions, too. The scammers are now able to make it look like the calls are coming from the FI. I say this after working for years in a credit card call center - if anyone calls saying they are from your bank/credit union/ credit card company, etc, even if they say it's about fraud, always hang up and call the number on the back of your card. If the call was legit, there will be record.

[@barbaracollins385]

I'm glad you brought this up. I get those messages too. As a 67 year old retired insurance professional, i know better than to respond. Same with unknown callers. I urge others not to engage.

[@flor9389]

Your INFOSEC training is definitely more engaging than most.

[@dynamicworlds1]

"taller than Ben Shapiro" 😆 Where are they from that that was their guess for a random channel owner's height based on their perception of what's normal, North Korea?

[@neliusbresnan3766]

@@dynamicworlds1 and 125 pounds? Like.......no. Only children and very small adults are 125 pounds.

[@georgeorwell4509]

I see these all the time. Already knew about this shit. Never answer them.

[@martinsmallridge4025]

I’ve seen a few of these sorts of announcements but what set this one apart is the thoroughness of your “How to spot” explanation at a level that almost everyone could understand.. and not just for your channel too. Says a lot about your modus operandi… Actually it demonstrates it, which in and of itself speaks volumes. Thanks for taking the time.

[@frankpalancio8471]

What I hate is that nobody goes after and catches scammers like this. I'm sure most are foreigners, but the scammers use domestic phone #'s, and the government agencies and phone companies do nothing when you report these numbers

[@cam4636]

It's less the country of origin and more that there's just so many of them stealing so little (in terms of how a law firm or legislature would see it, obviously the person getting their money or information stolen might see it differently) there's no point investigating it.

[@felinecontrolled]

It's easy to reroute a phone number out of country. Spam telemarketers used to (or probably still) do it all the time. That's how many got around the do not call list.

[@olencone4005]

@@felinecontrolled Yeah, I've gotten those car warranty scam calls that come in on caller-ID as being from local people and businesses -- I've seen them show up as being from the local TECO office, the local police or fire department, and even a few that used my own number. Spoofing the numbers like that makes it hard to keep them out :/

[@SarafinaSummers]

"it's not worth it to prosecute!" But someone having medical cannabis is? Hell no! Nail these bastads! Oh wait, their government sometimes is in on the scams. grrrr.

[@veramae4098]

The phone companies make a massive amount of money from these million-plus auto dialers and scammers. They can be stopped. Japan doesn't have scams online, dialers must have verified accounts (which can be done in under a second). FCA just doesn't have the power ... because, guess what? Republicans get a lot of campaign donations from phone companies. Oh golly, please, get rid of the Republican Party! I knew in 1960's they were dying ... in the meantime they're dragging us all through their puss and infection.

[@BennilocoLoves]

Ya gettin' that PHISHING from Beau" scams! They are everywhere, so buyer beware!! The owner of a channel will never put something like that in the comments! Thanks, Beau! You can report them to KZbin.. as you should! The only way to shut the trash down is as a team..

[@Gnabbist]

There are many more of us than there are of them. So if each one of us reports a few of these impostor comments as spam, even just occasionally, all those small whack-a-mole sessions add up to a big ban hammer. Makes the cost of doing scummy business too high to bother with after a while.

[@thomasdjonesn]

I'm glad you did this. I know Charlotte Dobré even went out of her way to expose a couple of scammers, so that was pretty cool. I don't know why they do it. It never occurs to me that any internet personality would actually be foolish enough to waste time engaging with anyone in the comments, let alone me.

[@UdderlyEvelyn]

I'm already super aware of these scams and very technically literate (programmer of many years) but it was interesting to see how you go about explaining this to those who might not be, you did a good job.

[@bobclarke2242]

Congratulations Beau..! You're being Copied. Hopefully you feel flattered. 🙂 🇺🇸

[@johnnyhellstrom7121]

Those kind of scams have been going around the KZbin comment sections for at least 10 years. I doubt they will ever stop.

[@WilliamTMusil]

Hiya. Thanks for the PSA. It has been quite common on YT for a few years now. The best we can do is to always report them. Enough reports does kill those accounts. If enough of us report them, perhaps they will get bored.

[@andyh3065]

Yeah, I get those scam messages all the time. You think KZbin could at least “try” to stop it. I don’t think it would be that hard. But then again, given how many outright scam videos and misinformation they allow on here, I guess all they care about is the $ 🤬

[@carlyar5281]

I’ve seen this scam on many many KZbin channels. This is a good PSA for any age for any channel. Thanks Beau 😊

[@fishdude666ify]

I just got one of those from another channel; assumed it was a scam and ignored it. Atomic Shrimp might have some ideas about how to mess with them though, he calls it "scambaiting" and his videos are hilarious!

[@flugsven]

I've recieved these invitations A Lot. Seemed fishy, and you just confirmed my suspicions. Thank you!

[@Rochelleau]

I’m in Australia and number 5 in comments. Amazing👍

[@alphabravo8703]

I noticed that when someone purporting to be you replied to one of my comments on this site. Like you said, the site address was all convoluted and looked fishy as hell. I never clicked on them.

[@artsfarmstudio6405]

This stuff is out of control everywhere. Facebook is overrun by fake accounts that jump into threads, pick a commenter (usually female) and say something along the lines of "I like your profile/you seem like a nice person' etc, and then "I triied to send you a friend request but it didn't go through. Can you please write me" and when you go to their profile, it almost always has a picture of a guy in military uniform, and lots of random memes in the feed to make it look legit. It never is, and unfortunately, they do manage to trick some women into falling for it. Phishing emails are common, too and they copy/paste logos, etc from places like PayPal, banks, Walmart, even government agencies and more. One way to catch it is they never use your name; it's always 'Dear customer' or something similar .If you're not paying attention, you can easily get caught up, and there's always a link to 'confirm' your identity or account. It's a real PITA to have to worry about this stuff. I always report them and block, but still get upwards to a dozen or so per day and it's very annoying.

[@neliusbresnan3766]

I thought it was mostly men they tried to phish with pictures "sexy ladies who are waiting to talk to me"

[@sherfromgr]

I see those a lot, too; it seems to be mostly the same fb friends who get those scammers all the time. I haven't correlated it with the ones who are doing the quizzes, but there could be a connection there since those are usually the folks who report that they've been "hacked" and not to answer friend requests from them. Remember a few years ago when there were all those random packages showing up at people's houses? I think most of them were seeds, and there was a lot of discussion on facebook about them. Well, I've noticed that the only scammy comments I get are notifications on a repost I made about that in 2020. Thanks to this discussion, I'm seeing some implications I missed, and the next time I see that old post come up, I'm going to delete it. And please, if you're on facebook, go into your settings and set your friends list to private. That will save a lot of people some hassle, and likely make you a less-valuable target as well.

[@jeanoltvedt]

I noticed that some of the guys sending me crap (that's what it is) all seem to look alike.

[@rolandvachon9848]

The moment I C any type of invitation like the ones U R talking about, I report them. No if's, and's or but's.

[@MrSlatra]

I always report those for spam. As far as I can tell, youtube removes the comment right away but the channel sticks around. Not sure how many reports it takes for them to do anything to the account but you'd think such a massive company would be able to flag spam accounts better... Especially, since it's always copy pasta messages.

[@elainekarlsson8384]

I always report them. I don't know how much that helps, but I hope it's at least an inconvenience for the scammers. Forces them to work a little harder perhaps.

[@dennisnolan5095]

Thank you for this important PSA, Beau!

[@Falcon7001]

The other thing to check is any links. Don't click it, just hold your mouse cursor over it and see what the address is that pops up near it, or in the lower left in Chrome. That address will pretty obvious.

[@DLPape]

Thank you for saying something about it, they tried to get me, I laughed but hoped no one else got had.

[@olddoggeleventy2718]

Yes, I get these quite often on here. I just report 'em to KZbin as a scam and off it goes. It was confusing the first few times it happened though, Thanks for the PSA Beau.

[@mistyarcher802]

This is the first time I've seen this shirt, I love it! I have a Tom and Jerry bowling ball that looks like a big ball of cheese 🤣

[@MissAnn999]

I'm older, and I've been on the internet for so long, that I recognize those immediately. And when I'm in the mood, I play with them. It is performance art to me. In my opinion, the longer I can keep them going, especially on the phone, that is one less person they get to scam.

[@chrisdonovan8795]

When it was popular with phones, I would just let them talk. I would then walk away until they hung up. Some of their opening speeches took three minutes before they would even allow you to talk.

[@gnaskar]

To quote a person who really wasn't who I thought they were in retrospect: "Constant vigilance!"

[@oldworldpatriot8920]

Ole Mad Eye

[@Erin-Thor]

Does this mean I won’t get my T-Shirt in the mail? Bummer! 😂

[@briansmutti]

too cute!😊 🥰 🤗🥰

[@josephkuder]

GLAD YOU BROUGHT THIS UP. I tried gettin shitty with them and you tube assholes warned me to be nice

[@SarafinaSummers]

KZbin disabled my prior account for calling t(r)ump some very much deserved names. What? I can't use my 1st.... OH, right, private company. /sarc /j :)

[@ionae3440]

So many scammers are not investigated or prosecuted because their victims are made to feel stupid for falling for it. Let's not do that.

[@ronaldsmith2343]

I always hit the report button.

[@Smidge204]

Report every one of their posts, but also go to their YT user page, and report the account itself via the "about" tab.

[@singletona082]

What bothers me is youtube seems to not givea damned about doing anything. THis is straight up impersonation and there has got to be SOMETHING they can do to strt fishing out who is controlling the many headed hydra.

[@rickytricky6507]

THANK YOU BEAU! THIS IS SO COMMON, AND DECEIVES SO MANY PEOPLE!

[@kevincrosby6270]

Peace Brother. Glad you spoke on this. I see it alot. You have a smart audience. Hopefully KZbin can do something to protect it's content providers. #SmashillusionsandGrabfacts

[@autumn-_-uwu8340]

The biggest tell for me is them asking for money for something you supposedly won shouldn’t you just get the prize instead of you paying to get the prize.

[@TheBlackstarrt]

Yeah, this really needs to be a KZbinr PSA.

[@ThyriaSharin]

Thank you. I received a message like this from a different channel that I'm subscribed to. Something about it bothered me, so I've been letting it percolate in the back of my head for about a week. Looks like my instincts were right.

[@vertderferk]

This is funny. I have been informed that you are a 6'7", blond, and could stand in for Chris Hemsworth.

[@jasonk5979]

As others have said. It’s a shame google wont spend more time fixing this issue.

[@timothyoo7]

Cool shirt Beau!

[@deeparks3112]

When I first noticed this scam I reported each one I encountered to Google - over time they spread to practically every KZbin channel I frequent, I stopped reporting them; I now simply reply to them "chu de da!" They never reply.

[@geroffmilan3328]

I'm always amazed bot creators don't get someone with basic writing skills to create their text. ChatGPT *might* change this, but the awful grammar & structure is the running joke in infosec. I only craft phishing material that bad when I'm targeting fascists, & looking to make a point about their gullibility & ignorance.

[@Jcewazhere]

The poor grammar is the first filter. Someone who can't see the mistakes, or just looks past them, is more likely to fall for the scam.

[@geroffmilan3328]

@@Jcewazhere true, and as I wrote elsewhere there's a pretext for everyone or my red team wouldn't get much work 😁 but yeah this crap is sooooo low-effort, it's depressing that it works at all.

[@terryhickey524]

Thank you. I work in IT. This is what I preach to my customers. How to spot dangerous sites and e-mails

[@MrRemnants]

"I expected everybody to be older" hahaha holy crap Beau dial it back a notch lol, merciless XD

[@patrickjordan2233]

IKR? 😂🤣😂👍 "I got earhair older than this whipper-snapper, I'm positive cuz I've been braiding it for 3 decades..."... LOL

[@MrRemnants]

@@patrickjordan2233 Hahahaha thanks for the chuckles, I needed that XD

[@mljs9245]

I just report it. Over and over and over. 😂

[@CrankyCorvid]

Same here! Not sure how much effect it has, but it’s gotta be better than letting it slide.

[@Water_Worker]

I believe that some of these channels reupload the original channels content in part or in whole, I mean it's obvious in so many ways but they still get people.

[@crystalkarma2015]

Bless you for doing this video Beau. Also how in 2023...are people still falling for updated "Nigerian Prince" scams. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@Jedi_Vigilante]

Also, anytime the channel owner/creator/staff replies to or likes a comment on their own channel, it shows their pfp next to the comments or like count to show that the creator applied or liked. If you see a reply from "Beau" but that pfp isn't next the option to expand the replies, then it isn't really them. I know it is that way on normal PC browsers at least, not sure if it is the same on the mobile app.

[@Llortnerof]

KZbin also puts a grey background behind the channel owners name. If you know how a real one looks, it's rather hard to mistake a fake.

[@ladydi1079]

I got one of those contact-me messages. I was so flattered that out of all the comments that day you wanted to speak to me. Trouble is, it was too good to be true. I passed. This confirms that I made the right decision. Thanks for the PSA, Beau.

[@dkyelak]

I just ignore those messages.

[@DesertUrbexer]

Report them instead.. Thanks!

[@brendacurtbren510]

The one that contacted me spelled the word fifth wrong they spell it fifht. I'm a very suspicious person and never accept anything at face value so when they offered me a gift I told them thanks but no thanks the information I receive from listening to the channel is all the gift that I need. Keep up the good work Beau.

[@bucyrus5000]

So, that wasn't a link to your OF? Frick!

[@reginanichols3090]

This is happening on Facebook pages too. Always good to double-check the sourcing. Thanks for bringing people's attention to this!

[@invisiblepants6477]

Does this mean that you're not going to send me an assortment of autographed t-shirts?

[@garfield2439]

🤭🤭🤭🤭

[@elizabethcooper9552]

I get tons of scams. Here, phone, email, etc., etc., etc. I ignore them all. Thanks for spreading the word.

[@Newton-Reuther]

Most people whom you would trust on KZbin with your personal information (ie creators who genuinely seem to care about their audience) would not be the kind of people to ask for a specific amount of money that goes directly to them. Beau, for example, would never ask for a specific amount. He could say that there's a need for X amount for a specific cause, but even then it's not going to him, he'd give a link to a fundraiser, and he wouldn't expect anyone to give a certain amount. As someone who's eternally on KZbin, most creators who care follow these rules.

[@denisekeeran9883]

He wouldn't personally ask individuals to do that either. He would have a livestream that allows people to choose do donate, but he wouldn't like send out targeted messages asking anyone for money. He knows some have money, some have time, some have the gift of spreading the word, etc.

[@darrinkemp1755]

When you say a whole bunch of channels you are spot on. Literally every channel I comment on. In some cases I know the actual content creators, so I know its bs.