Scam Roundup - Don't Put the Scam up Your Nose (Scam Awareness + Scambaiting)

[@commissarcream]

Every time you hit them with the 'small boy' accusation, I smile, openly, like some kind of small boy.

[@artistknownaslisa]

😂

[@IgneousExtrusive]

As do I

[@caramelldansen2204]

ME TOO

[@AtheistOrphan]

They really seem to take offence at that!

[@BachFlowerRemedies-v2h]

Are you a small boy?

[@gupdoo3]

We can't prove that Mambo No. 5 wasn't an oracle attack

[@Mogamishu]

Why does this comment not have any replies?

[@gupdoo3]

@Mogamishu now it has one 🥰

[@clamdove3292]

@@Mogamishu because nobody had anything to say about it?

[@mccafferyfamily]

That song brings back memories in 2004-2005 when I was teaching ESL in China a UK D.J. came in to teach a grade 3 primary school class ... And the whole class was based on playing Mambo No. 5

[@mihaelkYeah]

Maybe it was an oracle attack to find out the name of his crush 😮😂

[@Just_Anzio]

Love to see the Barosa/Warosa fund still not claimed yet after all these years

[@jbreckmckye]

And Davis Bon is tragically STILL dead

[@outpostcheerfuloyster]

The funds were never glarded.

[@UnicornsAndUnions]

@@outpostcheerfuloyster No. because mange tout lives in a tax clode, he cannot access the funds because they ARE glarded. this mistake makes you seem like a small boy.

[@TomJakobW]

But I heard the Sarosa fund is still unliquidated as of yet! I WAIT FOR AN URGENT RESPONSE.

[@egotisticalghost6745]

@@outpostcheerfuloyster Have you tried disguising it as gold bars for inconspicuous delivery?

[@oORoOFLOo]

It's crazy youtube has zero quality control over "ads" but rather fights adblocks over these ads

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, if they put a huge amount of effort into sanitising the ad space, their argument against ad blockers would maybe have a trifle more credibility

[@l0lLorenzol0l]

KZbin will ban their users for saying "frick" but gladly take 2000 dollars to spam literal fetish pornography as ADs

[@Frosty301289]

Plus they actively protect the scam ads, reporting them to google just replies that "there was nothing misleading found"... ​@@AtomicShrimp

[@kamo7293]

google: creates the video ai creator sora (iirc) also google: won't fix simple problems with KZbin

[@Meatball2022]

They have 100% control over ad REVENUE

[@zx85]

I will now be closing all my emails: "Thanks, and govern yourself accordingly." Thanks, and govern yourself accordingly.

[@1994CivicGLi]

This is way better than “kind regards”. Thanks, and govern yourself accordingly.

[@129140163]

20:28

[@SamAronow]

I recognized this phrase immediately. It's a quote from the Dutch West India Company's rebuke of Pieter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland, over his desire to expel Dutch Jews from New Amsterdam. It was their polite way of saying "go fuck yourself." How this ended up canned in a form email for email scammers as the _opposite_ of a veiled insult is beyond me.

[@bobmcguffin5706]

Neutral Good: Kind regards Lawful Good: Be guided accordingly 🙏 (Rev. John W/Barosa) Lawful Neutral: Govern yourself accordingly

[@MuchWhittering]

Strong Theranos vibes from those blood testers. Scams like that are the worst kind. They're not just stealing people's money, they're potentially killing people.

[@Soapy-chan]

it also uses the desperation and health situation of the people, a situation where you are the most vulnerable. I don't believe in objective evil, but these scammers come pretty close to being evil.

[@plactoec1590]

What's hilarious to me is that in their promotional material, the devices say "pulse oximeter" right there on the tin. I don't know who these ads are trying to defraud, I expect other diabetics would smell that bull shit from miles away, too lmao

[@Clarence_13x]

I’ve heard they can give you “blood cancel”…

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

I am very tired aand read this as 'THANOS VIBES'

[@workaholica]

Being able to measure blood sugar remotely would have been too bold a claim even for Theranos. I have seen this ad a lot, only the device was allegedly developed by Charité hospital in Berlin.

[@holdenroberts6973]

"Requires no setup, no electricity, no internet" so it's just magic then. It's a magical spy camera.

[@ek0dev]

It's just straight up that one really tiny camera from Spy Kids

[@nancy78811]

Yikes, one if the example uses was in a guys foot looking up. What, other than looking up skirts, would that vantage point be good for. 😬

[@pyratehyena1312]

as a diabetic, I really get riled up by scams with medical products in them. to prey on difficulty with both money and disability adds another layer of disgusting. on a cheerier note: the "bird legs" bit seriously got to me. I'm not sure my knees will recover.

[@MortalAnonymous]

Your knees? Oh no! It's contagious!

[@zama1861]

Welcome to a world run by money

[@WithManyVoices]

Gotta love it when your family members come up to you and show the brand new "miracle" product that will cure diabetes™ as if big pharma would let that shit slide and not immediately remove the poor SOB who made it from our plane of existance.

[@TheRogueAdventurers]

I had an old lady knock on my door this evening because she was worried about her laptop having a virus, it was one of those fake websites that locks away your keyboard and full screens itself with a scam phone number. I helped her out by just restarting her laptop and told her about how the scam worked. Thanks to your videos I could help her out. She was very nice and thankful.

[@deltasaves]

I'm happy she thought to reach out. So many folks get so worried and think people will judge them. Hoping she remembers that trick, the same one I told my mother to do and then I or someone ive set up that can help her can sort things out

[@MIck-M]

My friend gets annoyed at me talking about this stuff too often and angrily declares he knows all about that. So last week I get there and he proudly tells me he got some guy (random email) to help him speed up his PC. He was absolutely hacked with trojan software suits and the scammer had already set up internet banking by the time I called his bank. Some people will just not be told is my point.

[@shanepearce1629]

you have to wonder haw how many people fall for scams that start with High-Risk Security Breach Detected Dear Customer, Your device has been flagged due to suspicious activity, and your sensitive information is at risk. The Australian Cyber Security Centre has detected a significant increase in cyber threats targeting personal and business devices. These threats include sophisticated malware, ransomware attacks, and phishing scams designed to compromise your sensitive information. Suspected Virus Detected We have discovered that your device is at high risk of becoming infected with virus. It may soon damage your sim card, data, photos and contacts if no action is taken. Penalties The maximum penalty for unauthorised access to, or modification of, restricted data is 2 years' imprisonment; The maximum penalty for unauthorised impairment of electronic communication is 10 years' imprisonment;

[@BoleDaPole]

I have an elderly neighbor who bought those plug in power savers, she is convinced it actually works and says that Bill Gates and Elon Musk even recommend them. There's nothing I can say to change her mind.

[@glitchedoom]

I worked the computer support desk at an electronics retailer for a few years and this was the most common people would bring their computer in for. Installing an ad blocker helps since it will stop the pop up from initializing.

[@TheGlenn8]

I think it's save to say that if a company cannot afford a real human voice in their advertisements that it's a scam 99% of the time. That doesn't mean the ones with human voices aren't a scam. But you hear a robotic voice in an advert you should immediately consider it a scam.

[@eiriseven]

Yeah, understandable for a content creator without a good mic or voice, but a vendor trying to sell you something? No, just no.

[@1998_MIN]

Even if it were a real company, why should I bother to give them any attention or money if they couldn't be bothered to put any work into their advertisement? Also it's doubtful a lot of vulnerable people have yet to discern between an AI voice and a real one. It's kind of hard to explain the difference

[@kiefac]

​@@1998_MIN maybe the best way to help someone recognize it is to ask the person to imagine being a voice actor for it. like if you were in a studio and you read this script, would you say "hurry up and take one home to try it out." with a flat tone like that? probably not, you'd say "Hurry up and take one home to try it out!" with more energy plus the prosody/rhythm is usually all wrong, sometimes it uses the wrong homograph (i.e. "bass" like the fish vs "bass" like in music), and the audio is just sort of low quality in general (i guess you could say it sounds like an old video game/ringtone? not really sure how to explain what "low sample rate" sounds like)

[@Rad-Dude63andathird]

...what about the text to speech cheap viagra and cialis ad I regularly see on TV in-between episodes of Who's Line? (I have a short of me laughing at it because I'm mind-blown TBD is that desperate for money in case y'all dunno what I'm talking about 😅)

[@bladerubber]

Fake ai voices are going to get better n better & indistinguishable from the real thing so this comment has very little shelf life at this point.

[@tghidsgn]

I've got a (legit) CPAP, and the average person probably doesn't realize how hard those things blast air. That teeny thing is pure fantasy.

[@eightcoins4401]

in the case of the scam its closer to CRAP :P

[@tubularmonkeymaniac]

I have a real cpap and bought that scam version. The fans were so small it couldn’t even make a tissue flutter when held directly next to them.

[@some-replies]

CPAP is literally a pump to keep you breathing, they're no joke. Used one for a week and don't envy you guys at all

[@1998_MIN]

CPAP gang rise up 🙌

[@nikkiofthevalley]

Yeah. Those things are so powerful you can make an oxygen lance with them. I would *not* recommend doing that, as it voids every single type of warranty, but I did do that once with a broken one off of EBay. It's also extremely dangerous, because high flow pure oxygen and anything flammable (like your clothes, or your skin, or your house) is a very dangerous combination. I had it on a metal table (welding table to be specific) and it still burned through it when I accidentally dropped the lance on the table. This also applies to the unmodified machines, so please be careful and follow all the safety instructions.

[@brianartillery]

I got one of those 'parking penalty' notices. After a good laugh - I haven't got a car, and indeed, have never learnt to drive - the notice was reported and blocked.

[@AllGoodOutside]

Tom waits told me one time that he'll know it's his time to die when he becomes so old that they take his driver's license away from him.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@AllGoodOutside they cant take away your license if you never head one to begin with ;)

[@mgratk]

Please be careful parking you imaginary car in the future.

[@AlexisBabayan]

Yeah, I used to get robo-calls warning me that the insurance on my (imaginary) car had expired.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@AlexisBabayan are they still legal over there?

[@mattwuk]

I have an older guy at work who relies on me to check the random crap he gets, he had the PCN one last week and was worried and wanted me to check it, we laughed when I said 'Dave, you don't even drive' but it still rattled him and obviously wanted me to take a look, same deal, I saw straight away it was from a mobile number. It just shows how people can get worried when targeted and lose a bit of logical thinking if they think they are in trouble.

[@artistknownaslisa]

So true

[@jbreckmckye]

Fear makes people panic, and you only have to panic once to hand over sensitive details forever! Really we should normalise treating everything digital with scepticism, but it doesn't help how the authorities insist on doing everything online nowadays

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I think a big part of scam resilience is just to keep on telling yourself: _nothing is _*_THAT_*_ urgent_ - because honestly, nothing really is, unless it's an escaped tiger or something.

[@thisperson5294]

You are being very kind. ❤

[@RockDove5212]

Thank you for helping him with it and checking for him.❤

[@1998_MIN]

That camera scam ad was hilarious in how they kept escalating the places they were sticking the "camera", I snorted laughing when they stuck it to someone's foot

[@AtheistOrphan]

People have been caught with cameras attached to their feet for the purpose of ‘Up-skirting’. Perhaps that was the intimation?

[@1998_MIN]

@@AtheistOrphan ah right 😢. It was shown on a woman's foot though, which would be unusual if that's the case

[@satansbarman]

​@@1998_MINmaybe it was a lesbian with an up-skirt fetish? I was mostly impressed by how it doesn't need batteries or internet to record and send footage to your phone 😂

[@jmatt440]

Did you see them shove it into a literal power point?

[@LiEnby]

@@1998_MINwas it placed on her consensually /srs

[@bewilderbeestie]

A little while back I did a couple of videos where I tear apart and in some cases reprogram several ultra-cheap 'smartwatches' from Aliexpress. Every single one claimed to have pulse, blood oxygen and blood pressure sensors. Every single one of them just made up numbers after blinking some green LEDs to make you think they were doing something. (Although, interestingly, they all had footprints on the PCB for a real pulse sensor. I received a suggestion that they might be using leftover PCBs produced in excess in the early days of lockdown.)

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I reviewed one or two of those devices a few years back. I remember encountering a lot of pushback from people who apparently just desperately wanted to believe the thing was measuring blood pressure using an LED.

[@kg6801]

I love your username and accompanying bewildered looking wildebeest

[@papayer]

​@@kg6801it's so cute

[@bewilderbeestie]

@@kg6801 I wanted 'bewilderbeest', but it's taken...

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

Hello Do you know where someone can get a legit medical smartwatch? Thank you so much

[@ABuffWizard]

18:34 Asking the scammer to make the choice for you and then following up with "Not much of a choice then is it" is peak comedy. Bravo, Shrimp.

[@Cojasvim]

that tiny camera put on the steering wheel is gonna turn into a projectile if airbags go off. I've seen people shotgun themselves by random ornamental garbage they put on a steering wheel.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Not to mention that the only way the camera could connect to a phone without internet would be via bluetooth, and that has a quite limited range. Also, how to charge it? It isn't big enough for any amount of photovoltaic cells, doesn't have any cable, and only room to what would be a button cell.

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

If only Shrimp had bought one, he could've stuck in on his bumper and filmed the inspector behind that PCN. 😉

[@rafelliott]

When I was a mechanic the crap I saw young women put on their steering wheels was insane, 90% of them just made homemade claymores that would disfigure them for life in a serious accident

[@ASBO_LUTELY]

I'm pretty sure they mentioned it doesn't need electricity, so it clearly works by magic!

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

Have you seen the car with all those beads and gems all over? Man... that would be so messy.

[@Soapy-chan]

our camera doesn't need electricity... ah yes and my car doesn't need fuel and i don't need air to breathe.

[@Styphon]

No good air to breathe? You need to start practicing Schliemann Breathing. 😉

[@SineN0mine3]

You can make a camera which works without electricity, in fact that's how we used to do it. You cannot have a digital camera without electricity, although it's theorietically possible to have one without external power. The key piece of tech in a digital camera is a photovoltaic sensor, which is not dissimilar from a solar cell. In general cameras are at worst low energy devices, they mainly need power to run their logic, provide lighting or flash and in most cases the screen is the main power draw. I'm obviously not suggesting that the ad is real, but your general assumption isn't correct. A film camera similarly uses the energy within the light which it is "capturing" in order to produce the image, so a power source is not required. Video film cameras use motors to quickly move the film through the camera so that usually requires a power source, but you've probably seen pictures of people turning a large crank on the side of a film camera which is how that used to be achieved.

[@SineN0mine3]

And of course you'd need power to provide the wireless functions described in the ad. The technology to create a similarly sized wireless camera exists and is cheaply available, however a battery would be necessary and it's unlikely to last for very long. They're not commonly sold because the reasons for wanting one are usually suspicious, and people don't usually want to be associated with sketchy products. They're usually a bit bigger than the one pictured but that's more due to the fact that the limited demand means they're made very cheaply. Cameras small enough to fit inside the hole of a button have been in use in espionage since as early as ww2.

[@ヨーナー]

​​@@SineN0mine3OP never said all cameras, they talked about this specific camera which would definitely need to be charged

[@doghat1619]

@@SineN0mine3 You've described a lot of different things, none of which are the advertised mini portable wireless, powerless camera that gives live video over wi-fi.

[@emeraldaly7646]

I really like this new format of discussing active scams followed by scambaiting. Scambaiting is timeless, and while I suppose the scams themselves are too, it's a genuine act of service (with an entertaining twist) to highlight currently active ones. Good show.

I agree! I love that it’s both entertaining and genuinely helpful for learning about various scams.

[@SimulationNPC]

That style of scam ad makes me feel uneasy for some reason. They feel ominous, as if something bad is lurking around the corner. The very serious medical condition called bird legs nearly made me spit out my coffee. Atomic shrimp makes the best nonsense.

[@Thestrangepinkpie]

As I work at the university, I frequently receive scam emails from predatory "scientific journals" that want to publish my work. I think this would be a very interesting population to scambait and inform about.

[@techheck3358]

What is the end goal of those scams, I’ve you’ve ever investigated? Trying to get you to pay for the (supposed) publishing (is that common in academia?), or personal information?

[@empoleonmaster6709]

Prior to modern automated paragraph writing like chatGPT I've heard of people messing with similar things for "book/school note publishers" where the scambaiter would send in the most inane BS or REALLY badly written automated BS (think early 2010s bad bot writing), and because it was automated it'd be immediately listed on Amazon for a few hundred dollars.

[@Thestrangepinkpie]

@@techheck3358 they are usually working towards collecting a publishing a fee (which some real journals take for open access publications or other services) but possibly also your personal info while you're at it (i recommend checking out the story behind the "whats the deal with birds"-paper as an example ^^)

[@cphilips502]

@@techheck3358 It's very common in academia- the 'open access' route is where the researchers bear the cost of publication (generally around £1000-£10,000 per paper) so that the full-text is free publicly. The researchers aren't paid to share their work, they have to pay for it unless their funder agrees to cover the cost. The reviewers also aren't paid. So who makes the money? The large publication outlets. Somehow researchers have been convinced that this is normal, ethical practice. These specific predatory journals have no credibility in the field. From your contact details on other papers (which can also be sold on), they 'cold-email' you and request to publish your papers on the promise of an easily accepted publication (which researchers need to keep their jobs), and then hit you with undisclosed fees later on in the process, sometimes after they have accepted your paper. The industry is littered with poor practices and exploitation, and is largely unregulated. I get 10-20 emails per day from different journals.

[@bencekontra4035]

​@@techheck3358Yes, they want you to pay article processing charges, and the bad thing is, becouse theese journals are known to be predatory, you can't use your article there for points for funding and grants, and cant publish it again in a normal journal, so you loose your whole research

[@lwoods507]

The Parking Penalty charge notices are absolutely rife right now, I've had three of them this week. Which is hilarious, given that I do not own a car or drive.

[@bevishhh]

For some reason all of the Mange Tout interactions have Hitchhikers Guide vibes. I can’t put my finger on what/why, but it’s great.

[@Styphon]

You're about to turn into a penguin, aren't you?

[@geoffroi-le-Hook]

You paranoid android.

[@angrybidoof847]

Oh no, not again

[@fireball9670]

Andor Pavid's email starting with "davidandor" makes me wonder if his name is up to the person he's talking to. As in "Hi, my name is David And/or Pavid, whichever you prefer".

[@ConsarnitTokkori]

getting real dathings vibes give it some time and we'll see a javid, a mum, a mom, and a third david

[@LeadHeadBOD]

David and Pavid work in the same company okay and they sometimes use each other's emails okay

[@bobmcguffin5706]

@@ConsarnitTokkori Dathings mention!

[@kg6801]

As an Australian, seeing "Bogan Estate" 1:37 is pretty funny. And although bird legs is a frustrating condition, it does have the advantage of giving you the ability to scratch your ear even if both your hands are otherwise occupied 🐦

[@bobmcguffin5706]

Sounds like an Aussie reality TV show. Like a Keeping Up With The Kardashians but they're all bogans

[@TomOConnor-BlobOpera]

The best place to buy a pulse-ox device is actually your local pharmacy. The ones they sell have at least been approved and tested by their suppliers. Mine came from Lloyds Pharmacy in the UK, but I know that Walgreens et al overseas also sell similar devices.

[@RichardWatt]

We bought a Braun one from Amazon and it was fine.

[@fossilfighters101]

+

[@alangknowles]

Aha! But it doesn't measure your glucose level too, does it - or your credit rating at the same time. 😊

[@vjpearce]

I had a scammer phone me up and said I owned money to the government and if I didn't pay they would reprocess my home. I replied with: "Oh, that's terrible news. What am I going to tell my landlord?" They couldn't slam down the phone fast enough. I was so proud of myself.

[@am-ranth8955]

"Owning a home? In this economy?!"

[@LinayatIlyas]

Checking your Blood sugar without Blood? Truly the peak of medical science

Indeed. It’s almost as impressive as the wireless camera that doesn’t need internet or electricity!

[@borrisg4972]

Doctors used to taste urine to detect excess sugar, in order to diagnose diabetes. That's kinda like testing blood sugar without using blood

[@WithManyVoices]

The impact on the aluminium economy will be so huge it might effect the Barosa fund.

[@nathancampbell541]

The line from the blood glucose reader ad claiming they have 58 national patents is also a massive red flag. It’s odd they included it to try to add credibility but 58 is a ridiculously high number. A functioning blood oxygen/ heart rate reader probably doesn’t even have close to 58 unique parts.

[@AtomicShrimp]

The whole ad spiel makes me angry. 'Accuracy rate of 99.9%' was another bit - it melts my brain just listening to the drivel.

[@sarahberkner]

I missed the part that it was a scam at first, but could tell it was right away, so I was confused why Atomic Shrimp was promoting it lol

[@yourfriendlach]

And the 99.9% accuracy. I don’t even think hospital glucose meters have that high accuracy

[@necronix9947]

I'm getting fed up with all the $11space heaters invented by a NASA engineer selling on KZbin ads for $50

[@alangknowles]

At practically NO cost to run?

[@sarahberkner]

For sure. All those scam ads have kind of a similar format. Also they'll often begin with "This DIY trick..." I had a little fun and I found several such scams and signed up their support emails for a bunch of newsletters and stuff.

[@alangknowles]

@@necronix9947 Energy supply companies don't want you to hear about this.

[@Keldarzockt]

That Hospital Ad scam is horrible. I don't even dare to think how many may fall for that one and are in seriouse risk because of them. Kudos for the new format. Awesome and informative!

[@LavenderJJ_]

7:40 I *VERY* nearly fell for this. I had just sold my car and posted my V5C to the DVLA, and received this exact text the day later. I panicked, thinking the new owner had left my old car somewhere and got me a ticket because the car was still in my name. However I noticed the web page wasn't the official government one, which made me suspicious, and then saw the supposed location of the violation was in Cornwall, which was pretty hard to believe considering I had sold the car in Leeds not 18 hourd prior. Also thank you for informing me that nothing relating to a violation caused by a car I own would come through a text. I'm pretty new to driving and don't really know how all this legal car ownership stuff works, so to me a text message could have seemed plausible. I'll bear this in mine for the future. Thanks. And also thanks for making such fun to watch and informative content! 😊

[@KyleRDent]

Oh man, bad timing there. Well done on spotting the signs 😮

[@satansbarman]

Another one is HMRC, they will send you multiple letters long before trying to ring (not text) and that's if you've even given them your number (like self-employed). There's a scam where they call you pretending to be HMRC and there's a warrant out for your arrest

[@huggablecat9456]

Warosa, asking if they’re a small boy, coinsquirt, this video is a Shrimp Classic. Love it! Keep up the good work ❤

[@Tai25i]

The pig butchering one is particularly sad given the people sending the messages are often victims themselves, who have been trafficked and forced into perpetrating these scams. It poses a difficult question regarding the ethics of baiting someone who really isn't doing this of their own volition, so I was pleased to see you were relatively gentle with that one.

[@jbreckmckye]

When a dating scam involves an actual person (not a bot or someone using stolen images) there's a good chance the woman was trafficked. Very nasty business

[@gintamashill]

But the trafficked woman isn't the one doing the chatting, that's just a scammer using photos they took... If it was a video chat, then it would be different.

[@sexyshadowcat7]

That's a myth designed to get you to feel more sorry for the people scamming you so you'll be more likely to give them money or look the other way. Most of the money ends up in the hands of the Chinese Communist party, the main backer of scammers.

[@LiEnby]

@@jbreckmckyethere’s also the possibility they just took the photo from someone .. (still non consensual but it’s atleast slightly better than the person potentially being in physical danger)

[@aribantala]

​@@gintamashillWhat they meant here is that the one doing the conversation are often trafficked. They were often IT graduates from places like India and SE Asia and got trafficked to places like Myanmar or Cambodia where the operation is done by some Chinese shell company run by the Triad or other Criminal organization (hence the Chinese term: Shuzanpan). Their passport are held and they practically can't leave the place they're trafficked to. You can listen more about this in John Oliver's Last Week Tonight episode about Pig Butchering

[@KatyLawson]

The way bots work on KZbin is just very very bizarre. It's one of those platforms where watching how the bots interact and appear never really comes across in any way that makes sense, and really just feels like 100 different botnets trying to throw spaghetti at the wall to make it stick. I doubt these names will do anything, but I also doubt that about everything these bots post?

[@sinnvakr]

As someone with a younger sister with diabetes (type 1), scams like the one shown in the video really disappoint and disturb me. They're using the vulnerable for money.

Definitely, these medical device scams are pure evil. I have cousins with type 1 diabetes and my dad has sleep apnea so it really angered me to see scammers selling fake medical devices that people really rely on.

[@that_interesting_bird]

Its scary that things like the CPAP scam can possibly exist. My dad was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (He can stop breathing during his sleep and not realize and die if not treated with a real CPAP machine) I fear the thought of someone using one of the scam CPAP machines and passing from it. Stay safe everyone, hopefully this scam will end at some point.

[@molybdomancer195]

I love the fact that the scammers are suggesting DVSA (the agency that oversees driving tests) would also be sending out parking penalty notices.

[@SineN0mine3]

This kind of thing is usually (somewhat) deliberate. Similar to deliberately misspelling common words in a scam email, these kinds of obvious mistakes work as a kind of filter. If you fall for it, the scammer knows that you either have huge gaps in your knowledge or intelligence, or you're naively trusting. In either case, that's exactly the sort of person who makes a good target for the scammer.

[@jmatt440]

@@SineN0mine3 That or you are baiting them to troll them

[@ringmastermodels]

Those ads drive me nuts! The fact that they always shown on legitimate platforms - especially here on KZbin - really isn’t acceptable. Always posing as legitimate companies, offering INCREDIBLE new products that are amazing new inventions. Really shows how Wild West this site is these days.

[@TheGlenn8]

Yeah. KZbin is too fighting adblock for them to make sure their ads are safe.

[@alangknowles]

Does Amazon try to block it?

[@TheGreatDanish]

I wouldn't call youtube a legitimate platform any more lol It's like 90% bot and scam by volume

[@ArtSMRdianne]

Seriously Mr. Shrimp, your scambaits and the humor in it, I feel like a kid again listening to a fairytale book that was read before going to bed. But this is the grown up version. I'm laughing my butt off here with all this funny little things 😂

[@domh4201]

Please keep doing these. I have quite a lot of vulnerable family members susceptible to scams and do my best to share these around. The more you do, the more I get to share around. Thank you for doing what you do.

[@KirbyMario12345_939]

Money Graham sounds like a supporting character for a James Bond novel.

[@goldengolem4670]

He is the long lost brother of Joshua Graham

[@2004DodgeViper]

@@goldengolem4670 AYO? AN ARIA OF SORROW REFERENCE, IN THIS ECONOMY!?

[@129140163]

“Money Graham” “Honey Gram” 😂😂

[@chezmoi42]

What a coincidence! I have bird legs, too. My sister told me this when I was in high school, but I thought it was just because she was furious when I said she had piano legs. I was not aware that it was a medical condition. That would explain the pain in my left knee, which began in my seventies. Thank you, I'll speak to my doctor about it.

[@dd7521]

😂

[@Shenorai]

Honestly, I love that you've not only brought up other KZbinrs who have noticed the same issues, but give enough context for viewers of those channels to know which videos to look for. Credit where it's due and such.

[@zh84]

"a local council" - it reminds me of the frequent robot spam call from "bank security department", where they don't tell you WHICH bank.

[@Zichqec]

suddenly realizing that "The kind you should never share with a stranger on the internet" hits me in a similar way as "the pick that bosnian bill and I made" ☺ love to hear it every time

[@romanw6636]

What I found interesting about the "blood glucose meter" scam is that the fraudulent ads linked to a shop that did not claim to measure BG at all.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, bait and switch

[@spacedoyster7686]

I got a text from an employment scam once. It started with just a hello, but I didn't recognize the number, so I figured I'd reply with a stalwart 'Lali Ho,' to see what happens. They thought I was speaking Sesotho.

[@silentdrew7636]

Next time try Rock and Stone.

[@spectralsaint]

genuinely appreciate the load bar for 'pause to read', i feel like a lot of youtubers will say 'pause to read' but then leave something on screen for like 2 frames. the emails were really funny and i appreciate how informative all this was

[@Derpy1969]

“Head On. Apply directly to the forehead” APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD!!!

[@HendrikOutdoor]

For those in the market for a pulse oximeter: Just don't shop them online. Check with a local pharmacy (or their website if you have to go online) and you'll likely find something that's both affordable, and made by an actual company that deals with medical equipment of some degree.

[@fburton8]

"bird legs" caused the most egregious laugh out loud in weeks if not months, a seismic guffaw in fact.

[@cawareyoudoin7379]

Hey Shrimp, I just want to thank you for your videos; recently, for the first time, I got hit with a scam - on Discord, someone I had as a friend but had no prior conversation with, told me they accidentally reported my account and that I had to contact support to prevent its deletion. For almost a whole minute I believed it, but then a little bell rung in my head - nonsensical conditions: I would get an official notification if my account was reported; an artificial urgency; not answering any other questions. I blocked the account and reported it, fortunately the friend got it back later. I looked it up, and it seems to be a fairly popular scam on Discord. It's thanks to your videos that I was able to recognize it. I'm grateful.

[@bigfongz]

i dont think discord actually gives notifications if you’ve been reported, my friend got banned a while back wordlessly, this was definitely a scam though lol good you saw through it

[@GoliathUnit13074]

Nothing like "This [MAKER NOT FOUND] [MODEL NUMBER NOT FOUND] device..." to set off all kinds of scam alarms. If the TTS narration alone didn't wave enough red flags that is.

[@shroomer3867]

I cannot get over the fact that now that AI is prominent enough, scammers are using the english AI voices because they speak better than they do, but they don't realise that anyone who isn't senile yet would recognize that it was voiced by an AI.

[@jonathanminecraft8645]

tbh the kind of person who can't identify an AI voice is exactly their target audience

[@KyleRDent]

Not just older people have difficulty. If the AI is in a secondary language it might be difficult, and I know some things like autism can affect language processing. I've been on quite a few group chats where we've argued about whether a voice is AI or not. We're all under 60.

[@wolfetteplays8894]

@@KyleRDentdepends on the language, imo. With Japanese it is pretty easy to tell, even as a second language speaker, because the pitch accent of AI is fucked up. English though, it is kinda hard to tell sometimes.

[@MARlAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

Wait... Mr Hassan... Brings to mind a certain barrister if you ask me

[@eiriseven]

Impossible, there is no soul like him...

[@carolmartin1298]

It's hilarious that we remember these details. That's how epic Shrimp is

[@papayer]

Ass Chambers

[@realBorisLegasov]

‘Govern yourself accordingly’ really caught me off-guard 😂

[@miniak2708]

5:30 Great to know these are international. We have these scams in Poland too, although the ads are with a Polish TTS instead of an English one.

[@samcaws7920]

0:55 One theory is that heard was they’re AI generated. People post their friends names in comments to draw their attention to the post, video etc. The AIs see this and learn this is a common thing that humans. They then start posting random names. I have no idea about how AI works but this sounds plausible to me.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I thought it was tagging at first, but I think whatever this is, it's more deliberate than the random jibbering of AI

[@LoserwinS1]

I'm going to start calling every work meeting I attend a 'life changing business collaboration'

[@HereticalKitsune]

Perpetual energy camera? I don't know, that feels magical.

[@satansbarman]

Not even perpetual energy, it doesn't even need power! 😂 the really sad part is how some people fall for something so seemingly obvious

[@robertdunagan5807]

It's small enough that the electricity used is enough to count as 0, just like how a small enough serving of olive oil can be called 0 fat.

[@altyrrell3088]

I really like these videos. Whenever I hear about the scam with a lot of money in a faraway land, though, I get a little sad. An old friend's uncle fell for one of those and lost money. He wouldn't listen to us so his brother helped him figure it out. It's good that he didn't lose more but it still saddens me.

[@obelines]

2:35 even if the names are John Warosa, John Barosa and Merton Snerdon?

[@chezmoi42]

Imagine the giggles I got while watching the Democratic Convention in August, when a young man named Knowa de Baraso popped up in a viral encounter with Mike Pillow. Seriously no scam, but a hilarious moment made even funnier by Atomic Shrimp.

[@Dr_V]

Best way to be sure you buy a real pulse oximeter is to get it from a pharmacy (drugstore), as they're legally required to have quality/conformity certificates for every product they're selling (at least here in the EU). It will be a bit more expensive than ordering one online but at least you can trust the readings to some extent (these cheap home use models usually have around +/- 5% error margins).

[@MrMegaManFan]

Shoving that scam up one's nose looks like the worst and/or stupidest substitute for a sleep apnea machine possible. Thank you for your continued diligence in keeping the public aware and informed!

[@adolin.kholin]

Literally just thought about rewatching some scambaiting videos, what great timing c:

[@gyrobyte626]

Idea for future scambaiting: If they're posing as two seperate entities such as a government agency and a bank, tell them completely different things. I'd be interested to see how they react given they can't reveal that it's all controlled by a single person.

[@estefaniac.1011]

7:40 Oh, I got the exact same "parking penalty charge" from "a local council" too! Too bad I don't have a car. 🤣

[@some-replies]

I'm seeing a new bot wave of weird inspirational quotes.

[@faithharper1756]

Love your scam baiting. I have been getting the parking ones on my phone for the past couple of weeks. Unless you count an NHS electric wheelchair then I do not drive. Keep reporting as scams and blocking the numbers but they don't give up. Very annoying. Keep up the good work Shrimp.

[@apokalypthoapokalypsys9573]

Thank you for the video, and govern yourself accordingly

[@GIBBO4182]

Is it still ok to put other things up your nose? Asking for a friend…

[@AtomicShrimp]

Certainly not *all* other things. For example dolphins are probably unsuitable, even though their streamlined shape may lead you to assume otherwise.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Fingers are fine unless you are a leper

[@GIBBO4182]

@@AtomicShrimp I’ll let him know 😉

[@RichardWatt]

Also don't put pencils up your nose. Unless you want to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

[@GIBBO4182]

@@RichardWatt it didn’t work for Blackadder!

[@roycrownguard]

thank you for making these videos! i'd claim that i can tell most of the time if something's a scam, but you never know what they might come up with next or how they will catch you by surprise. even people whose bullshit meter goes off really fast can be victims of scam unfortunately

[@Dumb_Furry_UwU]

5:18 "this mini camera uses an ultra light CAMERA that connects to phone" What the frick is this camerasception bullcrap?! 😂 Love waking up to a video like this. Either start the day off laughing or end it crying

[@AtomicShrimp]

It's cameras all the way down

[@paxtonpoltergeist3588]

This is like reading a novel by Douglas Adams, wonderful!

[@goiterlanternbase]

0:43 They are collecting credibility😉 The system is much more likely to blow an account who's only post is marked a spam, in contrast to a proven account, who got one out of 1000 posts flaggt🤗

[@chrissytopherthegopher]

I've seen the second check mark disappear a lot when dealing with RCS scammers, I think it means that they have been banned from the service rather than blocking you.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, could be

[@BoringAngler]

I'm guilty of thinking that it might be hilarious to imitate a bot but always appreciate reminders that if I were really funny, I might be able to get paid for doing so and not for free in a comment section. Cheers to Barosa & Warosa returning to help.

[@ln5321]

Thank you for your efforts to bring more attention to bird legs. It's estimated that 1 in 8 billion people are afflicted by the condition. We must find the cure.

[@raenfox]

50% discount on parking violation fees? Wow, that unspecified local council is offering fantastic deals.

[@joeconti2396]

I'm HOWLING at "Bird Legs"

[@elisabef]

yay we love an atomic shrimp scam related video

[@montecarlocars]

Lol props to atomic for getting us to sit through not one but two whole scam videos. Something something live long enough to see yourself become the scammer!

[@amandadavies..]

At "bird legs" I had to pause the video as I couldn't stop laughing !

Me too, I wish I could see the scammer’s reaction when he says stuff like that!

[@amandadavies..]

Yeah right, would be funny

[@straigtupjorkinit]

Most in-person pharmacies will have those pulse monitors on sale between £15-£20, as well as a lot of GP services nowadays having free-to-use blood pressure and oxygen readings either in or close to their waiting rooms. As for the CPAP... that just pisses me off. CPAPs can often be loud, uncomfortable and can cause issues between partners sleeping together. Dangling a "solution" to that in front of disabled peoples' faces, a "solution" that could almost certainly kill someone who believes it will support their breathing when it can't, is such a ghoulish thing to do.

[@Carnyzzle]

I just automatically don't trust anything that only has a microsoft sam voice

[@deavo74]

I found you many years ago, because of one of these videos. Your delivery makes me laugh. I still laugh today when I think of “blood cancel”. You really are the swiss army knife of KZbin. My wife often asks me if i’m “watching that cooking man” lol. Keep up the good work 🫡

[@SierraNovemberKilo]

You should reply "Yes, you mean Mange Tout with Atomic Shrimp." That'll have her foxed.

[@baalgar3338]

I too got the PCN sms. I didn't pay them, I haven't heard back so would assume they banned me from driving... I hope they banned the right car for the right person. Love your content, keep up the great work.

[@skyem5250]

It would be interesting to see Atomic Shrimp discuss the Predatory Journal and Predatory Conference scams. These are extremely common and target academics, especially in developing countries. Bradley Allf has a good Ted Talk on them for those who are interested.

[@Styphon]

I saw a KZbin ad for that scammy oxymeter today. I wouldn't have given it a second thought and just waited for the Skip button to show up, but thanks to you I know it to be not just an ad but a scam - and reported it as such. Problem solved, right? I can sleep satisfied in the knowledge that Google will never take that advertiser's money again!

[@dignusferox2570]

Uh, I accidentally read it as "Don't not put the scam up your nose" and I think it's stuck now?

[@LemarSullivan]

and KZbin is acting surprised we, the users use adblockers when ads like this are running rampant "an advertisement promoting an adult site where you can buy "actresses" for a cheap price? seems legit to me" -A KZbin employee, probably, looking through the list of pending advertisements waiting to be approved for the public to see

[@Firroth]

Any ad that uses AI voice or TTS is automatically a scam\fraud\garbage to me. I don't care what it's promoting or where, no exceptions.

[@Dumb_Furry_UwU]

That profile picture .. this dudes rlly still out here playing NUT for the PlayStation3 in 2024🤣🤣

[@user-um1xt3kh]

I thoroughly enjoy watching your scam videos. I've seen them all. I like your no nonsense approach. Keep up the good work.😃👍

[@asailijhijr]

I wonder how email scammers would respond if you repeatedly asked them to switch from your business email to your personal email and give them a succession of different email addresses. I realize that could make a lot of work for you.

[@WannabeMarysue]

cpap machines can be a bit on the expensive side. you may be able to get government assistance to help cover the price, but that can be highly annoying. I can almost see why people would fall for a too good to be true price

[@sihledotcom]

Hope your bird legs get better. Keeping you in my prayers!

[@ShihammeDarc]

"If you behave like a bot you are likely to be treated as one." is a really funny line.

[@skivvy3565]

3:30 thought: isn’t that just an oximeter... 5 seconds later *LITERALLY JUST SAYS PULSE OXIMETER*

[@piercegalactic]

I rushed to write this comment and you beat me to it.

[@ianwilbanks3015]

I am glad you gave a warning about posting random names in your chat. I was pretty compelled to post 'John Warosa' or something, but I guess I wont. :)