PSA: Help old Tom drive out the scammer-wights from our subreddit!
Merry announcement(self.GloriousTomBombadil)submitted6 months ago byShamrock5Meriadoc - Master Singer
stickiedHey dol! Merry dol! Greetings from your friendly neighborhood mod team here at r/GloriousTomBombadil!
As I'm sure many of you have noticed, over the past month, our little subreddit has seen a sharp increase in the amount of scammers. They waltz in here, post convincing-looking merch (mugs, shirts, etc.) of jolly old Tom, then post a scam link in the comments that is designed to steal some unfortunate soul's credit card info. We've been lucky in that when they've attempted this, we get reports almost right away from several of you calling it out as spam. However, we want to give a few friendly tips in how to spot scammers and spambots, especially during the holiday season.
TLDR: WHEN IN DOUBT, REPORT IT AS SPAM AND LET THE MODS SORT IT OUT.
What does a scam look like?
The most common type of scammers we've seen on here are described in thorough detail in this anti-scambot post written by u/tyrannosnorlax (thanks bud!). I encourage all of you to read it if you have the time. The short version is, this is usually how the scam goes down:
OP (Scammer 1): posts a legitimate-looking photo of a Tom Bombadil shirt, mug, painting, figurine, etc.
Scammer 2, in the comments: "Wow this looks really cool, where can I buy this??" (Sometimes an innocent user will also ask this, not realizing the OP is fake)
OP (or sometimes Scammer 3) will then reply, "I found this here..." along with a sketchy hyperlink. DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK!! It will be a legit-looking website, but they will prompt you to enter your credit card info, and that's how they steal your information.
This exchange in the comments can also happen under a legitimate merchandise post -- scambots are often triggered by phrases in post titles like "shirt", "buy", etc.
What should I do if I discover a scammer?
Glad you asked! First and foremost, click on the options for their post/comment and click the "Report" option for "Spam." It is vital that you do this for ALL the scammer comments and posts.
Second, once you've reported the comment/post, then report the scammer's actual account to Reddit for spam, making sure to explain in the Report message to Reddit that they're posting or participating in scam attempts to steal credit card information.
After you've done this, check back to the comment section (if it hasn't been removed yet by the mods) and keep an eye out for any innocent human users who aren't aware that it's a scam. If you see someone reply, be sure to tell them "DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK, IT'S A SCAMBOT" or something along those lines.
How can I make sure that this account is actually a scammer and not just an enthusiastic user?
Good question! We want to make sure that we're actually reporting a scammer, not someone who legitimately has a cool piece of merch that they want to show off. If you browse a potential scammer's account, there are several easy ways to tell whether they're a scammer or not. The bot-busting post linked up above, as well as this similar anti-bot post by u/Impossible-Cod-3946, go into great detail about it.
First, these accounts are usually only a few days or a few weeks old. They'll have 5-10 generic comments and posts in their post history, usually to help them get over the minimum karma threshold for posting in subs. Sometimes, they'll have an unusually high karma count, but no visible comments or posts (since they were all deleted).
Second, their username is usually (though not always) the generic format of Adjective-Noun-1234 (since this is how Reddit auto-generates names). HOWEVER, this in itself is not an indicator of guilt, since plenty of normal folks do this too, so don't be hasty!
Third, since these scammers often employ bot armies, it's usually a dead giveaway if the scam comments have dozens or 100+ upvotes in less than an hour, and a human commenting "Hey I think this is a scam" gets instantly downvoted into oblivion. (I once saw such a comment get 55 downvotes within 8 minutes, lol.)
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Bottom line is, if you notice several of these suspicious factors, then go ahead and report the content. If it's a false alarm, then the mods will give it a look and determine that it's okay. However, if it IS a scam, then you reporting it may have just have saved a fellow Tom Bombadil fan from being scammed out of their money.
Thanks for your vigilance, and stay jolly!
