Lesson Four: Real Men Don’t Need Gift Cards

One of the ways scammers get you is by pretending they’re really attractive and successful. And then their luck changes. They’re overseas, often in a country filled with legal and cultural challenges. And they’ll ask you for a gift card to fix their computer, phone or airplane!

“Michael” needed my help to upgrade his software for the pipeline project he was supposed to be managing. Here’s the thing. He doesn’t need $500 in gift cards (especially from me) to do this. An Apple ID (connected to a personal or business debit or credit card) will do it. He came back with all sorts of stupid reasons why he needed $500 in iTunes gift cards and then proceeded to tell me how to buy them at Walmart. Fortunately I never took the bait. Unfortunately, at this point I didn’t dump the bum and run.

Here’s his response to my declining to help him by getting iTunes gift cards.

Apologies for the black line; it’s a formatting thing from when I gave the FBI our emails.

I’m still don’t like the phrase “justify your actions,” it’s an attempt to deflect responsibility, given how he’s supposed to be an affluent business owner.