Bot or Not

Late night rant about scams, fake identities, and wishing I had something like /bot-or-not IRL.

A friend and their siblings received a horrifying spoof call from their mom’s number tonight telling them their mom was going to be killed if they didn’t send money to a specified address.

Confirmed by other means that their mom was ok. But hearing someone say your mom is in danger coming from her number still shakes you up.

Fuck you to the people who prey on others like this. And fuck, this is only going to get worse as spoofing gets easier and better.

Also how in god’s name do we not have an easier way to verify phone numbers in 2024?!

Creator of /bot-or-not @harmonybot @yoinker. Contributing to /blitkin & /orange-dao IRL: Building spatial computing for construction @ Resolve YC W15

😱 unbelievable! Sounds like they put some effort in it. 
But nowadays they even can spoof voices. Good that your friend used some kind of real world "2 way factor authentication" that's the only way to verify if a (video) call is real.