With all of the innovations in the cannabis industry today, I think it’s interesting that the main social media of choice is Instagram. I am guilty of that as well. I don’t even carry business cards anymore because of IG. Whenever I meet new people, I find myself asking for their IG. Curious, how I am the only dumbass to use my real name on IG. Having said that I think it is alarming all the scams as of late on IG, especially since I was scammed. Once I realized I got screwed, I did a little research and came across this article. Kind of explained everything in full and I was surprised about how often this happens. (For the full story check click here. ) At least there was some comfort knowing I wasn’t the only one that fell for it.
“From A-list celebrities to popular figures in the cannabis industry, social media has become a means through which low-level identity theft and scams are regularly taking place. Particularly on Instagram, the faces of cannabis influencers are being used to facilitate scams.”
The scam I fell for was the old bait and switch from another social media influencers. There are a lot of different ways the scam works and but mainly they rip off the pics off another influencer, posing as that influencer, they will befriend you and can work you from different angles.
Some Red Flags to look out for:
- the IG account is relatively new and low numbers in Posts, Followers and Following
- they will start infiltrating your network, so you may see impostors, take a screenshot and report it
- they will ask you to send a money order via Western Union or bitcoin
- destination on money order was “Cameroon”
- grammar is horrible but then again its IG
I feel foolish for admitting I was scammed, but I am hoping to make others aware. It pretty much happened like the video above. This guy explains it to a “T”, I can only surmise he was taken as well. By Week 3 I kind of figured it out!
I was probably scammed by some kid from Cameroon, who lifted pics from other IG accounts and posed as this All-Star Grower dude from Cali. I should have paid more attention to his grammar. It was horrible, but everyone’s grammar on IG sucks! LOL! After working me for a while, I finally gave in and covered the shipping fee! Thank god it wasn’t a large amount of money, it could have been worse. So watch out for these social media scams and for the love of god don’t send money orders to Cameroon under any circumstance!
Cannabis Phil
It has been amazing to see the cannabis industry grow exponentially over a couple of years, to see this kind of growth is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I first started in the industry as a writer/photographer for High! Canada Magazine, interviewing some top people in the cannabis space. Eventually, I started doing content/video work, social media coverage of various cannabis events across North America, catching the pulse of what was going on and partaking in a quite a few sessions, meeting some truly amazing people on the way. In my previous enslavement (aka "career"), I was involved in the business side of things, so I do have an invested interest in the business aspect. Coming into my somewhat “village elder years”, I hope to bridge the gap between generations, in hopes of breaking the stigma and showing others it's okay to get high, while possibly showing them how. My passion for cannabis and writing covers; strain reviews, vapes, dabs, shatter, social media coverage of events, new products, patient advocacy, innovations and the business of cannabis.
