Ask the tech expert: My friend’s aunt claims she’s good with crypto and encourages me to invest $10,000, but I’m afraid it’s a scam

Dear Kim,

A new Facebook friend says she has an aunt who is great with crypto.

After wrestling with the names a bit, I determined that they are real people.

The aunt showed me three trades where I made 15 percent on a $500 investment in 10 minutes while watching on WhatsApp.

I haven’t lost any money at this point.

I wanted to know what you think before I give the aunt $10,000.

— Jim from Sacramento, California

Dear Jim

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Jim. This is a classic Pig slaughterhouse scam.

I know it all feels like things just fell into place – and that’s the point.

How can I be so sure? What is happening here is following the exact script that these criminals are using. I’ll outline it for you.

Cold outreach: It starts with a random text message, friend request, DM, or comment.

Sometimes the person claims it’s the wrong number, or just likes your profile picture. They are friendly and talkative.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t keep talking if I called the wrong number.

Feeding time: Your new friend slowly builds your trust.

They want to know more about your life, maybe send you photos and tell you what they are doing.

After a while, money will run out. This is usually done under the guise of an investment opportunity.

They did so well in crypto that they want to share it with you too.

Fattening the pig: This is where money changes hands, but only a small amount.

They will ask you to test with a small investment. Surprise: Your Money is Already Growing!

The person can send you a video, photos, or even an account that you can log into and see how well your investment is going.

Slowly but surely they convince you to add more and more to your account.

Slaughter: Now you are convinced and have invested even more. At this stage, victims can lose out on tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With higher wealth goals, the scammer could be in millions.

You may realize at this stage that something is wrong and ask for your money to be withdrawn. It is now far too late. Enough pressure and the scammer disappears – along with all your money.

It’s time to unfriend and block your new friend.

Dear Kim,

I am a 32 year old woman with an overprotective single father. This week I found out he had secretly placed an AirTag on my car.

I value my freedom and privacy very much. I often go out of my way to erase my social media presence.

I make sure that only a handful of select friends can contact me and even fewer know what I’m up to. When I was alerted that an unknown AirTag (which I immediately knew where it came from) was following me, I was furious.

I called my father and confronted him. He was surprised that I found out and refused to tell me where it was.

I eventually found the AirTag hidden under my car, glued to a magnet. Honestly, I just want to disappear and never see him again.

What should I say to him to make it clear that this is not okay?

Dear reader, I’m afraid you’re too old for this.

You are in a difficult situation: you love your father, but not his controlling nature. It is unconscionable for a father to throw a hidden tracker into an adult daughter’s car.

You should definitely discuss it with him.

Explain that hiding a tracker means it doesn’t trust you and respects your independence.

He will definitely emphasize that he only put the tracker on your car because he loves you and is worried about you.

After all, he’s the only one who raised you.

That’s great, but there are better ways to show that.

Maybe you can call or text him more often to calm him down.

Tell him that when you travel, you share an itinerary. Take a self-defense course.

Make sure he knows you’re enabling real-time tracking if you ever share a ride.

You only feed the beast if you enable location sharing on your phone or use an app like Life360. You have to set boundaries.

Finally, a few more details about Apple AirTags. The AirTag must be within approximately 10 meters of an iPhone or other device to detect the Bluetooth signal.

You obviously use an iPhone because it warns you if there is an unknown AirTag nearby.

For Android users, the process is slightly different. To detect AirTags with an Android device, you can download the ‘Tracker Detect’ app from Apple, which is available on the Google Play Store.

If you’re wondering how long the AirTag battery lasts, it’s about a year.