How I Almost Got Scammed By A Famous Country and Western Name

I was almost left singing the blues

Not that long ago I was almost scammed by somebody pretending to be none other than George Straight, a very wealthy country and western singer from the United States.

'George' said he wanted to fly me over to the USA to do some songwriting together. He was going to send his private jet all the way to Japan to collect me and my wife and fly us to his home for a week.

George said he was aware of my music as I was all over the internet, which it is. He said he liked my lyrics and wanted to introduce a fresh contributor to his next album.

Eventually George gave himself away by asking me for two thousand dollars up front travel expenses. When I queried this he dropped his request to five hundred dollars.

Let me tell you straight, George Straight is worth 500 million dollars and does not need five hundred bucks from a nobody like me.

Now there are more than one or two very good reasons why I was impressed a little by this scam at the outset. One, the initial contact came from a legitimate George Straight Linkedin profile.

What’s more, when I checked out who had been studying my Linkedin postings on songwriting, on the reader profile page was not only a professional musician, but also MCA, George Straight’s record label. This too was a legitimate MCA profile.

Added to this was the fact that I had once been approached by somebody who claimed to be Bon Jovi’s Producer. Of course I was circumspect about the bald, short, little fat man and checked him out. And lo and behold, he really was who he said he was.

To this day, that Bon Jovi Producer is a faithful friend who I love very, very dearly. We have produced some great music together and performed in groups and as a duo.

So although one should be wary of something that appears too good to be true, miracles do happen. These days I am cautiously optimistic, because you never know one way or the other.

Then this afternoon right out of the blue I got an email from a billionaire promising me one and a half million euros. He said that it was part of an initiative between him and nineteen other Italian billionaires to help people like me who had been badly effected by the corona virus.

All that was required of me was to return an email to verify I was who I said I was. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. Or more fool me if you like.

I am presently awaiting my one and a half million euros, which will never ever transpire. I am in fact waiting for the denoument of this little ploy. Of course, whoever it really is will get nothing from me as I truly haven’t got a pot to take a pee in.

Even if I were to give him my bank account details, which I won’t, he will be gravely disappointed to discover that what I have got in the bank is not even enough to pay for a small bowl of uncooked basmati rice.

One give-away for this type of particular scam was the name of the sender of the messages. The person who messaged me claimed to be multi billionaire Stefano Pessina, CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance. However, the name in the title bar at the top of the message was Stafeno Passine, which though similar is not quite the same.

Now these guys are smart, but only up to a point. Where they fall down is in trying to scam somebody who is stoney broke.

They have to depend on hitting on somebody who is avaricious, easily taken in and has got something to lose (that is all so not me) and that is because something to lose for me is something to be gained by him. But he will get nowhere fast trying to get water out of a stone.

Another giveaway is the name of the sender which can’t tie in with the real person as that would blow the whole thing apart. So, as long as you are reasonably vigilant and more than a little cautious you should be ok.

As for me, I can do no more than of expose these crooks, whoever they are. Hopefully I can perhaps save other less vigilant souls from being had over for what little life savings they have left after this crisis.