The Threat to NHRA drivers and Social Media

[Bobby Bennett]

FAKE ACCOUNTS, REAL DANGER: NHRA DRIVERS UNDER ATTACK IN THE DIGITAL AGE | Competition Plus

Drag racing is a sport built on connection. From pit area handshakes to social media shoutouts, NHRA drivers have long embraced fan engagement as part of

competitionplus.com

An article recently on CompetitionPlus.com

 

[Cliff]

Thinking of how advanced AI is. Someone posts Don Garlits saying he is making a comeback & needs $ to get started.

 

[Butch]

Facebook doesn’t care what's going on, permit me to explain.
Last month one of the FAKE Brittany Force accounts (at the time I counted over 100) was sending out DM’s claiming “we have no money and need help getting to big race, please become member of private club for 250.00 in bitcoin or gift card for only 5,000.00 in bitcoin you came to the race and me go on date with you”.
I reported the account to Facebook as a scam. Their response was “we have reviewed the account you reported and it meets our community standards”.
I fired back that I have known the Force family since 1981 and that I know this is a fake account that is scamming people. I went on to point out that the account is based in Sri Lanka, and asked them to apply some common sense.
Two days later I received an email stating “your Facebook account has been locked indefinitely for violating community standards, you can contact appeals if you feel you did not violate community standards”. All attempts to contact Facebook have gone unanswered and my account remains locked!
In my opinion all the racers who Facebook has let the scammers make fake accounts of should form a group and sue Facebook/Meta in a class action suit before someone gets hurt or worse.

 

[yoda]

Agreed, Chuck. It has gotten way outta hand over in FakeBook Land. I like your idea of a class action suit against Meta (a multi-billion $$$ ANUALLY) Corporation. That they allow that kind of wire fraud to take place on their platform is an expanded version of the traveling con man in the 1920s stealing people's money. MOST of those guys, when caught, did serious prison time.

 

[Nunz]

What amazes me is that in almost every case, anybody with half a brain could pick up on the fact that it's fake. The grammar alone in most cases is a red flag.

 

[mick]

we know, but the next guy doesn't. recently i saw an ad for tommy bahama apparel, a brand that i like and am familiar with.
the website was practically perfect, with almost unbelievable sale prices on apparel. i almost bit, then took a reality pill and realized this
has to be a scam. a little google searching and sure enough, blogs reporting this site as a scam. it is unbelievable what FB gets away with.

 

[stitcherbob]

I used Google image search on many Craigslist "too good to be true" cars and trucks for sale and it always comes up as a photo stolen from the web somewhere

 

[chop]

There's been recent ads for Holley Discount sale on FB that had parts for unbelievable prices. I don't know how they can get away with this kind of fake ads without getting caught. There were parts for very cheap and I knew right away it was a scam.

 

[Paul]

Facebook is out of control with the fake AI stories. Also there's the fanboy who runs the QMM page on Facebook who clearly can't stand Erica Enders and takes shots at Rob Wendland and then turns off comments so no one can provide a differing point of view. I trust nothing I see on Facebook unless it's directly from a reputable source.

 

[chop]

Facebook is out of control with the fake AI stories. Also there's the fanboy who runs the QMM page on Facebook who clearly can't stand Erica Enders and takes shots at Rob Wendland and then turns off comments so no one can provide a differing point of view. I trust nothing I see on Facebook unless it's directly from a reputable source.

You definitely have to wade through the BS on FB for sure. It's still a good tool but you have to trust and verify what you're reading.

 

[LasVegas87]

Brittany has actually addressed this in videos online saying that her only official accounts are on (whichever) these specific platforms. Sad, but most times the fakes aren't difficult to spot.

 

[65 Goatboy]

I used Google image search on many Craigslist "too good to be true" cars and trucks for sale and it always comes up as a photo stolen from the web somewhere

I played along with a lady on Craigslist supposedly in Florida advertising in Illinois (and probably every where else) selling a John Deere tractor just to mess with her. Military husband killed in action just bought a new tractor. Selling for one fourth of what it's worth. Wire money to me and I will have it delivered to your door in Illinois, picture posted was from a John Deere dealer somewhere??!!

 

[Jon Asher]

These scams are happening everywhere, and with AI it's only going to get a lot worse. The Hollywood Reporter recently had major feature piece on actors being used for scams, with Keanu Reeves being the most "popular." I would like to think that the members of our community are smart enough to spot the scams, but as they get more sophisticated it's going to become harder. Common sense needs to be the starting place. First, if it's email scam check the senders IP address. I've been receiving a whole series of messages supposedly from my email provider, all stating I need to confirm my password, or there are messages not being sent because of some other "problem," and they're all fake. Before you respond to any of these, via email, Facebook or some other platform, think carefully about the "sender." Do you seriously think anyone from JFR would be begging for money to get to the next race?

 

[aakar]

These scams are happening everywhere, and with AI it's only going to get a lot worse. The Hollywood Reporter recently had major feature piece on actors being used for scams, with Keanu Reeves being the most "popular." I would like to think that the members of our community are smart enough to spot the scams, but as they get more sophisticated it's going to become harder. Common sense needs to be the starting place. First, if it's email scam check the senders IP address. I've been receiving a whole series of messages supposedly from my email provider, all stating I need to confirm my password, or there are messages not being sent because of some other "problem," and they're all fake. Before you respond to any of these, via email, Facebook or some other platform, think carefully about the "sender." Do you seriously think anyone from JFR would be begging for money to get to the next race?

Nice to hear from you, Mr Asher, hope you are doing well

 

[Mike]

Paul Miller, you mean you havent been blocked by QMM???

 

[Paul]

I just don't engage, better stuff to do with my time.

 

[ironpony]

I read over on one of the F1 sights the same thing is happening with fake accounts

 

[z28]

pretty much anyone who is well known has fake accounts somewhere. when I first got on Facebook years ago a fake Big Daddy tried to talk me up. I asked him a couple of questions I knew were not well known and he would know. He couldn't answer so I blocked him

 

[Jim]

Facebook doesn’t care what's going on, permit me to explain.
Last month one of the FAKE Brittany Force accounts (at the time I counted over 100) was sending out DM’s claiming “we have no money and need help getting to big race, please become member of private club for 250.00 in bitcoin or gift card for only 5,000.00 in bitcoin you came to the race and me go on date with you”.
I reported the account to Facebook as a scam. Their response was “we have reviewed the account you reported and it meets our community standards”.
I fired back that I have known the Force family since 1981 and that I know this is a fake account that is scamming people. I went on to point out that the account is based in Sri Lanka, and asked them to apply some common sense.
Two days later I received an email stating “your Facebook account has been locked indefinitely for violating community standards, you can contact appeals if you feel you did not violate community standards”. All attempts to contact Facebook have gone unanswered and my account remains locked!
In my opinion all the racers who Facebook has let the scammers make fake accounts of should form a group and sue Facebook/Meta in a class action suit before someone gets hurt or worse.

All Meta cares about is if it can make money. I deleted all my Meta accounts (Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and have not looked back. I never had a WhatsApp account, or I would have deleted that too.

 

[stitcherbob]

pretty much anyone who is well known has fake accounts somewhere.

Tell me about it. Recently this fake AI just usurped me....talk about hitting close to home. Who do I sue?