ALERT! Writers and Commenters on Substack~ Beware of Scams Asking You to Telephone

Don't Engage with Bots Sending Out Pfishing emails to Substack Commenter and Writers!

There are scammers on Substack impersonating Substack writers. I have verified this has happened to other writers also. This is worse than trolling—which is harassment. This is harassment with a big helping of identity theft (the Breggin identity in this case) and attempts to coerce/steal from/manipulate/harass the targeted commenter.

The scam is as follows: Scammer pretends to be the Substack writer. In that stolen identity the scammer writes a comment in response to another commenter, inviting the other to telephone. Then the scammer comment is immediately erased from the comments section by the scammer. Substack sends notification emails to participants who are receiving a response from another commenter. If the targeted commenter phones in response to the email alert they will be talking to a criminal who has stolen the identity of the Substack writer they are impersonating.

The attached email came to me and it took me a bit to realize that it also went to a commenter on this column we had written. Note the name of the counterfeit Substack is “Peter and Ginger Breggin’s”…….our name is Breggin. And our Substack has a different, longer name.

Bottom line is be alert to scamming. Don’t make phone calls. If something is odd, if your warning bells go off, listen. And don’t send money to someone asking for money over the phone. Report counterfeit accounts of Substack writers.

This is a new twist on an old telephone scam where the scammer telephones a person, usually a grandparent, pretending to be a grandchild in trouble (stranded in Europe, car broken down out West, needed medical help, etc).

The internet continues to be the Wild West. Look sharp, People!