Did You Know You Can Categorize Pages?
Did You Know You Can Categorize Pages?
I posted a little while ago that I was retrieving the plethora of scam emails that I've received and adding them as pages to my site The Scam Warrior.
I've added 52 so far, with hundreds more to go.
This isn't a money-making site. My intention is to show people the different types of scam emails and how to recognize them.
I find them ROFL and putting them all together even more so. If you have an opportunity to look at the website (under Email Scams) I'm sure you will too. But...
The TV News last night carried a story about a widower who'd lost his life savings (plus the payout from his deceased wife's insurance!) to a romance scam. He'd fallen in love with an imaginary woman that he'd never met and given her all his money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars!
The news item was about his battle to get the bank to give him his money back.
Call me harsh but "Mate, you haven't got two brain cells to rub together. It's not the bank's fault, it's yours. Man up and take responsibility." If he'd come to me with the first email he'd got, I would have immediately said "How can you not see that's a scam?"
So my primary aim with The Scam Warrior is to educate people.
But as I was creating the pages, I realized that the scam emails fell into categories.
Such as A Dying Donor, Compensation for Other Scams, Phishing Scams and, of course, Romance Scams of the type our friend on the news fell for.
But native WordPress doesn't all you to categorize pages.
I found a plugin called Pages with category and tag. It works perfectly and does exactly what the name suggests.
So now I'm going through the scam email pages and adding one or more categories (as appropriate) along with a featured image to each one.
I added a Categories item to the header menu and all the new categories as sub-items.
Now as soon as I categorize a page, it automatically appears under the corresponding menu sub-item, along with the featured image.
It's a fair bit of work, and I've only just started, but it's working just as I'd imagined.
Recent Comments
65
This is really useful information Phil about categories on pages which will be very helpful for me on one of my projects. Thanks for sharing 👍
Scams are just a nightmare and so frightening and upsetting how they exploit so many people.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend
Tracy 😎
Dear Lord! You're right about the naivety out there. But not long ago I nearly fell for what is, I came to find out, a common scam in Facebook. I answered a friend request from a relative, and in the process of trying to trap the scammer, learned she had died. Someone had taken over her Facebook identity. Who does that? This stuff infuriates me. I am quite involved in the crypto space, and because it can be quite confusing, you can't imagine how much scamming and losing, sometimes, big money goes on. In fact, my husband who is not too tech savvy, lost $600 to a scammer who claimed to be from the Coinbase help department. I'm not sure how the scammer knew Steve needed help. Anyway, I have come to be fairly aware. I think this is a very fine project you have taken on. Best wishes.
Thanks, Donna. It occurs to me that one of the "tells", namely the poor grammar and spelling, will disappear with AI.
And yes a friend of mine, a school psychologist so not exactly a dummy, fell for a help scam from (not really) McAfee. Gave them total access to her computer and they promptly transferred $15,000 from one of her accounts!
I know many people, especially widows and widowers, single women and single men, falling for this type of romance scam. One lost 40K of her life savings due to that romance scam.
Everyone informed her it was a scam.
This guy was pretending to be a US Army guy from Florida, supposedly stuck locked away in an oil rig out in Norway. Everyone, including me, has told this Deaf single woman( my age, my generation, the baby boomer generation)) that no such company exists in Norway. US oil company bailed out of Norway a long time ago.
She kept sending him money, and he kept saying he was stuck on the rig and couldn't fly to come back to the USA and fly to MD to visit her. We have told her over again. She still thinks he is a wonderful guy. I decided to cut her off. I will not pay attention to her.
I ignored her calls and texts; I was not interested in trying to talk with a dumb fool. Even though she lost a lot of money shes still paying him, her children wants to get guardianship and take over power of attorney shes not right in the head.
Interestingly, you are doing that. Unfortunately, Laura and many others will not listen. They will do it anyway. Some out there are still paying the scammer.
What a sad story, Brenda. You can only surmise that the thrill and pleasure she gets from imagining that he's real overwhelms the deep-down knowledge that he's not.
Yeah, it's so stupid. I hardly care about her thrills or pleasures; she knows he's never coming, so why pay, we ask? She's stated that she loves him. I said you're in love with nobody, that person doesn't exist he's not real, he might be a she or an it, maybe an alien from outer space scamming you. But I said I was done with her—a brainless wonder. Not my problem,
Sometimes you just have to wash your hands and walk away. At least you did everything you could.
Hey Phil,
I was looking for your site. I found one that was "Scam Warrior" without the "the" in front, and it makes me sign into X, which I don't have. I doubt that was your site.
I have seen some elderly that have fallen for scams being older that they would not have fallen for in their younger years, and that puzzles me. I'm thinking of a couple that I know personally. Do we just become more vunerable to people's schemes when we get older?
Happy Easter Phil!
Jena
Thanks, Jena. The site does include "the". Yes, your comment about the elderly being more gullible is a puzzling one. I'm sure it's the reverse for me.
Happy Easter to you too, Jena.
It's because they don't wish to keep up with changing times, tech, etc., not because they're old. Some would say you and I are old, Phil. How old do we have to be before we're elderly? Damn, I hate that word, elderly.
My 4 children are about to organise a celebration for my 80th, so that should give you a clue.
I'll never get how people still get scammed by "romance" emails...get a dog instead lol. At least it's loyal and won't drain your savings. Sounds like a helpful plugin, Phil. Thanks for the share.
Susan
I guess you'd have to be a) desperately lonely, b) the sort of person who can't get by without a partner and c) have more money than sense. Yes, a dog is a great idea, Susan.
A cheap story, if you want a quick and dirty 100 words happy to provide. No charge of course, but must sign a blood contract..lol.
Stevoi
And I find it difficult to understand how anyone could not want a dog. Or at least an animal companion of some kind.
Yes, Phil...exactly. I don't know how anyone could not want a pet companion. Life would be very empty without one. They fill the void better than a lot of people imo.
It was many years ago, but I had a dog and a cat that were not only wonderful companions for us, but best friends to each other. When the dog died (of old age) the cat went from perfectly healthy to dying a couple of months later.
That is so sad to see happen. I've had that happen as well. Had 2 dogs who were best friends and one passed, the other almost immediately fell blind and spiraled into his own demise. I just lost another dog recently, and am hoping my old kitty will withstand this latest passing. Pets are the best.
So sorry to the guy that fell for the scam. Also, thanks for the information, Phil.
Myra ♥️
You should have one for fake Amazon discount scams. They send this shite to me all the time. lol.
Stevoi
Go on Facebook, they are a dime a dozen. Cheap laptops for 9.99 etc. Never get them, I tried once....never again
Stevoi
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There are certainly plenty of people who need education regarding online scams Phil.
It's a great service you're providing.
Sadly the widower won't be the last person to be fooled by an imaginary lover. Trying to blame the bank instead of taking responsibility shows how people try to blame others for their actions.
Rick
All very true, Rick.