United Front – #AlexOLoughlin Fans Against Scammers On #FaceBook.

Yes, I know you know Alex O’loughlin is not on social media, but for every one of his informed fans, there are hundreds who don’t know this.

Yes, we all know there are scammers targeting celebrity fans, but for every one of us who knows this, there are hundreds of naive enough fans who believe the very skilled onslaught of scammer syndicates. And many more fans who do not know what a scammer’s post or comment looks like.

And yes, I know the problem is not only on Facebook. But our biggest problem is there!

This is not the type of study post I really ever wanted to do on our site. But I guess in the last two Covid years, this problem escalated to a Tsunami level!

And I believe knowledge is power!

There have been fans and groups taking on the scammers, but the flood is too big to handle. Thank you very much for all your efforts thus far – we do appreciate it, and are hoping to add our small part to it.

The scammers will always be with us, but what can really slow down this flood, is fans working together and informing one another. It is no longer good enough to just say and repeat that Alex is not on social media. Fans need to understand and recognise scammer posts and comments. I see many who do know Alex is not on media, but still, support the scammer posts – because they do not understand that a pretty picture of Alex can be posted by a criminal!

Up until now, we have only kept our own Social Media pages clean. My first action every morning, when I open my laptop, is to go through the hundreds of comments on our FB page and block and delete scammer comments. Same with Instagram and YouTube. I felt (and still feel) that it was everybody’s own responsibility to keep their page or group clean. But there is a huge problem out there among all the fan groups.

The use of our name in two groups that allow scammer posts has got Paula and me more involved with the cause against scammers. (See our post about it here) And we have enhanced our support to those who have been involved with this matter for a while already. By no means do we want to take over what they have already done and achieved – we just want to do our part as well in whatever way we can.

We started a private action group that combine efforts with some of the other groups involved with the cause. If you are on Facebook and want to help – please let me know and I will invite you to the group. We either need to be friends on Facebook or you will need to send me your e-mail, for me to invite you.

Unfortunately reporting on Facebook does not help if you don’t have numbers behind you. And we really need as many active members as possible who can report a specific thing in a coordinated group effort at a time. Facebook does not give you a chance to really explain why you report something, and they, therefore, reject a report easily. Numbers count.

We also connected with an action group that is not part of the Alex fandom but working on a larger scale against all scammers. We appreciate their support and will also give a helping hand to them if we can.

This is not something that will go away quickly, but a combined effort might slow down the tide in our own fandom. If the scammers can’t reach innocent Alex fans through our groups and pages – they will have no way to advertise all their scams!

Remember that there are many real Alex fan pages and groups out there that are really sharing Alex with fans. We do not what you to start reporting everyone and everything! We as fans need to know how to spot the real ones from the fake ones – AND then only act on it.

Some information to assist you:

• What does a scammer comment look like?

Any commenter who invites you on a comment to join something – is 99,9999% most likely a scammer.

• What does a scammer post look like?

This is a post from a scammer on the group with our name.

• Always investigate who made the post. Easy to click on their name and have a look around to what they have been up too.
• Some of them share posts from the fake fan pages. Click on the link to see what fanpage they shared it from. There you will find the answers in comments trying to lure fans into direct contact.
• Whenever you see that they invite you to send a private message – see red flags. Most fanpages do not advertise direct messages.

What to look out for …..

1. Inviting you to another fan page. 
2. Inviting you to join a “private chat”.
3. Inviting you to buy something.
4. Inviting you to pay to belong to some fan group.
5. Inviting you to tell them where you are from.
6. Inviting you to do ANYTHING…..!!

Even something as simple as a Yes

A fake blue tick and a very nice message from a fake page

Somebody who is not an admin of the group asking for activity. 

Offering fake membership that you have to pay for.

Fake promotions

And who can resist this sweet message from this fake page?

One of the most dangerous ones.

The list of how they try to do it is endless 

• What does a scammer fan page look like? (Plenty of new ones pop up every day, but some stick around longer and become a bigger problem)

How to spot a fake fan page?

• A fanpage that talks to you as if they are Alex himself. (purple arrow)
• A fanpage created resently (green arrow). Not all new fanpages are scams, but nearly everyone of them is.
• Related pages will most probably also be fake pages and should be a huge indication.

Think before you just like and comment on any post. Follow the evidence. Don’t think it is fun or humourous to engage with any of these people or their posts. You are just assisting their cause – And helping them to scam the next innocent fan who does not know better, and think because other fans chat with the scammer that they are real fans posting pretty pictures. In other words – if you know better, act better.

• Rather report their comments and their posts as Fraud & Scam, or Spam.
• Report their newly made fan pages and groups.
• Report their posts to the admins of the group they post in as well.

My advice to group admins. Get help!

Do not try to run a group on your own because it is a huge task and a BIG responsibility towards fellow fans and Alex’s reputation. And please do not leave a group unattended for even a day or two. Scammers will pounce on it pretty quickly. The biggest problem at the moment is fan groups where the admin is missing in action.

If you need help – ask!