When Canadian pop-rock sensation Avril Lavigne released her debut single, “Complicated,” about her frustrations due to a love interests two-faced behavior in 2002 there was no way to predict it would set her on a trajectory for the song to come full-circle 20 years later. But, Cullman resident Robert Frederick said that was what happened recently when he nearly fell victim to an emerging type of online scam which used Lavigne’s likeness to solicit personal meet-and-greets from online fans.
Frederick said he is an artist, but had put the practice down for more than eight years until a creative compulsion came over him several months ago while browsing through Lavigne’s music videos online. Since then, he said he has created some of his best work, including a poster book of compiled fan-art and an early version of a comic series which could continue the story lines featured in Lavigne’s videos.
He said when a Telegram — a free, cloud-based app which allows users to send messages, photos, videos and files with their contacts — account he had been interacting with began offering him an opportunity to meet Lavigne nearly a month ago, it felt a bit serendipitous.
Frederick said even though the account tried to play it cool, they began looking like a fool to him after they pressured him to purchase one of its meet-and-greet packages which ranged between $1,000 and $3,000. For incentive, he said he was sent links to what he was told was Lavigne’s private Telegram account and received voice messages containing audio of what appeared to be the singer.
“Hi Robert, I understand you want us to get to know each other better, but I’ve already given you a way for us to be together. Why haven’t you taken it?” the message said. “If I’m important to you, don’t take things for granted. Love, Avril.”
The fraudulent act of “phishing” — sending emails or other online messages purporting to be from reputable companies or individuals in order to induce others to reveal personal information such as passwords and credit card information — has long been one of the most common types of online scams. Cullman City Police Chief Dave Nassetta said while the details of Frederick’s situation may be personalized, the scheme itself has all been done before. He said phishing is uniquely adaptable and has morphed into so many different scenarios at such a quick rate that even some law enforcement officials have found it dizzying.
“I don’t think there’s any limit to what people can come up with and the creativity with these scams. I can’t say that we’ve had anything reported like [this particular scenario], but I don’t think we can even predict what kind of things people will come up with to get other people to give them their money,” Nasetta said. “It’s gotten to the point that we really can’t even keep up with all of these schemes. It’s something new every day.”
Nasetta said people need to be especially cautious to avoid online scams as the technology used by advertisers to deliver targeted ads to specific individuals increases, because that same technology is very quickly adopted by those with slightly more nefarious intentions.
“There’s a lot of social engineering and networking that goes on to identify people based on the type of stuff you view online. You quickly develop a profile for advertisers and there are people who can hack into or buy into different sites that provide that information. That’s how they target people based on their search history,” Nasetta said.
While Frederick was understandably frustrated to find those behind the account were acting like somebody else, he hopes to take what he got and turn it into honesty so that others might avoid the same pitfalls.
“I wasted over a month with this person on Telegram and I was almost convinced that they were for real. At least I have not been scammed out of $1,000 and I am forever grateful for the save,” he said.
For now, he said he will remain hopeful for a legitimate opportunity to meet the actual Lavigne in the future.