#conartists

Soooo, we've all seen Sam periodically post these warnings letting fans know to be careful of scammers posing as him or someone associated with him. And being clear he DOES NOT, WILL NEVER message fans, including on other platforms, such as Google Hangouts or WhatsApp

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And a little while ago, there was even an article that addressed this. It talked in detail about a few fans who had gotten scammed out of money by a Fake Sam, and also one woman thought she was in a romantic relationship with Sam. Sadly, they were being fooled. 👇

So, you may have read the article above and thought to yourself, "How could these women believe that was Sam, how could they fall for it? That would never happen to me, I know better." Well, you'd be surprised how sophisticated and manipulative these con artists are.

Here is the experience I had with some fans who DMed me about what happened to them. I'm posting this because it seemed to happen more often than I thought and it happened to women who are intelligent and have life experience. I'm not going to post any identifying info or give too much away about who they are. My main point is to let people know the extent of these con jobs and how far they go, so people can be more vigilant.

A few of the women were approached on Google Hangouts, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and were convinced by Fake Sam that it was him. I won't get too into those details because I want to focus on two cases that are very disturbing and these two are much more intricate. And I do think even people who look for red flags could fall for this one type of scam. Let me tell you about it.

These two women in particular were victims of what I call "the long con." Some of these scammers are able to reel people in for years because they have multiple people they're scamming at once, therefore, they can take their time, and make more money that way. While they wait for one victim to fall for the scam, they have several others they are already scamming.

These two women had similar stories. But they don't know each other. They each DMed me to let me know that they met Sam at an Outlander fan convention and at an Outlander fan meet and greet a couple of years ago. They gave Sam something with their name on it, ie. business card, social media account name, something they made for him, or they directly told him their name. Fake Sam later contacted them online to thank them. The account looked just like Sam's verified social media accounts with the same profile pic and with the verified blue check! (As an aside, now that Twitter lets anyone pay a fee and get a blue check verified account, these types of impostors will be even more rampant).

Anyway, after Fake Sam contacted them on his fake "verified" account, he asked them to create an e-mail solely for communicating with him and he would do the same. He said this was necessary because if he continued to communicate on his "verified" account, sometimes his team would have access to it, and they may see the messages. Of course, this was all part of the ruse to make it more believable and create a special secret bond with the victims.

The women believed it was the real Sam because he knew details about what had happened at the convention/meet and greet and described what the women looked like and what they were wearing at the convention/meet and greet! Fake Sam then started communicating with them regularly, all platonic and friendly at first. He won their trust over time, telling them supposed "insider" tidbits that they believed only real Sam would know. The truth was that everything Fake Sam told them were things already out in the fandom or things that anyone could find out if they did a deep data mine, or things certain fan groups were privy to. More on that later...

After months and months of communicating with them, Fake Sam started to reveal that he had developed romantic feelings for them, he made them feel special. He told them despite all his fame and fortune, he was "lonely," and didn't actually have too many close friends. He told them that the women he dated were casual and he didn't have real feelings for them, and that the victims were the only ones who truly understood him. That all his other relationships with younger women, that he realized the women were immature, and he was coming to terms with how much he valued women who were more mature. Imagine how heady that would be for someone, let's just say over 40 aka a mature woman, to hear from someone as gorgeous and sexy as Sam. Very hard to resist. To be clear, Real Sam never said any of the above. This was all Fake Sam.

After over about ONE YEAR of communicating this way, when Fake Sam had good and well won these women's trust and made them feel like he had real romantic feelings for them. And that they knew his secrets, and they had a special bond, Fake Sam suddenly had...you guessed it--"financial troubles" and began asking for money.

Fake Sam made up stories that seemed plausible. He used the special bond he'd cultivated for so long to his advantage. He told them that he couldn't ask family or friends for the money because he was in legal trouble and was "too embarrassed," and didn't want his family or friends to know. But, that since he trusted the victims and he knew "you would never reveal my secrets," that they were "the only person I can turn to for help." Again, all very seductive and hard to resist. Once he established how desperate for help he was, Fake Sam gave even more credence to the story by involving "contacts" he had in the US and the UK. Supposed "management" or his "team" that "people didn't know about" because they took care of his finances behind the scenes. This Fake Management then started to communicate with the victims directly and give info on how to either wire money or directly route to a bank. It all seemed legit and on the up and up if it involved an actual bank.

At this point, most people would ask to talk to Sam on the phone or Facetime, or talk to his supposed management, right? Well, these women did just that. And guess what happened? They actually were given cell phone numbers to call these "managers" and they did talk to them on the phone! Some of the "managers" were female and some were male. And they either had an American accent or an English accent. But, doing their due diligence, the victims asked to talk directly to Sam. One woman thought she was talking to Sam, she said the person sounded "just like Sam." And the other woman insisted on a video call with Sam. And she thought she was talking to real Sam. Well, guess what? For those who are not aware, there is now technology that can fake someone's voice. And even technology that can fake Facetime calls. Google "deepfakes" of celebrities and you will see the scary truth. So, these scammers used advanced technology to literally fake Sam's voice and even his face! The fake videos can only "talk" for so long and can only "say" limited things, so the scammers would find some excuse why the video call dropped, but still it was convincing enough.

So, now that for over a year or more, Fake Sam haddeveloped a relationship with these women, bonded with them, won their trust, he and his "management" asked for the "special" help that only the victims could give. And thus, began the multiple money requests. Lots of money, but only a little at a time, so it wouldn't seem so bad. The scammers explained that Fake Sam was in trouble and if they didn't help him he could face legal problems, "including prison." No one wants to see Sam in prison if they have the means to prevent it, right? The Fake Managers and Fake Sam continued to communicate regularly with the victims and continued to rob them of their hard earned money. Both cases went on for two years!

Eventually, Fake Sam stopped communicating and now the Fake Managers started to align with the victims against Fake Sam by complaining that they weren't getting paid by Sam. Fake Sam promised the victims he would pay them back and also promised to meet them in person. When the scammers had milked the victims of as much money as they knew they could get, they started to back off, communication trickled in. But they didn't want the victims to figure out it was all a lie, so they now made it like Sam was not paying them either and they were going to quit. In the end, Fake Sam stopped communicating and the Fake Managers "quit" for non payment of salaries by Fake Sam.

Even though, Sam is a millionaire, with plenty of rich and famous friends who could help him out if need be, Fake Sam convinced the victims that he couldn't ask those he knew for help because he was "embarrassed" to and because he was "in legal trouble." Devastatingly, one victim lost over $100,000 and another almost $200,000. Yes, you read that right. It's heartbreaking.

I posted this to let people know these scams are real and they continue to happen. And also, to give you my theory on WHO is behind these particular ones, in order to WARN OUTLANDER FANS. The main thing that "hooked" the victims into believing this was real Sam was that he gave them very specific details about their time with him at the conventions and meet and greets AND that he described what the they looked like, including what they were wearing. WHO ELSE but real Sam would know that? Um, OTHER OUTLANDER FANS who were also nearby watching and listening at these conventions and meet and greets! I know, I have goosebumps too. Scarily, my friends, I think these scams are an INSIDE FANDOM JOB. The scammers had to have been there to know details about the victims. In addition, all the insider Sam and fandom info they gave the victims are only things long time fans would know. Soooo, please be very careful at future conventions and meet and greets...and if "Sam" or his "management" happens to contact you afterwards--JUST SAY NO.

And, yes, Sam is well aware. That's why he keeps posting warnings. And the fans talking to Fake Sams continue to think the warnings don't apply to them. Trust me, they do. I'm not going to say more as to not jeopardize anything that's being done to stop these scammers.

PS. Please no victim bashing in the comments. Let's practice compassion for those who have already suffered enough.

Mind blown, right?