Story – My father lives down a well known affluent street. He was just casually walking my sisters dogs around the neighbourhood, and he noticed a small middle aged Asian woman in a black face mask seemingly following him. As he approached his house and opened the gate she made a noise and ran over to him. In her hand was a handwritten envelope, she handed it to him and made some gestures and left. The note reads
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“Brand new usb
Please protect your country and your people (very important). Tax payers and university students should know the truth then can protect your family and own safety (,) please don’t pass to Chinese”
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First thing to note is the the usb isn’t sealed, so definitely not a “Brand new usb”
Secondly Its so obviously a dirty scam but my best guess is if my dad wasn’t atleast scam savy he would have plugged it in and it would at the very least infect his pc with a virus and steal his personal data/passwords etc.
Thirdly, I think this lady was targeting an area where the payoff is potentially higher making the cost of the scam (cost of the usb) more stomach-able.
I have a recently wiped laptop I could potentially check the usb on (obviously without being on my network)
Has anyone had someone try to scam them manually like this before? Is it common?
39 Comments
It could just be a random schizo. Very curious what’s on it regardless.
Don’t plug that in. It may contain malicious software that you may not be aware of. They can remotely control your pc with that.
Never happened to me, but I second trying it on a wiped laptop to see what it is. But yes, don’t have it connected to the web when doing so.
We get it. You’re rich.
Is it wrong my first thought was check it on a public PC at a library.
Really though, if you have a wiped laptop go that route, and I suggest install a Linux distro, less chance it will work. Chances are if it’s malicious it’s targeted at Windows.
It could have at least been a 128gb
awh man now im curious do tell us and keep ME updated
Very curious on to what’s on it. But that seems like such an obvious scam.
“don’t pass to the Chinese” 🤣
Intrusive thoughts: PLUG IT IN. PLUG IT IN.
For real though, give us an update if/when you access it with your laptop.
hey ,free flash drive!
Imagine it’s just a USB killer and they’re doing it just to “get back at the rich” or something goofy. Like yeah, middle aged suburban white dads are definitely the problem…
now, we wait.
I wouldn’t let curiosity get the best of me. Who knows what kind of horrible shit is on it. Worst case scenario, it fries your computer. Best case scenario, you get a free $8 flash drive.
I would run it on a Linux machine because most automated scripts just won’t work, also windows bootable USBs are annoying
If you’ve got a box that is disconnected from the world, plug it in and see what’s on it lol.
I’m curious.
I’m sure there’s absolutely nothing sketchy going on.
https://preview.redd.it/ijqyv9r9ivgc1.png?width=976&format=png&auto=webp&s=5264b1ce175970acfdadc188cf334eb6ec7e268d
You can install a virtual machine and plug it with peace in your heart/mind
Imagine it has the truth on there lol jk throw that shit away
My paranoia is stronger than my curiosity lol I’d break it and toss it
Buddy you have GOT to show us this thing. Run it on a Linux distro or something, anything. My curiosity is PIQUED.
Everybody is talking about potential security hazards and elaborate spyware/ransomware attacks
I bet this is just the 21st century version of a crazyperson screaming ‘the end is nigh!’ on a public street. There are only some really weird pics and text documents on there that ‘prove’ an even weirder conspiracy
EDIT: to be clear, I definitely still wouldn’t plug it in without some precautions. That’s for sure.
Use this comment to stay posted for an update
I’d be very wary of plugging that in as it could also be a USB killer in an ADATA shell.
1st part is commonly the easiest way to store compromised USBs, or any USB data you actually wanted, but forgot where you put it.
2. If it’s not just a general cut and run drive, at most you’d be looking at a phishing, which on a lot of laptops these days are less and less useful with 2FA and more work on connected devices.
3. I think the lady was just trying to run a play that could spread as many seeds as she could, as there’s no significant data on the envelope, so it’s likely not intended to be a physical train scam for you becoming the new (Black Lady®), but may be the sniffer point.
Would definitely be interesting to try a fresh, clean, dump PC, with no BT + WiFi + Ethernet fucntion (off the board if you need to, they should be removable in some capacity.) Letting you maybe setup a honeytrap, and see how that plays out, and what they really want. I would imagine without actually giving them access to anything you really want, other than some crazy anti-chinese propoganda/virus that they hope to do some fun stuff with, if it wasn’t on a completely dark PC. Could add a Cold Distro link into that, to see what it does on multiple types of compromised devices.
Every know, maybe you get some pretty new flag wallpapers.
I suggest doing it on Linux as the scam is more likely pointed towards Windows users
It is not an uncommon way to hack.
I told on the thread about the guy the found a USB on the train: I’ve a friend that often stay in a hotel very used by businessman, and a few times he found USB drives “forgotten” in the room.
There are also USB killers. I never saw one being deployed, but I know they exist.
This is new new safe of reddit. Please OP. Deliver the deets!
I’d just take it to the local police station. Let them deal with it.
Report it to the glowies and see what happens…
Plug it in. Plug it in. Plug it in.
Just destroy it
Still the best way to do it.
Don’t plug it in even on a wiped secondary system
Plug it in On a public use computer or a school Chromebook
looool bullllshit. imagine if it was anthrax instead ahaha
LOL gave up on the internet, transferred to on the ground work.
[Its a local crackpot landing out flash drives to random people](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/132429163/mysterious-woman-drops-off-usb-flash-drive-with-cryptic-warning). She’s been doing it for the past year or so.
Just throw the flash drive out and forget about it.
Literally “hey steve I have successfully managed to to recover your bitcon wallet from the original USB you sent me and I have recovered and backed your bitcoin wallet to this new usb. Thanks for your business, Martin.”
Or “Hey Lisa, was a pleasure to help create your first modeling portfolio and wish you great success. Please find on the USB all the images taken during your swimwear and lingerie session. Great working with you and hope to do more in the future, Kevin.”
Would have been so much more likely to get a person to be nosey and plug in the USB.These people really need to step up there scammer skills.