How I Accidentally Discovered A Criminal Enterprise While Shopping For Weird Christmas Gifts

Leave it to me to fall down a rabbit hole into an underworld of Internet crime while doing some holiday shopping!

Good Lord, have I got a story to tell you! Just like the title says, it’s the story of how I accidentally discovered a criminal enterprise while shopping for weird Christmas gifts!

I know some people are taken aback by taxidermy. It’s not for everyone. Truth be told, I’ve never worn leather or fur, I’m constantly trying to reduce my carbon footprint, repurpose trash, and I once went vegan for 7 weeks before that all came crashing down over a giant pile of cheese. I love the planet and all the animals on it! So do most taxidermy artists, who sometimes use the insides to feed other animals and wildlife they care for, or some artists might find roadkill, clean it up, and give it brand new life. There is plenty of ethically sourced taxidermy available.

Besides, I’m a goth girl. We are pre-occupied with death. We take strolls through cemeteries. We long for the weirdness of oddities and curiosities. We grow up admiring couples like Gomez and Morticia. In fact, the Addams Family and their influence on me might be to blame for this entire mess…

But here’s how I took a wrong turn and ended up uncovering an entire criminal ring of scam pages on Facebook. This is also the story about how Facebook does absolutely NOTHING to shut these pages down (because it lines their pockets with stolen money).

The bottom line is… I got scammed. The clock was ticking down to Christmas, FAST, and I wanted to get my husband one more gift. So when I saw a cute taxidermy piece up for sale in my Facebook newsfeed, I made a hasty (and instantly regrettable) decision to do business with a stranger. In typical scammer form, the seller took my payment and blocked me.

But here’s why I fell for it, and how I discovered the SAME SCAMMER operating SEVERAL PAGES that had been reported by HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE for MONTHS and still continue to operate on Facebook!

I began to dig. I found a person on my friends list who shared posts from the scam page. She seemingly had no real content–none of the typical posts from a person about their day, no life experiences. She only shared posts for several taxidermy pages who all had the SAME content, claiming it was their own. I began messaging these pages, one by one, asking if the work they posted was their own, and one by one they all had conversations with me that sound eerily like the SAME PERSON and were quick to block me when I accused them of fraud. I also found several mutual friends with this same suspicious activity. All connected.

That’s how these scam pages gain your trust. They build a following using fake accounts and Facebook promotion. When you see a nice profile picture and 50 mutual friends, you accept the friend request. THEN, when you see 200 of your friends follow a page, it builds a feeling of trust, so you like the page, too, when this person sends an invite.

How do they manage to fool so many people? They are STEALING IDENTITIES to seem more legit. SO! I started tracking down the real identities!

In almost every instance with the fake pages I discovered on Facebook, I was able to find matching identities on Instagram for the real people and companies. One family-owned company called Trophyroom Taxidermy posted a warning in September about this scam, and yet Facebook lets the page run!

Why does Facebook allow these criminal pages to run despite constant reports? I’ll tell you why! The criminals use percentages of the money they scam out of innocent people to pay for promotion and ad space through Facebook. It’s very lucrative for Facebook to turn the other cheek and allow them to continue. When I reached out to the REAL Classic Mouse Parade for comment, they confirmed that they have “tried for months to get the fake page taken down” and added, “They’ve taken money from a few people who have contacted me, and it breaks my heart.”

I reached out to Joy of the company Raw Deco. Photos of her artwork have been stolen more than once by these scammers. She told me, “I report the accounts. I don’t understand why Facebook doesn’t react. I’m sorry for the people who get fooled. It almost happened to me once, too.”

It’s clear that these scammers pay Big Bucks for Facebook promotion in order to gain their following. Joy of Raw Deco says, “It’s pretty frustrating. Yesterday I saw that a fake page on Facebook has more likes and comments on my photos than I do on my own page.”

To make it worse, it would be easier than you think to control this problem if Facebook would simply HELP. A lot of these pages are run by the SAME PEOPLE. If Facebook would take action against those people, it would take out dozens of fake pages in the process. How do I know this? During the 48 hours I was messaging the scam pages, many of them seemed familiar with me… already upset with me before I made any accusations. They knew I had been scammed without me telling them. Here’s a screenshot of one conversation. The REAL Classic Mouse Parade has confirmed that this rude POS was not them. I never told this person I’d been scammed. So how did they know?

So what can we do to stop this? There are tips. Like never send a Paypal payment as “Friends and Family” instead of “Business” because you won’t get a refund. Never Cashapp a stranger. Research the seller first. And if you end up losing money, don’t let the scammers shame you. They tried to make me feel stupid and ashamed of myself when I confronted them. Obviously so that I wouldn’t share my story. Look… You’re not stupid if you fall for a scam, and sharing your story can HELP SOMEBODY ELSE AVOID YOUR PAIN! BE LOUD!

My biggest piece of advice is to get to know your seller. They won’t mind you getting friendly if they are legit. They won’t mind you asking to converse with them on more than one social platform to confirm their true identity. Real taxidermy artists are eager to meet fans and potential buyers. Just feel them out, take your time, don’t trust strangers, and most importantly: DON’T TRUST FACEBOOK TO KEEP YOU SAFE!

These scams are being run with all types of products: Custom knives. Silicone horror masks. Car parts. Jewelry. Any high-end specialty item can be used to lure in scam victims. You can often spot the scam pages because they post a huge volume of “for sale” photos and not much else. On the taxidermy pages, you’ll notice varying styles of artwork in the photos that don’t seem like they all came from the same artist. Like I said, you can safely buy online. Just TAKE YOUR TIME and DON’T BE HASTY! These scammers aren’t as smart as they fancy themselves to be. Sometimes there are clues, like the copyright from another company right on one of the photos they forgot to crop out. D’oh!

Really is despicable, isn’t it???

If anyone would like the full list of scam pages I discovered, I can send it to you. But in light of the fact that the scammers are constantly changing the pages and creating new ones, it seems like the suits at Facebook are the only ones who can help us. And so… we leave it in their (capable??) hands and receive no aid whatsoever while they profit from our pain. What a shame…

Well, this has been another weird blog brought to you by your fellow weirdo, Lindsey G. Stay safe out there in this virtual reality. Watch out for each other. Support small business by getting to know them on a personal level before you buy. And remember… Keep life WEIRD, but keep it HONEST, too.