By Carson Kessler and Gabby Herzig
Meet Rodney Raclette.
Indiana native. 62 years old. Big golfer. A huge fan of the LPGA.
On Aug. 4, Rodney opened an Instagram account with the handle @lpgafanatic6512, and he quickly followed some verified accounts for female golfers and a few other accounts that looked official.
Within 20 minutes of creating his account and with zero posts to his name, Rodney received a message from what at first glance appeared to be the world’s No. 2-ranked female golfer, Nelly Korda.
“Hi, handsomeface, i know this is like a dream to you. Thank you for being a fan,” read a direct message from @nellykordaofficialfanspage2.
The real Nelly Korda was certainly not messaging Rodney — and Rodney doesn’t actually exist. The Athletic created the Instagram account of the fictitious middle-aged man to test the veracity and speed of an ever-increasing social media scam pervading the LPGA.
The gist of the con goes like this: Social media user is a fan of a specific golfer; scam account impersonating that athlete reaches out and quickly moves the conversation to another platform like Telegram or WhatsApp to evade social media moderation tools; scammer offers a desirable object or experience — a private dinner, VIP access to a tournament, an investment opportunity — for a fee; untraceable payments are made via cryptocurrency or gift cards. Then, once the spigot of cash is turned off, the scammer disappears.
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