When Congress handed the TikTok ban, I figured I would try Xiaohongshu, aka RedNote, China’s reply to the social media app that is all of the sudden flooded with protesting American “Tiktok refugees.”
The primary few hours scrolling via the app felt like stumbling into a comfy nook of the Web.
The interface was principally in Mandarin, however the content material spoke a common language: cute pets, journey photographs (Chinese language cities look improbable), individuals welcoming TikTokers, and sufficient Chinese language meals movies to make anybody hungry at 3 a.m.
Then, I posted my first photograph, and that is when issues received bizarre.
Inside minutes, my inbox exploded with messages from supposedly American customers. The primary crimson flag? Often, dozens of cute ladies do not bombard me with solicitations to attach.
One other unusual factor I observed was that each account had a Nigerian IP handle, clear as day of their account particulars—although you’d miss it in the event you have been solely wanting on the English phrases of their bios.
Every account additionally options particulars in Mandarin, and in the event you take the time to look at it, you notice that each RedNote account robotically lists the nation of origin, with a rustic code, for the registrant.
Take “Bbyelizabeth0” (ID: 26204885628), who slid into my DMs claiming to be a 28-year-old American girl on the lookout for associates.
Her profile confirmed a surprising girl executing your typical influencer poses, together with my private favourite: The boudoir mirror selfie.
I used to be unhappy to be taught, nevertheless, through a reverse picture search that the account had stolen the profile photograph and movies from @curlygirlxoxo, an Instagram mannequin with 140,000 followers who mixes health content material with OnlyFans promotions.
Is nothing sacred? Worse, the video “she” posted on RedNote was pilfered from TikTok.
The actual mannequin might be unaware her identification is getting used to rip-off individuals midway around the globe.
I attempted to contact her on Instagram however didn’t get a reply. She was additionally energetic on Onlyfans, however since I’m poor, I didn’t contact her there.
She most likely doesn’t care that a lot—influencers undergo from impersonations on a regular basis, and social media websites do little to fight scammers.
The scammers’ playbook grew to become much more clear after the following two messages. “Nancy Adonis” (ID: 26207772180) and “Dana Michael2” (ID: 11558103341) hit me up inside seconds of one another. Each accounts had Nigerian IP addresses and mirror-image bios: “stay and let stay” and “happiness is free.”
Their dialog starters might’ve been copy-pasted: “Hiya!” adopted by “Do you converse English?” and the inevitable “The place are you positioned?”
These weren’t simply random makes an attempt. The scammers had clearly accomplished their homework, utilizing digitally altered photographs that have been simply completely different sufficient to slide previous reverse picture searches.
However their compressed movies—most likely downloaded and re-uploaded a number of occasions to keep away from precise visible matches—gave away the sport.
I chatted a bit with Nancy Adonis. She instructed me she was dwelling in Boston.
What a coincidence! I instructed her I used to be spending my holidays in Boston, too. I requested her to be extra particular about the place in Boston she lives.
She instructed me she moved to Okinawa, the place she takes care of the navy personnel in a hospital. Had I stepped right into a World Struggle II time warp?
To make clear, she gave me her handle so we are able to meet as soon as she comes again.
Apparently, she lives in a bar: The Karltan Bar, to be extra particular. The right girlfriend?
One other fascinating case was a scammer who’d constructed a wholly pretend persona utilizing content material from Rockstar Kristin, a meals and journey influencer from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.
The actual Kristin has 83,500 Instagram followers and posts about world delicacies. The pretend model simply needed to know my location and liked my smile.
RedNote (left) vs the unique Instagram put up (proper).
I reached out to the unique Rockstar, Kristin, to alert her about her stolen identification and ensure whether or not she was the particular person behind the account.
In any case, it’s doable that she traveled to Nigeria, purchased a telephone line, registered her account, complimented my smile, after which traveled again to the U.S.
Sadly, she didn’t reply both.
The scammers are exploiting an ideal storm: a sudden inflow of People protesting TikTok’s ban, coupled with language limitations that make individuals grateful for any English dialog and an interface international sufficient to make customers doubt their instincts.
Many do not even notice RedNote has an English translation choice—it is simply buried deep sufficient within the settings to make new customers really feel misplaced.
Take this subsequent instance. The traditional UI exhibits random Chinese language characters and seems as if the profile is from the U.S., based on the bio.
Nevertheless, upon translating the characters, you’ll be able to see the true nation of origin is Nigeria.
Individuals are beginning to discover these oddities. “Concentrate on scams. This app is the wild wild east now,” warned a RedNote veteran posting underneath ID: Daya Redneck, mixing English and Mandarin in his warnings. “Do not ship your private information, all jokes apart.”
MissKatherine, an American RedNote newcomer, shared her personal brush with the scammers.
“I had somebody saying they’re American with pretend pics, however the IP was from Nigeria,” she stated. After I checked her followers, I discovered extra accounts utilizing the identical script, all hiding Nigerian IP addresses behind stolen American identities.
The flood of recent customers to RedNote exhibits no indicators of slowing. The app hit the highest spot in Apple’s App Retailer and cracked the highest 10 on Google Play inside days of the TikTok ban information.
(I doubt TikTok will likely be banned since incoming U.S. President Trump appears extra favorably disposed to the app and invited TikTok’s CEO to the Inauguration.)
Within the meantime, I suppose it’s doable that Nigerians actually love the RedNote app, and there’s nothing critically larcenous right here.
Although Nigeria shouldn’t be a part of China’s Belt and Street Initiative improvement initiative, it receives huge cash from China. It is without doubt one of the nation’s key financial companions.
Nonetheless, RedNote’s surroundings feels fairly scammy and infested with bizarre bots. If you wish to grasp on the market, use the easy translation software and a few frequent sense.
Now, in the event you excuse me, I have to go discuss to a scorching married girl in my space who desires to present me 1,000,000 {dollars}.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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