Limerick student Ross Walsh made headlines this weekend thanks to his successful trolling efforts.
The 22 year-old took to Instagram to tell the tale of how he managed to out-scam an email scammer, as first reported by the Irish Times.
The scammer in question, Solomon Gundi, was initially looking for a sum of £1,000. Walsh decided to highball the scammer, pledging he would invest £50,000 in Gundi’s “intriguing business proposal”.
When Gundi mentioned that the amount did not appear in his PayPal account, Walsh hit back with true con-artist flourish.
Replying to Gundi’s concerns, Walsh said the transaction had been frozen by his bank who feared it may have been a scam.
To solve the problem, all Gundi needed to do was send a small sum of £25 to clear the transaction with the bank.
Further, Walsh advised that the two “business partners” were better off speaking in code to avoid any further suspicion from the “taxman”.
Drawing on hurling terminology, Walsh created a key:
- Money would be code for “high ball”
- Transaction would be code for “short puck out”
- Business would be code for “county final”
- PayPal code for “the square
This allowed for Walsh’s spectacular finish:
Walsh was inspired by the likes of James Veitch, whose hilarious correspondence with a scammer went viral in 2015.
Taking things a step further than Veitch, was was able to actually get the scammer to fork out some cash, as well as teaching him a valuable lesson via some GAA humour.
Walsh donated the sum to the Irish Cancer Society. He also stated he decided to take on the scammer to highlight how a more vulnerable internet user might not be so lucky.