The Honey Trap Con Artist Scheme

The notion of the honey trap is used in reality and in fiction. You can find it as a technique of the private investigator and the spy, turning an asset or a mark to do their bidding or expose them by the use of some fetching eye candy that puts them in a compromising position. Incidentally, it also happens to be used by the infernal nuisance that is the internet scammer (homo spammeritis annoyingus). I have seen such techniques used before- I recall one Kate Desmond with the standard Nigerian scam message and a picture of a party girl.

This turned up in a Facebook group page recently, the same comment in several discussions, by one Lacroche Rose (at least that's the name she, he, or it was using). A look at the Facebook profile gives us these model shot photos and claims she's originally from Quebec, and lives in Canada, Kentucky. Another look online says there actually is an unincorporated township by the name of my country in Kentucky... but seriously. Come on. 

moi je suis rose LACROCHE je travaille entant que cordinatrice et en meme temps secretaire d'un actionnaire Mr maxime viret un preteur d'argent pour tout vos besoin,Vous êtes à la recherche d’un prêt pour la mise en place de vos projets ou pour consolider vos dettes. Vous avez besoin d’un fonds de financement pour la réalisation de vos projets. Avez-vous reçu une interdiction bancaire et pour cela, les banques n’acceptent plus de vous faire de prêt. Moi je tiens à vous dire que je suis disponible pour vous aider dans vos problèmes de demande de prêt partant de 10.000€ à 15.000.000€ avec un taux de pourcentage très avantageux qui pourra vous aider a vous en sortir. Si vous en êtes intéressé, n’hésité pas à le contacter pour plus d’informations sur mon offre. De grâce, personne sérieuses et capables de me rembourser veuillez bien le contacter par e-mail:

I'm pink LACROCHE I entant cordinatrice that works and at the same time secretary of a shareholder Mr maxim viret a lender of money for all your needs , you are looking for a loan for the implementation of your projects or to consolidate your debts . You need a fund for the realization of your projects. Have you received a banking ban and for this , banks are no longer willing to make you a loan. I want to tell you that I am available to help you with your loan application problems starting from € 10,000 to € 15 million with a very attractive percentage rate that will help you get by. If you are interested, do not hesitate to contact him for more information about my offer . Please, serious person and able to pay me back please contact us at e- mail:

Looking more at the profile, we get more tell tale signs of the Nigerian Scammer. The one like she has is a Nigerian politician. What person living in a quiet rural corner of Kentucky has only a single like: a politician in another country? A number of her "friends" (aside from the guys drooling over her come hither pictures) happen to hail from certain parts of Africa known for launching internet scams. 

These pictures are no doubt taken from stock photos of a model who has no idea she's been co-opted into another variation on the Nigerian Scammer ploy. The scammers hope that enough guys will be thinking with some other part of their anatomy (well, guys tend to do that) instead of their brains by dangling photos like these before them. Their best hope? That the suckers will shrug after asking themselves, "What's the worst that can happen if I give her all my banking code information?" 

And even with translation software not quite getting the translation right, how hard is it to sort out who you're referring to, "Rose Lacroche"?  Is it your boss or you that supposedly has access to all this dough just waiting to be loaned out through Facebook of all things? Because how many secretaries in the world have that kind of ready access to that kind of money? You say it right there: "do not hesitate to contact him for more information about my offer."  Yeah, right. And then there's your closing line: "please serious person and able to pay me back"... what is that all about? Were you drunk when you wrote that?

Nice try, scammers. Why don't you do us all a favour? 

Cover yourself in barbecue sauce and honey mustard. 

Take a sleeping pill.

And lie down near a pack of hyenas.