this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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Nicoled

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Hi, I'm Nicole! But you can call me the Fediverse Chick :D

For when you or others get nicoled.

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[–] aoidenpa@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago

I got it today as well. Feeling left out is horrible. I hope Nicole blesses everyone.

[–] WamGams@lemmy.ca 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Do we have a Peter explains the joke sub here? I don't get it.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 12 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

I got you.

The message you see in the original post is a rather persistent spam message unique to Lemmy as far as I can tell; has it appeared on other Fediverse platforms?

I do not have proof of this but it strongly appears to be a pig butchering scam. This is a long-term confidence trick wherein the scammer never directly asks for/demands/extorts money from the mark, instead they pretend to be a friend or even romantic partner for a long period of time, building trust, until they mention making a lot of money in an investment, which the mark asks how they can invest too, and they are directed to a legit looking app or market, put in a bunch of money which they never see again.

If you haven't been on Lemmy long, you'll probably get a DM from "Nicole" sooner or later. We're kind of fond of her because our little platform has grown big enough to attract at least one scammer.

[–] Cerborealis@lemm.ee 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Thanks for the explanation! Also, this is the first time I’ve heard the term “pig butchering scam”, and it’s definitely a wild one.

PS: I’m truly honored she found me on Day 3.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

John Oliver did an episode of Last Week Tonight on pig butchering scams, it's worth a watch. Glad I could be of help and welcome to the Fediverse.

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Jim Browning on YouTube recently had a video of one such compound of romance/pig butchering Scammers getting arrested at a very large scale.

I like and support that guy but I got tired of listening to him talk.

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's up for debate. Personally, I think "Nicole" doesn't know that her webcam screenshots are being used for this, and it's a harassment campaign against her.

Yeah I'm willing to bet the woman in the picture has no idea that we can call her the Fediverse Chick. I kinda wonder if she's a Youtuber or Streamer or something and if this should be brought to her attention.

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 2 points 8 hours ago

Yesterday I saw someone on Mastodon talk about having received Nicole spam:

https://mastodon.de/@ErikUden/114168458849376666

It looks like she's branching out.