An 'Interpol agent' who claims to know Ligotti: The embarrassing spectacle of a scammer exposed

Mersennus1951

Mersennus1951

Mystic
Hi everyone. I’d like to put the community on alert regarding the account @thomas.ligotti. This user has been attempting to contact me, pretending to be an authorized source close to Thomas Ligotti, and even trying to elicit sympathy by posing as the widow of a supposed author and friend of Ligotti, who recently committed suicide, named [redacted], all in an attempt to sell me books. When questioned, they resort to ridiculous threats of being an 'Interpol agent' and post poorly written, fabricated quotes, attributing them to Jon Padgett. I’ve attached proof of their behavior. Beware of this scammer.
 

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Dr. Bantham said:
Is there a related member account here? Anyone been contacted by said member within TLO?
Click to expand...
The truth is I don't know, but when he mentioned that his messages would be published on the forum, he started insulting, saying something like "utopian paraffinists tend to attack in packs."
 
Mersennus1951 said:
Hi everyone. I’d like to put the community on alert regarding the account @thomas.ligotti. This user has been attempting to contact me, pretending to be an authorized source close to Thomas Ligotti, and even trying to elicit sympathy by posing as the widow of a supposed author and friend of Ligotti, who recently committed suicide, named Shohan Hossain, all in an attempt to sell me books. When questioned, they resort to ridiculous threats of being an 'Interpol agent' and post poorly written, fabricated quotes, attributing them to Jon Padgett. I’ve attached proof of their behavior. Beware of this scammer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those quotes attributed to me are fake, and I never bought a thing from this person. Nor, I strongly suspect, have they had any contact with Tom. But I did briefly correspond via DM a couple of times with them when they reached out, and every time they tried to convince me to purchase their wares. I politely refused.
 
The worst part is that I’ve spoken to many Instagram users who have also fallen for this scam. I even reached out to the [redacted] account directly, only to be told that the person behind the other account is his wife, who supposedly suffered an accident due to opioid abuse and is under the delusion that he is dead. Yet, he still insists that he needs the money for her 'delicate situation.' It’s painfully obvious it’s the same person; the account constantly flip-flops between pretending to be him and claiming he’s dead. The levels of deceit are as pathetic as they are amateurish.
 
You may have noticed I’ve redacted the alleged writer’s name from the thread. An account that claims to be the real writer has reached out to me as well, and I’m not comfortable outing his name here in case he’s been the victim of this scam too.
 
I’m going to be on the safe side and keep the author’s name redacted. It’s my (cautious) conclusion that he and the scammer are not one and the same person. I may be wrong about that, but I don’t want to risk besmirching someone’s name when the evidence for the connection is unclear. However, the “Thomas Ligotti” instagram account should be reported for sure.

I reserve the right to change my mind if other evidence comes to light.
 
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