I Was the Victim of a Scam

This is probably the most personal article I have ever written. Don't know how many drafts I wrote before I decided to publish it, as it was difficult to write. On social media, there are many success stories, but sometimes things don't work out as you may expect, and I wanted to tell you about what happened recently.

September was a difficult month, we had some extra expenses, and I started to look for freelance projects that I could work on during my spare time.

I was checking social media one day, and I saw a post on Threads. A Global Gig Hub employee, named Heatherm Coleman, was looking for people from Mexico for a translation project. I dm'ed her on Instagram and told her about my interest on this project. She asked me to contact James Cresswell, the project manager, through Telegram.

I sent a message to James, and he told me about the available projects. I told him I was interested in the translation project. This was about translating the first 90 pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Spanish. He gave the project details. Trusted him and didn't ask anything more about it. The payment offered would really help us for paying off debts.

Started working on it, during my spare time. After two weeks, I finished the translation. I sent it for review. Received a response after a few hours, and I was asked to contact the payment department. I shared some information they requested, then asked me to register on a platform they use to process the payment, and to pay some fees to register, and enable the transfer to my bank account. Trusted them, took the wrong decision, and lost money.

I didn't feel good for a few days. I was questioning me on how this happened to me, when I used to be an advocate on Privacy and Security during my time collaborating with Mozilla. Felt guilty. All I could do was focus on my work.

It happened by the end of October and today, I decided to tell it. I will write an article later to share recommendations on how to avoid being a victim of a scam or any other security issue, as I don't want anyone else to go through this.

Global Gig Hub?

I took some time to find more information about this company. On their site, globalgighub.com, it is mentioned that they are based in New York, no information on registrant as they are privacy protected, but the domain was registered just a few months ago, on October 17th, 2024.

Their website is barely built, it contains example texts, probably from the template they're using.

On social media, they have an account on Instagram, with no activity, and another domain listed.

That domain, globalgighub.org, was also registered a few months ago, on March 17th, 2024, with no additional information as it is privacy protected.

I was checking the About section on their site, and spent some time trying to find information about the people in the team. What I found:

• Heatherm Coleman's account (heathermcoleman11 on Instagram), the person who I thought I was talking to, was deleted shortly after.
• Besides Telegram, there's no other way to contact them, but a support email.
• They are impersonating people listed as part of the team. I found the profile of two of them on Instagram and LinkedIn, and Global Gig Hub is not mentioned anywhere.
• There are typos in the Meet The Team section, some names are misspelled.

The platform they use to process the payments, The First City Trust Bank (https://thefirscitytb.online/), has also a domain registered recently by someone in Iceland, on June 14th.

Can You Support Me?

Never asked for help before, until May this year, when my partner and I adopted Ares, that is now a healthy, spoiled and playful kitten. Back then, he was sicked and needed to be hospitalized for a few days. It was my first month at my current job, after being unemployed for a whole year. I joined on May 2nd.

It was an unexpected expense, and we decided to ask for help on social media. We couldn't make it otherwise. I offered mentorship sessions in exchange, on topics related to Open Source, Software Development, Public Speaking or DevOps.

We received $153.00 USD, as you can see on my featured post on my LinkedIn account. And as I promised, I opened 15 30-minute slots for mentorship on my agenda without any cost.

If you or anyone you know need some guidance on any of these topics, share my Calendly and feel free to book a mentorship session.

And this time I'm asking for help again. Not only you would be supporting us on this difficult situation, but also you will support the work I'm doing for the Open Source community.

I've been an active Open Source contributor for the last 16 years, contributing with code, localizing software, sharing knowledge with the global community by writing technical articles, or being a speaker or instructor at conferences. Most of the time being a volunteer, some other as part of my job.

What have I been up to recently? I've been working on an update for my website. It will be available soon in both Spanish and English, the following sections were added or updated.

• Experience: Added this section to showcase my current job at Infotec as a Software Developer and previous experience.
• Speaking: Added this section to showcase my experience as tech speaker, included a YouTube playlist with recordings in Spanish and English from previous conferences. You can also contact for future speaking engagements.
• Artwork: I started drawing recently, learning how to use Inkscape, and decided to share my creations, released under Creative Commons and available to download from a GitLab repository.
• Notes: I will publish articles on tools and technologies that are not Open Source, and instructions for other operating systems.

As part of the localization project for my website, I will review, correct and update articles available on my DEV account, and publish the translation to Spanish on my website. There are 21 articles in Spanish until now.

There are other projects I'm working on during my spare time, but I'll let you know and share in the following weeks. I will also open more slots on my Calendly for mentorship sessions without cost.

How can you support me? Through PayPal. Support my work through Buy Me A Coffee or hire me for any of the services I offer.