Harlem Herald

HARLEM — The introduction of Meta appears to have brought a new breed of online scammers out of the woodwork, and one Harlem-based tech expert allegedly took the art of deception to another level. According to the report, the tech expert created an elaborate online identity, using profile pictures of a white man and a convincing white name to disguise who he really was while approaching an unidentified very old Canadian man whose Meta account had been hacked.

The tech genius claimed he had the technical skills to recover the man’s account and get him back into Meta. And, according to the victim, he clearly seemed capable of doing it. The problem was that every time the account appeared to be just moments away from being restored, another fee suddenly appeared. First it was one payment, then another, followed by yet another request for money. Soon after, the old Canadian man had had enough. After realizing the recovery process seemed to have no end, he reportedly told the supposed tech genius exactly where to go: “You can fuck right off,” he said, and the old man resembled Richard Tattoni. And it could’ve been. After all, Richard Tattoni is said to have an old computer. The incident became another bizarre chapter in the never-ending battle between hacked accounts, desperate users, and people willing to exploit them.