Ibuki: Disclaimer! The author does not own any of the material appearing in the story. The OC's belong to their respective owners!
"Hey. I'm Tucker from Red vs Blue."
"And I'm Carolina."
"And today, we're gonna be-"
Ding!
"Eh?" Tucker looked into his phone. "Holy SHIT, I just won a free car?! All I have to do is go to this not-so-sketchy car dealership in Mushroom City?! Don't mind if I do!" He took off running.
"...Oh, for the love of… TUCKER, GET BACK HERE WITH THAT PHONE!" Carolina yelled as she chased after him… when suddenly the area digitized into Futaba's room.
"Sheesh, I didn't think that'd work." Futaba said. "...What? Why are you looking at me like that? Anywho, yo! Name's Futaba Sakura from Persona 5, and yeah, we're getting another game this November. Hyyyype~!"
She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I'm hijacking this one to let you know what we're doing here. Today, we're talkin' about scammers."
BGM: Space Paranoids (Kingdom Hearts II)
PSA: Scammers
"Soooo, scammers. We all know they suck. Everyone falls prey to 'em, even when they're on high alert, they always manage to get scammed one way or another. It happens to the best of us. Some of them are subtle-"
"Warning! There is this virus known to destroy computers! Click here to learn more on how to be on top of things!"
"A virus that can destroy my computer?! I don't think so!" Soldier said as he clicked on it. "Show me how to-... AAARGH! Blue screen! Hey Engi! I need some help here!"
"Some are obvious-"
"Hmhmhmhm~" Chiaki hummed as she surfed the web. "Let's see, what do I want-"
"Congratulations! You have been selected to receive a free Nintendo Switch!"
Chiaki stared at it, casually looked over at her Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED. "Yeeeeeah, no." Chiaki clicked on the exit button and started to continue surfing. "...Wait, what the heck is Pizza Tower?"
"Aaaaand there are ones that are just plain stupid."
"We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."
Nan looked annoyed. "Look, for the last flippin' time… I DON'T DRIVE OR HAVE A CAR, YOU IDIOTS!"
"Oh… uh… wrong number!"
"Scams come in all shapes and sizes, like, say… winning a free mansion from a contest you never entered. You have to be vigilant and say no to anything that comes your way. But, scammers are getting trickier these days… like, just the other day-"
"AUUUUUGH!" Ryuji yelled. "What the effing shit!"
"What? What's wrong?" Ann asked as she approached him.
"Some jackass accidentally reported my Steam account thinking I was somebody else and now… now I'm chatting with this guy and getting ready to talk to a Steam represent-"
"Hold it. Before you do… something's not sitting well with me." Ann pulled out her phone and typed something in. "Steam… account… accidentally… reported…" She mumbled to herself. "AHA!"
"What is it?"
"This dude's trying to scam you. You're about to get your Steam account hacked."
"WHAT?!" Ryuji yelled as Ann showed him. "Rrrgh, of all the effin'...! OOOOH, I'm gonna give this dude a piece of my-"
"Actually, let me. I'm the one who figured this out." Ann smirked as she started to type.
"Hi, I'm this dude's girlfriend."
"Oh hello there! Are you going to help him get this ready?"
"Hahaha… no. Here's something I found interesting."
She pulled up the URL and pasted it into the message, but didn't send it yet as she started typing.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Taking advantage of a knucklehead like my boyfriend-"
"Hey!" Ryuji pouted.
"-And then going to hijack his account? How do you people sleep at night? You are a disgrace to your own flippin' mother and if you think I'm going to sit back and watch my boy's Steam account fly out the window, you're dead wrong. If you or any of your so-called colleagues, who seriously need to touch grass, by the way, try this again… I will find out about this, and next time, I'm bringing in a friend who's more hot headed than my boyfriend. Piss. Off."
Ann smiled, hitting the send message. "Now we wait."
"...I think he just blocked you."
"Ha! Loser." Ann smirked. "Alright, if this happens again, just let me know, sweetie." She kissed him on the cheek and walked off.
"Man, what a woman." Ryuji chuckled.
Confessional - Ann
"Wait, wha-... who even… that was a private moment between me and Ryuji! How did you find-..." She growled. "It was Deadpool, wasn't it? Excuse me, I need to go ignite his butt."
She walked off with a huff.
End Confessional
"I forgot I put the camera there. That was me trying to figure out who was stealing my snacks… eheheh, whoops… eh, I'm sure Wade'll be fine." Futaba giggled.
"Aaanyway. Scams on the internet aren't just the only thing you need to worry about. You gotta worry about scammers in phone calls too. Luckily, phone scammers aren't very bright."
Eggman had his phone against his ear while Orbot and Cubot were busy building another Death Egg Robot. "Yes, hello. I'm a representative of Macrohard. There is something wrong with your computer and you need to turn it on and give me access to it."
Cubot accidentally dropped a torch. "Ooops!"
On the other end of the line, Rosalina heard the background noise and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Uh-huh… I'm sorry sir, but I know nothing about computers. My husband deals with everything."
"That's not an issue. Just follow my instructions. It's not that hard. Just turn on the computer."
"Oh, I'm sorry… I really don't know anything about computers. How exactly do you turn them on? Is it this button that says "Esk"?"
Beep beep beep
"Oh. He hung up. How unfortunate."
She put her phone down and giggled, fist pumping. "Nailed it!"
Confessional - Rosalina
"I've honestly been getting better with technology these days, with the help of my family and Ibuki. I'm pretty sure I'm a pro at this."
"Honey, did you plug my drill into the fridge?"
Rosalina blushed a deep red. "I have… no idea what you're talking about, honey."
End Confessional
"I'm pretty sure Sae had a fun time with one too." Futaba said.
"Hi, yes, I'd like to talk to you about your insurance."
"My insurance, you say?" Sae asked, casually leaning against her desk.
"Yes. Your insurance has been fraudulent and I'm going to need your bank account number."
"Just a curious question. What exactly is my insurance?"
"Does it matter?"
"Tell me the name."
"Lady, does it matter?"
"I can do this all day."
"Ugh, fine… your insurance company is DededeEnterprise, right?"
Sae casually looked at her computer, seeing "MushroomKingdomCare" on the screen.
"Yes, that would be my account." She stifled a laugh.
"Good. Now, I'd like you to give me your bank account number."
"Yeah, my number is "1234 You Realize You're Talking to a Detective, Right"?"
Beep beep beep
Sae chuckled, hanging up and looking at Kyoko who was casually drinking coffee near her. "Worked like a charm."
Kyoko chuckled. "Told you it'd work."
Confessional - Wario
"Bah, okay… so that didn't work out so well! However, I got another idea!" Wario smirked as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello, yes, I'd like to speak about your insura-
POW!
A fist came flying out of Wario's phone and knocked him unconscious, then the hand pulled Rayman out of the phone as he glared at Wario and pulled out a sign.
"I don't have insurance, you bonehead!"
End Confessional
"There's been a trend on Lakitube lately that I've been seeing that basically has people making an account pretending to be that person and then writing in the comments saying "Would you like this state of the art PS5? Click here and enter this free giveaway!" and then you see the original person going "I DID NOT WRITE THIS!" and stuff like that. I don't know why this is a trend but, ya know, scammers gotta scam, ya know?"
Confessional - Gloria
"Ugh, donnae get me started on this scam that's been poppin' up in Galar. Apparently some shitehead advertised that I'm open for battlin' 24/7. "Ye want a piece of the champion? She's available 24/7!"."
"Hi! I would like to battle you!"
"IT'S THREE IN THE FOCKIN' MORNIN'!"
"C'mon, let's battle!"
SLAM!
"...That's cool, I'll just wait on your porch while you're getting ready!"
"The fockin' nerve of some folk…"
End confessional
"Oh! There's also this one scam that involves Toadbook and gift cards. It basically has a scammer pretending to be a friend and needs money because they're broke. They'll either contact you through PM or text you. The most common scam I've seen is asking to pay for two or three thousand Yen in GBay cards. Ugh, I swear, that site is the perfect cesspool for scammers… so if they ask you for more money, like two or three thousand… do yourself a favor and DON'T. Otherwise, you'll lose eleven thousand and a hundred yen, and trust me, that ain't pretty if you have that in savings or for emergencies. Hopefully this will save some people."
Confessional - Nan
"These days, I keep getting Discord invites from some anime servers I'm in, and when I accept them, these people ask me about giving them money for some service they're doing on Twitch or asking if I could commission them for drawing OCs because, apparently, they're low on rent. I dunno if this is truly a scam but you can never be too careful. Oh, and no, I don't give them my cash in case if you were wondering."
End Confessional
"Now that I think about it, I think I remember some kind of transaction back in Inkopolis or something. Dunno what it was for though."
Earlier…
Marie hummed, casually drinking some tea while reading a newspaper, when her phone started to ring. "Hello?"
"Hi. Your account has been-"
Marie hung up and continued reading, when her phone started ringing again. She picked it up immediately.
"Hi. You have-"
"I know where you live." She said and then hung up, then she dialed up a number. "Hey, how are you? I'm doin' alright unless you count a scammer trying to rob you blind over the phone. Yup, I got a job for it. Yeah, I'll send money over, thanks. I owe you one." She put her phone down.
Back in the present…
Futaba's phone buzzed as she picked it up, seeing a notification. "Newly reported scammer found having been locked in a closet with all possessions stolen." She read aloud, then grimaced. "Well, the good news is, I know where the transaction went. The bad news is, I don't wanna know…"
"Anyway, before I wrap this up, I wanna give a shoutout to one of Nan's friends that helped us make this PSA in the first place. Take it away, Qwark!"
Confessional - Qwark
"Thanks, Futaba. Anyway, hey guys, it's me, Qwark. Let me input something regarding this. Surely some of y'all would ask "Where the hell is the next chapter for RWBY the Hedgehog 2?" It's coming along. It's slow, sure, but it's coming along fine. That said, I'm here discussing what happened that led up to this PSA being made and what you should not do to end up being screwed over. Last week, I'd been scammed and pretty much Nan and everyone else are doing everything in their power to only only cheer me up with the PSA you're currently reading, but also preventing something something like this happening to someone. Pretty much what had happened with Ryuji happened to me here except… I wasn't so lucky. If anyone who says they "accidentally" mass reported you, don't fall for it and you somehow did manage to get in contact with them and says they'll link you to a representative of the company through any website to help you alleviate this issues. Now let me stress this next part, because this is VERY important, mind you! So listen well and remember this! Click their profile and see the date the account was made. The company behind your account can contact you through their support services and ONLY through their support services. The representative should not be able to contact you through a third party service such as Discourse or Tweester or any type of services out there. They are simply there to scam you out of your money that they themselves should've gotten through actually working hard like the rest of us but chose not to. Please don't end up like me and report the scammers as soon as you can, you'd be doing a massive favor for a lot of us. The less scammers we have, the better. Anywho, I'll be going back to writing my series. See y'all later."
End confessional
"Thanks, dude! Anyway, just remember to stay vigilant and don't fall for any scams, no matter how tempting the ad might be. I'm Futaba Sakura and-" Her phone buzzed again as she looked into it. "HUH?!"
A few seconds earlier…
"Tucker, that's not a real ride!" Carolina said.
"Says you! If Fred Flintstone can drive this bad boy, then so can I!"
"You're gonna wear yourself out!"
"Nonsense! I got powerful thighs and a strong body!" Tucker picked up said "vehicle" and literally ran off with it.
Carolina groaned, pulling out her phone and texted Futaba while taking a picture.
"I believe this was your handiwork?"
In the present…
"What the hell… he actually went for it… I didn't think he'd go for it!" Futaba groaned. "Alright, that backfired…" She mumbled. "Anyway, see y'all later."
Deadpool: Ow! Ooof! OW! Ann, it wasn't me! OOOOOW!
Ibuki: ...Should we tell her?
Nah... he'll be fine.
Ibuki: Yeah, that's fair.
Anywho, this PSA was a collab between me and Qwark... and everyone else who pitched in to make the poor dude feel better. First it was Steam earlier in the month, then today his Playstation account got hacked hard, presumably from the same guy. Stay strong, bud.