GroupMe — a free messaging app that anyone with a smartphone can download — has had an increase of scammers both in public group chats and in personal messages, according to the Microsoft Website.
These bots have increased and been infiltrating student chats since November 2024, but a recent trend has been occurring in the amount of scams aiming to sell high-demand products since 2023, according to the UCLA newspaper Bruin Life.
GroupMe’s unique feature is that users aren’t required to share their personal phone numbers. To join, users use their preferred email. This provides comfort and security without concerns over privacy, according to the GroupMe website.
But there are still scammers in the system.
Sophomore Mia Wimer received chats saying, “I really loved your profile picture. It really inspired me, and now I want to make an oil painting out of it" and “Hey, I go to your school. Want to meet up sometime?”
Wimer responded to the message; she didn’t know how to recognize these scams and had no reason to believe this person didn’t attend SM East.
“I probably should’ve just known right away that it was a scam,” Wimer said. “But I’d never gotten a scam [message] before. And then after that, I started getting so many.”
GroupMe isn’t just used for personal reasons, such as family group chats and connecting with friends, but also for big groups of people for a variety of reasons at East, including clubs, SHARE projects and sports teams.
According to the GroupMe website, GroupMe is a Top 10 downloaded app in the U.S. on the App Store. Over 70% of colleges are now using GroupMe; this has led campus GroupMe collaboration to over 200%.
Chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom uses GroupMe for her honors chemistry and Advanced Placement classes.
“When students ask questions [on GroupMe], they are likely questions other students have as well,” Hallstrom said. “I can respond to those questions, we can resolve many of the issues that are going to be common to a wide variety of students. [Private group chats] are safe, because we can ensure that the only students who are in our GroupMe are my class people.”
But for public GroupMe’s the student or teacher owners and admin of the GroupMe group chats have to constantly delete messages that could be selling MacBooks or concert tickets — the most popular messages according to Cornell University.
SHARE group chats have received messages from scammers pretending to sell these items.
“They interrupt the point that we're trying to get across, to get people to come volunteer,” junior and SHARE Chair Mia Mosher said. “It’s not good in the SHARE GroupMe group chats because sometimes you can't tell if it's actual people.”
If there is an unknown messenger, there is an option to block or report the account. The reporting feature will notify Microsoft, and they can remove the user.
According to the United States Senate Federal Union, to protect oneself, people must be skeptical of these messages, avoid sharing personal information and verify the identity of the person through other people.
“None of the scams that I've gotten have been threatening or anything,” Wimer said. “Obviously if there were threats going around, then I would say that's not safe. But I feel like that could probably happen on any platform. So at least it has an option where you can report it.”
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