Kilkenny man uses hurling terminology to swindle online scammer

This is not the first time that Kilkenny’s Ross Walsh has turned the tables on an internet scammer but the method and payoff of this latest pursuit make this exchange particularly noteworthy. 

In a recent Facebook post Ross explains the story about the latest scammer he interacted with, accompanying the post with screenshots of their conversation as proof.

“Checked my spam again and was greeted with another business proposal which caught my attention,” Ross said.

The man who emailed Ross claimed to be a successful businessman called 'Solomon' who asked for £1000 in return for business advice that would allow Ross to “become rich”.

Ross told the scammer that “£1000 is an insult” and that he had attached “proof of payment of £50,000 to get the ball rolling”.

Ross then doctored a fake payment slip using an image editor showing the huge £50,000 sum under the name “Bank of Ross”.

‘Solomon’ got back to Ross to say that the money had not appeared in his banking company’s account and that there “might be a problem”.

Ross told ‘Solomon’ that he has had this issue many times before and that usually a small amount of money, around £25, sent from the receiver’s account to him “unfreezes the assets”.

He told ‘Solomon’ that it would be safer if they speak in code when discussing their transactions. The code Ross instructed ‘Solomon’ to use was straight out of the hurling handbook:

“money - high ball, transaction - short puck out, business - county final, PayPal - the square”

Having sent the £25 to try unfreeze the assets, a perplexed ‘Solomon’ sent Ross the following coded message:

“Please note that I have sent the requested high ball into the square. I still have not received a short puck out maybe there’s a problem still with your bank?”

Ross posted proof of the payment of £25 from the scammer and offered him some parting advice:

“Solomon, one thing I need you to understand about county final is never trust a short puck out.”

“This is my largest haul to date, a whopping £25,” Ross said. 

“Like the last 2 times I wanted to waste their time so they don’t waste anyone else’s or before they prey on a vulnerable person.”

He donated the money to the Irish Cancer Society.