As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.
The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people’s personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world’s population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.
In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.
It would be easy to assume that these numbers are skewed by countries where women are blatantly oppressed, and that is somewhat true. However, a majority was found to hold no gender biases in just six of the 75 countries studied—and no, the U.S. was not among them. Nope, not Canada either.
Andorra, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden were the only countries where a majority of people showed no clear gender bias. (Andorra came out on way on top, with 73% of its population showing no bias—the only country to top 70%. Go Andorra.)
Where did the U.S. and Canada stand? According to the study, 43% of Americans hold no gender bias while Canada clocks in at 48%. Basically, if you’re sitting in a stadium full of people as a woman in North America, half of the people you’re looking at likely harbor some kind of clear bias against you. Same goes if you’re a woman competing in a sport, giving a talk at a conference, or—ahem—running for public office.
Perhaps the most unnerving stats from the report are these:
– About 50% people—both men and women—think men make better political leaders than women
– About 40% of people think men make better business leaders than women
– Close to 50% of men believe that men have more right to a job than women
– About 30% believe that it’s justifiable for a man to beat his intimate partner
Ummm, that last one? Holy moly.
What’s just as concerning is that despite decades of progress on women’s rights, bias against women is increasing in some countries among both men and women. And this is the case even among some countries that scored well on the index—bias in top-six Sweden, for example, actually increased over the nine years the study covered.
“The share of both women and men worldwide with moderate to intense gender biases grew from 57 percent to 60 percent for women and from 70 percent to 71 percent for men,” the report states, adding: “Surveys have shown that younger men may be even less committed to equality than their elders.”
That last part is worth repeating. Evidence points to young men being less committed to gender equality than older generations. That is not good news for the future, folks.
Of course, we have made big strides across the globe in terms of increasing access to education, improving healthcare for women, and other areas. But women still don’t have a place at most of the decision-making tables, and we obviously still have social norm hurdles to overcome to achieve true gender equality.
“We have come a long way in recent decades to ensure that women have the same access to life’s basic needs as men,” said Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office. “We have reached parity in primary school enrollment and reduced maternal mortality by 45 percent since the year 1990. But gender gaps are still all too obvious in other areas, particularly those that challenge power relations and are most influential in actually achieving true equality. Today. the fight about gender equality is a story of bias and prejudices.”
Results of the study indicate a backlash to the push for gender equality, the report states. Indeed, change is uncomfortable for many people and progress is often a two steps forward, one step back process. For sure, social norms are more complex and challenging to change than laws.
“Policymakers often focus on the tangible—on laws, policies, spending commitments, public statements and so on,” the report states. “This is driven partly by the desire to measure impact and by sheer impatience with the slow pace of change. Yet neglecting the invisible power of norms would miss a deeper understanding of social change.”
Social norms also directly impact progress made in all areas. Currently, no country in the world is on track to meet the gender equality goals by Sustainable Development Goal target of 2030. With stats like these, that’s not shocking.
Clearly, something to keep in mind as we advocate for gender equality is how to effectively address people’s core beliefs about women and equality in general. Legal progress without social progress is shaky at best, and true gender equality won’t become reality unless people believe that it should.
It appears we have some serious work ahead of us on that front.
For All The Dogs is finally out and while plenty of Drake fans have been celebrating the release, some of his fellow stars are not so happy to hear the new LP — namely, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the English synth-pop duo known as Pet Shop Boys. On Twitter (because “X” is a dumb name) they have claimed that Drake’s album used a portion of one of their own songs uncredited and without permission.
“Surprising to hear @Drake singing the chorus of ‘West End Girls’ in the track ‘All The Parties’ on his new album,” they wrote. “No credit given or permission requested.” On Tidal, the listed lyricists include A. Graham (Drake himself), B. Saint Ford, H. Arsenault, M. Bidaye, and M. Samuels, with placeholders for producers Coleman, Fierce, and J Dolla (the list likely being submitted at the last minute without getting the producers’ legal names). Tennant and Lowe are not included.
On “All The Parties,” which features Chief Keef and potentially disses fellow Toronto star The Weeknd according to fan speculation, Drake croons, “And it’s 6, our town a dead end world / East End boys and West End girls.” This is pretty much word for word the chorus of “West End Girls,” comprised of the refrain “In a West End town, a dead end world / The East End boys and West End girls.”
If it’s true that Drake went ahead and included the lyrics without permission, he could soon come to regret his habit of finishing up albums at the last minute and releasing this one without getting his ducks in a row.
Dear god no. That’s an awful idea. I’m sorry I even brought it up.
But — hypothetically speaking — Alyssa Farah Griffin thinks Swift could beat Trump. She would know: The View co-host served as White House communications director for Trump before turning on him following the riots on January 6th (convenient timing). During a recent episode of the daytime talk show, Farah Griffin offered a haunting prediction during a conversation about Swift and Travis Kelce’s alleged romance.
“This ends in one way. We are all Taylor Swift fans, and to be honest, if Donald Trump looks like he’s gonna win, she’s just gonna need to get in the race and defeat him once and for all, because she’s probably the only person who can,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Farah Griffin was laughing while she offered her foolproof way to beat Trump, so she was probably, hopefully, kidding. But still, to quote Swift herself, no.
Joe Keery has come a long way since he was hanging out with a bunch of middle school nerds. The Stranger Thingsactor is starring in the upcoming season of Fargo,and will portray a man named Gator (it’s the Midwest, mind you), the son of Roy Tillman, played by Jon Hamm (an actual real mid-westerner).
The latest teaser for the upcoming season of the anthology series introduces Gator and his “stealthy” stake-out skills as he hides behind a rolling barrel of snow-covered hay. In case you didn’t know, the Midwest is its own character in the Fargo-verse. Obviously, this does not work out for our young Gator.
Season five of Fargo stars Hamm as a small-town sheriff who begins investigating a local woman played by Juno Temple as some sketchy things from her past come back to haunt her. Kerry fits right in as the sheriff’s clumsy son, Gator. The season also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam Spruell, and David Rysdahl. Here is the official synopsis:
The latest installment of Fargo is set in Minnesota and North Dakota, 2019. After an unexpected series of events lands “Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon” (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities, this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife is suddenly plunged back into a life she thought she had left behind.
Fargo season 5 will premiere on November 21 on FX and will later be available on Hulu for streaming. Check out our silly little guy Keery in the teaser above.
During Friday morning’s episode of The View, Hostin didn’t hold back her thoughts on the latest episode of the reality series which saw its star, Gerry Turner, get emotional while sending some of the contestants home. While co-host Joy Behar was here for the touching moment, Hostin called the whole thing “corny.”
“I really didn’t like it. I’m thinking I need intense therapy,” Hostin said via Decider. “It just made me so uncomfortable, all those tears.”
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who’s also a frequent sparring partner of Hostin’s, jumped in to defend Turner’s honor.
“No! I love Gerry,” Griffin said. “He can cry anytime. I’m obsessed with him. He is so adorable.”
Sara Haines was also touched by the emotional moment on The Golden Bachelor, but she didn’t get far before Ana Navarro chimed in and joined Hostin in hating on the reality show and the fact that the panel is even discussing it.
“Can I tell you something? I’m gonna be the one crying if we keep talking about The Bachelor,” the routinely blunt Navarro said. “[The View producer] Brian Teta is gonna torture me about this every week. He said it’s the No. 1 show on Hulu. I want to be thrown on the other side of the wall.”
Aaron Rodgers, in his never-ending quest to let you know he’s read stuff that he saw on the internet, took a little shot at Travis Kelce earlier this week. During an appearance on Pat McAfee’s show, Rodgers mentioned how the New York Jets did a good job bottling him up Kelce during the team’s 23-20 loss on Sunday Night Football, and decided to bring up the fact that he’s in an ad for a COVID vaccine.
“Mr. Pfizer, we kinda shut him down a little bit,” Rodgers said. “He didn’t have a crazy impact game. Obviously he had some yards and stuff.”
Kelce met with the media for the first time since this happened on Friday afternoon, and while he’s been in the news a lot recently for his relationship with Taylor Swift, he was asked about Rodgers’ jab about, well, the jab.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Kelce said. “I mean, with the stache, I look like a guy named Mr. Pfizer. Who knew I’d get into the vax wars with Aaron Rodgers, man, Mr. Pfizer vs. the Johnson and Johnson family.”
The reference, of course, is in reference to the fact that Rodgers, a noted vaccine skeptic, plays for a team owned by Woody Johnson, who is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. The company famously released a single-shot vaccine against COVID-19 back in 2021, along with a lot of other stuff that Rodgers probably has some reservations about.
For this exercise, I’m grilling beef patties on a flattop on my stove or in a cast iron skillet, depending on what the recipe calls for. While I’m a big fan of grilling burgers on a charcoal, gas, or smoker-based grill, the juices simply don’t get retained the same way they do on a flat surface (where fat can collect and reintegrate into the patty). I’m also aiming for medium-rare on all the cooks — that’s around 130f. For the steakhouse patty, I went closer to 120F because bloody as hell is the only way to order a steakhouse burger in my very humble opinion. What’s interesting is that there were some big swings in coloration thanks to spices and mix-ins even at medium-rare — which I found fascinating given that people eat with their eyes (and get squirrelly about “bloody” meat). We’ll get to all of that.
Next, I’m not going into cheese at all. Yes, the Juicy Lucy has “juicy” in the name thanks to the melty cheese in the middle of the patty. But that feels more like a cheat than actually just producing a simply juicy burger patty. Cheese is just fat and water, after all.
Lastly, my trick for amazing juicy burgers is the classic Oklahoma smash burger method. That’s where you take shaved white onions and smash it into the patty as you grill it off. The water from the onions helps the patty stay super juicy while the sugars help with the caramelization of the patty’s edges. But that’s getting into topping territory, and this is about making and maintaining a juicy patty of meat. Adding a whole onion just feels like a cheat too, so I skipped it. Still, it works wonders.
To pull this off, I made all my patties and marked them out. Some were seasoned in the mix, some were pre-seasoned, and some were seasoned on the grill top. You can clearly see the different looks of each one below.
Zach Johnston
Then I grilled them all at the same time so that I could taste test each one while it was still hot and prime.
Zach Johnston
Look good? Let’s dive in!
8. Milk Patty — Taste 3
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
The “milk patty” is pretty self-explanatory (and all over the internet). You simply add milk to the ground beef before forming and seasoning. The addition of milk adds fat and water and does make the meat an unholy pale grey. But you can’t argue with adding water and fat to achieve juiciness in a burger.
Ingredients:
4 oz. 80/20 ground chuck
1 tsp. whole milk
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Neutral oil
Method:
Mix the milk into the ground beef and form a standard patty (either by hand or with a plate press).
Generously salt and pepper the patty on both sides.
Add the oil to the grill top and lay the patty on over medium-high heat. Cook the patty for 2 minutes on each side to create a nice crust (don’t press down on the patty while cooking). Let rest for a few minutes before dressing and serving.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
5/10 — This had a normal level of juiciness to it. But the texture was just off. It was chewy. The flavor wasn’t that great either. It’s not that the milk was over-powering but it was just off. All of that added up to something inferior, albeit acceptably juicy.
7. S+P Patty — Taste 1
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
This is just straight meat with salt and pepper. No tricks. No hacks.
Ingredients:
4 oz. 80/20 ground chuck
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Neutral cooking oil
Method:
Form patty by pressing with a small plate or pan until about 1/3 inch thick.
Season patty on both sides generously with salt and pepper.
Lay patty on a hot skillet or grill top that has a thin slick of oil on it. Cook for a minimum of 2 minutes per side making sure not to press down on the patty while it cooks.
Juiciness Rating:
6/10 — This was a perfectly suitable juicy burger that tasted like it had salt and pepper on it. Nothing fancy. It was nice and meaty though as the beef was 100% the star of the show. To that end, I’d recommend using this method if you’re grinding your own mix of beef cuts.
Zach Johnston
6. The Tik-Tok Patty — Taste 7
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
There are a gazillion TikToks out there — everything you can imagine gets tossed into a burger patty recipe on that app. The overall gist is always around bread crumbs (panko usually), an egg, and spices and herbs.
A quick note, this is always odd to me as you’re making a meatball or meatloaf rather than a burger patty. But hey, to each their own!
Ingredients:
1 pound 80/20 ground chuck
4 tbsp. panko (or bread crumbs)
1 egg
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp. evaporated milk
1 tsp. MSG
1 tsp. chili crisp
1 tsp. mixed herbs
Neutral oil
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix with hands until everything is well integrated.
Weigh out 4 oz. balls and form into patties
Heat a pan to medium-high heat without any extra oil. Once hot, place the patties in the pan and cook until each side is seared — about 2 minutes per side (don’t press down on the patty while cooking).
Let patties rest for up to 5 minutes before serving.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
6/10 — This was medium juicy but really just tasted like a meatball. I know, shocker. If you’re looking for a classic burger taste or texture, this isn’t it. Still, it had a nice mouthfeel and was well-flavored, so it’s not a total loss.
It’s also worth noting that this read 130F when I checked the temp. Which is exactly the same temp as far redder patties on this list. The salt and pepper patty right above this was exactly the same temp. The mix-ins do have a pretty big effect on the color of the meat — which is either a detriment or a fix for the squeamish who don’t trust temps over their eyes.
5. Smash Patty — Taste 6
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
This is a classic for a reason. Two small balls of meat smashed on a super hot grill top hit with salt and done. It’s fast, easy, and delicious.
Ingredients:
4 oz. 80/20 ground chuck
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Neutral oil
Method:
Form two 2-oz. meatballs with the ground chuck.
Turn the heat up to high and add a splash of oil to the grill top.
Once the oil just starts to smoke, place the meatballs on the grill top and use a heavy spatula and kitchen towel to smash the meatballs into burger patties. Immediately hit with a big pinch of salt and pepper.
After about 45 seconds, a good crust should have formed. Flip and cook for about 45 more seconds.
Stack the patties and serve.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
7/10 — These were actually juicy. They weren’t the juiciest, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t dry either. Moreover, the texture of these was excellent. You have layers of crunchy, softness, and a mix of it all with a juicy burger patty experience.
The rub here is that these are probably the easiest to overcook and dry out. Move fast when cooking smash burgers, folks!
4. The “Bramucci” Patty — Taste 8
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
When I was assigned this task, my editorial director dropped this recipe with pride. I was 100% intrigued as while I don’t add too many mix-ins, I love all the things he mixes into his meat here. Fish sauce, hell yes! Mustard powder, sign me up! MSG? That’s what I’m talking about! Not to mention, chili flakes when used judiciously make everything better.
Ingredients:
1lb 80/20 organic ground chuck
2 dashes of fish sauce
2 shakes of mustard powder
2 shakes of onion powder
2 dashes of chili flakes
MSG
Black pepper
Neutral oil
Method:
Combine the chuck, fish sauce, mustard powder, onion powder, and chili flakes in a larger bowl and mix with your hands until everything is well integrated.
Heat a skillet to medium-high heat with a touch of oil. While that’s heating form four 4-ounce patties either by hand or with a press.
Lay the patties on the lightly oiled grill top. Dash the patties with MSG and black pepper on the top of the patty.
Cook for 2 minutes per side, making sure not to press the patties with the spatula while cooking.
Rest for at least 2-3 minutes before dressing and serving.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
7/10 — This was averagely juicy. But what I’ve noticed so far is that putting dry ingredients into your patty meat is tricky as it’ll soak up water and also affect the end color pretty drastically (I temped this and it was 132F — still a way from well-done at 140F).
That all said, this was still a meaty well-seasoned burger that felt like a burger patty (and not a meatball) with a decent juiciness.
3. George Motz’s Steakhouse Patty — Taste 7
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
According to burger master George Motz, the key to any good steakhouse burger is special high-quality meat that’s usually ground in-house from the trimmings of the steaks with chuck, rib-eye, sirloin, brisket, and other cuts. Since my grinder is on the fritz, I used ground wagyu, which is on pretty much every steakhouse burger menu right now. After all, this is more about technique at the end of the day with that thick patty being the point.
Ingredients:
6 oz. wagyu ground beef or dry-aged ground rib-eye
Kosher Salt
Neutral Oil
Method:
Press the burger with a four-inch ring/burger mold or by hand until even on all sides.
Heat a skillet on high heat and add a touch of oil.
Slap the patty down onto the skillet to get a super flat cooking surface on the bottom of the patty.
Generously salt the top of the patty.
After about 3 minutes, a crust should have formed on the bottom and you can flip. Cook the patty another 3 minutes until the internal temp is 115F (add a whole minute to each side of the patty during the cook if you want medium rare). Also make sure not to press the patty while it cooks, let it ride.
Let the patty rest for 5 minutes (the temp should rise to 120F, which is rare) before dressing and serving.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
8/10 — This was juicy. So juicy. The salt was enough to give it a good season (I used a lot of salt) and really highlight the flavor of the wagyu beef being used. In the end, though, it didn’t pop flavor and juicy-wise as the next two entries. That said, this is a really good burger patty.
2. Gordon Ramsay’s Patty — Taste 4
Zach Johnston
This is a famous Ramsay backyard BBQ grilling burger. It’s massive. I had to re-read the recipe about six times to make sure he was really calling for one pound of ground beef for two, count ’em, two burgers. There’s no reason not to make these six-ouncers, but here we are.
The Patty:
Ingredients:
8 oz. 80/20 ground chuck
1 oz. frozen unsalted butter
0.5 tbsp. garlic powder
0.75 tbsp. salt
0.5 tbsp. freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
Method:
Combine the spices and meat in a bowl and use a box grater to grate the frozen butter into the meat. Form one (very large) patty.
Cover the patty in the olive oil and add to a grill on medium heat. Cook for at least 3 minutes per side until an internal temp of 125F is reached, making sure not to press it while it cooks.
Let the patty rest for 3 to 5 minutes (the temp should rise by about 5F during that rest) before dressing and serving.
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
9/10 — Of course, Gordon Ramsay has this shit on lock. The addition of frozen butter is clutch. Just like with southern biscuits, frozen butter expands as it cooks, creating pockets of goodness (or layers in biscuits).
This had a great seasoning like the Bramucci Patty with that extra layer of juiciness that helped it pop. I’ll be making this again but likely sort of combining the two into a super patty.
1. J. Kenji López-Alt’s Diner Patty — Taste 2
Zach Johnston
The Patty:
López-Alt’s Diner Patty takes the wonderful fattiness of a well-worked diner grill top and brings it home. He does this by seasoning the skillet with bacon fat and then clarified butter. While López-Alt doesn’t say to butter baste his patty while cooking it in the skillet, I couldn’t help myself.
Ingredients:
6 oz. 80/20 ground chuck
2 strips bacon
3 tbsp. clarified butter
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Method:
Use your hands to form a large patty that’s about 1/2 inch thick. Generously salt and pepper and set aside.
Add the bacon to a cast iron skillet and turn the heat to medium. Add a spoonful of tap water to help render the fat from the bacon. Once the bacon is cooked and the skillet is full of bacon fat, set aside.
Add the clarified butter to the skillet and keep the heat on medium.
Lay the patty in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes, don’t press the patty down with the spatula. If the butter starts to smoke, turn the heat down a tad. Flip the burger and cook for at least another 3 minutes until the internal temp is 125F (I used a spoon to scoop the butter over the patty while it cooked, helping it baste in hot goodness). Let the patty rest on the bun for 2 to 3 minutes before serving (it’ll increase internal temp while resting).
Juiciness Rating:
Zach Johnston
10/10 — This is the juiciest and tastiest burger patty by far. It had a tone of meaty beef flavor while still feeling well-seasoned. But the clarified butter/bacon fat mix it’s cooked in just took this to a whole new level of juiciness. This is pure comfort food to the point that I could see eating this patty on a nice bun with nothing else and still being happy about it. Well, maybe some pickle. And maybe some onion. And a slice of sharp cheddar.
Final Thoughts On The Burger Patties
Zach Johnston
There wasn’t a dry patty in sight on this list. Still, some were juicy than others. I did learn that mix-ins are tricky. They can discolor the meat pretty dramatically while drawing out some juiciness. Still, you’re adding a lot of flavor so it’s not a wash, per se. I think there’s value there, especially if you’re adding fat and water back as in Gordon Ramsay’s patty recipe.
I would avoid an egg and panko (or bread crumbs) though. It just doesn’t feel like a real burger patty anymore once you go down that road. That doesn’t mean it won’t taste good though.
In the end, I’d add wet spices and mix-ins that have some fat. So things like oily chili crisp instead of dry chili flakes and frozen butter instead of milk or egg. There’s a balance to be found in the recipes that I’ll certainly be playing with in the future. I hope you do too!
As if the Loki Season 2 premiere didn’t have already fans losing their minds over the show’s return, the episode also dropped a post-credits scene for a little extra fun.
In the stinger, Sylvie steps through a time door into 1980’s Broxton, Oklahoma. From there, she makes her way to a nearby McDonald’s. Clearly unfamiliar with the fast food chain, she attempts to order some sort of meat before the cashier recommends the Chicken McNuggets. (A solid option.) But before she makes her final choice, Sylvie looks around and notices all of the happy people enjoying themselves. After a moment, she decides she’ll have “everything” as the scene fades to black.
But what the heck does it all mean?
For starters, Sylvie spent her entire life seeking revenge on the TVA for taking her away from her family. With the agency seemingly doomed thanks to her killing its secret architect and mastermind, He Who Remains, she can now pursue a life of happiness. That apparently includes stuffing her face with McDonald’s, but hey, it’s her first day.
However, judging by the trailers and promotional materials, it appears Sylvie will end up working behind the counter. Could that be the result of her ordering everything on the menu and having no way to pay for it? Or will reality break itself even further thanks to the death of He Who Remains?
In the meantime, Broxton also has a notable connection to the Thor comics. From the mid-2000s to mid-2010s, Thor operated out of the Oklahoma town, and at one point, Asgard itself was relocated to the skies above. The town’s inclusion could just be a neat Easter egg, but you never know with Loki, which is part of the fun.
You’re not gonna believe this, but October 6, 2023, is World Smile Day!
A commercial artist named Harvey Ball created what we think of as the classic smiley face—yellow circle, black dot eyes and upturned smile— in 1963. Over the years, he grew concerned the smiley face was becoming over-commercialized, and he thought we should all devote one day each year to smiles and acts of kindness throughout the world. As the World Smile Day website states, “The smiley face knows no politics, no geography and no religion. Harvey’s idea was that for at least one day each year, neither should we.”
Since 1999, World Smile Day has been celebrated on the first Friday of October. The instructions for celebrating it are simple: “Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile”!
We’ve got 10 smile-worthy finds for World Smile Day for ya! Enjoy!
1. Watch heavy metal singer Dan Vasc slay ‘Amazing Grace’ in the best way
So, so beautiful and powerful. Learn more about Dan Vasc’s performance here.
2. 104-year-old Dorothy Hoffner broke the world record for tandem skydiving
When the whole neighborhood likes halloween (and barbie) a lot #barbie #barbiehalloween #barbiemovie #mattel #fyp #halloween2023 #pink #foryoupage #surprise
Wow. And there’s even more. Read the whole story here.
9. This is the best pet protector story ever. Charlie was a real one.
After falling victim to a scam on Facebook Marketplace, Michel Janse (@michel.c.janse) hopped on TikTok to give everyone a heads-up so they don’t have to go through the same thing. “Be smarter than me!” she said in the video.
Janse posted some furniture on the marketplace and chatted with a woman who seemed interested in purchasing it. She even looked at her profile to get a “vibe check,” and everything seemed legit.
The potential buyer seemed to be careful to protect themselves as well. “For my safety, I just want to confirm that you’re a real person,” the buyer messaged Janse. “Are you ok if I voice call you from Google?”
Even though the request seemed odd, Janse went through with it. She subsequently got a message containing a Google Voice code. When the buyer asked Jane to send her the code, she did, only to quickly discover she had been duped.
It seems that Janse had a gut feeling that the woman was a scammer but didn’t act on it til it was too late.
Janse fell victim to a common scam through online marketplaces. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the scammer could use the Google Voice number to rip off other people and conceal their identity. “Sometimes these scammers are after a Google Voice verification code and other information about you,” the FTC wrote. “If they get enough of your information, they could pretend to be you to access your accounts or open new accounts in your name.”
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