“Good evening, do you have a cat or a dog?” This was a typical opening line for Bayu, a 23-year-old Indonesian man who targeted unsuspecting Americans with flirty messages. His goal was simple: get them to reply and then smoothly transition to ask for their WhatsApp number.
Sometimes he would feign familiarity, starting with a casual, “Hello, we’ve met before?” before pivoting to a seemingly innocent question, such as, “Hello, do you have any recommendations for a holiday?”
“I was told to try to seduce American men. I was told to get their WhatsApp contact.”
