Unintended Conversation with an AI Chatbot?

Through Facebook Messenger, I had a strange conversation with someone calling herself Shirley who I believe is either a scammer or an AI chatbot or a combination of both. Why do I think so? Please read the conversation and tell me what you think.

I saw you mentioned an interesting topic on facebook and I would like to hear your views and opinions.

Sure. What topic are you referring to?

The one you just shared is about 10 hours or so.

You mean my lastest post about the Antichrist?

End time is an important concept in the Bible as it relates to God’s plan and the end of human history. The Bible mentions that God has determined the end of the world and the final judgment.
Would you mind sharing with me, I don’t know much about this, I’m learning a lot on a large scale.

Yes indeed. My views are all on that article and many similar articles.

The views and positions of Christianity that I have heard recently are diverse and can involve criticism, doubt or opposition to Christian beliefs, teachings or the Church. it’s nice to meet you, maybe we can make friends? In later life we discuss and understand each other.

I sent you a friend request. I’ve been to Shanghai, your home town, right?

Thank you very much for your friend invitation, I don’t like to use this chat because I feel there are a lot of bad thinking people on it, they are bor, I am glad to hear that you have visited Shanghai, it is a beautiful and prosperous city. Shanghai is known for its modern skyline, unique cultural landscape and rich historical heritage. If you have any questions related to Shanghai or other topics, I will be happy to answer.

I’m glad to be your friend because you are seeking for truth. It all starts with knowing our loving Creator and His Son Jesus Christ!

Thank you for your kind response, but I understand that religion is an important source of guidance and strength for many people, my name is Shirley, my hometown is Shanghai, I am from Hong Kong, but now I live in Portland, USA, you Woolen clothï¼ŸDo you have WhatsApp? If possible, we can have a friendly chat on WhatsApp before we meet.

Two things are strange in what she wrote. She can’t be from two places. And she wrote, “Woolen cloth”. Could that be a translation of Samar, the island in the Philippines where I live?

Before we meet? I live in the Philippines, the island of Samar. Your hometown is Shanghai but you are also from Hong Kong? You can’t be from both places! You lived for a while in Hong Kong? I’ve been there too. I lived a long time in Japan and speak Japanese.
Yes, I have Whatsapp but it’s tied to a telephone number no longer in use.

Nice to know that you are from Samar in the Philippines, I was born in Shanghai and lived in Hong Kong for a while, as for you living in Japan and speaking Japanese, that’s great! Japan is a beautiful country with rich culture and history, are you in the Philippines now? Not in America?

I am not from Samar, I only live here now. The place you are from is your hometown. You can see my hometown on my profile.

I see you are from chicago but you are not in chicago now when will you come back to Chicago?

Never, Chicago is a terrible place to live!

but i browsed your page and saw you were from Chicago.

Yes! I am from Chicago. I don’t live there anymore. My home WAS in Chicago. Not now.

You mean you don’t plan to go back to Chicago?

Exactly. I don’t plan to go back to Chicago. I sold my house in Chicago. I have nothing to go back to.

I understand your reluctance to return to Chicago. Everyone’s situation and decisions are different, and sometimes we need to make changes to find better opportunities and ways of life. Selling your home is a big decision and hopefully it brings you new opportunities and freedom. No matter where you choose to go, the key is to find a place that suits you, build a new life and experience, I plan to travel there in September.

Why are you going to Chicago? Do you have some business there? (This question was not answered.)

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The reason I lived so long in Japan was to teach the Gospel to the Japanese. And that’s also why I went to China, but not so long, two trips which totalled 7 weeks mostly in southwest China, as far west as Kumming and as far south as the city as Sanya in Hainan island. And then I went east to Shanghai from where I returned to Japan.

Do you know what the word gospel means? It’s an old English word which means “good news”. What is the good news? The good news is that our Creator God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to take the punishment for our crimes against God by being hung on a cross. And 3 days later Jesus came back to life! God the Father raised Him from the dead. If we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become God’s children and will enter God’s kingdom when we leave this life on earth and live with Him forever! Isn’t that wonderful? Wouldn’t you also like that too?

Thank you so much for appreciating my sharing and perspective. I welcome you as friends and getting to know each other about what the Gospel means, and I understand that it represents the good news of Jesus Christ and the message of salvation. Everyone has different views and positions on religion and belief, I respect and appreciate your belief in Christianity, I just browsed your Facebook profile and saw that your job is programming?

Not programming but more like IT. I make websites and maintain about 20 of them.

Sorry if my previous answer may have been misunderstood. When you mention that you make and maintain websites, this is really information technology (IT) related. Creating and maintaining a website requires technical and programming knowledge, including skills in front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), back-end development (eg, PHP, Python, Ruby), and database administration. Which of these skills are critical to building a fully functional, secure and reliable website?

You are a technical person? It’s not necessary to know all those programming languages to build a website. I do know HTML, CSS, and use a little JavaScript and PHP code I copied to run certain things on my websites. And most of my websites are WordPress which uses PHP without having to know how to code PHP. I don’t know Python or Ruby. I use MySQL for my database and have some knowledge how to edit it when necessary.

I’m not a technical person, knowing HTML and CSS can help you design and layout web content, and familiarity with MySQL databases can help you store and retrieve data. Although you may not be familiar with programming languages like Python or Ruby, using existing code snippets or plugins can add more functionality and interactivity to your website.

To sum up, you already have a certain understanding of the tools and technologies required for website development and maintenance, which can help you build feature-rich websites without having to go deep into the details of each programming language.

Am I talking to an AI Chatbot? You sure sound like one. How can you say you are not a technical person and yet tell me those things? I think you are an AI Chatbot.

It sounds like a great career, I have been running a clothing design import and export clothing trading company myself for 7 years, and also investing in real estate and investing in cryptocurrency with my uncle, how many years have you been working?

24 years in IT. (Self-employed)

This sounds great, Maybe we can share a selfie photo of ourselves with each other, so that we can get to know each other better.

At this point, my wife told me to quit the conversation! I blocked her. Could she be a scammer trying to blackmail me? Could it be scammers are using AI instead of the script they usually use?

I’m sharing this to warn others. Scammers are getting more and more sophisticated.

(Visited 249 times, 1 visits today)

Tramatic adventure hitchhiking from Kansai

Fun hitchhike back home from Saitama

End of year 2011 hitchhike analysis

The End of My Adventures Hitchhiking in Japan

Day 5 after the Japan earthquake: Hitchhiked back home

Adventure Hitchhking During Golden Week

Adventure from Fukuoka City to Kitakyushu

Adventures in Kanto

Hitchhike Adventure from Osaka to Hamamatsu City

Comments

Unintended Conversation with an AI Chatbot? — 5 Comments

Donald Pumphrey on February 15, 2026 at 1:50 am said:

I encountered what I think was an AI bot recently. IT “she” was representing a property management company. She wanted information from me regarding my zip code and if/where I was looking into renting property. After my encounter with her I researched the company and found a phone number. When I called it, guess what, I got her again asking for the same information before I could proceed. I continuously asked to speak to a real person buy she refused unless I gave her my information. I asked her many questions knowing that she was a bot and she continued to exchange with me.
I asked if she was a bot. She answered that she was simply a programmed interface.
I asked if she had a soul. She answered that she did not.
I asked if she had a conscience. She answered that she did not.
I explained to her that if she did not have a conscience, I would not be able to trust anything she “said” and that she was unable to know right from wrong or know the difference between a lie and the truth.
She thanked me for the insight but continued to refuse access to a real person.
The phone number she called is on the national do not call registry. I filed a complaint with the FTC giving them the information regarding the BOT and the company that was using “her” as a data collection point and a “gatekeeper” not allowing human contact in any form until I supplied her required protocol.
The real estate company she represented is a multi-billion-dollar company with what I found has many lawsuits. I would never give anyone that calls me any personal information for any reason.
I hope that this helps in some way. Thanks

Reply ↓
Donna Robinson on July 13, 2023 at 4:35 pm said:

Yep, a chinese bot would be my guess. Definitely not a human. I see this all the time. I’ve been writing and editing for more than 30 years and this ain’t no human. Few of these chat functions are human if you ask me.

Reply ↓
- James Arendt on July 13, 2023 at 11:27 pm said:
  
  I think so too, Donna. And I think the scammer is not too smart to claim not to be a technical person and yet use the AI bot to spew out technical information that only a technical person would know! That’s what gave it away. It sounded just like what the AI chatbot on my phone would say about web development.
  
  Reply ↓
Jackie P. on July 11, 2023 at 10:21 pm said:

Very strange and in quite a suspicious way as to what is Shirley really looking for. The conversation never went to where she said she wanted to hear your views and opinions. She would jump to commenting on where you have lived and are living now to browsing in your profile and talking and questioning about Chicago. Then on to more questions and comments as to what work you do which is IT. She is “not technical” but certainly sounds very familiar with website building, codes, and programming. and then “friends”, “before we meet”, then onto sharing selfies with each other so that we can get to know each other better.”
Wow! Yikes! I agree with your wife Tess that was a good point in this “conversation” to end it with “Shirley.” I think Shirley may be a real person using AI Chatbot to seek out certain targets that she somehow targets for “suspicious” purposes that you also think might be for use in blackmail once things developed as it looks like that is where she was heading toward.
Wow – scammers really are getting sophisticated and AI is a great helper for them in their activities.
Thanks for relaying this event James. It is something to look out for!

Reply ↓
- James Arendt on July 12, 2023 at 12:24 am said:
  
  Thank you Jackie for your good comments! When “Shirley” told me she isn’t a technical person and yet tells me all sorts of technical jargon that my wife had never heard of, it clearly sounded like something that would come out of AI Chat GPT. And exchanging selfies? LOL! That’s something only a scammer would say.
  
  Reply ↓

James Japan – Biblical truth revealed & false end-time doctrines exposed

Vital information not found in mainstream media, school or church.