r/Scams

Welp.

Some context:

I was recently brought on board for a part-time position at a small company in my current city. This morning I received an email purporting to be from my superior (let’s call him Joe Smith), asking me for help with a “a small team incentive I’m organizing today.” “Joe” asked me to go to a grocery store and buy $1500 worth in gift cards from a set of pre-approved stores or companies, including UberEats, Macy’s, Target, and Home Depot.

Now, for all of you seasoned veterans of scams, take a minute to marvel in my idiocy after you realize how many red flags there were. The subject line of the email was my first name. “Joe” did not, even once, mention the name of the company; he just referred to “the team.” He asked me to send photos of the gift cards and the receipt after I had made the purchase, along with information about my bank account.

And do you know what I did?

I went to the grocery store earlier this afternoon — not even two hours ago -- and bought $1500 worth in three gift cards, each worth $500. Because I’m an eager little beaver and want to be as helpful an employee as possible. (I’m in my 20s and my career is precarious, so I’m always looking to prove my worth.) I went to the cash register and merrily made the purchase. My bank texted me to ask if the transaction was fraudulent. Of course it wasn’t fraudulent, I thought to myself; I’m right here, making it! I happily confirmed the transaction.

Only after I returned home from the store, and was about to follow the rest of the instructions to the letter, did I actually see “Joe’s” email address. It was from a Russian domain: “officesmail at list dot ru.”

Dear readers, if you can imagine a gymnast doing somersaults in your stomach, concurrent with a rush of blood to your head akin to the feeling of speeding through a narrow tunnel at 500 mph…that is what I experienced, in that moment.

I am not a grandparent, or someone who doesn’t speak English as a first language, nor do I have any of the conventional risk factors for vulnerability to a scam. I’m a young professional and a digital native. And here we are.

I called my bank immediately to dispute the charge, and uploaded screenshots of “Joe’s” emails and the fake address to my banking app, but since I stupidly made the purchase myself, I am pessimistic about ever seeing that money again. For what it’s worth, the customer service person was very kind. I have also reported the scammer to the FTC for fraud.

It may seem like small potatoes compared to the truly livelihood-threatening scams that many of you have faced, but at my age and in a major American city, $1500 represents over half of my monthly rent; or almost two years’ worth of electricity; or almost three years’ worth of Internet service; or months and months of groceries; you get the idea.

End of rant. Now I need to go howl in despair at the setting sun.

EDIT: Wow, those of you who warned about recovery scams in DMs weren’t kidding.

Unfortunately yes, the title is not clickbait. It’s insane, I know.

Essentially what occurred from my understanding is that my grandfather was cold contacted by citi bank. They claimed that a gun was purchased on his account that was used in a crime, and directed him to the FBI, who claimed that he needed to send his money over in order for it to be “verified” in some way. They contacted him over signal. (there is a post on this sub that correlates perfectly with what happened titled“PSA: FBI Scam going around”)

He was told to wire transfer all his money, and obviously hasn’t received it back. This all happened in June of this year. Me and my family just found out about this, and he has taken some steps. I know he has contacted local police, filled out a scam report for the FBI, and has blocked the scammer. I believe he has documented some receipts, though I’m unsure overall.

Is there anything else that can be done to help in some way?? We’re all at a bit of a loss as to what to do. We’ve floated the idea of hiring a private investigator, but, Is this something that a private investigator could help with? Any suggestions would really help.

Got a call today from a "Wireless Caller" claiming to be the united state's postal inspection service. Saying a package was sent internationally with my information. What's weird is they didn't ask for any sensitive information. The guy identified himself gave me an ID number, as well as the info of the package and what was inside. He then said I HAD to file an "official personal identity theft" report with the FBI. I gave my best, "Oh my goodness, I will take care of that immediately." Then directly transferred me to "someone at the FBI" (after office hours). This new person wanted me to set up a Teams account to record a statement remotely. At that point I said screw this and just hung up.

No way this was legit, right?

Just as title states I’m offering my detailing services to a customer and their preferred method of payment is an emailed check that I’m supposed to mobile deposit, he emailed the check and it doesn’t have his name on it anywhere, I may just be dumb but I’m having a hard time deciding if it’s a scam or not

I know, I know, one of the first rules is dont click a link you dont know more about. I dont know what I was thinking.

Basically I was trading cards for my fiance and this person messaged me on reddit. Everything seemed legit until they told me to promote them on tiktok pro. I clicked the link and tried to but got an error. Never got back to me after I fell for it.

Obviously, I am stupid for that but now I'm trying to fix it (if there is any way). Any info or suggestions would be super helpful.

Edit: I really hope it's nothing. Just asking because on the subreddit where I was trading cards someone mentioned the same person and said that the link provided access to my phone. Rather ask and look stupid than have an issue with privacy down the road.

posted something on FB for sale. First response gave me a number to text. She / he asked questions about item it all sounded real. And about pickup. She decided to buy it and I said I use Venmo. Wasn’t even their suggestion. I get a text saying it was paid on a business account and I need to call Venmo support for additional verification. I check the Venmo app and there is nothing there. No notice nothing. Then I google Venmo scams and this whole business account scam comes up. Seriously I am seeing this happen to me a lot. Constantly checking scams.

I keep getting calls from what caller ID shows to be different police depts implying that I'm under investigation for human trafficking??? (Google shows the # as likely scam). They say I must answer questions over the pull or they're gonna pull me into "the station". I entertained the call most of the way as I dealt with an identity theft issue around the same time and was happy to help in any way I could. But then they asked me to send all my id theft info to a personal Gmail... When I said No, obviously, they implied I would handle it at the station and said "good luck" and then just hung up... Soooo... Am I under arrest or?

Title basically explains it. A friend, who I haven't contacted in years, suddenly DMed me. I made small talk for a bit, and then, they asked me for a favor. So, being a very trusting person, I said "Sure! What can I help you with?" and they said that they had been developing a game called "melojump" and asked me to play test it. I tried to make an excuse to not download it, but they got more pushy, and I stupidly downloaded it. I was logged out of all of my accounts in my browser (Opera GX) after I hit the "download anyways" button. It can show up if you click "more" on the "Windows protected your PC" popup. I figured it was fine because some games and mods have that happen. I realized how badly I fucked up when they told me I had to pay them $300 for my Gmail account back. I tried to block the discord account, but it was unblocked somehow.

After a long process of creating a new Gmail and getting a new PC built, which thankfully had my data backed up from earlier dates when my Papa did updates on my family's PCs (which he does every month, backing up data to an external drive in case something like this happens), I had mostly everything back, aside from my Gmail and Discord. I told my friends (who I had added on discord) and told them to block and report the account.

This was a hard lesson to learn, but thankfully, the hacker did not seem to have access to anything other than my Gmail and Discord, but we decided to start from scratch with backed up data just in case. I also got a new debit card, so the Nitro subscription I had active was cancelled. My Papa has since heavily upgraded the security when it comes to our internet, antivirus, and our data. I was extremely scared at the time, thinking that I was an idiot for falling for something so obvious, but my mom told me that I am a very trusting person, especially with people that I am close to, and that I am a very nice person. She said that I wasn't at fault for this, but I still blame myself.

So this is my warning to all of you. If a friend suddenly asks you to download a game, ask them in person if they actually are developing a game if you can. If you can't, then assume it's a hacked account, especially if it's on Discord.

Stay safe out there, everyone!

TLDR: If a friend on Discord asks you to download a sketchy game, it is a scam. Especially if you haven't talked to that person in a while.

Edit: I'm not sure what flair to use for this, since I was a victim and I'm trying to warn people about it. I can change the flair if needed.

TLDR; let calls from even legitimate bank phone numbers go to voicemail and call the real number off the bank's website to confirm.

Got a call and my caller ID showed a number that was a legitimate Wells Fargo fraud dept. phone number so I answered it. I do have a Wells Fargo account and credit card, but hardly use it and only keep enough cash in my account to avoid fees and use it for wire transfers since they're free and my main bank charges for wires.

The person on the line said there was fraudulent activity on my Wells Fargo credit card saying someone tried to purchase $5000 worth of firearms in another state. Having someone steal my real CC number and try to make purchases out of state is not unusual, but firearms was a new one. What was weird is they read the last 4 digits of the card back to me and it wasn't my card and no new cards had shown up in my online account. They then escalated it asking about whether I received a credit alert or how recently I have been a victim of credit card fraud, which was weird, but I gave really vague answers (sometime last year, the last few months, etc.). This was a yellow flag in my mind, not red yet.

I was then transferred to a supervisor who told me to file an identify theft complaint with the FBI with a slew of information (full number of the fraudulent card , when the card was opened, what they tried to purchase, the amount, which email to have the FBI send the report to, the WF employee I spoke with and their employee ID number, the IP address of the person who opened the account, etc). The flag was turning more and more red with the amount of information they were providing me.

The flag turned red when the person asked me to read back the information she provided. I started reading things back but out of order of how she provided it to me. I got through one or two things and she said, "Stop, can you please start from the top of the information I provided with starting with X, Y, Z." I then said I'm going to hang up and call back to Wells Fargo's number to confirm. She didn't put up any fight or argument.

I called WF via the number on their website and there was no record of any of this happening.

The only information the scammers asked me to confirm were my name and phone number (which they already have since they called me) and asked me to confirm an email address that they had on file which was incorrect. I informed them it was incorrect, but didn't provide my real email address. No other information was requested.

I'm guessing they were going to try to use my voice to open some account, but hopefully I didn't get too far into this to fall victim. I'll be monitoring my accounts and credit reports even more closely now.

I noticed a $200 ach charge from Apify Technologies made on my checking account but I have never used Apify, created an Apify account, or knowingly signed up for any of their services. I’m pretty sure its a scam
I called my bank and told them about this at which they made a stop payment. But then PayPal emails me on a later date stating they have made the payment and now my balance is in the negative. I don’t even use paypal i don’t know the last time i used it,
I have tried multiple times making a case on resolution center about unauthorized access in which every time they sent me a reply that they found no such thing and request me to payback. I need urgent help with this 😭, anyone else experienced this kind of scam. Im just a college student i can’t afford to get scammed right now.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Was scrolling facebook market place when a "news ad" popped up about kevin oleary having a meltdown on shark tank. Clicked it hoping it was real, because fuck that guy.

Just linked to a Faked news article with a convincing looking UI from CTV news (a canadian news company) that was telling a fake story about a kid going onto shark tank with some new ai money making scheme. The kid mentions some specific sounding ai company and kevin supposedly losses his mind and gets dragged out by security. Pretty bog standard pitch for a scam class.

Here is a picture of the article you can see the URL is something completely different than ctvnews.ca (you can also see the registration ad at the bottom for the \"class\" it's plastered throughout the article as well.)

Not sure about posting the link to the page itself as I'm not 100% sure of the rules on that. But figured I'd give the warning in case of. I'll admit I didn't my due diligence of checking the url before scrolling (or looking at the source of the ad on marketplace for that matter) so that's on me. But even after knowing it was fake the layout looked pretty genuine. So please let your older/elderly relatives know things like these are fake so they don't get scammed.

Im here because i just want some advice (pls dont freak me out more) on what I should do about my situation.

I got scammed last June for some concert tickets on X who was impersonating another girl’s identity by using her pictures and even sharing a video of her holding up her ID. Their tactic was saying that I can pay half the price of the ticket first and after I receive them, I’ll pay them the full amount.

And this is where it gets really messy for me because the scammer had requested me to also send in a video of me holding my ID as some type of “reassurance” for them that I won’t run away without paying the full amount of the ticket. I was blatantly fooled and I felt so stupid after realizing it.

I obviously had immediately filed for a police report regarding this the very night I was scammed. Fast forward to today, several people have contacted me through instagram (i solely made so that people could find me) saying that the scammer is now using MY pictures and ID to scam them.

I reported the X account for impersonation so many times but no action is taken even after i provided all the documents. I have also filed for another police report for Identity Theft. But now I just really don’t know what else I can do but wait for them to move on to another person’s identity…

I’m also closely monitoring the account so that whenever they repost the “sales” I would post a beware scammer warning so the algorithm keeps my post above theirs.

And no, they don’t have my phone number and bank or card details. Just my pictures and that regretful video of me holding my ID.

Any advice or idk words of comfort..?

My friends and I each ordered a $36 t-shirt from a company online named Vitamin Sea Boutique. Beware! this is not a legitimate company and you will be scammed. My friend’s debit card had high dollar fraudulent charges a few days after purchasing the shirt online. We have not received the shirts now 57 days after the date of purchases and has since been a headache of unnecessary emails with this “company”. I wish they would be shut down so people won’t get taken advantage of again. Check their page on BBB website and you will find at least 2 other complaints from similar victims. DO NOT BE THEIR NEXT VICTIM. Avoid!!

Bonjour, je vous explique un peu la situation. On m’a proposer une opportunité. En gros comme les plans de telegram, ou tu es payer pour liké des vidéos sur les réseaux. La tu reçois des virements, et tu renvoie les virements et tu es payer pour ça. La personne est honnête je la connais, mais j'ai l'impression qu’elle se fait elle même avoir naïvement, elle me dis que c'est pas de l'argent "sale". Ma question est la suivante, est ce que certains d'entre vous connaissent ce système ? Comment ça marche concrètement cette arnaque ? D'où viens cet argent ? J'ai du mal a croire que ce soit un vraie plan "honnête" même si vraisemblablement ce n'est pas légale ( logique ) Mais j'aimerais l’aider a ouvrir les yeux

Today I received in my box two packages where my address was on the return label. Both packages had been sent to people in rural France, refused, and returned to my address.

One box had a jar of honey. The other had dry ramen noodles and a Toblerone.

This seems like a brushing scam (thanks to the mods for setting up Automoderator to teach me about that!), but I'm confused as to why my address is on the return label. Just the address, not my name. I see no strange purchases on any of my cards.

Should I be concerned about anything here? Do I need to take any action?

I’m posting this to warn others about a convincing Chase/Zelle impersonation scam that happened to my dad while he was abroad.

It started with a call displaying a real Chase fax number. The scammers had spoofed the caller ID, so the number looked legitimate. They claimed someone named “Jessica Martinez” was attempting Zelle transactions of $2,000 and $500 using my dad’s information. They asked whether he had recently lost documents or used his card while traveling, which made their story sound believable.

After the initial call, they moved him to WhatsApp through an account using Zelle’s name and logo. They claimed they were the “Zelle fraud department.” The first video call lasted two and a half hours.

While speaking with him, they obtained his debit-card details, PIN and Chase verification codes. Chase generated codes for $2,000 and $500—the exact transactions the scammers claimed they were helping him stop. We now believe the scammers were inside his account initiating those transactions while pretending to warn him about them.

They contacted him again two days later through a second fake Zelle WhatsApp number. During a 47-minute video call, they made him share his screen, open the Chase app and follow their instructions. They told him that confirming another $2,000 transaction was necessary to protect his account.

Chase sent a fraud alert clearly asking whether he had scheduled the transaction and warning that replying “YES” would allow it to be paid. The scammers were watching his screen and instructed him to reply YES, falsely claiming it was part of the account-protection process. He followed their instructions because he believed he was communicating with Chase and Zelle.

The total loss was $4,500.

We reported everything to the real Chase fraud department. Chase opened a claim and issued $4,500 in temporary credit while it investigates. The credit is provisional, so the final outcome has not been decided.

I’m intentionally not posting the phone numbers or verification codes because numbers can be spoofed, recycled or assigned to unrelated people. Please warn family members, particularly anyone who may not understand how caller-ID spoofing and screen-sharing scams work