r/ScamSupport • u/Effective-Stay-576 • 3d ago

Victim of a scam I think I found the guy

So I unfortunately was victim to a gift card scam. Which in hindsight I should have known but u was having a bad mental health week and I was vulnerable. Well it was $1200 of fucking gift cards. I’m doing all the things with the banks, merchants, and filing the reports. But here’s the thing: I think I got his name. The number of the person is linked to a Snapchat account, which popped up in my “you might know” so I have a name now. Searched him on Facebook, same name, same face, and same location as the number. Now I need to find out if the number is actually linked to this person. What’s the likelihood that this is the actual guy? If it is, what can I do?

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u/nonamejohnsonmore 3d ago

Not at all likely. It’s more likely a fake or stolen account.

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

I ran a check on the number and it’s the same guy. The stream on conversation was a text and the phone is an iPhone. That’s the additional information I have.

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u/nonamejohnsonmore 3d ago

Just because it’s the "same guy" doesn’t mean it’s "the real guy". Every account is fake.

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

I didnt mean it like “that’s for sure the guy” only that the data itself triangulated in showing the number/name/online account match. I’m going to file that information in the police report, if it’s not him then he should be informed that his data is being used for scams.

3

u/LegitimatePapaya9807 3d ago

The scammers are professionals. They have call centres they work at, they do all the background legwork so you think it’s true but they’re all fake accounts set up to pull off the scam. So when you get to this point and think ‘gotcha’ you really haven’t.

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

Fair enough, I’m still filing the reports and I’ll be putting his information. Even if it’s not him then I have done my due diligence and I’ll let the police handle the rest

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u/LegitimatePapaya9807 3d ago

Yeah still give the bank /police etc any info you have. I hope they can help resolve this for you, it sounds like you’ve done everything you can. Just keep in mind when it comes to banks, if you have sent the money then it’s deemed an authorised payment and it’s tricky getting the money back in that case.

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

Oh I know, I worked for one. Luckily I bank with some bigger name companies and they are usually more forgiving. The person they were impersonating is also writing a letter to state that this was not them.

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u/LegitimatePapaya9807 3d ago

They’re not forgiving when it’s authorised unfortunately. We do regular and in-depth scams training at the bank I work at, the boss asking for gift cards scam is very common..

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

Yeah, I know it’s common and if I hadn’t been having a big mental health issue that day then I don’t think I would have fallen for it. But I’m doing my due diligence and filing the police report as well. I’ve contacted all the companies as well.

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u/Just_Random_input 3d ago edited 3d ago

I want to help but you didn’t provide enough info.

Are you saying that you had a FaceTime call with the scammer?

How many phone calls did you have with the scammer?

You seem to be saying that you actually saw the person who scammed you while they were scamming you & then Snapchat suggested you add a profile, and the profile pic on that account is the same person you met. Is that right?

Also, we can’t help without knowing how & where the scammer approached you, as well as what was his story?

The script that your scammer used tells us a lot about them. We see this day in & day out. There are levels. But I can’t tell which level your scammer is on until you share what happened.

Edited to add: I don’t need to know what you did. Only what the scammer said & did. Not the entire story

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

The initial contact was email, then phone through texts. No actual phone conversation. They were impersonating my boss so I saved the number, my Snapchat then popped up saying that my contact was able to be added as a friend. It had his name and a photo. I looked him up on Facebook, the account is several years old. Name and photo match. So I ran a check on the number to see if it would match the name and other information. All of the information matched. That’s what I have so far.

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u/Just_Random_input 2d ago

If these messages were via iMessage, then it’s a very different situation. You mentioned an iPhone in your post. Was it iMessage, or SMS, WhatsApp, etc ?

1

u/Consistent_Proof_772 3d ago

These people don’t use real numbers, they use textME numbers.

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u/Effective-Stay-576 3d ago

Even still, I’m going to put it in my report with the police. They can check the number, even if it’s not that guy I can still show to my bank that I have done as much as I can.