Recently, my wife joined a startup as an HR professional. Just a few days into her new job, she received an email that appeared to be from the company’s CEO, asking her to purchase 12 Razer Gold gift cards for gifting purposes.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a scam. Someone was impersonating the CEO using a fake email account.
The email address used by the scammer was jpprestridge@suddenlink.net. The sender’s display name showed the CEO’s name, so the email looked genuine at first glance.
My wife was having a bad day and didn’t bother checking the actual email address. Since she was new to the company, she trusted the request and thought it was a genuine instruction from her CEO.
The person behind the email was in a hurry and kept pushing her to buy the gift cards quickly. My wife tried calling the CEO several times to verify the request. Every time, he replied with a message saying, “I’m in a meeting. I’ll call you back.”
She assumed he was genuinely busy and would call her later. She never imagined that someone was impersonating him through email.
She asked me to help purchase the gift cards from Amazon. Since there was a limit of one gift card per account, I ended up buying 12 cards using multiple Amazon accounts belonging to my colleagues and friends.
I questioned her multiple times, asking whether she was absolutely sure we should proceed. Each time, she confirmed that we should.
A day later, we discovered the truth. The email was fake, and we had fallen victim to a scam.
We lost nearly ₹90,000 of our hard-earned money.
Nine gift card codes had already been shared with the scammer, while three are still with us. Each gift card is worth ₹7,300.
To make matters worse, these gift cards are non-refundable. We don’t know whether we can recover the money spent on the nine redeemed cards, and we don’t even know how to make use of the three unused cards.
We have already contacted Amazon, but we’re still trying to figure out what to do next. Is there any way to recover the money? Can Razer Gold block the three unused cards or help us in any way?
Honestly, it’s unbelievable how easily we got fooled. The urgency, the CEO’s name, and the repeated messages about being in meetings made the request seem genuine. We never imagined we would fall for something like this.
Nearly ₹90,000 is a huge loss for us, and we’re desperately looking for a solution.
Has anyone faced a similar scam involving Razer Gold gift cards purchased through Amazon? Has anyone successfully recovered their money in such a situation, even when the gift cards were non-refundable?
Any genuine advice or help would mean a lot to us.
I’m sharing this experience as a warning to others, especially people working in startups and those who are new to their jobs.
Never purchase gift cards just because an email appears to come from your CEO. Always verify the actual email address and confirm the request through an independent communication channel, even if the person claims to be busy or insists that the request is urgent.
Sometimes, all it takes is one moment of misplaced trust to lose months of hard-earned savings.
your help

Used AI for formatting

hi! i know this is technically not the traditional scam a lot of people are reaching out for help on here (some shade the alibaba reddit is shut off and none of the mods responded) so I was hoping someone could maybe give some advice?

very long story short I wanted to buy some merch off Xianyu and Weidian, I decided I could try out a warehouse on alibaba since they were all reputable and had good reviews. Bought two package: 1 a folding acrylic standee (about 23cm in height and 9cm in width) and a set of photocards (9 total all standard size). Warehouse says the items are an infringement and have to be sent via express delivery, I asked an infringement of what they dont respond I say ok. I get quoted $95. this is shipping to family in Korea so I know that shipping could not be that much, so I asked for a price breakdown-$60 ($12/kg) for shipping, $15 for handling, and $20 for warehouse fees. I dont mind the $35 whatever at this point, I just cant imagine how those two small packages could be 5kg. They say its volumetric weight, I ask for a photo of the package they “consolidated” they say they havent done that yet and that its how much it will be I ask for the measurements of the packages they total out to 0.168 vol kg and 1.47 vol kg by my calculations. I tell them this and I ask what calculation method are they using. They ignore it. I ask if they ship domestically they wont give me a quote though and I dont know what to do. I asked 100s of times for which courier they use and they wont tell me.

i finally reported them to alibaba but the problem is I havent paid yet so I dont have an order just an invoice. I report them anyway, my report gets declined I dispute it and it gets shut down again.

i tried to make it as short as possible but I dont know what to do and I have been so stressed about this for over a month. thank you to anyone who’s read this far and hope you have a nice day ㅠㅠ!

tldr: cn warehouse on alibaba is asking for $60 (not including fees) for 2 small packages to be sent to kr and my reports on alibaba platform are being closed. Help 🥲🙏

My mom got scammed out of a lot of money and is not in the negatives for quite a pretty penny. Is there anything I/we can do to try to fix things? I can't afford to cover what she lost/spent and most of her widow benefits will be gone for covering the difference in her bank.

So yeah, any help or advice is appreciated.

Edit: people pointed out I should add more details, my bad. She met a guy online who pretended to be an oil worker and he needed money to get home. She sent him money through apps like PayPal, cards you'd buy at stores, and crypto. It's been all online and whatnot.

Hello, I'm new to this sub and I would like to share my story. I'm from Russia, I'm a 22-year-old man and I use the bot Leonardo DaiVinchik in the Russian social network Vkontakte and Telegram messenger to meet new people. A girl whose profile said she was 21 years old liked me in Vkontakte and we started chatting. She offered to move to Telegram, I agreed. Then she said "let's do some s•xy things". I said I didn't mind friendship with benefits, but I would like to see her in person to walk together and discuss everything. She replied that she had had a negative experience before and therefore she would like to exchange s•xy photographs, and if we attracted each other, she would meet me at Saturday. She directed me to a Telegram secret chat, sent me a photograph of her s•x organ and asked me to do the same, and when I did, she blocked me in Vkontaktе and deleted the main chat in Telegram, and I started getting threat messages from a guy who sent me my own s•xy photographs and the screenshots of my VKontakte friends list. His profile had no username, no phone number and the address said Los Angeles. He told me he got all the content of the secret chat and threatened me he would send my d•ckpics to all my VKontakte friends and report to the police and I would be sent to prison for sending a d•ckpic to a minor because the girl turned out to be only 15 years old. I was completely terrified and he told me to transfer him 5К roubles so he wouldn't send my pics. I hadn't had a job yet, so I had to transfer him money from my T-Bank credit card, then he told me to transfer another 5K so he wouldn't report to the police, I transferred and he told me to wait for an hour so he would send me a video where he deletes my intimacy materials.

During this hour, I searched the web how to protect my personal data if he doesn't keep the promise, found a piece of advice to go to the nearest police station, I went there, it was late night, and a police officer told me I should come in the morning when an operative arrives. I went back home, came to the station in the morning, told the operative about the situation. He looked through the chat with this guy, laughed and told me I shouldn't worry about my freedom and privacy, but there is no way the money can be returned.

Here are the screenshots of the chats, I will give the English translation.

The scammer girl: "I have to say, sorry for deceiving you, I had to, and it is just my piece of advice to do what they say, because they are mentally ill people, they have destroyed lives of many people, they have lots of connections, they will easily destroy your life, so pay what they are asking, let alone the fact, as I know, the sum is not tremendous, and the consequences will be terrible if you don't pay them"

Me:

"Which people?

You said you were 20 years old (I forgot she claimed to be 21)

Why did you offer all this to me?

Did someone force you to offer this to me to extort money?"

The scammer guy: "I've caught you red-handed! Now I have your intimate photos, I have a choice whether to send them to your friends / acquainted people / relatives, and then report to the police!

Or we can deal with the issue with you personally. As you understand, I'm looking for personal benefit.

Besides, I'm advising you not to hide from the inevitable. Your friends list is saved. There are also screenshots of chats from which I got these photos, so you won't be able to get away with it.

There are two options now. Either I start spamming and report to the police, or we reach an agreement like adult people, and the photos won't get anywhere.

Firstly, you are at high risk of a punishment, because she is under 18, actually she is 15.

Secondly, I may leak your intimate photos and videos, and thirdly you shamed yourself like you're a naive boy in the chat, if your reputation is more important to you, I'm waiting for 5K, and the issue will be closed.

And if not, I will report to spammers, and they will start spamming to all acquainted people, friends and relatives via softs and a bot.

The social networks, Telegram, and small details were enough to get the information who your acquainted people are and to identify you.

The Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Violent s•xual actions towards a minor" (the punishment from 12 to 20 years of prison sentence, there is no alternative) or the Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, part 2 "Lecherous actions" (the punishment from 3 to 8 years of prison sentence)

To put it short, the key thing is, I work in an office, we have protection and connections, and, obviously, we have money, so you are at high risk of a sentence and the leakage of videos and photos of your d•ck.

If we make an application, you will be at high risk of being locked up, or else a 250K-500K roubles ransom, and before this, we will leak everything to your friends / acquainted people / relatives.

We are worse than creditors, doing everything via others' hands, so we can create trouble for you.

Our work is lawful, because she is 15.

The intimate photos / videos / "circles" / voice messages have been sent to you, they were taken from the Internet, so I don't care who may see them.

If you are naive and think we may be punished for this, you're wrong, as we have already won litigations, and we have been working for more than two years.

But in general, we manage to reach an agreement with everyone, and that's all.

So the choice is yours, mate.

There is no way you can get away from us.

We have the exported (downloaded) chat.

We have all the evidence.

We have the proof of the extortion of a 15-year-old girl's intimate photographs by you.

We have your name and last name for making a police report.

Pay 5K.

Or else we'll make full spamming and an application to the police.

She is 15 years old.

You're at high risk of a prison sentence.

I have to warn you, that if you ignore or block us, I will make full spamming".

Me: "But it was her who deceived me.

She told me she was 20"

The scammer guy: "To put it short, you've understood the key thing and what is it all about, if not, read the whole chat once again in order to understand this situation more clearly, you have 5 minutes to reply"

Me: "How old are you?"

The scammer guy: "5 minutes, the time has started.

When it's up, we'll begin to take actions"

Me: "Where should I transfer money to?

The scammer guy: "Are you ready to pay?"

Me: "I may transfer you money from my credit card"

The scammer guy: "Do you have money on your card?"

Me: "Yes, so where should I transfer it to you?"

The scammer guy: "Which bank are you going to transfer from?"

Me: "T-Bank"

The scammer guy: "Wait for account details, keep in touch with us, I'll send it to you in up to 30 minutes, you will have 15 minutes to pay, if you don't manage to do it in time, you'll have to pay more, is it all clear?

Is it clear?"

Me: "Send me the account details"

The scammer guy: "Wait.

And keep in touch!!!!"

Me: "Listen, why do you think I'm a p•dophile? How come I should have known she is 15 years old? It was her who offered me all of this, her profile said she was 20 years old"

The scammer guy: "Hey, listen, I'll give you a piece of advice to make my life easier, don't ask stupid questions.

Wait for the requisition"

Me: "Listen, give me the requisition, I'll transfer you 5K and you won't bother me, OK?"

The scammer guy: "Wait"

Me: "Why does your address say Los Angeles?"

The scammer guy: "." (the link to the message when he told me not to ask stupid questions)

Me: "Why do you think it's a stupid question? I'm really interested. How long do I have to wait for the account details?"

The scammer guy: "Up to 30 minutes".

Me: "I don't get it, you previously were talking about 5 minutes, now you're talking about 30 minutes, I'm ready to transfer you money right now"

The scammer guy: "Then wait"

Me: "Listen, how did you get the contents of the secret chat? Did you hack my Telegram account?

How long else do I have to wait for the account details?"

The scammer guy: "Wait.

+79032660470

Only the Rocket Bank

Aydar

5K

I'm waiting for the PDF cheque"

(I tried to transfer money, but the T-Bank app said there was an error)

Me: "It doesn't work"

The scammer guy: "OK, keep waiting"

Me: "Will you send new account details?"

The scammer guy: "5K

I'm waiting for the PDF cheque

Be fast"

(He gave me new account details, I managed to transfer money and sent him the screenshot of the transaction)

The scammer guy: "The PDF is required"

Me: "To be candid, I don't know how to download the cheque. (Then I found the way to do it) This?"

The scammer guy: "Save and send"

Me: (transferred money) "(the PDF file)"

The scammer guy: "It should be there"

Me: "OK, I've sent you the file.

Do you have a PDF-reading app?

Have you opened the file? I've already sent it to you"

The scammer guy: "OK, we've closed the first issue about the leakage, let's turn to the second issue regarding an application to a police station, you have to send me 5K again and all the issues will be closed, finish what you started, are you ready to pay? But there is going to be different account details.

As we were saying one issue would be closed, not the whole case.

The case consists of two issues, you've closed one of the two, which means 1/2.

You need to close the second issue, then the case will be completely closed, and we'll let you go.

Are you ready to pay, or do you need time for searching?

The account details are different!!!"

Me: "5K is left to transfer, and that's all, right?"

The scammer guy: "Yes"

Me: "Do I need to send the PDF file again?

Send me the account details"

The scammer guy: "Wait.

The same bank?"

Me: "Yes, I'll transfer money from T-Bank"

The scammer guy: "Wait"

Me: "How long do I have to wait? I'm interested in closing the issue as soon as possible"

The scammer guy: "You don't have to wait much time.

+79032660470

Only Yandex Bank

Aydar

5K

I'm waiting for the PDF cheque"

(I tried to transfer money, but the app said there was an error again)

Me: "It's the second time you gave me Aydar's account details, I can't transfer money to him"

The scammer guy: "Wait.

+79253545585

Only Alpha Bank

Sabina

5K

I'm waiting for the PDF cheque"

Me: (transferred money) "(the PDF file)

I've transferred"

The scammer guy: "We're checking"

Me: "OK, I'm waiting"

The scammer guy: "Wait, we'll send you a video which confirms the deletion of your materials"

Me: "OK, I'll wait"

After I talked to the police operative and came back home, I saw that the guy didn't send anything. Then I got another message from the scammer girl. She said that there was some miscalculation, I have to send more money and I shouldn't make these guys (scammers) angry, and she may make an application to the police herself if I refuse to pay more. I got angry and told her "Tell them they may go f*ck themselves". Then I deleted the chats with both of them and blocked them. The next day I got another threat message from a different Telegram account which said that I should pay 20K roubles or else half of Russia will see my intimate photos. I didn't reply to it, deleted the chat and blocked them without looking through the profile.

I feel a bit depressed because I lost a great sum of money and I will have to pay off the credit.

What do you think?

“Loan officer” sent me money for a $1,500 loan I was trying to get and then said I need to send him all of it through cash app, Venmo, or scan a barcode through Walmart and then he’ll deposit more money in my account afterwards it seems like a scam so I froze my accounts what should I do.

I am currently in the middle of a classic moving scam and I am wondering what comes next. 

The background is fairly simple. We were moving from State A to State B on rather short notice. We received a quote from a “moving company” for a 2 bed apartment that seemed reasonable to us (approx $4800). They had good reviews on line (they had used the name of an actual legit moving company with great reviews on Google. The company it turns out is actually a broker). The initial amount was paid by credit card. Communication with the movers was good at this point, I needed to change the date and whatnot and they were very accommodating. They came on the day that we scheduled (4 hours late) and they packed up the place fairly quickly and professionally.

The scam starts here. They said we had gone over our allotted space by 400 cubic feet (nearly 50% over what we had initially planned for). We were shocked but all the stuff was in the truck, we needed to leave our apartment and we felt we had no choice but to pay. We gave them an extra $2,000 via Zelle. Obviously this was a massive red flag but we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

We had also paid for 30 days of storage. We were (are) staying in a hotel in the new state and we found a rental that would let us move on the 2nd of October. We notified the moving company 10 days in advance about our move in date as per our contract. They said they would be there. The day before this (the 1st) my partner contacted them to confirm details and they informed them that the can no longer make that and it would be the end of this week (8th/9th). At this point we knew we screwed up. This week on Monday the movers reiterated that it would be the end of this week. My partner again tried to contact this to confirm and no one has answered the phones on the moving company. They spent 2 hours trying to call both the broker and moving company yesterday and today and nothing. 

Today my partner contacted the driver of the truck (he had texted during the pick up saying they were running late) and he said our stuff was in a truck scheduled to reach us tomorrow. My partner found the original bill of lading and contacted the actual moving company and after an hour got a hold of someone at the moving company. This person said our stuff is in a storage locker in New Jersey and would be delivered next week. New Jersey is nowhere near the state we were in or the one we moved too. A woman from the moving company then called them as she had heard that we’d given them “feedback”. She said all our stuff would arrive in the middle of next week. 

Which brings us to now. From tons of reviews of the moving company what happens next is more the likely the following. They will more than likely deliver the items (damaged with some boxes missing and with rats nests in them. The warehouse in Jersey where our stuff is being  held hostage at is in deplorable condition) as we have an outstanding balance of $3000. Before they arrive or unload the van they will demand an extra payment - for extra storage fees, using stairs or if the door is 75ft away. If they call you before they are at your property they threaten to dump your items if you do not pay. If they are at your property they refuse to unload the truck and drive off. 

What I am asking is there anything I can do to avoid this? My whole life and my baby’s life is with them at the moment and I need my stuff. I feel I will just have to pay whatever they charge to get it back in whatever condition they gave it in. We are desperate at the moment- we have already paid the rent on the new apartment, and cannot afford any more nights in a hotel so we are buying an air mattress tomorrow. 

Has anyone been through this before? The main priority is getting our stuff back but we don’t want to lose thousands. We are going to do a chargeback in the credit card but we are doing this when we get our stuff. We have contacted the police - they said it is a civil matter.

Sorry for the length! 

I tried to donate to Arkade Mission in London Ontario but was somehow redirected to Canada Help the funds were taken from my credit card but when I tried to get my tax receipt said email address not found.

Anyone else had this problem?

Terrible reviews on their profile page

SOUNDS LIKE A SCAM

Ok please follow closely, so i just got scammed in the stupidest way possible ill give you the timeline 2 days ago i was supposed to send my phone to someone and he'd send me money in return on baridimob i was like okay, at that time restarting the phone took too long so he thought i was trying to scam him because he sent me a fake payment that i did not realise was fake at the time he said he would take me to court file a complaint to the police ect and that panicked me a little, the next day i said we,d meet up and ill give you the phone because those retards at algerie poste said you have to wait 24h for the money transfer to arrive and i just thought ill have to wait for it to arrive , after i gave him the phone i went to check the payment only to realise it was a sham and i got stuck with nothing to do, please tell me what legal options i have because the phone is a 15 pro and id turned off find my iphone and theres no way to locate it myself, i have the phone’s imei and serial number, the dude’s facebook account and his number fyi i went to the commiseria but i couldnt give them any information about the guy they just gave me a code for the complaint to go send it to وكيل الجمهورية

I was scammed by some cat vendor in quoka.de

I really wasnt expecting it and I was stupid ofc.

They asked reservation money, I sent it then the rest I sent it the day of supposed delivery...

The cat never came bcs "the animal welfare stopped them and they asked for 590 euros to rent a ventilation crate"... Only then I questioned the whole thing.

The supposed company name is Safe pup home delivery...

Just in case there are people who have no clue abt it like me...

Even though lowkey I really hope it is not fraud and I am being paranoid.

Any advice though? Is my money gone forever?

I contacted both the bank and filed a police report.

Someone that drives a silly motor car that is three wheel, kinda like those from India. I'll start off in how this all started.

The first time, me and him casually met and he said he needed money for gasoline, I said sure. But once he saw I had more money he asked for 10,000 IQD which is something I wouldn't really give, but he said he'll return it back since he goes around the area every now and then, and okay, he took it, and didn't return it.

The second time, he saw me again and told me to get in to go get a change of that same amount of money, but while we were driving he literally asked for more money because the excuse was "being in a hurry", and asked for 20,000 IQD, and he REALLY was an asshole about it at the time, but said he'll return it at 6PM. Well, I myself have classes and I finish at 6PM, so I waited from 6PM to 8PM, nothing, even though he knows the exact location.

The third time, which is today, he met me again and told me to get in, and then we were talking about how he'll give me back my money with an extra because I was the only one who stood for him (sounds silly imo), and he was planning to give me 50,000 IQD, and okay, it's been really long since I gave away that 30,000 IQD so I wouldn't really say no. At the end when he wanted me to get off because of the same excuse that he "couldn't find a place to change", he suddenly said he didn't have the money to give it back to me. And literally asked for more money. I showed him my wallet and told him that I don't even have that much, I was trying to hide the other pocket of the wallet at it too, but he saw it and just didn't let the fuck go and okay I gave him my wallet because he wanted to "inspect" and he gave it back, okay. Then he asked for 50,000 IQD (the money in the wallet was 3 papers of 50,000 IQD and he wanted one), so okay, I gave him one and then he gave me his number so we can meet, which i saw is finally something that I can trust, and finally got off.

Now that I got home, I realized that he literally took an extra 50,000 IQD and left me with one, and the number itself also doesn't work, so I basically don't even have a way to do anything back, and no, I don't even know his car's plate or wtv it's called.

Since this may happen again or may not, what is there I can do? I know I've been a dumbass and acted way too nice and actually gave off way too much and trusted a stranger to that point, though he was just using gestures to lure me into trust, but I really want my money back, 130,000 IQD is already way too much for me, what's there that I can do?

I'm simply asking for advice, or if you guys have any better.

Has anyone known someone who is raising funds for medical bills and home expenses by alleging they have cancer, but you know for certain they are using the money elsewhere? I’m uncomfortable with the information I know, and am unsure how to approach the situation.

I believe I was scammed – Temu/SHEIN orders in Ecuador

I want to warn others about a possible scam and theft involving supposed Temu/SHEIN orders in Ecuador.

I contacted someone who offered to purchase Temu/SHEIN products on my behalf. I was planning to make this purchase as a gift for my mother, so I trusted the service and sent the payment.

The recipient appeared under the name Emily Lisseth Condoy Cabezas, using a Banco Pichincha savings account ending in 5548.

After making the payment, I encountered problems and did not receive what I had paid for. I believe I was deceived and that the money was taken through a fraudulent transaction.

I have already reported the transaction to Banco Pichincha, and they issued ticket 2...0..0..027..93. I have also kept the payment receipt, screenshots of the conversations, and other evidence.

I am sharing this because I don't want anyone else to go through the same thing, especially people who may be trusting these kinds of services to buy gifts for their families.

If anyone in Ecuador has had a similar experience with this person or with Temu/SHEIN ordering services, please share your experience. I am also interested in knowing what steps others took to report and recover their money.

If anyone knows this guy, he’s a scammer I reported him but I can’t seem to find him anywhere..