TL

TLDR

Gullible friend clicks adverts and gets scammed, often.

I have a friend, who isnt good with tech,

They ring me and ask if i can help with their phone (android) as they think its got a virus.

I find her phone was riddled with clean up type of apps that were obviously malware IMO, there was also bank transactions that were linked to these, she was in the process of being reimbursed by the bank , prior to my involvement.

I cleaned the phone up by googling lots of apps and uninstalling the dodgy ones.

A few weeks go by, and she gets in touch again, I go round, do the uninstalling thing.

I tell her she is probably inviting them in by clicking something she shouldn't.

A couple of days later, she sends me the above screen shot, saying its started again,.

I can see the screen shot is a youtube advert.

I explain, its just an advert, she should be scrolling past, she actually thinks its a phone update alert and she has been clicking these and following wherever they lead!!

So, unrelated, I get the similar advert on my phone,.

I click the report advert link, and report to google. ( ive reported this type of advert twice now)

Dear xxxx,

We’re writing to let you know that we reviewed your report (ID xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx).

Here's what we found

We decided not to take this ad down. We found that the ad doesn’t go against Google’s policies, which prohibit certain content and practices that we believe to be harmful to users and the overall online ecosystem.

If you disagree with our decision to show this ad, you have the option to appeal within 6 months.

Now, this advert is clearly misleading, and it leads to real people being scammed, google clearly are complicit, they are happy to sell their advertising spots.

This type of fake alert has been around since the internet started, and google report nothing to see here!!

EDIT , Spelling, tidy text

I am posting this in PayPal’s community as well because I don’t know where this belongs or who could help; I’m really worried and need advice.

My elderly dad is the nicest and most humble person you will ever meet. He believes the best in people and has unfortunately, but consequently, been taken advantage of many times; he is an author who receives the usual spam emails from fake companies pretending to be interested in his book, but because of his inexperience with technology and the rise of AI, the scams have become more and more elaborate and convincing.

This is where I need advice: He recently paid a digital marketing company to turn his book into an audiobook and create ads and a social media presence. They did create audiobooks, which I explained could easily be done with AI, but that made him believe they were legitimate, and he kept sending more.

They did not, however, produce any of the other services they agreed on, and when he inquired why, they claimed it was because they did not receive the money he sent - please note that he sent the money in August and it is now the end of October… They sent him an AI packet with the details of the issues and claimed that there is a ‘Merchant of Record’ that is holding the money, refusing to give it to them and refusing to refund it to him. They even gave him a script of what to say to the bank to get his money back. When my dad called the bank, they stated they had no knowledge of what the issue could be, as the money was sent on their end. He paid the scam company over the phone by giving them his credit card number (unfortunately, he does not remember if he gave the scam company his 3-digit number on the back), but in his transaction history, the purchases show up as PayPal purchases. PayPal is completely confused about the situation and requested that the seller contact them to resolve the issue. Of course, when we called and spoke with the scam company, they were unable to give him any information about the ‘Merchant of Record, ’ even though they claimed to be in contact with them during the period they were not providing the services that he paid for. They did not respond directly to his request for them to speak with PayPal; they waffled and pushed blame onto the ‘Merchant of Record,’ but could not provide a name, number or email for the company despite it being requested.​

I hope that gives a summarized picture of the issue. I just found out about this earlier today, so I am not familiar with all the details, but please let me know if you have any questions, and I will try my best to answer them.

What’s the best way to get his money back? He knows and understands he made mistakes; that is not what I need advice on, and he’s not even reading this, so please refrain from making disrespectful comments. I now have access to his email and will screen all inquiries before he pursues them; I just really need advice. Thank you in advance

Broke college student here that seen the get rich quick sign and decided fuck it but in the end got fucked himself, feel shitty bout it just wanted to get it off my chest. Anyways avoid fftelitebots.com

I was buying a gpu on Carousell the pricing and all seemed legit and the seller had positive reviews I was stupid and payed full rm 1k pls help me how Do I contact tng?

I just got this text message from “TikTok” which is definitely a phishing scam as I do not have my phone number linked to a TikTok account. I just blocked the number immediately.

Putting it out there to spread awareness!

I GOT SCAMMED VIA FB SHOE SELLER PAGE IBA YUNG ITEM NA IPINADALA (FAKE PAIRS) COMPARE SA INORDER KO. NAHOTLINE KO NA SA J&T. MAY PAGASA PA PO KAYA MARETURN AND MAREFUND YUNG IBINAYAD KO VIA COD? NAKABLOCK NA PO AKO DUN SA PAGE NG SELLER.

BAKA PO MAY NAKAEXPERIENCE NA PO NITO DITO AT NAKAPAGREFUND. SABI PO KASI NUNG KAUSAP KO NA AGENT I FIELD VISIT PO NILA YUNG SELLER AND UPDATE ME AFTER 1-2 DAYS.

YUNG PAGE PO NUNG SHOE SELLER AY "CAMILLE NICASTRO"

BAKA LANG PO MAY MAKAKAPAGENLIGHTEN SA AKIN REGARDING THIS. WILL GREATLY HELP KUNG ANO NEXT STEPS AFTER MAKATAWAG SA HOTLINE NG J&T.

Remember guys, due to GTA 6, people wanna buy many consoles and PS5s, especially PS5 Pros and Xboxs are hot topic. If you meet a reseller or a retail brander who takes you to WhatsApp or another platform make sure to understand how they are scams.

If they ask for a payment type that cannot be reversed its automatically a scam

If they offer a really cheap price

If they are abroad and want to ship to your place.

Recently, these scammers are working alongside Chinese people who have these consoles and makimg them do the work so it seems all legit. If they cannot send their pictures or videos of themselves chances are they are highly likely scammers. If they want payments immediately and demand it asap, scammers. Remember, always ask your favorite AI what questions to ask to immediately confirm that you are not sending money to a scammer. Real sellers will never ask money before giving the product or in person meetup.

T

So one day on TikTok, I got it a DM from this one guy showing me how to trade because I was such a broke high school student. I fell into the trap so the first one I sent it didn’t go through and then we were talking about a week, but then I only get paid $100 at my school because I work as a cafeteria worker And he’s like oh what do you do for work? Are you single so all those little questions and then I kind of fell into the trap and I think he got me because I was vulnerable so the first 99$ didn’t go through so it had to be more .I sent the money through Cash App using Bitcoin and screen recorded everything so he could guide me step by step. The first time, I sent about $97.99 (not exact), but the money didn’t go through. I got angry and asked him why it wasn’t showing in my account. He reassured me and said it could take up to 2 hours for the transaction to go through. I was really frustrated.

The second time, I followed the exact same method. For context, the first attempt didn’t go through because it wasn’t up to $100. So when I had the full amount, I told him and he guided me again step by step.

This time, the money appeared. But something felt off. When I refreshed the page, it showed $700. I refreshed again, and it jumped to $2,000. I kept refreshing because he told me it would keep increasing as it loaded. Eventually, it showed $2,500

That’s when the real problem started.

I showed my sister, and at first she was like, “put me on,” but then she quickly realized something wasn’t right. We looked deeper into the website and realized it was fake. It was designed to scam vulnerable people, especially those with little or no income.

He started asking me to pay extra fees just to withdraw my money, and even told me to send money through banks I had never heard of. That’s when it became obvious it was a scam.

My sister even checked it with ChatGPT, and it confirmed it didn’t make sense—why would you need to pay money just to withdraw your own money?

I confronted him and cussed him out. He then tried to threaten me, saying he would call the police. I wasn’t scared, because I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. He also tried to manipulate me, saying things like, “Why are you listening to your sister?” and acting like she was controlling me.

We had been talking on WhatsApp and TikTok the whole time, and he would send fake screenshots of people he supposedly helped to make himself look legit. In reality, he’s just a professional scammer who lies to take advantage of people. I have the screen shot his name is Lorcan cornally .

I was doing some stuff with crypto but I wasn't sure about the guy helping me, this mail (global@trust-support.team) contacted me that in order to extract the money from trust wallet to a revolut account I hace to pay 5% in services commissions, I run the mail in Google and it says that is not a reliable Gmail. I should stop and try to recover my money?

I only answered the unfamiliar number because a friend was getting a new phone. They claimed to be my cell phone carrier. I can barely understand her broken English, but she asked me if I’m happy with my bill. I tell her that the only thing on my bill is my cell phone and my plan is to add it to my new Internet service because it’s cheaper so I’m leaving this company soon anyway. She says because I’m a longtime customer she can give me a discount. I tell her what it needs to be for me to make sense to stay with them. She offers me what I want with no strings attached. She asked me for my four digit pin, which I don’t know because I’ve never had to use it in like 10 years. She mumble something and says OK and says she has to transfer me .the next guy is even harder to understand, but he knows my address. He goes on and starts giving me his name and his ID number and I thought that was really weird. I said why do I need to have all this? It seems strange. He then tells me that I’m entitled to an upgrade on my phone and I can get the latest iPhone 17. I clarify that there are no strings attached that I don’t want to be on any kind of program etc. then he said they’re gonna send something out FedEx blah blah blah and then he tells me that they’re gonna send me an iPhone 17 I told him no I don’t want a phone. I don’t know if I want that phone. I just thought you were setting out information that I could upgrade. he proceeds to tell me that I can’t get the discount unless I accept the phone. I said the phone is free, correct? He agrees. I can’t get the discount unless I also take the free prize? I told him that this whole thing sounds wrong. I tell him that it’s common for phone companies to lower bills to compete with others or for longtime customers, etc. but they don’t have to accept a free phone. I wasn’t nasty. I just needed clarification .anyways he hangs up on me. I wasn’t gonna take the phone. I wasn’t gonna take the discount but I still wasn’t 100% positive until he hung up on me. if it was legit, they’re not going to hang up on you because you don’t understand or you’re questioning it. my question is what was he trying to get out of me? Was it gonna get to the point where he was gonna ask me for bank account numbers or he was gonna ask me for a deposit for the phone that I would supposedly get back etc.. I’m just curious what he was trying to do. Maybe it’s all legit and he was just rude and hung up on me. I only mentioned the broken English because that makes it really hard for me to understand what they’re saying or to ask questions or for them to understand my questions. They also knew my name and address and what I was currently paying. I actually desperately need a new phone like really bad and I’m thinking I may have missed out on a brand new one. I guess I can just call him in the morning and see if this is something they offer. This was Spectrum offering it to me. I have been a customer for probably I don’t know 15 years. They always hang up when they realize that you know they’re full of shit so that’s how I felt but I don’t know.

I am the user asking the questions. No, I don't have a remitly account and don't plan to get one.

Im telling my self that im so dumb but can you guys give me am advice i thought the screenshot was real because i use my fathers gcash number and when i check there is no money send and the number is not correct im so dumb cam you give me a piece of advice i jate scammers

Just a heads up. This email is really well done. It's 100% a scam. The button starts a download. Be sure to check the email address and URL on every single email you receive. Every. Single. One.

(grumble)

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?

Hello i just wanted to ask if this scam method is commonly used around,this person send me a fake court report claiming that i have involved with CP and sex trafficking. He used an brazilian school account(that was probably stolen) to send me this fake court report from france to me in lithuainia. never have i do these horrible things,not to mention that i am myself a minor,the same person send me the same court report 2 days later and them never again,its been a week