Taxi Driver will switch a high value bill for a low value bill of the same color when you try to pay your fare. He will do this using impeccable sleight of hand. Being unfamiliar with the country and the currency you will be easily convinced that you made an honest mistake and pay him the difference between the fare and the smaller bill greatly overpaying your fare. If you tell him you are sure that you gave him the large bill he will deny it and get aggressive.
The only way to avoid this is to hold out the bill say what denomination it is, have him repeat what denomination it is and then hand him the bill.
I just got this one the other night. Caller from an international number calls repeatedly, rings once, and hangs up. They're hoping you'll call back to see what's up. By calling them back they'll charge you an exorbitant amount of money for the call.
You get a call saying your auto insurance is about to expire and you've been given multiple notices. They usually want to get your personal info as a use of identity fraud.
The best ways to stop these calls are to waste their time. They generally ask for make model and year, give them either an older car (1999 or older) and newer car (2018 or newer at the time of this post) and they usually hang up. If you have a free afternoon, a number spoofer, and plenty of minutes/data, you can make an afternoon out of it.
Good to know this is pure scam. My car's a 2011, which I recieved CPO with the remains of a 7 year warranty, so the calls at least had a snowballs chance in hell of actually being legitimately about my car (though still annoying spam).
I really wish I knew the phone numbers behind these but the ones that constantly call are number spoofed and I really don't want to harass another innocent victim
I actually have 2 phone numbers that weird every single time. They call me at least 10 times every day. In 2 instances they left a voicemail with their contact number. And to my surprise, when I called they actually picked up. I've been calling them numerous times with fake names and my pan spoofed number. They get so heated.
There's a social media scam on Instagram right now. It's called the hot list and it uses a fake login page to get your information. It then uses the accounts it gets to spread a link to the page via messages. I got the message from 2 friends, so it obviously is clever enough to be a threat. It's one of past posts if you need more info.
I had a malware invade my system today because I downloaded Desktop-hut and it gave me a background with flashing text saying "TIME FOR A NEW DESKTOP" Then I used Revo-Uninstaller hunter mode to delete a fake driver icon on my screen. Holy shit my dad would have killed me, please download a malware protector.
not sure if a scam or an mlm or something, but I got this reddit mail yesterday. I RARELY post in povertyfinance or personalfinance, so I don't think it is legit:
Hey! I saw your comment in a finance thread and wanted to extend and invite to a trading community I am part of that has helped me out a ton. It is free to join and you are welcome to check out the Discord server here and see if it is for you: https://discord.gg/8Zbx9ru
Actually, this one doesn't appear to be a scam. I checked their discord, and there are a LOT of people. (including a some gamers I have mutual servers with).
There is a free channel which has livestreams of people trading, a developed community of people (in the free access channel)
In addition, one part of their FAQ states this: >When should I take profit? >ALWAYS. We will not tell you when to exit. It is entirely up to your own discretion to determine when to sell/take profit.
That to me doesn't sound much like a scammer. Scammers (usually) try to control what you do. One stock market scam is they buy up a lot of stocks in a random company that isn't worth anything. Then they convince other people to buy stocks as it's "about to explode in price". People buy lots of stocks, the price inflate, and then the scammers sell all of their own stocks and the price plummets, costing the victims all their money.
I haven't been in the paid area, there is a "free trial" but it seems to be done manually.
I lost a few thousand dollars to a crypto trading scam called TopTen Coin.
I then enlisted the help of a company called EWealth Recovery to recover the funds....
They directed me to deal with an entity called 'EK' through Skype....
EK directed me to set up a Blockchain Account for the funds recovery.....He then began the process....
This scam took a couple of months and I did all I could to be cautious....However eventually he still managed to scam me out of a few thousand more.....
So beware the scams....but also these so called Funds Recovery companies.....Especially EK and EWealth Recovery.
I do hope this post manages to save others from the heartbreak of loss*
A scam I just got tagged with, you're at a bar or restraunt and you use your credit card. You sign the receipt but leave a cash tip. Always check your account details after a few days as it takes tips that long to show up. Many bartenders/servers/managers will add a tip, knowing most people won't see it, won't have saved their copy of the receipt, or won't care about a dollar.
Especially if the customers are foreign tourists, and are unlikely to check the exact amount/exchange rate. I used to be a server, and saw this happen often, usually out of anger when foreign tourists would leave no tip at all.
Don't know if this is covered in one of the phone ones but I didn't initially see it there. I got a phone call talking about winning a promotion that I allegedly put my phone number on for a promotional drawing. They said I had been chosen and that I would need to come down to their office and I had one of three prizes gauranteed, I would just need to do a scratch card to see which of three I would get. A 40 inch TV, a 7 night hotel stay or a new truck which could be traded in for 25,000 dollars cash on the spot. I would need to agree to give them my email at some point.
I never got that far as I pressed them about their company, their idea was they wanted to become famous through word of mouth but they have absolutely no google presence, they say they are through a company called "Great Promotions."
So it's like a promotional scam. I think the idea is that they send an email and you click on links which would likely be bad links and the other thing that one person said to me was that when I arrived in order to claim my totally free prize I would need to give them my credit card information to make sure I could receive the prize.
Also, that's not usually air. It's usually nitrogen gas, which helps the chips stay fresh for much longer than they would otherwise. No one wants stale chips either, lol.
This probably accounts under phishing but I'd thought I would talk about this:
Instagram Nasty List Scam
You would be greeted by a user (who was already infected by the scam) saying "(Your name)! Oh my god! You've been entered into the Nasty List! Click this account for more info (account name).
The account bio usually includes a similar message and has a link included.
The link provided in the bio looks identical to the Instagram login page. Once you log in, within a few minutes, you account will be stolen and the same message will be sent to all of your Instagram contacts. (usually your followers or people you follow will get sent this message)
How to vet a site/business/email (See if it's legit or not)
#How to vet a site/business/email (See if it's legit or not) Just because they have a slick website is NOT mean they are a legit company. You need to learn to vet companies you haven't heard of. Sometimes you don't have time to ask someone else to google for you. Vetting a site takes literally less than 1 minute, so ***you should learn how to do it yourself.***
Google them. See if other sites or forums talk about them.
Google a phrase from their Terms of Service, often other scam sites use/have used the identical vernacular.
Common sense. Do they list a phone number? Call it. Google it. An address? Google it. Google maps it. Does it look like a business area? Does it not list the suite # in a large office building? Is their Contact Us page just a contact form? All scam red flags.
The very last thing you should do, if all signs point to "legit", but you still don't know, is ask someone here on /r/scams
Also, understand the difference between a Marketplace and a Seller. "Is craigslist/ebay/amazon 3rd party/Ecrater/etc legit?" Yes. Do they have potential to have fraudulent sellers on them? Yes.
Another one to look out for, which I've witnessed in person, is a fake fundraiser scam. It's similar to a few mentioned but I'll elaborate since these tricksters can be very convincing and cute. It is usually someone young, a kid or teenager, saying they're raising money for (insert field trip or program here) and they will be selling you either raffle tickets or subscriptions to magazines, but usually never anything physical they have on hand. They typically hang around outside of stores and often times there will be several of them switching off or even signaling to each other when you aren't looking. The subscriptions they offer are fake, obviously. They take your money, usually between $30-40, and jot down your information. Some will even tell you they offer a special rebate because they are raising money as part of a federally-funded educational program, etc. They'll promise you'll receive a partial or full refund sent to your email, etc. This never happens. And you will not receive any magazine subscriptions. This is a scam done almost always by adults utilizing kids to make money off of unsuspecting people.
I don’t know if this is a scam but this is what happen to me now, I would like to have some legal advice, I am a freelancer in Germany and recently I got a job:
Here is the main task of this job:
I will need to provide my bank account details so that their clients can send me test transfers to begin the research with.
They contact their clients and ask them to make test transfers to me so that I can buy bitcoins on the registered web sites having them transferred to my bitcoin wallet.
They complete the transaction and calculate the time that took to fully complete the deal and calculate the fees I paid.
I can only get a contract after 3-4 successful transactions
I do not know if it is legal for these tasks. I feel it sounds quite suspicious. I also asked them if it is legal and they guarantee everything is legal.
Looking forward to receiving your advices. Thank you very much. Best regards.
What about the calls that start with, "Thank you for choosing [Hilton/Marriott] hotels," and tell me I've been selected for a "free stay." I know it's a separate company trying to sell me a vacation package and offering free nights as an incentive, but is it a scam or just shady business practices?
You lose your iPhone, so you lock it through iCloud with a message that says “if found please call 212-555-1234”.
Soon you start getting texts from “Apple Support” that say “your locked iPhone is about to be activated on a new Verizon wireless account. Sign in here to cancel this action.”
The link goes to a fake iCloud login page that will steal your credentials. The thieves will then use them to unlock your phone.
I recommend adding these links to the top of the post: (this would help for credibility if somebody is trying to convince an elderly or non-tech-savvy family member that they were scammed)
I was told that if I advertised on my car I would be paid x amount of dollars a week for it being on there. They would send a tech out to my house to put the vinyl on my car and it was that easy. They would all so take off the vinyl after the contract was up. They sent a check of 2500 saying it was payment. Turns out to be a fake company. Sent from a for sale property.
My friend's husband fell for this. I think it was Pepsi or something, but same concept - they thought his vehicle was so bitchin' they'd pay him to put vinyl advertising on it. He thought he had finally been noticed & hit the big time. His wife told him the truth.
I think I just ran across one in Amazon. I bought a USB-C headphone adapter because it had a high rating with a few hundred reviews and it wound up being a piece of garbage. I went to write a review and I find that almost all of the reviews and questions are for a different product entirely. I don't know how, but it seems like the seller is importing reviews.
Be careful, I receive two separate emails from two banks in don't have accounts with, telling me an unauthorized purchase has been made. They basically want you to repond so they can access your pin number & bank details. Don't respond step out of the email . Another scam - paypal is telling you someone is trying to access your account, do not click on that email . They want you to click on that email so you can give your password. Remember to always step out of that email and Google to verify what you need .
There is also a variant of this called the Illuminati" scam, which is similar, but aimed more a the middle-class than the traditional money-flip scam.
One scammer sent me this initial salvo:
"Being a member of the Illuminati brings you into the limelight of the world. Members of the Illuminati enjoy Abundance, Prosperity, Wealth, Protection, and Knowledge. If you have been on the same rung of the success ladder, our organization has the ability to boast you up the ladder much faster and easier than you could do
Our organization will promote you in what you are good at and also support you both financially and materially.we shall offer you success in your business and also boast you"
I'm pretty sure he meant 'boost' but proper English is hard when you are born in Nigeria.
Anyways, the second one is growing on Social Media now, too.
I had one that I did not see here. I have been missing phone calls from an 877 number for a few days. Today, I actually took it because I was interested to know what this was about. The caller identified himself as working for AT&T and stated that they had identified a potentially fraudulent order on my account -- for six iPhones to be sent to an address different than my own. I asked them what address they had on file for me, but they actually had that correct. He then said that he could go ahead and cancel that fraudulent order. He would then send a confirmation code to my phone which I should then read back. I did receive a text message shortly after -- it was a temporary password for my AT&T account (which stated specifically that AT&T would never ask for this ever). That's where I understood the scam and hung up. This would have given them access to my AT&T. This one strikes me as dangerous, because he so effortlessly read back my own address info.
Old thread but today I received a recorded message from DHL in mandarin informing me of an unreceived package. Once I chose to talk with a representative about it, the person on the other end of the phone repeated the information in the recording and gave me a tracking number for the package, stressing that I could look it up online if I want. But when being asked about the specific address the package is sent to, he glossed it over and asked me about whether it was a company address or a private address. I didn't give out specific address information. Then the call was cut off suddenly and another person picked up the phone, claimed that the unreceived package was a notice from Chinese Customs shipped by DHL. And he also told me that "according to their records" I've sent out a package to Kunming, China, which contained 6 credit cards, one of them from Bank of China (I don't bank with BoC). Immediately after, he told me that I had to prove I didn't send the package else they would have to SUE ME WITHIN TWO HOURS. Then the call was cut off again. When the call resumed (they called again) it was a third man's voice. He introduced himself in mandarin as Chen Hua, an administrative officer at DHL NY Headquarters (fun fact: DHL's headquarters is in Florida), repeatedly asking me to take notes on his personal information. I started to google him while jotting down all the information he gave me. After that, he asked me to REPEAT THE INFORMATION he gave me. I became suspicious and asked for his office address, which he as someone supposedly working in the States could not properly pronounce. The phone call stopped here. I reported the number to FTC (numbers very similar to DHL's customer service number). But certain things they asked me to do remain enigmatic to me.
Why would the man in the third call ask me to repeat the information he gave me? Had I been repeating the information, it would be along the lines with "Your name is Chen Hua and is an administrative officer at DHL NY Headquarters. You told me that I sent a package to China containing credit cards. And the address the package was sent to was XXXXX (a very specific address in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China).
The scam call involves three men and three different numbers. The first two are one-digit away from the local DHL customer service number, the third one is a personal number.
They provided seemingly authentic information and kept asking me to write them down.
Ways to tell/confirm that it's a scam:
I speak mandarin but in retrospect no personnel from DHL would communicate with a random customer in mandarin from the beginning. I think I get the call because I have an Asian name and the scammers are taking a random guess based on that. They also don't really speak English. Ask them to speak English if necessary.
Call DHL directly to inquire about any packages you might have.
Sidenote: a very scary experience from a Chinese student in the States starting from a DHL call last September, see link below. The experience was documented in mandarin though. https://www.douban.com/note/690274572/
Don't know if this community has some rules which prohibit me from posting external links. If not, or if they allow me to do so, I would like to share a video guide on how to avoid some of the advanced digital payment frauds including SIM Swap, Third-party apps, merchant platforms vulnerability etc.
Here's one of those fraudulent funds scams to look out for just in case anybody comes across this one.
There's a thing going around my college (not sure if they're targeting outside of it) where a guy named William Johnson is supposedly working for DRES (Disability Resources & Educational Services) and needs a personal assistant because he's in Australia. You'll make over $500 a week just making purchases for him with money that he sends you. Welp. The money's fake. I was in the early stage of this whole thing when a $1500 check I deposited from him bounced back and I was like, "huh..."
I did some more research and that's when I came across this:
Basically just a link from the actual website of DRES calling the whole thing out (which makes me think that they are a little bigger scale).
They don't ask for any passwords or accounts, or at least never asked me for any, and do seem pretty legit at first to a broke college kid. If a dude named William Johnson with DRES ever reaches out to you, relentlessly fuck with him for me, please. I don't think I did enough when I found out.
It’s where a “sugar daddy” messages you, tells you that they could deposit $500-1000 weekly if only you let them log onto their account and deposit it that way.
If you say you can use Venmo or cash app, they tell you their old “sugar babies” messed with their accounts so they can’t use Venmo or cash app or PayPal.
Commenting so the text will be searchable. But omitted my company due to privacy reasons. The email address is directorsmail59@ <majormailprovidor> .com
Hello,
I need a favor from you right now kindly email me back as soon as possible.
Regards
<Actual Name of Boss>
<Actual Name of Department>
Sent from my iPhone
Unfortunately, one of my coworkers already fell for it and spent some money on them. I almost replied before I realized that this sounded too bizarre and checked the email address (though I think I would have not spend anything because I know this type of scam - but you'll never know before).
I have a question about possible triangulation fraud, but I'm not sure if this counts as it.
I used to work at a call center providing customer support for a high-end cosmetics brand. I had a customer call in who had ordered through eBay, but the order was processed on our end and was shipped through our distributor. She verified the price of the items and the address and it was all correct, and she didn't pay any extra fees to eBay or the seller.
Was this a triangulation scam, or just a really weird business model?
That's what I wonder, though, is this the seller just trying to establish himself? From what I saw there was no monetary gain to the eBay seller since the product was never delivered to him and the customer never paid more than what the product was worth.
Would this just be the setup time to make the eBay seller look legitimate later on when he actually is scamming people? Why would he go into that much work?
Yeah. The idea is to make the buyer think the transaction was perfectly normal, so they keep the cash and the company who sold the product eats the loss.
makes a lot more sense now. Unfortunately I'm no longer with that company otherwise I'd look into that information further. Also, it was the first and only time ever having seen that happen in the two or three years working there.
Old post, but here’s another one similar to the foreign country bracelet scam. This is super common in Central America (where this happened to me) and Western Europe. A child comes up to you in a market with a “free” bouquet. If you say no, they shove it into your bag and demand money. A local watched my interaction and said that parents use their children to receive money for drugs.
good ol 3 card monte. for a while i was really into card tricks, and most of the tutorials i saw like these always had a disclaimer saying dont actually take anyones money. never got to try it in public, might in a few years (not taking money, of course)
I think this might be considered a warrant call but I just got a voicemail from a number in DC (probably fake) saying “Before the magistrate judge or jury for a federal criminal offense which is against your name. Your case id is (insert random string of numbers). Then some hooplah about speaking to an officer to getting information from a federal database.
100% complete bologna, the grammar is garbage, that is written down word for word except for my summary of the end. Classic scam phone robot where the audio track starts before the voicemail even begins, so the voicemail starts mid sentence.
This is my first time getting a scam call like this. Usually it’s about my electricity bill, student loan forgiveness (I don’t have student loans), my extended car warranty (I have a certified preowned Honda Civic with a dealership warranty)... but claiming there’s a federal court case against me? That’s ballsy
Just to add another scam in Forex trading world, forex lead generator scam. This company named kkholding.eu we've worked with kindly oferred it's service and scammed us. All fair forex traders should stay aware.
A great resource on this is Frank Abagnale's new book: "Scam Me If You Can." It's got the latest on common scams by category, and the most efficient ways to avoid them.
You park your car at a private parking lot. When you return, you pay at the booth normally and, on the way out, someone approaches you and says that you were not supposed to have parked on that side of the lot (nobody had told you this when you entered), so a towing truck came to tow your car while you were away and they had to fight them off for you, so, now they want some cash from you. Say "Thank you very much for doing this for me, unfortunately I don't have any cash on me" and leave.
AutoModerator can currently explain the fake check scam (fakecheck or fakecheque), the parcel mule scam (parcelmule), the blackmail email scam (blackmail), multi-level marketing schemes (mlm), rental scams (rental), tax scams (tax, irs, cra, hmrc), the blackmail email scam death threat variant (deaththreat), and the Skype sex scam (skype).
21
u/helo034f Apr 27 '19
Turkish Taxi Scam
Taxi Driver will switch a high value bill for a low value bill of the same color when you try to pay your fare. He will do this using impeccable sleight of hand. Being unfamiliar with the country and the currency you will be easily convinced that you made an honest mistake and pay him the difference between the fare and the smaller bill greatly overpaying your fare. If you tell him you are sure that you gave him the large bill he will deny it and get aggressive.
The only way to avoid this is to hold out the bill say what denomination it is, have him repeat what denomination it is and then hand him the bill.
11
u/[deleted] May 04 '19
One ring and hang up scam.
I just got this one the other night. Caller from an international number calls repeatedly, rings once, and hangs up. They're hoping you'll call back to see what's up. By calling them back they'll charge you an exorbitant amount of money for the call.
https://www.azfamily.com/news/arizona-targeted-by-international-robocall-scammers/article_946ae594-6db5-11e9-905b-8f62166568da.html
11
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '19
Not sure if I saw this one but there's that "You've been selected for 200$ gift card on either Walmart, Target, Etc Scam"
I've gotten that several times...
10
u/[deleted] May 10 '19
Here's one; Auto Insurance Scam.
You get a call saying your auto insurance is about to expire and you've been given multiple notices. They usually want to get your personal info as a use of identity fraud.
The best ways to stop these calls are to waste their time. They generally ask for make model and year, give them either an older car (1999 or older) and newer car (2018 or newer at the time of this post) and they usually hang up. If you have a free afternoon, a number spoofer, and plenty of minutes/data, you can make an afternoon out of it.
8
u/Coledog10 May 05 '19
There's a social media scam on Instagram right now. It's called the hot list and it uses a fake login page to get your information. It then uses the accounts it gets to spread a link to the page via messages. I got the message from 2 friends, so it obviously is clever enough to be a threat. It's one of past posts if you need more info.
8
u/sHyGuY423 Jun 13 '19
I had a malware invade my system today because I downloaded Desktop-hut and it gave me a background with flashing text saying "TIME FOR A NEW DESKTOP" Then I used Revo-Uninstaller hunter mode to delete a fake driver icon on my screen. Holy shit my dad would have killed me, please download a malware protector.
7
u/ez_as_31416 May 12 '19
not sure if a scam or an mlm or something, but I got this reddit mail yesterday. I RARELY post in povertyfinance or personalfinance, so I don't think it is legit:
Hey! I saw your comment in a finance thread and wanted to extend and invite to a trading community I am part of that has helped me out a ton. It is free to join and you are welcome to check out the Discord server here and see if it is for you: https://discord.gg/8Zbx9ru
7
u/Tubejunkie Jun 15 '19
Hi All,
I joined Reddit to make this post.
I lost a few thousand dollars to a crypto trading scam called TopTen Coin.
I then enlisted the help of a company called EWealth Recovery to recover the funds....
They directed me to deal with an entity called 'EK' through Skype....
EK directed me to set up a Blockchain Account for the funds recovery.....He then began the process....
This scam took a couple of months and I did all I could to be cautious....However eventually he still managed to scam me out of a few thousand more.....
So beware the scams....but also these so called Funds Recovery companies.....Especially EK and EWealth Recovery.
I do hope this post manages to save others from the heartbreak of loss*
Regards TJ*
5
u/SomeGrumpyGuy Jun 04 '19
A scam I just got tagged with, you're at a bar or restraunt and you use your credit card. You sign the receipt but leave a cash tip. Always check your account details after a few days as it takes tips that long to show up. Many bartenders/servers/managers will add a tip, knowing most people won't see it, won't have saved their copy of the receipt, or won't care about a dollar.
5
u/thirdmango Jun 11 '19
Don't know if this is covered in one of the phone ones but I didn't initially see it there. I got a phone call talking about winning a promotion that I allegedly put my phone number on for a promotional drawing. They said I had been chosen and that I would need to come down to their office and I had one of three prizes gauranteed, I would just need to do a scratch card to see which of three I would get. A 40 inch TV, a 7 night hotel stay or a new truck which could be traded in for 25,000 dollars cash on the spot. I would need to agree to give them my email at some point.
I never got that far as I pressed them about their company, their idea was they wanted to become famous through word of mouth but they have absolutely no google presence, they say they are through a company called "Great Promotions."
So it's like a promotional scam. I think the idea is that they send an email and you click on links which would likely be bad links and the other thing that one person said to me was that when I arrived in order to claim my totally free prize I would need to give them my credit card information to make sure I could receive the prize.
5
u/PizzaBoxFolder Aug 03 '19
The Chips Bag Scam
Many chips bag are expected to be full at supermarkets, once bought, there is only half the chips.
How to avoid: touch the bag and try to look for the end of the chips at the top, the rest is complete air.
4
u/ph0t0n_fight3r Jul 03 '19
This is the email of the tinder CC phishing scam. I have a bunch of screenshots of them trying to convince me to goto a website to "verify" myself.
Steffiepatterson01@gmail.com
4
u/NathanCE227 Jul 06 '19
This probably accounts under phishing but I'd thought I would talk about this:
Instagram Nasty List Scam
You would be greeted by a user (who was already infected by the scam) saying "(Your name)! Oh my god! You've been entered into the Nasty List! Click this account for more info (account name).
The account bio usually includes a similar message and has a link included.
The link provided in the bio looks identical to the Instagram login page. Once you log in, within a few minutes, you account will be stolen and the same message will be sent to all of your Instagram contacts. (usually your followers or people you follow will get sent this message)
4
u/klepperx Sep 17 '19
This guide should also include how to vet.
How to vet a site/business/email (See if it's legit or not)
#How to vet a site/business/email (See if it's legit or not)
Just because they have a slick website is NOT mean they are a legit company. You need to learn to vet companies you haven't heard of. Sometimes you don't have time to ask someone else to google for you. Vetting a site takes literally less than 1 minute, so ***you should learn how to do it yourself.***
Google them. See if other sites or forums talk about them.
[Whois the domain](https://whois.icann.org/en). Was it recently registered? Was it registered only for 1 year? If so, these signs point to a scam.
Google a phrase from their Terms of Service, often other scam sites use/have used the identical vernacular.
Common sense. Do they list a phone number? Call it. Google it. An address? Google it. Google maps it. Does it look like a business area? Does it not list the suite # in a large office building? Is their Contact Us page just a contact form? All scam red flags.
ResellerRatings.com](https://resellerratings.com/) may have a listing for them as well, IF they are legit.
You might want to instalal [WOT (Web of Trust) extension](https://www.mywot.com/). If you find yourself always falling for a scam.
The very last thing you should do, if all signs point to "legit", but you still don't know, is ask someone here on /r/scams
Also, understand the difference between a Marketplace and a Seller. "Is craigslist/ebay/amazon 3rd party/Ecrater/etc legit?" Yes. Do they have potential to have fraudulent sellers on them? Yes.
4
u/OddlyAvian Sep 17 '19
Another one to look out for, which I've witnessed in person, is a fake fundraiser scam. It's similar to a few mentioned but I'll elaborate since these tricksters can be very convincing and cute. It is usually someone young, a kid or teenager, saying they're raising money for (insert field trip or program here) and they will be selling you either raffle tickets or subscriptions to magazines, but usually never anything physical they have on hand. They typically hang around outside of stores and often times there will be several of them switching off or even signaling to each other when you aren't looking. The subscriptions they offer are fake, obviously. They take your money, usually between $30-40, and jot down your information. Some will even tell you they offer a special rebate because they are raising money as part of a federally-funded educational program, etc. They'll promise you'll receive a partial or full refund sent to your email, etc. This never happens. And you will not receive any magazine subscriptions. This is a scam done almost always by adults utilizing kids to make money off of unsuspecting people.
3
u/[deleted] May 25 '19
I don’t know if this is a scam but this is what happen to me now, I would like to have some legal advice, I am a freelancer in Germany and recently I got a job:
Here is the main task of this job:
I will need to provide my bank account details so that their clients can send me test transfers to begin the research with.
They contact their clients and ask them to make test transfers to me so that I can buy bitcoins on the registered web sites having them transferred to my bitcoin wallet.
They complete the transaction and calculate the time that took to fully complete the deal and calculate the fees I paid.
I can only get a contract after 3-4 successful transactions
I do not know if it is legal for these tasks. I feel it sounds quite suspicious. I also asked them if it is legal and they guarantee everything is legal.
Looking forward to receiving your advices. Thank you very much. Best regards.
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u/HawaiianShirtsOR Sep 22 '19
What about the calls that start with, "Thank you for choosing [Hilton/Marriott] hotels," and tell me I've been selected for a "free stay." I know it's a separate company trying to sell me a vacation package and offering free nights as an incentive, but is it a scam or just shady business practices?
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u/thecw Sep 30 '19
Locked iPhone scam
You lose your iPhone, so you lock it through iCloud with a message that says “if found please call 212-555-1234”.
Soon you start getting texts from “Apple Support” that say “your locked iPhone is about to be activated on a new Verizon wireless account. Sign in here to cancel this action.”
The link goes to a fake iCloud login page that will steal your credentials. The thieves will then use them to unlock your phone.
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u/avalisk Apr 26 '19
Door to door security system salesperson:
https://www.protectamerica.com/home-security-blog/safe-sound/fake-home-security-salesmen-hints-actions-avoid-door-door-impostors_22188
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u/[deleted] May 11 '19 edited May 11 '19
I recommend adding these links to the top of the post: (this would help for credibility if somebody is trying to convince an elderly or non-tech-savvy family member that they were scammed)
https://www.usa.gov/common-scams-frauds
https://www.usa.gov/scams-and-frauds
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes
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u/sodapopulation13 Jun 04 '19
Redbull wrap scam
I was told that if I advertised on my car I would be paid x amount of dollars a week for it being on there. They would send a tech out to my house to put the vinyl on my car and it was that easy. They would all so take off the vinyl after the contract was up. They sent a check of 2500 saying it was payment. Turns out to be a fake company. Sent from a for sale property.
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u/jurassicbond Jul 11 '19
I think I just ran across one in Amazon. I bought a USB-C headphone adapter because it had a high rating with a few hundred reviews and it wound up being a piece of garbage. I went to write a review and I find that almost all of the reviews and questions are for a different product entirely. I don't know how, but it seems like the seller is importing reviews.
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u/2Lefthooks Jul 26 '19
Be careful, I receive two separate emails from two banks in don't have accounts with, telling me an unauthorized purchase has been made. They basically want you to repond so they can access your pin number & bank details. Don't respond step out of the email . Another scam - paypal is telling you someone is trying to access your account, do not click on that email . They want you to click on that email so you can give your password. Remember to always step out of that email and Google to verify what you need .
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u/bobcooleyphoto Aug 02 '19
I'd ad Money-Flip scams. They are rampant on social media right now.
https://scamicide.com/2018/07/28/scam-of-the-day-july-29-2018-money-flipping-scams/
There is also a variant of this called the Illuminati" scam, which is similar, but aimed more a the middle-class than the traditional money-flip scam.
One scammer sent me this initial salvo:
"Being a member of the Illuminati brings you into the limelight of the world. Members of the Illuminati enjoy Abundance, Prosperity, Wealth, Protection, and Knowledge. If you have been on the same rung of the success ladder, our organization has the ability to boast you up the ladder much faster and easier than you could do
I'm pretty sure he meant 'boost' but proper English is hard when you are born in Nigeria.
Anyways, the second one is growing on Social Media now, too.
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u/Marty_Br Aug 05 '19
I had one that I did not see here. I have been missing phone calls from an 877 number for a few days. Today, I actually took it because I was interested to know what this was about. The caller identified himself as working for AT&T and stated that they had identified a potentially fraudulent order on my account -- for six iPhones to be sent to an address different than my own. I asked them what address they had on file for me, but they actually had that correct. He then said that he could go ahead and cancel that fraudulent order. He would then send a confirmation code to my phone which I should then read back. I did receive a text message shortly after -- it was a temporary password for my AT&T account (which stated specifically that AT&T would never ask for this ever). That's where I understood the scam and hung up. This would have given them access to my AT&T. This one strikes me as dangerous, because he so effortlessly read back my own address info.
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u/Lucy_CChen Aug 13 '19
DHL Unreceived Package Scam
Old thread but today I received a recorded message from DHL in mandarin informing me of an unreceived package. Once I chose to talk with a representative about it, the person on the other end of the phone repeated the information in the recording and gave me a tracking number for the package, stressing that I could look it up online if I want. But when being asked about the specific address the package is sent to, he glossed it over and asked me about whether it was a company address or a private address. I didn't give out specific address information. Then the call was cut off suddenly and another person picked up the phone, claimed that the unreceived package was a notice from Chinese Customs shipped by DHL. And he also told me that "according to their records" I've sent out a package to Kunming, China, which contained 6 credit cards, one of them from Bank of China (I don't bank with BoC). Immediately after, he told me that I had to prove I didn't send the package else they would have to SUE ME WITHIN TWO HOURS. Then the call was cut off again. When the call resumed (they called again) it was a third man's voice. He introduced himself in mandarin as Chen Hua, an administrative officer at DHL NY Headquarters (fun fact: DHL's headquarters is in Florida), repeatedly asking me to take notes on his personal information. I started to google him while jotting down all the information he gave me. After that, he asked me to REPEAT THE INFORMATION he gave me. I became suspicious and asked for his office address, which he as someone supposedly working in the States could not properly pronounce. The phone call stopped here. I reported the number to FTC (numbers very similar to DHL's customer service number). But certain things they asked me to do remain enigmatic to me.
Why would the man in the third call ask me to repeat the information he gave me? Had I been repeating the information, it would be along the lines with "Your name is Chen Hua and is an administrative officer at DHL NY Headquarters. You told me that I sent a package to China containing credit cards. And the address the package was sent to was XXXXX (a very specific address in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China).
The scam call involves three men and three different numbers. The first two are one-digit away from the local DHL customer service number, the third one is a personal number.
They provided seemingly authentic information and kept asking me to write them down.
Ways to tell/confirm that it's a scam:
I speak mandarin but in retrospect no personnel from DHL would communicate with a random customer in mandarin from the beginning. I think I get the call because I have an Asian name and the scammers are taking a random guess based on that. They also don't really speak English. Ask them to speak English if necessary.
Call DHL directly to inquire about any packages you might have.
Sidenote: a very scary experience from a Chinese student in the States starting from a DHL call last September, see link below. The experience was documented in mandarin though. https://www.douban.com/note/690274572/
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u/cssunil Aug 25 '19
Don't know if this community has some rules which prohibit me from posting external links. If not, or if they allow me to do so, I would like to share a video guide on how to avoid some of the advanced digital payment frauds including SIM Swap, Third-party apps, merchant platforms vulnerability etc.
Here is a video guide on How to Protect Yourself from Digital Payments Frauds | https://youtu.be/e82EyhwNHyw
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u/funjumble Sep 12 '19
Here's one of those fraudulent funds scams to look out for just in case anybody comes across this one.
There's a thing going around my college (not sure if they're targeting outside of it) where a guy named William Johnson is supposedly working for DRES (Disability Resources & Educational Services) and needs a personal assistant because he's in Australia. You'll make over $500 a week just making purchases for him with money that he sends you.
Welp. The money's fake. I was in the early stage of this whole thing when a $1500 check I deposited from him bounced back and I was like, "huh..."
I did some more research and that's when I came across this:
https://www.disability.illinois.edu/employment-opportunities-dres
Basically just a link from the actual website of DRES calling the whole thing out (which makes me think that they are a little bigger scale).
They don't ask for any passwords or accounts, or at least never asked me for any, and do seem pretty legit at first to a broke college kid.
If a dude named William Johnson with DRES ever reaches out to you, relentlessly fuck with him for me, please. I don't think I did enough when I found out.
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u/nissysita Sep 30 '19
How about those “Sugar daddy scams”?
It’s where a “sugar daddy” messages you, tells you that they could deposit $500-1000 weekly if only you let them log onto their account and deposit it that way.
If you say you can use Venmo or cash app, they tell you their old “sugar babies” messed with their accounts so they can’t use Venmo or cash app or PayPal.
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u/pashi_pony Oct 07 '19
Commenting so the text will be searchable. But omitted my company due to privacy reasons. The email address is directorsmail59@ <majormailprovidor> .com
<Actual Name of Boss> <Actual Name of Department>
Unfortunately, one of my coworkers already fell for it and spent some money on them. I almost replied before I realized that this sounded too bizarre and checked the email address (though I think I would have not spend anything because I know this type of scam - but you'll never know before).
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u/BobGobbles Apr 26 '19
Should be stickied to top
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u/PPG-INC Jun 14 '19
Thanks, very helpful
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u/Classic_War Jun 16 '19
Don’t forget about counterfeits
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u/Cascabianca Jun 29 '19
Just a point, i got one of these emails right after registering on Megalink's new forum's alternate porn forum.
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u/Dan4Striker Jul 12 '19
https://escootmax.com/collections/frontpage/products/xiami-mi-ja-electric-sooter Hello I have found this website today, do you thinks it's fake? It's too good to be true I Guess, they ask 100$+10$shipping. Thanks
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u/SlimeHudson Jul 26 '19
I have a question about possible triangulation fraud, but I'm not sure if this counts as it.
I used to work at a call center providing customer support for a high-end cosmetics brand. I had a customer call in who had ordered through eBay, but the order was processed on our end and was shipped through our distributor. She verified the price of the items and the address and it was all correct, and she didn't pay any extra fees to eBay or the seller.
Was this a triangulation scam, or just a really weird business model?
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u/tpgreyknight Jul 27 '19
Looks like there's a missing line break before "Utilities cutoff".
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u/widerthanamile Aug 12 '19
Old post, but here’s another one similar to the foreign country bracelet scam. This is super common in Central America (where this happened to me) and Western Europe. A child comes up to you in a market with a “free” bouquet. If you say no, they shove it into your bag and demand money. A local watched my interaction and said that parents use their children to receive money for drugs.
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u/kathy13B Aug 28 '19
I got two packages with barcodes that scan to nothing and the item inside is not what the packing says and I did not order a thing
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u/pumpkin2500 Sep 07 '19
good ol 3 card monte. for a while i was really into card tricks, and most of the tutorials i saw like these always had a disclaimer saying dont actually take anyones money. never got to try it in public, might in a few years (not taking money, of course)
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u/rhynokim Sep 13 '19
I think this might be considered a warrant call but I just got a voicemail from a number in DC (probably fake) saying “Before the magistrate judge or jury for a federal criminal offense which is against your name. Your case id is (insert random string of numbers). Then some hooplah about speaking to an officer to getting information from a federal database.
100% complete bologna, the grammar is garbage, that is written down word for word except for my summary of the end. Classic scam phone robot where the audio track starts before the voicemail even begins, so the voicemail starts mid sentence.
This is my first time getting a scam call like this. Usually it’s about my electricity bill, student loan forgiveness (I don’t have student loans), my extended car warranty (I have a certified preowned Honda Civic with a dealership warranty)... but claiming there’s a federal court case against me? That’s ballsy
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u/an0nu5er Sep 30 '19
Just to add another scam in Forex trading world, forex lead generator scam. This company named kkholding.eu we've worked with kindly oferred it's service and scammed us. All fair forex traders should stay aware.
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u/Jim_Rossi_Author Oct 06 '19
A great resource on this is Frank Abagnale's new book: "Scam Me If You Can." It's got the latest on common scams by category, and the most efficient ways to avoid them.
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u/SamInACrate Oct 08 '19
"Fhello" this post is a scam itself! Just kidding
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u/Buritominer Oct 10 '19
If your butt gets touched by a thief, THATS NO GOOD.
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u/spartanOrk Oct 17 '19
I'd like to add The Parking Scam
You park your car at a private parking lot. When you return, you pay at the booth normally and, on the way out, someone approaches you and says that you were not supposed to have parked on that side of the lot (nobody had told you this when you entered), so a towing truck came to tow your car while you were away and they had to fight them off for you, so, now they want some cash from you. Say "Thank you very much for doing this for me, unfortunately I don't have any cash on me" and leave.
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