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[West Texas CEO]

It must have been a few years ago I bought a laptop on Yahoo Auctions, which wasn't anything special or particularly cheap and the seller had replied promptly to questions.
However the moment payment was made I never heard anything from the seller and the laptop was never delivered.
I made a number of stupid mistakes, mainly because I thought Yahoo offered protection on their auctions which they didn't and I paid by Western Union. I know, I still can't believe I did that , , but at the time I just thought it was another payment method.

I remember how sick I felt initially as I realized it was a scam and then so angry with myself for being so stupid.

However it was a valuable lesson and I've never been scammed since and far more careful with any purchases.

What other scams have people fell for here? Hopefully if we share it will stop others from falling for the same thing!

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Not me personally but my mother in law and we witnessed it first hand how the scammer tried to get more money out of her. Luckily she didn't give him that much to begin with, i think only a $50 but he thought the could get more so we all toyed with him. Kept calling and giving fake stories about his family needing money for emergency surgery and other stuff.

Had an english name on his profile but when we called him he sounded like a Nigerian

Sent us fake bank web links where the spelling of simple English words was waaay off

Eventually told him to fuck off cause we passed his info onto the FBI. He never called again

 

[RJMacready73]

Never, I have my dad's attitude of everyone's a cunt and out to get you when they offer to sell you something, I believe no one, even this poll smells fishy

 

[The Cockatrice]

Never

 

[Mistake]

Someone tried scamming me recently, saying they have all my nudes, will send them to my work and make me go viral. I said "I know what I got. You make me go viral and I'll be a goddamn porn star."

 

[Spyxos]

I lent my Steam account to a so-called friend. I never saw the account again.

 

[Trilobit]

Once. I bought a used iPhone 4G and it had the back glass replaced with some whimsy sticker. I had never had any problems buying stuff from people online until that moment. It took months to get over the anger and I've never repeated the same mistake since.

The best thing if you can't make it right is to suck it up, use it as a learning example and promise yourself to never get scammed again. The incredible rage will eventually subside.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Not scammed perse, but some asshole ripped off my debit card from a gas station pump

 

[Bring Back Scalebound]

Never, but it can happen...

I live a pretty straight foward life. I don't buy much beyond the necessary, or get involved into things related to money...

I pay my bills, I go to the Supermarket, buy the essentials, and once in a while I buy stuff related to my hobbies, through trusted places, or places I believe to be trusted.

If it's the "We have a picture of you fucking a dog" type of scam, well... That picture doesn't exist. Never fucked anything, actually.

"We have a loved one of yours here, and we will kill them, if you don't ________"
I'm not that important to go through the effort of kidnapping my loved ones. And I have all their phone numbers. I can message them...

Anyway, never have, but it can happen to anyone. There are other types of scams. And there are scams where you only find out way later that you were scammed.

 

[Warnen]

Sold an iPhone on eBay and 6 month later guy sent me back a rock in a box refused delivery and PayPal sided with them. Does that count?

 

[*Nightwing]

Had someone with a Miami number and Jamaican accent call my cell and threaten they are outside my house and would “get my family “ if I didn’t give them my bank account info.

I was working from home, alone at the time, so couldn’t hold my laughter, gave them my address and begged them to come and proceeded to Home Alone boobytrap my house.

….im still waiting for them

 

[poppabk]

Yes but old school, in person during an illegal transaction.

 

[IDKFA]

Almost.

Once I had a phone call and the call ID came up as Barclays (name of my bank), so I answered it.

The guy on the phone said he was calling from the fraud team and they noticed somebody tried to make a purchase with my card in Bradford. He then asked me to log into my online bank there and then to make sure my account was in order. I knew then it was a scam and hung up.

Called my bank and they confirmed it was a scam.

Luckily I saw the scam, but I dread to think how many people fell victim to it.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Once when Netflix got compromised I was paying for it twice and I was like SURELY that's a mistake. I was dead ass paying for someone in fucking Bolivia. Got that shit cancelled.

 

[Ikutachi]

Nonfunctioning N64 Hori controller.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Almost.

Once I had a phone call and the call ID came up as Barclays (name of my bank), so I answered it.

The guy on the phone said he was calling from the fraud team and they noticed somebody tried to make a purchase with my card in Bradford. He then asked me to log into my online bank there and then to make sure my account was in order. I knew then it was a scam and hung up.

Called my bank and they confirmed it was a scam.

Luckily I saw the scam, but I dread to think how many people fell victim to it.

I don't like to use the term stupid but some people are stupid and deserve to be scammed, hopefully to in fact learn their lesson. Like this lady for example:

“We had great conversations,” said a 65-year-old woman. "We talked about everything from what we had for breakfast to sex in the shower.”
“I can tell you what movies he's working on. We talked about all kinds of stuff,” she said.
She added that the only way she would believe she was a fraud victim was if ‘Keanu Reeves should walk in the door and tell me he didn't do this’


This basketcase believes she was chatting with Keanu Reeves and sent him a heap of money.

Fake Keanu Reeves cons woman abroad out of more than $700k

A woman appeared on Spanish TV to confirm she'd fallen for a Keanu Reeves romance scam and had been forced to pawn her possessions.

www.unilad.com

 

[DrFigs]

I got scammed my first time in New York City. I was having a hard time finding a cab and some dude pulled up in some car from a private cab company offering a ride. He was super kind and i didn't think there was anything weird about it. He drove me a few miles maybe (I don't exactly remember), but the meter read almost 100 dollars, which was insane. At this point I'm like shit there's no way this is right. I felt sick to my stomach when he took me to my destination and told me how much I owed him. I had to cash app him or something like that because I didn't have 100 dollars on me. But then afterwards I got mad at myself for being tricked and actually paying this dude.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

About 10 or so years ago back when I heavily played MTG I got scammed on Ebay. Bought about $500 in cards and they sent a large envelope that was basically empty. The account was old and had a ton of feedback too which made me think it was a mistake but then they ghosted until Ebay eventually gave me my money back months after I filed the police report they required.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Nonfunctioning N64 Hori controller.

This is probably the most egregious thing I've ever heard!

 

[Badlucktroll]

Nonfunctioning N64 Hori controller.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

I got scammed my first time in New York City. I was having a hard time finding a cab and some dude pulled up in some car from a private cab company offering a ride. He was super kind and i didn't think there was anything weird about it. He drove me a few miles maybe (I don't exactly remember), but the meter read almost 100 dollars, which was insane. At this point I'm like shit there's no way this is right. I felt sick to my stomach when he took me to my destination and told me how much I owed him. I had to cash app him or something like that because I didn't have 100 dollars on me. But then afterwards I got mad at myself for being tricked and actually paying this dude.

Bro, seriously?! You just get into some random car because they were 'kind'? You lucky that wasn't a crazed nutjob. Be careful mate. Nothing in this world is free and if people offering free shit, there's usually a catch.

Also New York is full of scammers especially around Times Square (never been to NY just did a bunch of research on it because i was planning to visit there this year but instead going to LA cause its closer to my home country lol)

 

[Trogdor1123]

3 times I can think of. First was when I was under age I got a guy to bootleg for me. I gave him enough to buy me and a buddy enough money to buy a 26 of silent sam and he bought me a mickey of the cheapest garbage vodka ever. Can’t really say I blame him.

Next time was when I bought a modded ps1 on eBay and it came broken. They never made it right and I never got my money either. They even blamed me. I was young so didn’t know what to do.

Next time was when I sold a cellphone the guy came to my place and bought it. He seemed nice enough. Then a week later he left me an automated message saying the phone was broken and he wanted his money back and threatened to burn my home down with my kids in it. I wired $50 back to him, as it was only a 125 total cost and that made him happy enough to piss off. He was not someone I’d call stable. It was a scam from the start. I notified the police and they refused to do anything.

I think that’s it…

 

[The Stig]

No. But back in the old win 95 and 98 days I did get pwned by a virus or two (i know that is different)

 

[Dacvak]

My uncle keeps getting scammed, and it breaks my heart. I just hung out with him over the 4th, and he once again was showing me this “investment” scam that he fell pray to. Luckily, he has only given $600 away so far (much less than the $2500 they’re asking for), but it sucks. I wish I could be a shield for him 24/7.

As for me, I got login-duped from a Discord plugin once and my account was compromised. I got it back within 4 hours because of some connections I have at discord, but it was still shitty (especially since I’m the admin of my company’s fairly large server). No damage done, but that was a STRESSFUL night.

 

[DrFigs]

Bro, seriously?! You just get into some random car because they were 'kind'? You lucky that wasn't a crazed nutjob. Be careful mate. Nothing in this world is free and if people offering free shit, there's usually a catch.

Also New York is full of scammers especially around Times Square (never been to NY just did a bunch of research on it because i was planning to visit there this year but instead going to LA cause its closer to my home country lol)

I knew i had to pay. it just wasn't a yellow cab or whatever the common ones are and the dude seemed like he wasn't about to scam me. and i was 18 at the time

 

[Sub_Level]

Xbox 360s on Craigslist are not reliable…

 

[DaciaJC]

Almost.

Once I had a phone call and the call ID came up as Barclays (name of my bank), so I answered it.

The guy on the phone said he was calling from the fraud team and they noticed somebody tried to make a purchase with my card in Bradford. He then asked me to log into my online bank there and then to make sure my account was in order. I knew then it was a scam and hung up.

Called my bank and they confirmed it was a scam.

Luckily I saw the scam, but I dread to think how many people fell victim to it.

What's their end goal? How would logging into your online account compromise it?

 

[Nydius]

I've never been scammed, and I attribute that to being naturally deeply skeptical and cynical.

I will say that during the last five years of my mom's life, I had to protect her from being scammed multiple times. She got the usual e-mail scams and site phishing scams and she was far too trusting. I've also had to stop my wife from being scammed from a couple of those sketchy "USPS cannot deliver your package" scam texts because she always thinks they're legit.

 

[John Marston]

I've never been scammed, and I attribute that to being naturally deeply skeptical and cynical.

Same here however I had a brain fart last month.

My phone rang & it was an automated message saying my Paypal had a 900$ charge. Stay on the line to speak to a customer service rep.

I do use Paypal so my initial reaction was to speak to that person but my common sense kicked in when I started to interact with that rep.

I told him I should check my Paypal balance first and the whole thing felt fishy & hung up.

Of course there was no 900$ charge.

Since then I've had similar calls using Amazon or Paypal again as an excuse.

Once I stayed on the line and just screamed as loud as I could when I was connected

There's also texts I get from "banks" I don't belong to where I respond with the filthiest shit you ever heard then block them.

I just feel bad for vulnerable people or the elderly falling for that.

I also wish terminal ass cancer to all the loved ones of anyone participating in those scams.

 

[AJUMP23]

If you believed Fauci you did.


I know political joke please forgive me.

 

[Coconutt]

Attempted to sell my PSP on eBay when I was 13, ended up getting scammed, felt bad man.

 

[Z O N E]

Never.

I think I just see through bullshit easier than most.

I do have to keep reminding my mum though but thankfully she's understanding it more and more.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Not scammed but eBay scammers once targeted me. I listed an expensive laptop on eBay a few years ago and got a series of messages from scammers trying to get the laptop from me. The grift is this:

"The laptop is perfect! I need to pay [through some sort of credit] as I don't have enough cash at the moment, but I'd like to collect it tomorrow morning/later today. When are you around? "

Then what happens is they buy the item through eBay. You get notified the sale is complete by eBay as is entirely usual. The buyer collects it. Then, a few days later they tell eBay that the laptop was never delivered. eBay ask you for proof of postage. You don't have it as it was collected. eBay refund your buyer. They get the laptop free.

I was already alert to the potential for a scam on an expensive item and was aware of this particular scam too. I was surprised that I got messages from multiple people trying to purchase & collect in the same way. I guess it's possible that the messages all came from the same person through multiple accounts. They'd also all be from a long distance away - hours of driving. I presume that's a way of making it harder for you to go find them once you realise you've been scammed, or harder for you to back out if you get cold feet "I've just driven all morning to get here!"

I'm sure there'll be loads of people who have eBay scam stories, had I not heard of them, I would likely have been a victim so that's why I've shared it here!

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Trade Hacked on D2, back in the day, never happened after that. Then, just recently; I work in retail and some homeless dude came in with a huge sob story, I gave him 11 bucks from my pocket and I told him I would put many people on game, within the area, if he's trying to soak me for fast cash. Son of a bitch... sure enough... he was supposed to be long gone out of the area to meet his so called "wife" and was asking people across the street, as he knew not to come through, any more.

I called the building across the street and put them on 411/Information and I even added how his presence adds danger to their customers because he's in the way of thru-traffic, getting in the way of actual transactions while he's lying through his fucked up teeth.

I despise those types. I only gave him 11 bucks, because I was wrestling with my conscious on the very thought that if I were wrong, I'd hate myself for not helping someone when I could have... Why do people like this have to even exist?

 

[Peggies]

I never pick up the phone unless it's a number I know and even then it has to be someone important. I find calling per se fishy. It's either a scammer calling or some boomer who'll eventually text like they should have done to begin with ffs.

 

[IDKFA]

What's their end goal? How would logging into your online account compromise it?

I assume it was a phishing attempt to get my login information to my bank.

I didn't follow through, so not sure how the end result would end up. Maybe they could register my code to access my banking app, or they might have told me to download a fake app that took my details, allowing them access to my account. No really sure.

 

[xrnzaaas]

When I was a kid I was very close to giving my credit card number to watch some porn lol.

As an adult, I don't think so. My general attitude is that if a random person calls me or sends me a message they don't have good intentions. I end that interaction very quickly, before they can even present their (potential) scam.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

I work in retail and some homeless dude came in

I despise those types. I only gave him 11 bucks, because I was wrestling with my conscious on the very thought that if I were wrong, I'd hate myself for not helping someone when I could have... Why do people like this have to even exist?

...Sounds like you helped someone in need to me.

 

[John Marston]

I work in retail and some homeless dude came in with a huge sob story

You reminded me of my own retail scam experience

In the early 90's I worked the deli counter at Marks & Spencer.
I was asked to cover for a coworker in women's wear for her 15 minute break.

I had zero experience in that department so I figured I'd just stand around making sure no one stole a rack of dresses.

A lady asks to try on a bra in the changing room.
She comes out 5 minutes later and hands me the bra's package saying it didn't fit.

Turns out she swapped her old bra in the package and left the store wearing the new one.

Since I was just replacing an employee on break I didn't get any shit for it.

And I went back to my deli station ready to slice some ox tongue for old hags

 

[Dirk Benedict]

...Sounds like you helped someone in need to me.

Bro, he keeps saying the same shit to everyone. I stopped with trying to do anything about it, aside from warn my own customers.

 

[AV]

On Runescape and Habbo Hotel when I was a kid. Taught me valuable fucking life lessons and I've never been involved in a scam in the 20 years since.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Bro, he keeps saying the same shit to everyone. I stopped with trying to do anything about it, aside from warn my own customers.

Sure, but if the guy's homeless, he's in need, right? Does it matter how he dresses it up?

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Yeah, I paid for a game online through a private seller and never got it. I paid £30 and never heard from them after payment. Got the money back though. Don't buy stuff online privately unless it's through a reputable platform, and even then I'm cautious.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

My attempts to get a functional Xbox Elite out of Microsoft support felt like a scam. ATVI banning me from accessing my purchased BO:CW game including single-player for no reason also felt like a scam. And hey now they're under the Microsoft Scam Umbrella. Good for them.

I paid for Squadron 42/Star Citizen, most people on here would say I got scammed. I'm still good with it though. My "Kickstarter phase" was all about backing the causes of various devs from my youth. Actually getting a product was.. well.. a stretch goal.

A bait and switch that was pulled by my employer sure feels like a scam in hindsight. Really should have gotten my resume back out there at my earliest opportunity.

Had a horrible Ebay experience that ended my retro collecting phase. I don't think I was getting scammed per se, just the post office destroying my $700 purchase and then 'delivering' it like nothing happened. Then they advised me to 'reject shipment' when I took what was once a box filled with things that was now essentially shredded cardboard with a broken console and zero games back to the post office to yell at them. Which of course ended up being the thing you're not supposed to do per... well it was either paypal or ebay policies... either way I was found to be essentially at-fault by... well... default as a result. Ended up disputing it with my credit card company to get my money back. Strangely my PayPal account still exists and works, as does my Ebay account from the '90s.

When I was in middle school working the front desk for my parent's business some scammer got me to 'order' replacement printer cartridges for the credit card receipt printer by claiming to have called just to confirm the model number so that they sent us the right things. Got yelled at when random printer cartridges that nobody actually ordered showed up alongside an invoice. What kind of a loser goes through with that scam on a poor squeaker in his first week of actual work. Resulted in

And of course, there were a couple of friendships/relationships that were scam-adjacent, but probably even more out of the scope of the original question than most of my post.

I guess I'll vote 'scammed once' for the print cartridge thing.

 

[GymWolf]

In cuba me and my friend got black tea leaves instead of ganja once.

In our defence, drug dealers get 20 years of prison without even a trial if they get caught selling drugs to tourists so there wasn't really the time to check the goods, everyone was super electric, even the ones who had real ganja to sell.

 

[adJackson]

yes crypto scam I have lost almost a 1milion $in the crypto fake app

 

[Phobos Base]

Thinking I might have been scammed with the Ion Fury Aftershock big box, no updates since November and I've since moved house, but 3d Realms don't answer support tickets.

In my younger days I made the mistake of buying a VW Golf GTi in the dark without a test drive. Overheated on the way home as the radiator was leaking, found the handbrake didn't work then came out the next morning to see it was two completely different shades so had obviously been crashed and repaired

 

[stn]

Never. In fact, I helped prevent one person from getting scammed out of a few grand.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Sure, but if the guy's homeless, he's in need, right? Does it matter how he dresses it up?

I don't expect you to understand. I'm going to tell you right now, if you ask me for money and use a lie to induce emotion from me, then you're a piece of shit.
Plain and simple. You do not deserve my sympathy or hard earned money. Nor do you deserve the energy it takes for me to that money out of my pocket, and much more importantly, my time. That I cannot get back, either.

 

[Laptop1991]

No, never, i only use trusted sites and don't fall for dodgy emails and messages, well not yet anyway.