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Ever been scammed?
- Thread starter It’s Time To Go
- Start date
Also, lent a ton of money to "friends" and i made very clear it was not a gift and that it was a loan. Never saw a penny of that money ever again. Bye bye friendships.
In college, when I moved into my first off-campus apartment, they had a bunch of "magazine salespeople" going door to door.
There were plenty of tells that it was going to be a scam that I didn't look past:
1) On the lease terms, it said that soliciting was strictly prohibited. And this guy wasn't even dressed like a salesman, he just had a hoodie and some baggie jeans and a beanie like a normal ass dude at the time.
2) The pamphlets that showed all of the magazine subs available were legit magazines, but they were all images of issues that were 4-5 years old. Electronic Gaming Monthly was one that stuck out to me starkly, but it had the cover for a Halo 2 edition of the magazine and Halo 3 was already a couple of years old at that point.
3) He would only accept cash and insisted on me going to a nearby ATM and coming back.
Fell for his sympathy story about a big chunk of the proceeds going to some donation service and didn't put the red flags together at the time. I'd never lived on my own before so I wasn't used to dealing with solicitor tactics and scam tactics. I went to an ATM and got like $90 out for what I thought was going to be a 4-magazine subscription.
I'm also lucky because this particular apartment had 3 roommates at the time and two of them were home when this guy came by. He probably could've gotten away with jacking shit while I was going to the ATM, but nothing was missing and he was still exactly where I left him (first floor living room, where nothing of value was placed).
Outside of that, haven't fallen for a scam -- managed to piece together the red flags in my head and became kinda wary about them from then on.
There were plenty of tells that it was going to be a scam that I didn't look past:
1) On the lease terms, it said that soliciting was strictly prohibited. And this guy wasn't even dressed like a salesman, he just had a hoodie and some baggie jeans and a beanie like a normal ass dude at the time.
2) The pamphlets that showed all of the magazine subs available were legit magazines, but they were all images of issues that were 4-5 years old. Electronic Gaming Monthly was one that stuck out to me starkly, but it had the cover for a Halo 2 edition of the magazine and Halo 3 was already a couple of years old at that point.
3) He would only accept cash and insisted on me going to a nearby ATM and coming back.
Fell for his sympathy story about a big chunk of the proceeds going to some donation service and didn't put the red flags together at the time. I'd never lived on my own before so I wasn't used to dealing with solicitor tactics and scam tactics. I went to an ATM and got like $90 out for what I thought was going to be a 4-magazine subscription.
I'm also lucky because this particular apartment had 3 roommates at the time and two of them were home when this guy came by. He probably could've gotten away with jacking shit while I was going to the ATM, but nothing was missing and he was still exactly where I left him (first floor living room, where nothing of value was placed).
Outside of that, haven't fallen for a scam -- managed to piece together the red flags in my head and became kinda wary about them from then on.
Yes. On shoryuken.com there was a guy taking orders for custom arcade sticks. $300 a piece.
He was a well known member and the previous few years he made people sticks and actually delivered on them, so myself and a bunch of others felt safe commissioning him. This was when SF4 was blowing up so there were suddenly tons of new people getting into fighting games and looking for sticks. Well, he took that influx of cash from all those orders and disappeared.
User name was Lazeeya. I think we found out his real name was Aaron something. A few users had met him in real life. But yeah, we never heard from him again.
I creeped his username and found he was still posting on other forums, like a car enthusiast forum or something. So we knew he wasn't dead at least.
He was a well known member and the previous few years he made people sticks and actually delivered on them, so myself and a bunch of others felt safe commissioning him. This was when SF4 was blowing up so there were suddenly tons of new people getting into fighting games and looking for sticks. Well, he took that influx of cash from all those orders and disappeared.
User name was Lazeeya. I think we found out his real name was Aaron something. A few users had met him in real life. But yeah, we never heard from him again.
I creeped his username and found he was still posting on other forums, like a car enthusiast forum or something. So we knew he wasn't dead at least.
Yeah, one time I thought a kid was selling me a 1080ti for $400. He didn't want to go through Paypal which I knew was a red flag but he offered to go through Zelle, which I ignorantly assumed had protections due to the fact that it is owned by fucking banks but boy was I wrong. Sent that $400 and immediately knew I fucked up.
Yeah, used to go to a lot of raves in the late 90s. I think I purchased fake ecstasy at least 3 times. It was kind of par for the course...you just never knew what was in the pills. Sometimes it would be MDMA, sometimes speed and acid, and sometimes it just did nothing.
I bought something off ebay and our local post is shit so sometimes it takes more than two months to arrive. Didn't want to file a claim in case it arrived later. The seller never sent the stuff. :(
Back in GAF 5 years ago, someone was selling a Wii U for cheap in the BST thread. I thought he was legit because others were also buying gift cards from him. Stupid me even gave him positive rep immediately after paying lol. I found how he was just scamming people with the Wii U thing and was banned. I think I ended up doing a chargeback
I think someone once tried on eBay and ended up scamming themselves. I bought a left headlight for my car but they sent me a right headlight which I couldn't use because I already had one. Wasn't clear if they fucked up the listing or did it on purpose because they never responded to me. I opened a case, eBay refunded me and I sold the headlight for a profit, lol.
Yea, and I think it was my first and only time. Way back when I was 19 when I was working in a Babbages, a guy that told me he worked at Best Buy and could get me a killer deal on a top of the line PC. I not only drove him in my car to the store, but first stopped off at the ATM to grab $500. Needless to say, he disappeared as soon as we arrived at the store.
In hindsight, besides the countless mistakes made there, Im just glad I made it out safely.
In hindsight, besides the countless mistakes made there, Im just glad I made it out safely.
When I met my husband, he showed me his speakers that he bought out of a van because "the bar was going out of business". He paid $100 for them. What a steal!
He couldn't understand why I was laughing my ass off.
They tried that scam every year in college.
Indirectly, I guess. One year around Christmas time when I was still in elementary school, we were supposed to go on a field trip to what was supposed to be holiday-themed carnival of sorts, with rock climbing, slides, games, shows, etc. Our school, along with several others in the district, were to gather around to this place for a day full of fun. This field trip was promoted by the school and paid for by our parents. Everyone was so excited to go.
It was all a scam, unfortunately. When the first people arrived to the convention center, they found absolutely nothing. I never got to see it for myself; I remember my class waiting for our bus for literal hours before we were called back inside and told that the trip was canceled and we were allowed to go home early. Some people in my class started crying (we were like 11 and we waited outside for hours). I don't remember my own reaction at that point, but when I came to learn a few days later that the person who organized the whole thing scammed all of us, I definitely felt cheated.
Like, looking back at it now, what kind of monster would do something like that to hundreds of schoolchildren? That's really messed up.
I believe this is the news story that came out of it. None of the schools are listed here by name but I'm pretty sure this is the same incident as the one I just described:
'Grinch' gets prison term for pageant scam
MIAMI -- A show promoter labeled a "Grinch" by prosecutors for selling tickets to thousands of children for a nonexistent Christmas pageant was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in prison …www.heraldtribune.com
I've never been scammed personally, though. I'm pretty vigilant about that.
Could be worse. My middle school organized an overnight ski trip which we did end up going on - with the tour head who turned out to be a pedophile.
Some fuckers tried to rope me into a pyramid scheme when I was about 18. I laughed, gave them the finger, and walked out.
i don't know if this counts because I didn't lose money, but at a university I was provided a voter registration form.
I signed up as a Democrat.
I found out that I was registered as a Republican.
Universities have a lot of shit like this honestly. I remember this one guy kept asking me to donate and then I said "oh I only have my card" and then he's like "Oh no worries there's an ATM, let me take you there"
Fuck off dipshit
I signed up as a Democrat.
I found out that I was registered as a Republican.
Universities have a lot of shit like this honestly. I remember this one guy kept asking me to donate and then I said "oh I only have my card" and then he's like "Oh no worries there's an ATM, let me take you there"
Fuck off dipshit
Not really, at best ordering food through apps and receiving wrong orders or missing items, I'd guess? But does that count as a scam?
I mean, there is a distinction between deliberate scamming efforts and people borrowing money. The borrower might think they intend to pay it back, but then it's all too easy to just... not. And presumably the lender isn't naive enough to think there's zero risk of not being paid back.
That said, the mentality of "I'm too smart to get scammed" is exactly how you get scammed.
Kickstarter. Backed the "game band" smart watch for £200. Made half a mil then fucked off.
Bought a copy of a game while drunk on Facebook marketplace, guy asked for F&F paypal, ghosted and deleted the account straight after. Only £20, but felt like a right twat the following morning.
Other than that, I'd like to think I've been fairly vigilant.
Bought a copy of a game while drunk on Facebook marketplace, guy asked for F&F paypal, ghosted and deleted the account straight after. Only £20, but felt like a right twat the following morning.
Other than that, I'd like to think I've been fairly vigilant.
Is it really a scam when the money went into helping a friend not be homeless? I knew going into it that I might not get the money back, but was still disappointed when I didn't.
That is an entirely different situation from somebody calling me on the phone from "Microsoft" because my computer has a virus and I need to pay $500 to fix it.
yeah
embarrassingly I fell for the Zakk Wylde Sig guitar / 357 Customs fuckin ripoff
www.reddit.com
embarrassingly I fell for the Zakk Wylde Sig guitar / 357 Customs fuckin ripoff
Reddit - Dive into anything
www.reddit.com
Did you made clear to them that it was a loan and not a gift? If so i would consider it a scam.
Yes in Diablo 2.
It was my first time playing online and some room I joined, a guy wanted to trade with me. I didn't know how, but he told me I just drop the stuff on the floor.
I dropped the whole set for Isenhart's armory.
Guy just picked it all up and left the room.
It was my first time playing online and some room I joined, a guy wanted to trade with me. I didn't know how, but he told me I just drop the stuff on the floor.
I dropped the whole set for Isenhart's armory.
Guy just picked it all up and left the room.
Some guys in NYC really pushed me to buy their rap mix when I was walking alone as a teen. They weren't rude or intimidating or anything. I just felt pressured to support them haha. Never listened to the CD. It could've been great! It was cheap, though. Like 5 bucks. That's the only time I can think of.
This is how I have been for a long time now. It works!
That's just part of the experience of living here. They'll hustle locals and tourist.
Yeah, when I told my buddy that lived there, he laughed. I was a naive kid!
Saw this happening to someone in Seattle years back at PAX and warned them as I walked by. They followed and threatened me but instantly walked away when a police car drove by.
I was on a website that people would post places to rent and I saw one that I liked the look of, so messaged the poster. He starts asking me to send him money via airbnb. I thought this was very weird and tried to reverse image search the pictures of the flat, and it was sold in 2016 for £450k in London.
So yeah I escaped that one. Otherwise, I'm pretty savvy and I'm pretty funny and have to have brand new things rather than 2nd hand unless it's a friend or family.
So yeah I escaped that one. Otherwise, I'm pretty savvy and I'm pretty funny and have to have brand new things rather than 2nd hand unless it's a friend or family.
When I was 18, I took a "job" for this lady who said that she would send me a check that was for $2000. She told me through email that I needed to wire $1100 of it to her employees who needed it for cleaning supplies because she cleaned houses apparently. I would be able to keep the remaining $900. I was desperate for cash and didn't think anything of it. Their English grammar in the email was good so I figured it was legit. She said she was out of the country so she couldn't do it. Waited for the check to come in the mail and took it to Chase to deposit at the teller.
The nice older woman started putting the information in and her system put out a red flag. She brought another lady over and they whispered over it. The 2nd lady comes and she says "Honey where did you get this check?" I told them the whole story and she told me the check bounced and there is an alert in the system. She felt bad and told me sorry that it happened to me. I walked away feeling foolish but also kind of scared thinking I almost committed a crime.
The nice older woman started putting the information in and her system put out a red flag. She brought another lady over and they whispered over it. The 2nd lady comes and she says "Honey where did you get this check?" I told them the whole story and she told me the check bounced and there is an alert in the system. She felt bad and told me sorry that it happened to me. I walked away feeling foolish but also kind of scared thinking I almost committed a crime.
I still remember the time a friend texted that I should go over to check out their new sound system. They had two tower speakers that plugged directly into their TV via the headphone port and sounded like absolute shit. My friend put on BioShock, turned the volume up as loud as it would go and kept firing the flamethrower. I had no idea what I was supposed to be impressed by, but apparently I was supposed to be blown away.
I googled the brand, Kirsch (lol), and the website looked shady as hell. I quickly found out that the brand was a common type of "white van speaker," cheap knockoffs of popular brands (Klipsch in this case) made from cheap components, often used on scams.
I showed my friend a bunch of evidence that they were fakes but he'd bought them from someone he'd known since they were kids and refused to believe he'd been ripped off. He eventually admitted that his friend claimed to have bought them off a third party who'd stolen them from "a rich person's house," and he refused to believe that that wasn't true and that they weren't amazing.
I googled the brand, Kirsch (lol), and the website looked shady as hell. I quickly found out that the brand was a common type of "white van speaker," cheap knockoffs of popular brands (Klipsch in this case) made from cheap components, often used on scams.
I showed my friend a bunch of evidence that they were fakes but he'd bought them from someone he'd known since they were kids and refused to believe he'd been ripped off. He eventually admitted that his friend claimed to have bought them off a third party who'd stolen them from "a rich person's house," and he refused to believe that that wasn't true and that they weren't amazing.
Bought an iPhone 3GS on eBay in 2010, received a pack of used top trumps. Put on my detective hat and tracked down others who had been scammed by the seller to build a case against them and strengthen my chances of getting my money back (I did). A couple of months later I received a call from the police investigating the seller, apparently a lot of other people who were scammed were struggling to get their money back through eBay.
No, but I bought cologne out of someone's trunk in a Walmart parking lot because she was hot.
But to be fair, it was only $25 and all of it smelled good.
But to be fair, it was only $25 and all of it smelled good.
I bought a digital play store gift card from sams club. I left the code unused for about a week. When I finally tried it, it was already claimed. So all those posts and reviews about fresh codes being claimed are potentially real. Called Sams, they said they'd call back, never did. No refunds. Called google, they can't tell me what account claimed it, but could tell me if I give a list of accounts, which could have claimed it. None did.
Luckily I think I've always recovered from the small scams I've encountered except for ebay which screws you left and right. Around 15 years ago there was a fake website mimicking a real website that was selling a GBA or DS flash cart or something like that. My dad let me borrow his credit card and the website returned a payment processing error. Upon calling a number found on the legit website we found out the site we used was fake. My dad was mad he had to get a new card but nothing else came of it. I recently got scammed by a friend of a friend who was selling Pokemon cards but I filed a police report and my bank refunded me the money I had sent.
Happened to me close to the convention center. I normally walk past them but for some weird reason, I ended up giving them cash that day for their music cd. My wife couldn't believe what just happened. I couldn't either lol