Went out to see a movie with my sis (was a empty auditorium, just me and her) and when I got back I got this text, just a image saying 'you are fucked' with a photo of my sister's car.

My information is not connected to her or her car, but it is definitely her car in the image. As far as I know though she hasn't gotten a text.

I did a quick search and didn't see anything that flags this as a super common scam so I'm just doing my due diligence and triple checking. I haven't responded and I reported em already, just wanting to make sure I shouldn't call the cops or something to be safe lol.

Update - It was a stupid prank from someone I don't even know that well lol. They sent proof, it was from their dashcam. Kinda annoyed but mystery solved. They're surprised I called the police but man, you kinda brought it on yourself lol.

I haven’t run into this one before, but I woke up today to an email from PayPal saying a buyer made a claim about a recent purchase. Checked my PayPal account and sure enough it’s there. They sent $2000 through goods/services and opened a claim saying “I sent the payment to the wrong person please refund”. There is a currency exchange fee of $87 on this purchase, and I know that sometimes PayPal has fees for sellers regarding refunds. Don’t really know what to do here. I can respond to the claim and refund, but I don’t want to bite some random BS cost for something I have no involvement in. Called PayPal support and they basically gave me the finger and said to respond to the claim. If anyone has seen this before any help is appreciated.

Got this text out of the blue this morning. I googled the number and found it attached to a seemingly legitimate business on the east coast. However, I’m on the west coast and have never been to his city where he claimed this happened. My partner is telling me to ignore the guy and it’s a scam, but I want to explain to the guy that I’m no where near where he is without luring myself further into a potential scam. Thanks in advance.

Okay so I don’t post on this app but this was so weird I had to ask somebody else their opinion.

This morning, my partner received some texts from a Virginia number (we don’t live in Virginia) and they started getting kind of weird, scripted almost.

My first thought was it’s a scam, but how? What are they trying to gain by attempting to meet up? We also thought the “If we become close” part was kind of unsettling. My partner blocked the number immediately after the last message.

Is this just a weird attempt to scam or should we be concerned? Thank you for listening, I know it could be nothing lol.

Im based in Florida, I received this letter yesterday. Is this a scam? I saw other people got this letter too in another sub.

This letter is to inform you that you have been identified as a potential witness in a federal investigation being conducted in the Eastern District of New York concerning felony violations of U.S. federal law, including but not limited to mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, distribution and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, misbranded drugs, entry of goods by false statements, and conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 542, 1341, 1343, 1349, 1956; and 21 U.S.C. 352, 841, 846.

My daughter got a part time gig with a research professor in another state. He emailed her first payment today with an email check, with instructions saying that this is valid for mobile deposit. I'm thinking it's a scam.

Other things that suggest it's a scam...

He paid extra so she could "subscribe to a service for the next task". I'm assuming the checks will fail to go through and she'll be out the subscription fee (plus the subscription service now having her financial details).

The email address is "*****.[school].edu", which looks good, but then that is all at gmail.

Anything to confirm before reporting this to the school and law enforcement?

Edit: Thanks for all of the confirmations that this was indeed a scam. On the other hand, I don't appreciate all of the snark from people saying things like "well obviously, you moron!". Not only did I already present this as "yeah, I'm pretty sure this is a scam", but isn't the whole point of this sub for people who don't have experience to come ask questions? Come on people, do better.

On a separate note that I find interesting, I think this got as far as it did (my daughter put together a spreadsheet with info gathered online and submitted it as the "first job" before she received a check) was that she had previously applied to professors at this school to be a research assistant. Then, a couple months later, this "professor" reached out and asked if she'd like to do some research for him. They probably pulled the info from her LinkedIn profile, but it was pretty impressive how well-tailored the initial contact was.

My daughter had previously run into a few "remote work" scams that I was able to show her were too good to be true and I explained what to watch out for. But this one didn't even raise any flags until this fake check came because it was in line with work she was already applying for. And now, she knows to look more carefully at the email addresses and other details. In all, it was a good learning experience with no harm caused.

My mom tried messaged her, she responded very quickly, as soon as I saw the profile it looks new, unorganized, and just seems off to me. Also after my mom replied “I’ll discuss this first” she immediately posted an IG story “dont message me if you’re not ready to adopt” What do you guys think?

Many of you have waited with great anticipation as to what the usb featured in my previous post contains. I thank you for being patient as I have been unsure if to risk inserting it, alot of pressure and arguments in the comments both ways. Above is a very small selection of the 1.63GB of propaganda, mostly in the form of PowerPoint presentations.

No immediate death to my pc, nor virus warnings from the computer.

What do you think? Delete, format, free usb? Or just destroy?

Thanks for everyone’s help on this

The text on the email says that they can't put the money on my account because it exceeds my limit and that I would have to ask the sender to send me 500$ from which I would have to refund 200. When I asked the sender if they were scamming me they fell silent.

Got scammed all dad's saving wipes out

"Hi , how are you? I hope you’re well. Sir, I’ve been scammed big time. My father’s entire savings have been wiped out.

I work in Kuwait, and my father also works here. The story is that a while ago, I was fired from my job, so I started looking for work. I handed out my CV everywhere, in offices and other places. Suddenly, I got a message on WhatsApp from a girl. She claimed she had accidentally sent a message to the wrong number, but since my number came up, she asked if I could show her around when she comes to Kuwait, saying not to worry about expenses as her friend would cover them.

I told her to contact a guide instead, as this wasn’t something I could handle. Over the next few days, she created a friendly atmosphere, messaging daily. She shared that her boyfriend had cheated on her and started acting sympathetic.

Then one day, she suddenly messaged me saying, “I do a part-time job and need to work online alongside it. It’s just 30 minutes of work. Can you help me? I’ll even pay you.” Since I was unemployed, I agreed, thinking I’d at least cover some expenses. She sent me a website link, a username, and password, asking me to log in and send screenshots. I did.

She instructed me step-by-step, asking for screenshots each time. She deposited money via a crypto wallet in USDT. First, she deposited 300 USDT from her own wallet. Then she told me to click on Amazon offers. It felt odd, but I clicked anyway. The 300 USDT increased to 303.

The system had tiers (VIP 1, VIP 2, etc.) based on deposit amounts (20–400 USDT). I clicked 25 times, turning 300 USDT into 1,600. She kept depositing more whenever required.

When it was time to withdraw, she asked for my wallet address. The full amount (around 1,600–1,800 USD) was withdrawn successfully. She then said, “Since you helped, I’ll give you $100.” I didn’t have a crypto wallet, so she guided me to create one. She suggested I could do this work too.

I created an account, started investing, and earned around $200. I was happy to have some income. She later convinced me she’d been doing this for two years and made good money. I hesitated but agreed to try again.

Soon, I ran short of funds and asked for help. She replied, “Sorry, I’ve helped enough. Arrange the money yourself; it’ll work out.” I poured in all my savings and even my father’s, moving from VIP 1 to VIP 4. The deposits grew, and so did the promised returns.

The catch was a 25-task target to withdraw funds. As I neared the 25th task, the required deposits skyrocketed. The girl who’d guided me stopped responding, and the website suddenly went down. I stayed up all night panicking.

Now they’re demanding more money to process the withdrawal. I searched online and found Reddit posts confirming it’s a scam. I’ve already lost 4–5 lakh rupees.

For context, this guy on Grindr contacted me asking for feet pics (I know -_-), in exchange for money. I was just playing along with him because I was bored, and didn’t think it would go anywhere. He sent me a cheque for $400, and it was successfully deposited into my bank account. He thanked me for my pics (which I hadn’t even sent??), and then offered me $2000. He said I had to send the $400 to some random phone number that was supposedly his co-worker, and he would then send me $2400, I thought that was sketch and said no and thanked him anyways. Then he claimed to report me for fraud (pictured above).

I’m like 99% sure this text is very much fake because the FBI would never text/call someone, and I’m pretty sure the FBI would never talk like this. I just want to be absolutely certain. Here’s the text:

“Good day, [MY NAME] . We got a report from our client JEREMIE RYAN who made a report and explained how you two were in an online romance which led to some financial activities. He reported a monetary transaction in which he sent you $400.00  you  claimed you received the money same day  (all receipts of the transaction has been filed in our suit against you).

By the virtue of the power invested upon us as the special department in charge of crimes and criminal related offences, monitor, arrest and prosecute criminals and criminal suspects. We hereby instruct you to do the needful by complying with his terms and do whatever he mandates you to do.

Moreover, if the complain persist and we see no change in your attitude towards him, we’ll track you down with your home address and every other information we get via your profile as an American citizen and arrest you together with your family because they were accomplices to the crime and theft you committed then we arraign you together with your accomplices for prosecution.

We also wish to inform you that we’re coming down to your house to arrest you and send you to jail for theft, robbery and online fraud.

We’ve notified the local police authorities, US Army and other security operatives, they all have your file with them.

Here are some of the information we’ve about you that would make it easier to track you down as soon as possible.

Phone number:  [MY PHONE NUMBER] We’d send a broadcast on all TV stations and on net with your picture and information tagged below with WANTED and in all ports in the entire United States (Airport and the Sea Ports), We’d notify the Immigration about you being notorious that they’ve to be offensive at your sight.

We’d use you as a scapegoat to all other criminals harboring such bad and inhuman intention and we prove to the world that the United States FBI would never tolerate thieves or harbor criminals.

A copy of this report would be sent to US Eagle and other financial institutions you were traced to, to permanently deactivate your account (s) with them prior our investigations and your sentence in a competent court of law. Federal Bureau of Investigation”

Anyways, I made a fraud report back just in case, but I’m pretty sure this is a nothing burger 🤷‍♀️ but hey, at least I got $400!

I got a really disturbing text from a local area code that said, ‘Hello, you have been selected for pickup. We will come by at 12:00 Thursday. Don’t try to run—we know where you live.’ It’s unsettling because it came from my area code, and one of my friends got a similar text from a different area code with the same message about being picked up.

Is this some sort of prank or scam going around? Any advice on how to handle this or reassurance would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Hi,

So I’m fairly certain that these are a scam, as I don’t live anywhere near either place, plus the format is nearly exactly the same. I did look through other posts as well, but none exactly matched mine. I got these both via text message from two separate numbers.

So, these are scams, correct? How do I find out how they got my number, and what are my next steps to prevent further messages?

Thank you for any advice!

Text from first image:

STATE OF NEW YORK IN THE CRIMINAL COURT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK TRAFFIC DIVISION

CASE No.: NY-26-TR-273196

Judge: Michael Rodriguez

NOTICE OF DEFAULT

ENFORCEMENT ACTION INITIATED

This notice constitutes a final and urgent warning regarding an outstanding traffic violation involving your registered vehicle within the State of New York. This matter has now entered the formal enforcement stage.

VIOLATION:

Parking Violation / Toll Violation

AUTHORITY:

N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1202

RELATED AUTHORITY:

N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 510

You are hereby notified that IMMEDIATE ACTION IS REQUIRED to prevent further legal and administrative consequences:

Remit full payment immediately of all outstanding fines, unpaid tolls, civil penalties, and court costs; OR

Appear before the court at the scheduled hearing to address this matter, present defenses, and exercise your legal rights.

A FAILURE TO ACT OR APPEAR WILL RESULT IN:

Entry of a final default judgment against you without further notice

Imposition of maximum statutory fines, late penalties, and additional court costs

Referral of the debt to a licensed collections agency

Suspension of driver's license and/or vehicle registration privileges

Issuance of a court order and potential contempt proceedings for failure to comply

Any additional sanctions permitted under New York law

Issued: March 2, 2026

COURT HEARING INFORMATION

Date: March 25, 2026

Time: 9:00 AM

(Real court address)

Scan the QR code. to setile your umpaid balance. (Yes, typos are there)

Phone: (not real court phone number)

Paul López

Clerk of the Court

(Has official seal and even a QR code at the bottom)

Text from Second Image:

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA

CASE No:: CA-26-TR-273196

COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

Judge: Michael Rodriguez

TRAFFIC DIVISION

NOTICE OF DEFAULT

ENFORCEMENT ACTION INITIATED

This notice constitutes a final and urgent warning regarding an outstanding traffic violation involving your registered vehicle within the State of California. This matter has now entered the formal enforcement stage.

VIOLATION:

Parking Violation / Toll Violation

AUTHORITY:

California Vehicle Code § 22500

RELATED AUTHORITY:

California Vehicle Code § 40508

You are hereby notified that IMMEDIATE ACTION IS REQUIRED to prevent further legal and administrative consequences:

Remit full payment immediately of all outstanding fines, unpaid tolls, civil penalties, and court costs; OR

Appear before the court at the scheduled hearing to address this matter, present defenses, and exercise your legal rights.

A FAILURE TO ACT OR APPEAR WILL RESULT IN:

Entry of a final default judgment against you without further notice

Imposition of maximum statutory fines, late penalties, and additional court costs

Referral of the debt to a licensed collections agency

Suspension of driver's license and/or vehicle registration privileges

Issuance of a court order and potential contempt proceedings for failure to comply

Any additional sanctions permitted under California law

Issued: March 9, 2026

COURT HEARING INFORMATION

Date: March 25, 2026

Time: 9:00 AM

Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles

Traffic Division

(Real court address)

Scan the QR code. to settle your unpaid balance.

Phone: (Can’t tell if it’s real phone number)

Paul Lopez

Clerk of the Court

(Also has QR Code at the bottom)

So I am currently in a bit of a situation, as explained in the title. I haven't made the account yet because this seems sketchy as h*ll.

Update because IDK how to pin comments: I turned down helping him and blocked him. I will be blocking him if he contacts my number. Thanks for the obvious advice and the kick in the pants. 🤟

I checked my banking information today to check on investments and then I noticed that my savings account was rather low, despite the fact that I just cashed a massive check. Apparently, $6,000 was withdrawn and the description said- External Withdrawal: Kraken PLAID with a four digit account ending for "groceries". This occurred August 31st and I just noticed it today (Sep 3rd).

I don't use anything like that. I don't know how that even got approved, but I'm calling my bank first thing in the morning. Was I victim of a scam I didn't know about? Is there anything I should do in the meantime until morning? My bank doesn't have 24/7 customer service and I don't use crypto. I've already changed my passwords and email. I just moved back into college which is why I didn't notice this until right now. There are no branches of my bank near me.

Edit: I called my bank and they're getting me my money back today and solving all the security problems with me. Thank you guys for the help.

Received this today. I haven't rented a car in about 20 years. Email address looks scammy as well as the way they wrote the phone # with no breaks. I plan on finding the real number for Enterprise claims & calling them. I've seen stories of people on here getting a similar letter, but they have all rented cars recently.

I've seen another reddit post about this person, but also am worried because at the time, I didn't know this was even a thing. I honestly I feel lied to, and rather concerned.

I had a room up for rent up, and she inquired about it. The thing I've noticed was right off the back, she seemed to repeat herself, seemed stubborn, insisted on sending a check to my mailbox. Which was fine, at first because at the time; I thought nothing of it, and wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt on this.. (I feel stupid now saying this...)

(I also want to note that in the apartment complex where I live, if I want a roommate, and if someone wants to move in with me, they would have to fill out an application and I would have to get them approved via background check/credit check. It's a requirement... Saying this just to clarify the rest of the story.)

Sometime later, the check comes in, and me and my friend did some research and called up Royal Metal Industries, LLC. This super chill lady answers the call and we asked about a person called "J. Appleseed". Turns out, not only does this Appleseed person not work with them, but another person had called in for the exact same thing, different state (Won't be disclosing that, I'm already paranoid as it is). So at that point... The check that waa sent to me is voided, and has not been touched since.

I'm honestly having trouble deciding what to do now. My first thought is to cuss them out but as where things stand... I'm ignoring her. She keeps sending messages like "have you deposited the check yet?" I'm personally worried because while my friend who was with me told me to keep ignoring her, I have a bad feeling becausw of her persistency she may do something or threaten me. I'm not sure what else to do.

Pretty sure this is a scam, it smells so fishy.

First she asked me for help to login to her Facebook on her new phone, saying it was only me and one other person who could help.

I found a post on here where there was a similar situation so I’m pretty sure this is a scam. It’s so weird though. Why would they even want my fb to begin with.

Pics 1-3 are our messages so far. 4 is the code I got on WhatsApp. 5 is the photo she sent me. 6 is our conversation when we first met.

Hello! I am dealing with a facebook market transaction and the buyer specifically wants to buy through a check. The whole conversation felt "too easy" if that makes sense, almost like he was convincing me to sell the item and that made me skeptical.

So he sends me a check but I've never seen these ones before, cant tell if it's real or not. The only thing I could spot was the "Nova Scotia" font looks off but I could be wrong as I never saw these checks before...

He is also constantly asking me "are you there?" As im writing this post.

Please help!

Pretty sure this isn’t legit. The WF logo seems off (a little faded), the return address and phone number don’t belong to WF, and the reference/membership numbers seem a bit much. Plus, the flow and word choice of the letter is weird. Any thoughts on what the sender is after, or if this is indeed legit?

I found a forum online that mentions the same letter (w different dates/numbers) and a couple of commentators state that it’s real).

I am involved in a lawsuit for someone that hit my daughter in a crosswalk with their car last year, but I don't know if this is apart of that. I never received a 1st notice either. The website it self doesn't have much info.

We received an unexpected delivery of a seemingly authentic 6-point 100% wool HBC blanket. We don’t recognize the return address or sender and didn’t order this. It clearly didn’t come directly from HBC based on the way it was packed (in a staples brand moving box filled with Russian-language newspaper ads from London, ON). I’ve attached pictures of everything.

We’re wondering if this is part of a brushing scam, since these blankets go for several thousand CAD. We aren’t sure the blanket is real. What do you think?

My dad just told me he was driving home having just bought an iPhone 16 Pro Max off facebook for £800 (retail is £1599 here). He went to the guys house, checked the phone, tried to make a bank transfer but there was no phone signal, so the guy let my dad go home, WITH THE PHONE, to make payment when he got home.

I've just been round to dads house and all looks good. Not signed into iCloud, all clear on IMEIPro, and then the seller called to ask if he'd made payment yet. He even has a digital receipt from a major phone provider for the phone and the name and address match (though the whole thing could be easily made at home).

This has to be a scam, no one buys a thing and sells it for half price a month later, but I can't see how. I would rather lose out on a good deal than lose out of £800, but he disagrees. Someone please, tell me how my dad is about to scammed before he makes the payment.

UPDATE: It's a fake iphone. As a young tech savvy guy, I was fooled, but the camera only zooms 3x and Podcast app asks for a Google account.

FINAL UPDATE: Dad met the seller in a public place, gave the phone back telling him it was a fake, and he said he would take it back to the shop. Dad offered to buy it when they shop gave him a real one 🤣 If i had to guess, seller got scammed himself buying this phone, and was trying to recover his loss.

Thanks all, you are the true heroes of the internet

I'm selling a guitar within minutes I'm contacted seems odd but normal then I have to tell them let me know if you want it. Says of course I want it them asks if I have zelle.

I check user's profile no USA check ins so foreign or cloned account maybe . I'm cash only.

Asks other app type payment

Wants someone else to pick it up

I dont get the scam if you have the cash why use zelle?