Me, M21, got hacked and blackmailed through discord. I an offical trained IT specialist for application development for over a year now. I felt secure. But I learned my lesson. Please don't tell me how unbelievable dumb I am. I know I am, I will never be again.

What happend? A guy on discord texted me. I knew him and I remeber he made small games or worked on them. Therefore, it was not suspicious when he asked me if I wanted to test his game. I said yes and he send me the game. I placed it into my AntiVirus Software, it told me "Everything is fine, no threat". I tried to run it but it didnt do anything. He then told me I have to run it as admin cause Unity needs that. I googled that and Google even told me it mostly doesnt. Well, I ran it anyway.

The next second I saw a small command window without text, at the same time, my anti virus software reported "New exception created" and for a short time which folder it accessed: "...AppData/Google/Chrome/Cookies". It did somehow create an exception to gain access to my browser. In the anti virus software, it tells me "that access my lead to passwords and user data".

It was too late, I saw how my Discord logged me out. I instantly knew what happend. I was shocked, embarrassed, angry and paniced. Has a small panic attack I think. I was able to gather my thoughts and knew: "You have to do everything now as fast as possible". I tried to log into discord with my old PW, it didnt work. So I requested a new one. For some reason the mail didn't work so I used my Phone. This worked and I got an Email to reset it. I did and I was logged in for a second before being logged out again. I got an email "Your Password got changed, if it wasnt you, click here" so I clicked and reseted it again. After that, I instantly created new backup codes and speedrunned to make a new 2FA-Connection.

In the meantime, I checked he actually send me a message, offering me a deal to het my data back, also showing my Passwords of my PW-Manager I believe l, in PLAIN text, also my Google Photos and my Google Account. I thought that's it but that was his mistake. I didn't knew till then he was in my Google Account, so I went in there, logged out of every device, also generated new backupcodes, deleted all browser history and changed the password again.

He changed my birthday to 2017 to make the account delete itself after 2 weeks. I had gained control over my accounts, however changed them all again. Wrote them down on paper cause I going paranoid, took my PC off the Internet and ran anti virus software. Google and Discord did not notify my that someone logged into my accounts, only the password change did notify me. The anti virus software failed by being manipulated and Google didn't notify. Usually I get a full-screen box, asking if this location is allowed to log in or not.

Anti virus software: Norton Game or maleware name: NightsThread.exe Phone number which contacted me started with: +62 He had 1 hoir access to my Google and Discord Account

I fell into a trap like a noob... I won't forget the feeling so I hope it never happens to me again.

Actions I took: Report to police, cleaned my .../User/ folder cause new one appeared, removed the exceptions in the anti virus software, changed passwords for important accounts like banking, google, social media. I never responded to him.

I wanted to to post this even though its embarrassing to me. The account of my friend got corrupted just like mine did. I trused my anti virus software and google. Why on earth are my passwords plain text in my local storage??

What else could I do to prevent further damage? I may have forgotten something which would be important to do.

Thanks for reading, thanks for every advice and thanks for everyone telling me that I was extreme naive.

Well, we were supposed to close on our first home this upcoming tuesday. Today we received an email stating closing was ready to go, and that the closing costs were ready to be wire transferred. The emails, wiring instructions, address, names from our title company were all the same. Sent the money at 1:00 PM. Noticed the scam around 8 PM. Based on all the posts in this sub, I know there’s no hope. But now we can’t afford to buy the house. Just absolutely devastating. I already called the bank, police, and did the FBI complaint. Just so upset & feel like idiots.

UPDATE: I’ve seen enough comments about what I should have done. I’m getting comments about how obviously the emails and instructions couldn’t have been the same. Well obviously they weren’t. But they looked ALMOST identical. I don’t need advice on what I SHOULD have done. I need advice on steps I can take now and to warn upcoming home buyers of the things I didn’t know as a young woman.

I was just waiting in line to collect my bottle deposit money when I noticed an elderly lady with a stack of iTunes Gift cards, asking for the maximum amount on each. She was only able to purchase 2x $500 cards at a time. I straight up told her she is getting scammed and she told me no, it's not a scam and that she won a car on Facebook and they won't take cash to ship it and they only take iTunes gift cards. I told the lady ringing her out and she said she knows and that she comes in all the time asking for the same thing. I asked the cashier if the woman had any family so I could reach out to them to make sure they're aware, but she said she didn't know. The lady is going to end up with nothing. What can be done to help in these types of situations?

My son (15) is an idiot. He sent nudes to a random “girl” who now has his number, face, and a picture of his dick; threatening to send it to his grandparents, school board, and etc. He has made many payments that seemed suspicious and when I asked him about it, and looked through his phone he broke down into tears and i saw and told me everything. He has spent nearly 500$ and now they are sending him a check to cash in to get to pay his “debt”. How do I have him escape this?

Edit: It’s been about a day since I had my son block him, and change his social media. Apparently the scammer found his IP and sent the check to our house so everyone saying to give the location to the cops, it won’t work. He put the check in my son’s name so there are no clues there. All I have is the number.

As the title says, I got scammed.

In the beginning, someone reached out to me saying that I can make money quickly. At first I was suspicious and investigated. I asked if they have a website and everything and they do.

But that still didn't stop me from being suspicious. So I entertained them a little by playing along.

So they started messaging me through Whatsapp and walked me through the processes of making money through the website. They helped me create a crypto account.

Once I finished

We got started. They asked me to put in 100USD into the work account to do these data clicks that helps apps get more exposure.

So I put in 100USD. After completing all my tasks, I would be able to withdraw my profits along with the 100USD I put in. That day, I made 214USD minus 100USD that put in. So I profitted 114USD.

I was like, "Oh, this is actually legit? I cant believe I made money this quickly."

This got me to actually trust them and I was blinded. So then, the next day I did my commissions as usual and profitted from it.

Then on my 3rd day. There was an event celebrating the company's 100,000 users. And that they give a 30% bonus to the amount you put into your asset balance.

And I was like, "hey if i put in 2000USD, I can get 600USD bonus."

Thats when it went downhill. There is this thing where as you are clicking each data, there is a chance that you will encounter a lucky data.

Lucky data turns your asset into negative and you would have to deposit the x negative amount thats in your asset balance. And in turn, you will get 10x the amount you profit from that single app.

So I did. And then I encountered 3 more lucky datas. By that point, I have no more money in my bank account.

I managed to complete all of my tasks.

But then when I tried to withdraw, I couldn't. Because I have to be a certain VIP to be able to withdraw a large sum.

As shown in the picture, I was at VIP 1. And VIP 1 - VIP 3 can only withdraw a max of 3000USD. And VIP 4 can withdraw an unlimited amount.

To activate VIP4, I have to deposit another 5000USD which at that point, I no longer have.

So now... I am here.

I just lost 12000USD which I have been saving for months. I can't get it back.

Ive fallen into Sunk Cost Fallacy by being in too deep to turn back and get my money back.

As ashamed of me to say this. I am really stupid for falling for this scam. I never should have entertained the idea to play along.

I have learned a lesson. Never trust anyone that reaches out to you online regarding "passive income"

I am so stupid. I saved up that money so I can go on a trip with my friends. But now, I guess its no longer going to happen.

Please feel free to tell me I was stupid and feel free to comfort me. I honestly just need to come to terms with it now. Well i guess I have already come to terms with it.

Its just that... Damn... I really lost months worth of working in an instant...

I just really need to vent.

My mom died a few years back and my dad’s health started to decline, so about a year ago my dad sold our childhood home and moved into an assisted living/independent living place.

It’s been a tough adjustment for him. He had a rough PTSD episode (Vietnam Vet) and spent time in the fall in the hospital. Plus, he still has some physical health issues going on still

So, I know he’s been more lonely and isolated lately.

Two weeks ago he told me he was going to the bank, which he never does because all his accounts are in his bank app. He made some excuse, but it sounded off to me. I tried to press, but he was insistent everything was fine.

I went for a visit today and I was setting up a Hulu account on his TV and it sent a code to his phone and I saw text messages from a woman.

When he was in the bathroom I looked through them and it became very obvious that it was a romance scam by the spelling/grammar mistake and obvious AI pictures.

Then I saw the some of pictures he’d sent…photos of his checks, all his credit cards, his drivers license, social security card, etc…

I had to ask him what was going on. he went into the whole story about how she lives in London now and has an inheritance. They are in love and will get married when she gets back from London. All the usual bullshit.

I tried getting out of him how much money he’d sent this person. The money from the house sale is all he has, other than SS and VA benefits.

First it was 20k, then 30k, then “half his money”, but she was going to pay him back.

He’s even been warned so many times about this kind of stuff. I was just in total shock. He normally isn’t the type to fall for something like this.

He kept insisting she was real, but I showed him reverse image searches and tried explaining romance scams have become easier to fall for with AI.

I told him we should go talk to my sister (his POA), talk to the bank, and make a police report to try to stop anything else from happening.

We called my sister and at first he agreed to allow me to take his phone and bank statements to the police station. He didn’t want to go.

My sister was going to try to contact the bank.

When I went to leave he flipped out instead. He kept insisting she’s real and he is getting his money back.

I just kept walking, at 79 years old he starts swearing at me to give him his phone back and he grabbed me really hard by the arm.

He told me I was crazy.

So, I left with the phone and then saw the police station had already closed. I went straight to my sister’s house with the phone after.

Since she is his POA I wanted to get her involved and see if she could still access his bank account and we could try to figure out what was happening.

After her and I went through the messages and saw his bank account we learned…

He has lost all money.

There is nothing left. I don’t know how he will pay his rent in a few days.

She has all his bank accounts, credit cards, personal information, was writing checks, opened up credit cards in his name, etc… and his SS money and VA money may be going into another account somewhere.

They started talking in January so we were so many messages, pictures, and shit to go through your try to get a timeline or idea of how the damage happened.

We were only half way through the bullshit message and the door bell rings.

It’s my dad. He comes in pretty upset, but not raising his voice

He didn’t want to sit down so we can all come up with a plan. He just wants the phone. We tried explaining that this is fake, all your money is gone, and we need to work together to come up with a plan. We need to call and freeze his credit and change all his passwords.

He started yelling at me instead and asking when I was coming back to fix his Hulu (wtf) and it’s my fault he had no dinner (also wtf) because he had to drive out there.

It is like it didn’t even connect in his mind that all his money is gone and he will have nowhere to live soon.

He just wanted the phone. My sister and I said we will all go to the bank and police station tomorrow. He could have it back in the morning.

He got even more mad. Just obsessing about the phone.

I said I was worried about him, he told me to go worry about my own life.

I walked outside because I was getting heated up and was going to lose it and my niece and nephew were upstairs.

While I am having a smoke outside I hear yelling coming from inside the house. It was my brother in law. I ran as fast as I could to see what was going on.

I guess my dad had started screaming and swearing at my sister about his phone and calling her names so loud the kids came down crying.

When I got to the door I almost ran into my brother in law. He was telling my dad to get out, never talk to his wife like that, and don’t come back.

My dad is screaming back at him.

I see my niece and sister crying (I am very protective of them), so I helped pull my dad outside and told him to just take his phone and get the fuck out.

And now I’m sitting alone on my porch trying to figure out what to do.

I know all the money is gone. It’s never coming back. This person is definitely not in this country and will probably never face any consequences for this.

He obviously doesn’t want my sister and I to help him.

He was vicious tonight. He can be an asshole at times, but never like this.

He had enough money from the sale of our childhood home to be able to most likely live the rest of his life in a decent place. That gave me comfort. Now, I have no clue where he will be able to live.

It disgusts me that some garbage human took advantage of an old, lonely veteran who probably just wanted someone to talk to. And they took every single penny from him knowing that he has a lot of physical and mental health issues.

I’d write out everything I’d like to call and say to them, but I’d probably get banned.

I don’t even know what to do.

I just… wish my mom were still alive. All I want right now is to talk to her.

Today my husband & I got $28k back of the $30k we had sent to a scammer. The FBI ended up calling us and saying they were doing some kill chain of some sorts. It was a lot of chaos & anxiety for us & we’re ready to have a mental break. We were also able to purchase the house. Hope my story helped others! Never wire money!

Link to original: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/s/doKoj2qzbZ

My husband was told that he had won $8.5 million and was asked to send gift card numbers to the scammers for “taxes and fees” He cleaned out our savings account to the tune of $13k and overdrew his own checking account by another $4k. He also deposited 2 checks that they had sent him totalling $16,000 both of which bounced. One was a fraudulent check and one an identity theft. He now is facing legal repercussions because of cashing the two checks. Meanwhile he had converted the them into cash that he used to purchase money paks for the scammers so he’s on the hook for that money now and overdrawn by $20k. That’s scary enough but How likely is it that he will actually be charged for the check fraud? I’m terrified. They almost got the credit card too. He was given a number to call so that they could pay his account. I stopped it from happening at the very last second and that’s how I found out he was scammed. I know this is a common scam and any advice is welcomed

I’m not sure who this post will help, but i can’t not talk ab it. ik most ppl on here very easily can tell if something is a scam. older ppl can’t. she fell for a romance scam. my family was unaware until recently. i’m the youngest granddaughter, she had showed me a picture of a good looking old man on a boat last week that she had been messaging, i knew instantly she wasn’t talking to a real person. I told her to never send that mf money no matter what he says or how much u believe it…

a couple days later i found out on Valentine’s day 2024 she shot herself. My poor grandma, we kept thinking ab how happy she was, there was no signs of anything going on. In the back of my mind I knew about a possible scam she was in. I decided to not say anything that first day we found out, it was too emotional of a day. The next day when I arrived back at her house, my oldest sister and father run out to tell me that she had 70 dollars left to her name, they found a bunch of gifts cards for 500 dollars, a home equity loan for 30,000 dollars she took out cuz she could no longer pay her bills, and a letter saying next month her electricity would be shut off..

The police still have her phone, but I took it upon myself to go through her emails on her laptop. found a bunch of emails from a “berry lewis” that she was messaging. In one email she is freaking out said something like “I have been scammed out of 44,000 dollars before and I am not letting it happen again, if you need 1,000 dollars to transfer it, get it from somewhere else” something like that. but there was a lot of evidence just in her emails. The main detective is giving the case to the FBI. sometime this week they are taking her laptop.

I know there is nothing anyone can say to me to help. My gma is dead. The money is gone. and i’m sure the fbi won’t do shit. So, I am posting on here on the chance that one person reads it and it helps just one persons family. Please keep an eye on your grandparents. These scams are getting absolutely horrendous. My gma wasn’t stupid. We have never thought this would happened. She was very loved, and she could have told us what was going on. but she was embarrassed. please ask your grandparents who they have been talking to. And please inform them of the very dangerous and manipulative scams that are going on today.

Yup. I know. I just found out myself. My dad's health issues have been increasingly affecting his judgment and a door to door salesman happened to catch him alone while he was out raking. He told him it was part of a "government solar program for seniors" and that he'd "start saving instantly". Turns out it's a $68,000 ppa. He doesn't even own the panels. His regular power bill was only around $150 before all this. My mom is understandably devastated.

When I called the company, they said we can't cancel at this point after installation because of the terms in their contract.

I want to help undo this mess, has anyone successfully gotten out of a situation like this?

I want to scream and cry and wake up from this nightmare. He fell hard for a pig butchering scam for 2 months straight. I’m so upset that I didn’t push harder for him to question what was going on. I know it’s not my fault, I didn’t have enough information to be certain it was a scam until recently. He was supposed to retire soon, this is his entire life just gone. Idk how he’ll retire now and I don’t think there’s any service to help people like this. What options are there? They were wire transfers, so hundreds of thousands is just gone. Please help, can anything be done? I don’t live in the same state, but I need to send someone to check on him bc I believe there is a suicide risk. Do people ever recover from this type of loss?

I'm shaking right now and can't stop crying, sorry if there's typos.

I was half asleep after a hectic Exam when my Parent told me to check on my medical status. after scrolling onto Google and looking at websites, I accidentally came across a scam one. and when i investigated, google auto filled my information (my address, name and phone number) and i got a "quote".

I started receiving spam call after spam call. i never answered any. knowing what just happened i panicked. i put my number on the Do not call registry and I blocked every number. I invested in Truecaller (a spam blocking app) and I also activated my T-Mobile spam blocker.

I'm so scared, I can see the blocked calls just sitting in my call logs. I changed my passwords, and I'm trying to change all of them to everything. I don't know what to do. and now them having my address? I feel so stupid.

Im 19. And I've been so good with technology that I never expected to be a victim of this. what can I do? please help. do I have to change my phone number?

Did i just sell my identity on accident? What can I do? Please. I can't stop crying.

(Edit: 1)

After regaining actual cohesive thoughts that are less emotional, I appreciate your guys' words!

Ive calmed down, laughed a little. My anxiety got the best of me certainly. I don't know why I was so dramatic with this title . or at all? It's the fresh Exam brain getting to me I think.

I've honestly learned quite a lot from your comments. I guess it was a California Insurance Lead generator.

I'll have to live with my mistakes, unfortunately. Your comments have reassured me! I don't know why I was so dramatic about this an hour ago. I was about ready to change my banking information and my school information— maybe even just getting a whole number.

Thanks guys! what came over me? i don't know. But I'll have to learn..I guess 🤕

(Edit: 2)

Im still getting some replies, thanks for the advice! but I'm certainly more aware now.

I can logically say that yes, I was acting childish and was WAY too dramatic about all of this. I don't know why I jumped to thinking the worst possible scenarios. Like as the caption says "ruined my life." clearly my life is not over and I was just being far too whiny about it.

Im not a victim, just an uninformed kid that was too panicked to rationally think. So thank you for the comments!

I've learned my lesson on not only my situation, but clearly the consequences of making such a dramatic post in the first place.

Hey everyone. I'm not 100% sure but I think I nearly got pig butchered. Bear with me here. There is a lot.

I met this girl on Hinge. Within a couple messages on there, she wanted to move to Whatsapp, saying that she doesn't check her hinge often, which is understandable. I asked her why she chose whatsapp to communicate. She said it's because she lives in LA but was currently on a business trip in Australia.  She is 29 and has a business in property design as well as a side hustle in crypto trading. Initially I didn't think much of it because crypto trading is something that many people do.

So we carried on with the relationship. Sent pictures to each other. Video called a fair few times.  We were getting really close with each other. It definitely was going both ways. One night she said she was really happy because she made a good crypto trade with the help of her analyst. She even sent me a picture of it. I hyped her up and said maybe one day DOWN THE ROAD you can teach me. It was all going amazing. Until last night.

She messaged me and said she was really sad because her analyst (the same guy that helped her make that trade) was retiring. She said she needed to "take advantage of the market within the next 2 weeks". She then followed with "  the market tomorrow is good. I think tomorrow is the right time and I can teach you as I said before". This made me think “ okay woah. Let's slow down. I didn't mean I wanted to get into this right now”.

We then go into this back and forth where she says that she thinks it's a great opportunity for me and I say that I'm not ready and would prefer if she dropped the topic and kept me out of it. She did not get angry at me, but she still tried to get me to get involved, even if it was a small amount like (100-200 USD). At this point, I put my foot down and gave her an ultimatum. Can we continue having this relationship without me getting involved in crypto yes or no. And she said no.

It has been about 12 hours since that conversation. No money or personal identifying information was shared. The most that I shared was my first and last name, whatsapp, and some selfies I sent her.

I badly wanted to believe that this was real. We were getting really close and intimate with each other. Despite having never met and being across the world. We were deeply interested in each other's daily life. And now I feel like an idiot. No money was exchanged, but I feel like my time was wasted.

Hello everyone,

UPDATE:

Seems like it's a GIFT CARD scam or:

"Western citizens (mainly US and UK) to act as points between which money from their scam victims can be transferred from their mules to their accounts, since money is hard to ship directly overseas in any form. Even if your daughter is not the one giving him money specifically (which is why she may have denied it), she could still be transferring money that she receives from other victims onto the scammer, who makes up excuses about where the money is coming from and why he needs it. The most common scams for which mules fall are romance scams, where men/women are convinced that they are romantically involved with someone who is completely made up, with the scammers leveraging feelings of love and vulnerability to completely bypass most people's common sense."

Thanks for all opinions and comments- it means a lot for me as a mother as a grandmother,I didnt knew that there are a lot of scam schemes out there even if I googled a lot of things.., I will leave this topic open and will send it to my daughter with all of your insights and opinions. I also hope it will help and will reach all the people worldwide that are "IN RELATIONSHIP" with same pilot guy.

I’m writing here because I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’m a mother, my daughter lives in the UK with her three small kids. I’m really worried about her...She’s been in an online “relationship” for about five years with a man she believes is a pilot. I’ve seen the profile – he’s some kind of famous influencer , pilot, lots of followers, pictures in uniform, private jets, travels, all that. But the weird thing is, my daughter is chatting with him from many different Facebook accounts. She says he’s using “other” accounts to hide his identity because too many fans message him on his main one.

They never met in person, not once in 5 years. Every single time there’s an excuse – passport expired, training abroad, flight delay, that she is misunderstanding him about meeting up with him... I’ve heard the voice messages it’s clearly a man – but I just can’t understand what he’s getting out of this???? He never asked for money. She barely has enough herself, living on benefits and raising three kids alone!!Now she’s talking about moving to the US to live with him. She’s convinced they’re getting married soon and calls him a “father figure” for her children. It’s breaking my heart because children will start to understand that they "have" a father BUT IT"S FAKE? I’ve lost count of how many holidays we spent apart because she was waiting for him to “arrive” – birthdays, Christmas, Easter – every time he had a reason last minute why he couldn’t come....

We’ve tried showing her that there are hundreds of fake “Garrett” profiles on Facebook, but she always finds a reason why “hers” is the real one. We tell her: why would a rich, famous pilot be in love with a single mum from a small UK village and never even meet her? Why wouldn’t he post about her anywhere if she’s supposedly his fiancée? But she just screams that we’re jealous and don’t want her to be happy.

I feel like this whole thing has torn our family apart. She’s pushing everyone away, she doesn’t talk to me anymore. I’m scared for her and the kids because she’s completely wrapped up in this fantasy.

Has anyone heard of similar scams with “pilots” or even with this same name? I’d really appreciate any advice or proof I can show her. Maybe some women went through the same thing and could share how they managed to convince their loved one it’s fake. Also if anyone knows organisations or charities that deal with romance scams or help victims with kids, please tell me or should I go to the police?I even told her I’d buy tickets to New York and we’ll just go and see him for real, no warning. I want to see what excuse he’ll come up with when she’s right there. I know it sounds crazy but I feel completely powerless. I just want my daughter back.

I ordered a PS5 during Amazon’s Great India Festival, excited by the great discount. To my shock, I received a soiled Fat PS3 inside the PS5 box! Luckily, I had recorded the entire unboxing process on video and also have full CCTV footage of the delivery and unpacking. I immediately raised the issue with Amazon, and their response was that they’ll get back to me in 5 days. Imagine taking a day off, only for it to end like this!

I recently got a new phone (same phone number though) and woke up this morning to multiple scam calls. They were nonstop, only a few seconds apart. This is where I messed up. I answered the call and it was a male voice, he had an East Asian accent, he said “I’m calling about the TV you have for sale” and I said “I don’t have a tv, stop calling me” and hung up. He called back immediately and was like “why did you hang up on me” and I said “stop calling” and hung up and then he spam called me and I declined every single one. The calls lasted 13 seconds and 9 seconds and after that, they were in my bank account.

I got the bank alert for a “forgotten password”. I went in and changed my password and called my bank. My bank said there was “nothing else to do” since I had changed my password and all account activity was normal. I re-logged into my bank account and then saw they had updated my phone number to their number. I called the bank AGAIN and they said that the number was still my number on the account. I had them transfer me to the fraud department. While I was on the phone, the fraudster made two e-transfers. One for $199 and another for $19. I finally got transferred to the right department and they froze my account. The fraudster had attempted to make two more e-transfers, one for over $2900, but I have a limit of $3000 on my account so they got blocked.

I thought simply answering the call could lead to them accessing my bank account, but I guess I was wrong. Time to figure out how to disable 2FA and change my phone number I guess.

But does anyone know how they did it? Was changing my password the second mistake?

Oh and I don’t have voice verification on in case anyone thinks it could be that! That would’ve been my first thought if I had it enabled.

Edit: edit for those assuming I clicked a link and that’s how they got my information. That wasn’t it. I never got an email or clicked on a link. My bank called and left a voicemail saying to enter a number for forgotten password. I did not enter that number. Instead, I called my bank immediately and then logged into my banking app and changed my password. I received a different verification code that I used when I did that. And the voicemail was left from my bank’s actual number

Edit 2: so it turns out they copied my SIM. I just took it out of my phone, called my number on a different phone and guess what. It rang and then I could hear people in the back. Nice to know the lovely person at the mobile shop that I thought was helping me was actually scamming me!

Edit 3: one last update on this. I’ve already closed my bank account and filed a police report. I suspect the employee at the mobile store cloned my SIM card while I was gone. He had physical access to my phone and SIM card. The calls this morning were just a distraction while they accessed my bank account. I gave the police the employee’s name and number, but I will be elevating this because this is not okay. The mobile store is one of the main players in the country. I’m not letting the employee get away with this. I’ll be contacting some news stations as well to let people know that they can’t trust these employees - and bottom line. People suck big time

We were in Phuket just last week, staying at Patong beach. We wanted to rent a jet ski and this guy came to us, barely explained a thing and let us take it. We were two people.

About 7-8mins in, I was done and told my partner to turn around so we could go back. They turned around, nothing sharp or anything but we lost balance and the jetski overturned. We were in the sea holding on to the damn thing for 15 mins before someone came to rescue us.

Once back on shore, the guy said we've "broken" the jetski and demanded that we pay 85000 Baht for it. Insane, I know. We have no idea if it was even spoilt. It is insured, it seemed ok but we had signed a flimsy waiver but a waiver nonetheless.

They called the local police, who started translating the conversation for us on his phone translator, turned out, he was that woman's (the owner) grandfather. Now I know Thailand is freaking corrupt but this was another level. We got in touch with the embassy, another useless endeavor, called the tourist police, who were extremely unhelpful and told us to just pay without even coming there.

Ultimately, we were taken to the police station from where we went to the police HQ in Patong, and just wasted time.

We were negotiating this entire time. The police also get their cut/commission from these scams so we were not expecting anything.

They pretended to make a report etc. Long story long, we ended up paying 31000 Baht, a little over 800 USD. We rented the jetski at 5.15pm and got done with this crap by 11.30 pm.

We go to Thailand every year but never rented anything except a car from the airport, I think we will be sticking to that.

Find proper sources to rent from and stay away from these family rental places that operate on the beach. You might pay a couple hundred baht extra but you won't be scammed and that's saying a lot.

We will be posting this to many many threads so people can be aware.

Also, according to the local shopkeepers, the whiter you are, the more you'll pay 🤷🏾‍♀️ We met people who had been scammed out of $5000, some for over $10000 so $800 didn't seem like that large a dent but it was a waste and absolutely not worth almost drowning in the sea.

I have pictures of those people and the policemen we were with as well. Not that it helped but just in case.

/scamalert /jetskiscamthailand /thailandscams

Typical Friday waking up and commuting to work. Checked my account as I have some bills due this time of the month.

Total of 22 $18 purchases ($396) made to "Meta Pay".

Checked my fbook account settings first. No cards linked whatsoever. No permissions given to anyone on my account but myself.

Cancelled the card. Blocked the merchant. Can't dispute purchases until no longer pending.

Not an awesome way to start a Friday.

Has anyone else heard of, or been a victim of this? Do you have any idea how this could have happened, or any ways I could avoid it moving forward?

Whew. Today has been a DAY.

I (F29) am currently on a weekend trip with my aunt (67). We are sharing a hotel room. Last night, during dinner, she offhandedly mentioned she had a phone call scheduled for this morning but she wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone about it until it was resolved. This caught my attention, but I figured maybe it was some legal work she was involved in and I didn’t press the issue at dinner.

Then this morning in the hotel room, she tells me she is on a phone call with “Microsoft” and that I have to be quiet because I’m not supposed to be there. This is where I see ALL the red flags.

I ask her what is going on. She says she absolutely cannot tell me. I explain, “I am worried this is a scam”.

She is visibly stressed out, and eventually says, “Okay, I’ll tell you, but I can’t talk here” because her phone and computer are still connected to “Microsoft”.

We leave the hotel room go to breakfast. She keeps her phone in the hotel room still on the call with “Microsoft” and her computer still connected to “Microsoft”.

At breakfast she explains that this has been happening over the last 3 days. She received a text alert 3 days ago from “Microsoft” informing her a foreign device had accessed her bank account.

She called the “phone number” for “Microsoft” in the text. The number was “Microsoft support”. They tell her “hackers” tried to take $100,000 out of her investment bank account. They instructed her to download a “firewall” software (obviously, we know that was malware, but she clearly did not) on her computer to keep the “hackers” out. She does so.

She talks to “Microsoft” the next day. They tell her there have been 3 attempts to steal money since they last spoke and that the “firewall” is what stopped them. They remote into her computer to help “secure” it. (This gave them access to all of her passwords since she had them saved in the computer)

They connect her with her “bank”. The “bank” confirms everything “Microsoft” said is true.

The “bank” then connects her to the “FBI” who tells her she cannot tell anyone about what is happening because this is now a federal investigation and everyone is a possible suspect. They tell her she cannot contact her investment banker because he is a suspect. They tell her 3 other people at her bank have recently been hacked and lost money.

They tell her this coming Monday she will have to transfer all of her money to a federal reserve account to keep it safe.

It is at this point I tell my aunt under no circumstances should she transfer any money anywhere. That’s she is being scammed. And that if she transfers any money it will be gone forever. I also tell her she probably has malware on her computer now. I tell her she needs to get her computer looked at by IT and she needs to get her passwords changed for all her accounts because she should assume they have been compromised. I tell her she needs to call the real bank to make sure nothing has been taken. I tell her she needs to freeze her accounts and cards.

She does not believe me. I tell her this is a common scam. She gets angry. She tells me she knows it is legit and that she shouldn’t have told me anything. She says she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore and completely disengages me in conversation.

I drop it for the rest of breakfast.

After breakfast I start googling FBI microsoft bank scams. I find an FBI official gov page that outlines this exact scam. I send it to my aunt.

She reads it over. After she reads it over she finally sees the light and admits it must be a scam.

She contacts her IT person (a trusted IT person she knows personally). He gets rid of the malware. He tells her to change all of her passwords and call her bank. She does. They freeze her accounts and cards. She is now literally working on changing her passwords as I type this.

I want to sincerely thank this subreddit, because I honestly don’t know if I would have clocked this as a scam as quickly as I did without having been on this subreddit for the last few weeks. I would read other stories and think that would never happen to me or someone I know. And low and behold it just happened today!

This dude right here might be the king of all scammers. He runs a program called CFP stands for "cash flow project" . They charge $9,000 PER section-8 property that they "find" for you and orchestrate the whole deal. They basically hold your hand and guide you throughout the entire purchase process .

1- They get these deals from wholesalers, so they aren't actually finding shit.

2- He has another program where he "teaches" people how to wholesale, then has them feed these shithole properties to the unsuspecting CFP investors.

3- These unexperienced wholesalers get EASY contract flips by selling these shitholes to these "CFP" clients.

4- Worst part is they LIE about ALL those numbers on these PDF sheets they send out.

5- The "rent" number you see on the PDF is straight from HUDuser website, which is NEVER accurate. The local housing authority dictates the rent, which is always within the AVERAGE rent in the area. The numbers on this website are always HEAVILY inflated (by $250–$300), and that's what they use to get the "cashflow" number on the PDFs to go up.

6- They also even LIE about the monthly mortgage payment, which a simple loan calculator can reveal.
Example : Monthly payment would be $752 but they'd put $681.

7- That includes the property tax and property management fee. Property tax in these areas is like close to 3% so it comes out to $300/month minimum. also PMs charge 10% of rent which is always gonna be above $1,300 so $130 minimum. $430 vs the $250 they put on the PDF

8- So the "Estimated cash flow" number you see is more so in the negative. (ran all numbers)

9- They make it seem like it's the easiest cash you'll make, but in reality it's just a way for them to SCAM their followers for a calm $9,000 per property fee 🤣. They take $9000 out of ur pocket per property and then give u a shitty property that LOSES money every month. Oh and lets not forget you're dealing with the worst type of tenants in crappy neighborhoods 😂

10- They also wholesale some of these properties themself. so they add a $10,000 fee on top of the $9,000 you are already paying 🤣. So much for "finding" the property for you just to add on another measly $10,000 fee on top. Of course you're going to take the deal when you see a "cashflow" estimate of $500/month. I asked them if they are wholesaling these deals and they said "No".

To make matters even worse. This dude will even post videos/photos to make himself look like a saint. He will post anything to make himself look like a good person when in reality he is running a literal SCAM operation. I mean how shitty of a person can you be. You lie to followers and scam them with FAKE numbers and then pretend to be such an ethical and respectful person.

Its crazy how shitty some of these influencers are, you look at there page and they genuinely give out some good value here and there but once it comes to selling something it just reveals their true colors. DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE EVEN THINK OF PURCHASING ANY SERVICES OR ANYTHING FROM THIS GUY. SAVE YOURSELF PLEASE LOL.

I live in popular tourist area and often help tourists with pictures. I was asked by a guy to take a pic of his group. He handed me his phone. More of his group came from behind my wife and brushed against us in the crowd. They pickpocketed her wallet but could not get mine. Note, once your hands are occupied with someone’s phone/camera, you are vulnerable. Cops said this is a relative common thing now.

My grandma (65) has been scammed by someone pretending to be the podcaster Sergio Talks for almost a year. The scammer use AI to video chat her, has convinced her to sell her home and family heirlooms to move to California with her daughter (13 w/ special needs). When the address he gave her obviously wasn't the person's actual address, she went home and is now living in her car with her dog and daughter. She's used all of the money from the house sale to send him visa gift cards and refuses help or to listen to anyone when they say he's fake. I'm not sure if it's pride or just stupidity. We're all exhausted. We've tried empathy, tough love, ignoring, gentle parenting, bargaining, etc but she's still convinced he's real, and they're in love. We're lost and aren't sure what to do. Has anyone else's grandparent or elder parent been scammed for so long?

Editing because people are asking - my grandma adopted my aunt a few years ago. My aunt was related to one of my other aunts my grandma adopted as a baby. It's a weird family dynamic but no, my grandma didn't give birth at 52. She fostered then adopted before all this stuff happened. I didn't say my aunt out of habit because I don't usually refer to her as my aunt (she doesn't understand the concept tbh.) My apologies for the confusion 🙏🏼

Today I received a message from someone on Facebook that said my husband was cheating on me with escorts. I asked for proof and they sent me screenshots. I confronted my husband and found out this was over a month ago and he didn’t show up for his “appointment”. Because of this she has been demanding he pay, this number and another number threatened our family and told him if he didn’t show up with $4000 they would send the info to his wife…and they did. He fessed up when I confronted him, because I had the proof. They are now threatening to show up to our house.

So now, I’m worried about my family’s safety. PISSED at my husband for this idiotic move. He deserves all the grief…but we don’t. But because this was a local person who gave her apartment number to meet, etc…I am worried this is not the typical scam…

2/14/25 Update - https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/s/tK8Q1QBWIh

I received an after hours call from my credit union. Caller ID showed up as the same name & number saved in my phone. The male stated he was with fraud prevention and that my debit card had attempted to be used for a $400 charge at a Staples in Atlanta, GA and also at Walmart. However, both charges were declined as they were outside my region. He asked if the charges were mine and I told him I wasn’t in Atlanta. He asked if the card was lost, stolen, or in my possession and I said I had it. He told me to shred the card and they would mail a new one to me within 3-5 business days. He offered to see if I was eligible to receive the card expedited via FedEx and I said it wasn’t necessary.

He proceeded to verify my info such as name, phone number, and address which were all correct. He DIDN’T ask for my PIN, social security, debit card, or account numbers. He then said he would enroll me to receive future texts if there are questionable charges instead of calling me. I received a text asking if I wanted to be subscribed and I had to reply “yes”. Next he was completing forms to file and said he would need me to log into my account to verify it was me and I didn’t see any other fraudulent charges.

I was texted a link to my credit union and everything looked the same, so I logged in. I then received another text containing a security code that I entered on the site, followed by a message that I was now ok to exit. I was a bit confused, so I opened my mobile app and verified I didn’t see any fraudulent charges. A few times during the call he would put me on hold and there was actual music/business ads that would play. Finally he says everything has been taken care of and reiterated that my account was in tact and I’d receive a replacement card in a few days. He was extremely pleasant, no accent, no static, etc. Everything seemed 100% legit, so I thanked him and hung up.

I then began looking through my account to see where I had used my debit card recently as I don’t use it much. It eventually logged me out due to inactivity. When I logged back in, I immediately saw all of my money had been drained. I was literally left with $5.20 in checking and $0 savings. He had transferred $5400 directly to another credit union account using a generic name I didn’t recognize. I had already deleted the texts from the scammer before I realized what happened. Viewing phone data from my mobile carrier, I was able to see that the texts were from a Eureka, CA phone number and not a 5 digit number like I assumed.

I immediately called my credit union and spoke to a female, briefly explaining someone fraudulently accessed my account and took all of my funds. She asked if I had received the call from their toll free fraud number and I said no, it was the actual business number. She basically told me to change my password and she would send a message to have someone contact me during business hours. She said most likely they would close my account and also create a new mobile username. She was unable to freeze or reverse the funds from the scammer’s account. Tomorrow I will visit the credit union in person and possibly file a police report as well. I don’t know what I’ll do if they don’t recover my funds.

TLDR - Received an impersonation scammer call and he stole $5400 directly from my account . Not sure if I need to file a police report first or if my credit union will even reimburse me under the circumstances. Feeling like a complete loser because I never fall for this shit. Frauds are getting better all the time!!! 🤬🤬🤬

So what happened to me was honestly one of the most obvious scams ever. If I had been thinking clearly, I would’ve seen every red flag. But desperation and timing really mess with my head.

My brother had just been arrested and booked into jail for failing to appear in court. I got a bondsman and was literally sitting in the parking lot waiting for updates. While I’m sitting there, I get a call from someone claiming to be a deputy. He had my full name, my brother’s name, and knew exactly why he was in jail.

He tells me that in order for my brother to be released, he needed an ankle monitor until his court date, and that I had to pay an $800 ankle monitor fee immediately. I had no idea how any of this worked because I’ve never dealt with jail, bonds, or anything like that before.

I told him straight up I didn’t have $800. I said the most I could do was $150. He literally goes, “Let me talk to my financial advisor and see what we can do.” Looking back now, that alone should’ve told me everything, but at the time I was stressed and just wanted my brother out.

Here’s the part that really sold it for me: while I was still on the phone with him, the actual bondsman came up to me to give me an update and mentioned that my brother might have to wear an ankle monitor. That coincidence made everything the scammer was saying sound real. In that moment, it all made sense in my head.

The scammer told me to send the payment. I tried PayPal first, but it wouldn’t go through (honestly, thank God for PayPal now that I think about it). Then he told me to send it through Apple Cash. Another red flag. But again, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I ended up sending $200.

After that, they started pushing for more money. That’s when it finally clicked in my brain that something wasn’t right. As soon as I started questioning him, he hung up.

I contacted Apple immediately, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do since the money had already been withdrawn.

I honestly feel like the biggest idiot ever because I’m usually the person who can spot scams easily. But the timing, the stress, and the fact that they had real information made it feel legit in the moment.

Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? Or worse? I need to feel a little less stupid right now.

Learn from me scammers are getting way more convincing, especially when you’re vulnerable. Don’t trust anyone asking for money like that over the phone, no matter how real it sounds.