People Share Their 'I Got Scammed' Moments

Most of us have already experienced being too kind to someone. However, they took advantage of it. 

Many people do things in life to earn money; sadly, some choose to do bad things against others to acquire money. 

Guess what? People from the Reddit Community shared their “I got scammed” moments that you might want to have a read. These scammers could still be out there, so watch out!

1. Secret Operation

I bought $300+ tickets to see the Knicks at MSG from Craigslist (dumb, I know) that turned out to be fake.

 I got so pissed I walked into a NYC precinct and told them I wanted to file a complaint.

The detective at the time said they were busting many people in these fake ticket rings, and we could bust him if we set up another sale.

The next day, I contacted the same guy from another number, and we set up to meet him.

The detective was dressed casually, and I pretended to be his girlfriend. He gave us the tickets by Dylan’s Candy Bar and was busted right there. 

It was fun.

burnt-cookie

A short story from my childhood: someone tried to steal my working NES.

In the late 80s, I was about 9 or something. Had a "friend" call me up and invited me to his house so he could clean my NES. I thought it was strange, but he was very insistent, and I didn't want to argue. 

I brought it over, and he started cleaning the NES and asked me to get something from the kitchen (a butter knife, I think). I went, found it after a few seconds of searching, and brought it back. He said he was finished, left the NES on top of his TV, and left the room to get something.

My NES looked very different. I stared at it a bit. It was missing a crack that had always been there. Looked on the floor where his NES was. It had a crack.   

Fudger tried the ol' switcheroo. I tensed up and didn’t want to argue with the kid. 

Confrontation wasn't my strong point. 

I just switched them back as quickly as I could. He was gone for a while and had a lot of time. After he returned, I told him I had to go, thanked him for the cleaning, and went home.

After about 30 mins, he called my house again. He asked me which NES did I take home. Told him I took mine. He asked again, "Yeah, but did you take the one on the TV or the one on the floor?" I just told him again I took mine. He sounded defeated as he said, "Alright, bye."

fa9

My cousin tricked my 4-year-old brother into trading his Game Boy Advance for a Game Boy Color. He fell for it because he had never seen a GBC before, and you know, he was 4 years old. 

I tried to secretly take the GBA back, and somehow, the GBC went missing, so my mom gave them my sister's GBA because the cousin was being a pouty jerk. 

To this day my cousin insists it was a fair trade, and I never forgave them for that; how low do you have to be to deceive a child like that?

TheNewNumberC

Yeah, I was on vacation and didn't have my phone on. The scammers called my house, and my sister was house-sitting for my wife and me. They told her I was going to be tried for an undisclosed criminal charge if I didn’t pay them, something like 900 dollars.  

That would be for the case to be dismissed, or I would be arrested or served the next day. She tried calling me, and I didn’t answer as I was on vacation.

I left her one of my bank cards so she could buy food and stuff since she was doing me a favor.

 She paid them with it, as she thought it was real and I am not a saint. 

Therefore, it was believable at the time, and this was a while before these scammer tactics were well known. I was so mad, as I noticed the charge when I checked my online banking while still away.

The worst thing is, now I guess, I am on a list of people who have fallen for this, and they call me all the time.

[deleted]

In the 90's, my friend got all of these letters saying he was part of a contest, and he just had to keep mailing letters in to enter the "drawing."

The wording they put in the later letters was something like "You've made it to the final round" and "Congratulations, we are now prepared to write you a check for $10,000!"

All he had to do was call a 1-900 number that charged $2 a minute. It took him about 10 minutes to navigate the automated menus once they told him he was a winner, and it ended with "And you have won... (drum roll)... ONE DOLLAR!"

dougiebgood

The worst one was probably when I was desperately applying for a job after graduating.

Hadn't found a job for months in the finance sector. Because of that, I just applied to be an admin assistant at a small local exchange. I looked up their website, and everything looked legit. Also, the hiring manager spoke fairly fluent English. 

They said they were interested in hiring me for a position that leveraged more of my education. I was stoked - almost 1.5x the pay, and the workload was much more my style.

They wanted some identifying information, like my driver's license and passport. Didn't think too much about it. Scanned it off and sent it to them.   

They told me everything looked good, and they wanted to do a phone interview. I asked them why not in person, and they told me I wasn't at that stage yet.

For some reason, I felt suspicious, so I looked at the address on their letterhead, which was a legit business park in my area. Called them, and the phone lines were dead. I called the building owner, and they told me that the property was vacant and had been for almost a year.

At this point, I knew identity theft would be possible, so I just went into a full-blown panic, getting everything exchanged. Learned a valuable lesson that day. Didn't lose anything but fudge if my personal information is floating around somewhere.

lasteclipse

Was looking for a job and got a call for an interview and went in, and it was something for vitamin juice or something. 

I was sitting in the front and was polite, so I sat through the video and then started to walk out, and that's when they started being super pissy. 

I said I don't spend a lot of money without talking it over with my wife, and the lady said, "Well, I guess we can't do anything if you're not the man of the house and your wife wears the pants".

doggrimoire

I got scammed by Primerica (it’s basically a financial service MLM, like if the Rainbow Vacuum guy could sell you life insurance and mutual funds). 

I had just moved with my husband out of state and was looking for a job. Someone gave them our number, and they said they were interviewing people. I went to the interview, which wound up being a room of 20 others, and they asked all of us for contact information for friends and family. 

Since I didn’t know anyone, I had a great excuse. I thought something was weird then, but I soon realized that this wasn’t a real job. The office was obviously just one they were renting for a couple months and was so sad-looking.

I was fresh out of college and so embarrassed until a very savvy friend of mine said she’d been taken, too.

thecuriousblackbird

Not me, but a customer at Best Buy.

A customer came in, demanding to speak with a manager regarding a TV he had ordered. The manager he asked for was "Tammy," we had no managers by that name nor pick-up orders for this customer in our system.

I asked for more details. The customer had responded to a Craigslist ad for an unbelievable price on a TV. The seller claimed to be a manager at our store and instructed him to make payment by purchasing gift cards for the asking price. 

Then, he sent pics of the back of the gift cards to the seller. The customer did all this and then was advised the TV would be ready for pickup at our store.

Needless to say, there was no TV for him. He demanded to speak to an actual manager, who kindly informed him that he was out of luck.

lotsalotsacoffee

My dad is in his 70s, recently diagnosed with cancer, and is fairly well respected in a fraternal organization with a bunch of other older dudes.

Apparently, someone hacked his email account for the fraternal organization and spammed out an email telling the entire contact list (thousands of people) that my dad needed help. If everyone could send Amazon and iTunes gift cards to this address, it would really help out.

Multiple people called him about it because they were genuinely worried about my dad (the cancer and stuff). 

But they could not figure out why on earth my dad wanted gift cards. 

The kicker was that my dad never ever goes by his full first name, which is why the email was signed, so most people could tell pretty quickly it was a scam. But there were definitely a few people who wanted to help and didn't think it through all the way. 

Luckily, another guy was able to email the group, telling them it was a scam. But I'm sure the scammer was able to get a few gift cards from it.

Catsdrinkingbeer

A younger guy in a shirt and tie next to me at the gas station. He asked me for a few bucks for gas as he was on his way to a job interview. Said he'd been unemployed for a few months, and this was sort of a dream job opportunity. I ended up filling up his entire tank and wished him luck on the interview.

I saw him there twice a week for the next three months, always in a shirt and tie and always talking to other patrons. He eventually tried to scam me again a few months later, and I reminded him that he had already got me on that line and asked me if he had any more. 

He said he could tell me about his dying grandmother he was trying to go see on the other side of town or about how he left his wallet at his office because he rushed out when his daughter’s school called and told him he needed to pick her up because she was sick and throwing up everywhere. 

Then he paused and said, "Sorry, man," and got in his car and drove away. Never saw him again, but I assume he just moved to the next gas station down the street.

PM_ME_UR_WORK_NUDES

An older lady who used to give a spiel on my street. I live near a hospital, so it’s usually something related to a sick loved one. In this case, the first time, she was picking up her daughter after her husband had died in a terrible car accident.

Then, a week later, she was picking up her husband, who had broken his leg. 

I told her congratulations on getting remarried so fast; she looked confused for a moment, and then we had a good laugh together.

Neither she nor the other regulars ever bothered me for money again, though she’d say hi if I walked by.

theidleidol

A famous company’s employee convinced me I needed one of their $60 HDMI cables if I wanted Xbox games and action movies to look good on my TV. 

This was probably 10 years ago, and I didn't know much about electronics back then. I'm still pretty salty about it.

Grasssss_Tastes_Bad

When I was 11, my favorite Disney Channel star tweeted a link to take an IQ test and see how your score compared to hers. A credit card number was needed to see the results, so I put in my parents’. 

Of course, she had been hacked, and it was a scam, so I had to go sheepishly tell my parents I accidentally charged their credit card...they were not happy.

ocean_wavez

Got a White van scammed when I was 18 out front of Best Buy.

A guy or two show up out front of a store like Best Buy with stereo equipment, TV speakers, projectors, etc., that isn’t worth more than the packaging. They proceed to tell you they already delivered everything to hit their quota. 

They are x amount left over, and if they bring them back to the warehouse, they will lose out on just selling them because someone else will. 

They followed this up with stock sheets and magazines showing the retail price of said projector/speakers at some outrageous cost like $2000. 

They said you can take them for anywhere between $1000-$200, depending on how far u get them down. Then you get them home and figure out they either don't work or are the worst quality products ever made.

Stupid me lost 350$. This was back in 2008. This scam still happens today, so beware.

StackinStacks

It's not that much of a scam, but still. When I was an 18-year-old college student, about to hop on the train home after classes, I was approached by a nice woman with her kid in a stroller. 

She told me her wallet had been stolen, and she needed to buy a ticket home for her and her kid, so she was trying to gather enough money.   

That's a typical excuse, but I bought it then and gave her money for 1 of the tickets. 

I couldn't give more then because I had no more money, so I felt a little bad.

Until I saw her at the same spot the next day, feeding other travelers the same freaking story.

MournfulGiant

I used to see the same with a guy walking around with an empty gas canister while I sat on a park bench and read during my lunch break. 

It worked on me once, but then he started to approach the next day and quickly turned around and put his head down when he recognized me.

dougiebgood

I was 19 and looking for jobs on Craigslist. Came across an ad for air traffic controller training. Take an aptitude test, and if you pass, you'll be eligible for government-paid job training.

The scam was actually brilliant. The test was in a hotel banquet room and cost $200 to take. You pay at the door and are directed to wait in the room and not talk to anyone. 

They pass out an actual test, tell you to finish in as fast a time as you can, and then leave. Before it starts, they tell you that only the top 10% will be contacted for follow-up.

There were about 100 of us taking the test. Easy $20,000 for the scammers.

orangey41

Someone once tried to use my credit card to book an online trip... my credit card company called me, and we had this conversation:

CC Company: Hello, Mr. (my last name). We’ve noticed that the trip to Cancun you just purchased online was slightly over your limit. We’ve gone ahead and bumped up your limit, so you won’t have any issues.

Me: uhh, I didn’t book a trip online. Could I get more information?

(*note, I had purposefully kept a low limit because I knew if I had it at my disposal, I would abuse it. They had called about 5-10 times asking me to raise my limit)

CC Company: There must be some mistake. Are you sure you didn’t book this trip?

Me: Yes, I’m sure.

CC Company: In that case, would you like to open a fraud investigation into the purchase

Me: Yes, please

CC Company: [I forgot some parts of the conversation] ... Well, ok, we apologize. Is there anything else we can do for you today?

Me: Yes, I would like to cancel my credit card

Instead of raising a red flag at a purchase over my limit and calling me to inquire about it, my credit card company automatically bumped up my limit without my consent and called me to tell me the good news!

CaptainMcFiend

Not me, but my Grandma. She got a phone call from a male who simply said, "Grandma?" after she answered. She assumed it was my cousin Taylor and said, "Taylor?" "Taylor," told her he was in Mexico and in trouble and needed $10,000 right away, or someone was going to hurt him. 

He told her if she got the cash, someone would be by that afternoon to pick it up.

 Luckily, the bank teller asked why she was pulling out so much money and suggested she call one of her kids. 

The police were called and waited at her home for the money collector. If they ever came by, they didn't make themselves known...most likely because of the police car on the street.

[deleted]

The old shoe shiner scam in Istanbul. You've been told to avoid them, and you do, but then they "accidentally" drop something as they walk past you. You're a nice guy, so you point this out to them. 

They are super happy, and before you know it, they're shining your shoes as what they would have you believe is a favor. Then they demand to be paid for their service, and suddenly, they're not so friendly anymore...

Can't believe I fell for it, but it happened.

iwasinlovewithyou

Yes, so I worked in daycare over the summer, and I ordered this hair wax online that changed the color of your hair for the day. As I use hair wax every day, I was like, this would be so cool for a color week, and I paid $53.92 for all 5 colors they offered. 

  The next morning, I woke up to my whole bank account being drained. 

Luckily, I called my bank, and they were able to fix it and send me a new card. 

But that is not where the story ends because I actually got the product, and after using it once, my hair started to fall out. So, yay, I just shaved my head that summer.

darkmind1142

Scammed on a famous online shopping platform by a 99 %-rated seller. I bought a $550 PS4 from him back in 2014 or 2013 when it was first out.

The delivery date passed, and nothing was received. 

Dug deeper into his profile and found out that he sold a bunch of <$1 wires and built his rating that way before going for the scam. I got my money back thanks to eBay buyer protection.

It was my last transaction, too.

WhyBee92

Almost several times. The scariest one was when I was on my husband's laptop, which was quite a fancy and expensive one that he had gotten from his dad, so I was worried that anything would happen to it if I used it. 

This stupid pop-up came on that said that I had to call "Microsoft tech support" because my laptop was "compromised.” There was a phone number on the screen. I called immediately. 

They were being vague on the phone, and my anxiety was already heightened by the thought that something might be wrong with the computer, so I was feeling pretty numb. 

I was about to give them access to the computer to "help fix" the problem when my good senses kicked in, and I realized it was a scam. I told the guy that I was going to hang up and talk to my husband before having him "fix" the computer, and I could almost hear him shrug when he said, "Okay, bye then." It's so obvious that it was a scam in hindsight.

Ser_Drunken_the_Tall

I've had my debit card number stolen twice. Once, I was charged for over $700 in women's shoes (I'm not a woman.) Another time, just a couple of months ago, I had five different $100 transfers on Western Union at different convenience stores in my city that I'd never visited.

But the funniest one was the one I actually fell for in person. A guy on the street in New Orleans told me:

Guy: I bet you ten bucks. I can tell you where you got your shoes.

Me: You're on

Guy: OK. You got 'em right there on your feet.

I gave him the ten bucks out of pure admiration.

[deleted]

The "old electronics off the back of a van" scam - I was with my friend but not the one who got scammed.

We were in high school and were walking into the mall when two older guys came up to us and asked if we liked speakers because they worked at a warehouse, and an extra set was delivered in error. 

They had a promotional flyer of the speakers, which said they were $3500 in value. 

My buddy starts drooling and starts negotiations. I had a funny feeling about it but was young and naive. 

We all go to the bank, and my buddy hands over $500, and we get the speakers. As soon as we unboxed them, I realized they were low-quality imitations. But my buddy was so excited, and they didn't actually sound too bad. 20 years later, I bet he still thinks they are real.

BroodingBryanAdams

I wanted a new PS3 controller and decided to spend a bit more at the local used game store instead of going to GameStop. Sony was running a sale on them at the time. At GameStop, they were $45. 

So, I went to the local game store and told them I needed a wireless PS3 controller. They pulled one off the shelf and said it was only $40. Everything looked good. Hot dog!

I got home and opened it. The entire wireless thing was completely missing, none of the lights worked, and the serial number matched up to a common Hong Kong serial number. 

I went back the next day and was like, "wtf is this?" They told me, oh, you didn't specify you wanted the Sony PS3 controller. I showed them the receipt, the box, and the controller. 

All of them said it was a Sony controller, but it wasn't. They refused to do anything but sell me the other one for... $55.

I tried contacting BBB and crap but no luck. I e-mailed Sony, who said they weren't an authorized dealer, so there was nothing they could do. Lesson learned.

I wrote them bad reviews and let them stay there until they went out of business a few years later.

DryBicycle

I just want to tell the story of a friend in China.

So I was living there, and she came to visit with a friend. On the first day in Shanghai, they get approached by a "student" who wants to "practice their English" at a "tea shop." Okay, buddy.

Except my friend says yes. Great. They go to the tea shop, and she rings up a tab of maybe $150 for the atrocious tea they serve and not only pays it but then buys extra tea.

Bonus points? She was bragging about this amazing experience she had. It was a great time. She had a great, engaging conversation. It felt so local and genuine, etc.

I just didn't have the heart to tell her it was a scam. I felt like this. But if you enjoy it that much, is it really a scam?? You decide.....

ValueBasedPugs

Back in the day, when my family was trying to sell our house, we had to hire a realtor. When we had our first showing, the realtor never contacted us nor notified us at the end. 

My parents tried contacting him, but he never answered. 

Turns out he was a scam, and my parents signed a contract to what they thought they were paying him was $4500, but he hid the actual price from them, and we almost had to pay $20000.

Reddit_Jayse

I met a girl on OKCupid who said she lived in New York City but was planning a trip to Africa for a charity trip with her university. We talked for a while. She was cute, and she claimed to like the same things I liked. 

She had weird English, though. Eventually, she went on her “trip.” When she got to Africa, we kept talking, and eventually, she told me a story about some terrible thing that had happened to her, and she needed money. 

She tried to get me to send her $100. I had been suspicious for a while. Her English was often not like I would have expected from a native speaker from NYC.   

She made many mistakes, but I just assumed that she was brought up in a home where English wasn’t the first language and spelling and grammar weren’t her thing.   

I actually asked her about it as diplomatically as I could, and she claimed to be a native English speaker. Also, I could never verify anything about her travel program or her family online. I did my research. 

There were other things, but I won’t go into them. Asking me to send money to Africa via Western Union was the last straw. I noped out of that lickity split. 

Ghosted that filthy scammer completely.

elezraita

This just happened to me a month ago, so I️ figured I’d share. I bought resale tickets for a House of Blues show that sold out almost immediately. It was a concert that my roommate and I really wanted to go to. 

So, I decided to check the Facebook event page to see if anyone was reselling their tickets. Now, I’ve done this before with good results at least 5 Times. I’m an avid concert-goer, and I generally believe most people have good intentions. 

We bought the tickets from a girl via cash-app, and she emailed me the “electronic tickets”. I looked them over, and they looked legit. All was set. My roommate and I pre-gamed the day of the concert pretty hard, super excited for the show. We got there, and the tickets wouldn’t scan. 

My heart sank. We worked with the vendor for about 20 minutes to try to get it figured out. Finally, they said no dice, and we walked out defeated. We stood in the parking lot for a few minutes trying to determine what our next move would be since we were both pretty tipsy and super bummed. 

I went around the corner to call my friend and see what he was up to, and I saw a guy smoking a cigarette on a bench. I noticed he had an all-access pass on. I ended the call and walked up to him, and explained my situation. 

I called my roommate over to corroborate the story, and he expressed that he was sorry we got scammed, but there was nothing he could do. He seemed like a cool guy, nonetheless, and we had nowhere to be, so we just chatted him up. 

Asked him if he had been to our city before and if he needed any after-concert bar recs. Once he finished his cigarette, he said, “You know what, stay right here. I’ll see what I can do,” and came back out a few minutes later with two all-access passes for us. 

I still think about messaging the girl who scammed us to hit her with my justice boner, but I don’t even want to waste my time. We had an amazing night because of her in the long run!

3mbr4c3m3

I pre-ordered a game from Gamestop, and the clerk told me there was a "5 dollar pre-order charge that would be taken out of the price when you picked it up."

Went to pick the game up and had to pay full price. Hope you enjoyed scamming a 9-year-old that took a week to earn that precious 5 dollars from mowing lawns, jerks.

Infranto

This was pre-smartphone days, maybe 2002 at the latest.

So, it was the day after Christmas, and I was leaving Circuit City after being disappointed by prices and selection. When I got outside, a dude was standing out front, and he called me over and asked if I wanted to buy a gift card from him.

It is a $100 gift card, and he has the receipt after having used it to buy one CD that was on sale. On the receipt, it says there is $80+. He then allows me to call their number and check the balance that way from my cell phone.  

 Everything seemed 100% legit, so I bought the gift card for $40 cash. I go in to use the card, and nada no money on it.

I'm still baffled by how he scammed me. As I said, this is pre-smartphone. He didn't save the number and then buy something online. The only thing I can think of is that, he had someone waiting to buy something online at home, and he called them as soon as I gave him the cash.

[deleted]

I did about 10 years ago. Two guys in a parking lot pulled up and showed me some speakers in the back of their jeep. I was pretty freaked out, and I ended up paying 150 or 200 bucks for these cheap knockoff speakers. 

What was worse was I didn't have cash, and they offered to drive me to the bank so I could withdraw money from the ATM. I didn't have the PIN for my debit card and had to reset that with the bank while they were driving... 

I'm just glad I was able to get the money for them. I have no idea what would have happened to me if I had wasted all their time and I was in their car at their mercy.

I was so embarrassed that they scammed me that I didn't even tell my parents. (I was at college when this occurred)

symphonicrox

OKAY SO I GOT SCAMMED, BUT IT WAS WORTH IT IN THE END. I’ve told this story before on here, but here it goes: So one day, I was driving home from school, and I stopped to get some gas.

I finished my last final and am in a hella good mood. While I’m pulling out, this lady holding a baby and with another kid beside her approaches me and motions for me to roll my window down. I comply since, generally, women holding babies aren’t dangerous characters. 

She gives me this sob story about her family traveling because her husband finally got a job, her welfare checks running out, and her being desperate to buy food for her children, and yada yada. 

Her story sounded pretty well-rehearsed, and I noticed she had picked me (the young, naive child) out of the whole crowd at the gas station. I’m suspicious, but I gave her 10 bucks because you never know, and it’s just 10 bucks.

But yeah, something definitely felt off, and I didn’t feel good about giving her the money. So the next day comes, and I’m at my restaurant hosting job working the morning shift (20 miles away from this gas station), and her fat ass walks in. 

We saw each other, and I saw the most memorable look of “Oh fudge, you have to be kidding me, Jesus” on her face. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I looked like the Cheshire Cat on his birthday. 

Me being a host, sits her pathetic ass down and goes off to bus a table, and the moment I leave the front of the restaurant, she skips town and makes a mad dash out the door. I don’t think that wide grin left my face for an hour. 

That moment was probably the best thing 10 dollars could ever buy. But anyway, the moral of the story: don’t give money to well-rehearsed strangers at sheetz.

who-cares-2345

I got a call from this company offering me some "free gifts" if I completed a survey. So I did the survey and gave them my address to send the gifts. 

Then they said to do so, I would have to sign up for a magazine subscription and give them my debit card info. "Oh, but you won't be charged right away. You just have to wait for one magazine to come, then you can cancel". 

I was young and naive, so I went ahead and did it. Then they asked for my social, and I panicked and hung up. 

But they already had my debit card info, and they charged it pretty much immediately for 80 dollars. 

I got overdrafted and had a hard time convincing the bank I had been scammed. They took pity and reversed everything. Never got the "free gifts," but I did get a metric fudge ton of magazines. 

This was almost 13 years ago, and I've moved like 6 times, and they still somehow find me.

cinnarue003

My friends messed with me about this forever.

Got a call in the mid-90s. Some guy is saying it was the wrong number, and he's locked up in jail and only gets one phone call. He then asked if I could hit a few numbers on my phone, and it would transfer his call to his family. I'm nice and stupid, so I said sure.

Within minutes, my phone would ring once and stop.

 When I picked it up, no one was there. This goes on for a few minutes. Uh oh...I messed up.

Immediately call the phone company and tell them what happened. I already have hundreds of dollars of long-distance fees on my account.

They undo my mistake, take off the charges, and make fun of me.

[deleted]

I fell for a known airline scam along with most of the passengers on my flight.

It's the airline "policy" that your middle name appears on your boarding pass. However, when booking the ticket online, there is no field for middle name. To have it added at the gate will cost you 100 euros, or you aren't allowed to board.

They are well aware of this scam and use it to regularly fleece unsuspecting passengers. When I mentioned that there wasn't even a field for the middle name on their website, their response was to put it in the first name field. 

As illogical as that response was, the kicker is that spaces aren't allowed in the first name field, so I would need to enter my name as "FirstMiddle" to adhere to their ridiculous policy.

Furthermore, it took around an hour longer to process middle names onto most passengers' boarding passes, meaning we missed our departure window, and the plane was delayed for 3 hours.

carmooch

15, waiting outside a gas station for someone 18+ to buy me cigarettes.

Gave $5 to a guy (scarier than 15 y/o me) who went into the gas station and came back out empty-handed.

Asked for my $5 back, and he said, “What $5?”

So, I guess I scammed myself in a way? I didn’t end up getting cigarettes.

[deleted]

I was young, and some broad approached me in a parking lot saying her boyfriend had left her, and she lived a state away and needed money for a bus ticket. 

I gave her $10.

I’ve actually gotten that same scam twice since then, and each time I offered to buy the ticket at the bus station, and they told me to back off each time.

Sin-A-Bun

Got scammed by this guy selling "Armani" jackets in NYC from his car at 9PM on a Saturday. I happened to be in the market for these at the time, so I was very eager. He must have smelled a sucker. He slowed his car and asked me for directions to the Lincoln Tunnel. 

While I was looking that up on my phone, he gave his pitch about how he had just came from an Armani show and had 2 extra jackets he couldn't fit in his luggage back to Italy. 

So I bought 2 jackets for $300 and thought I got a fantastic deal (they retail for more than $1000 each), all the way until I got to the train back to CT when I noticed that the logo was not quite the Armani logo, but some other eagle logo.   

It also didn't say Armani, but Armitage. 

To be fair, he never said they were Armani jackets, only that he was coming from an Armani show. My 24-year-old fresh-out-of-college dumbass brain filled in the non-existent gaps. 

The icing on the cake is that I had to withdraw cash from an ATM and overdraw my account.

[deleted]

I also have one. My dad bought me Taiko Drum Master for my birthday and had a sleepover with my best friend. I was so excited, only to be super bummed that my NEW game didn’t have the f*cking game’s CD or whatever inside the box. 

I cried so hard. My dad was pissed. It was too late at night to go, so I had to settle with watching my new Ice Age DVD with my best friend instead of playing my new game.

We go the next morning, and my dad has already figured out that this is a returned item that they put back as new. 

 My dad was talking to this guy that is such a douche nozzle that even as young as I was, I noticed that he was a dumbass. “You have it. You’re just trying to get a free copy. We don’t stock returns.”

I will never forget my dad saying, “I need to speak to your manager,” and the guy saying VERY smugly, “I am the manager!”

I don’t know what happened next. I think my dad (who at the time needed anger management) scared him because all I remember is I had my game later that day.

Best. Game. Ever. My best friend and I played it until it drove my parents insane.

Curse you, douche nozzle!

OoohAFlyingLlama

I typically didn’t fall for the “let us make your child a star!” Type things, but there was one that had success. We actually had some really nice headshots done, and they made it clear they weren’t a talent agent so much as a marketing thing. 

It was basically them getting companies to send them the types they were looking for, and they’d send back headshots of their clients in bulk. If they liked you for a gig, they’d contact you. 

The problem was they ended up signing on more people than they could afford due to the success rate of some of their clients, and they went out of business without informing us. I’m unsure if my mom got the rest of the money back (covering the months we paid for in advance). 

She didn’t want to tell my dad because she didn’t want him freaking out every time I auditioned for another job.

agizzy23

Dated a guy for a while. He was a trash, and I didn't realize it. I was young and stupid. 

First, he was waiting for his next paycheck for groceries, then his laptop died, and he couldn't work without it. 

Lastly, he needed 1600 for a down payment on a new double-wide. I told him to back off after that. Turns out that the cops know about him and his schemes.

PEACEMENDER

Not me but my coworker......

She is a trust fund baby but one of the sweetest women I've ever met. She got a phone call from someone who worked at her bank saying they noticed she had so many bank accounts. 

He wanted to consolidate them for her and give her a higher interest rate. When she agreed, he set up a new bank account and had her transfer all the money into the new account. 

You can guess what happened after that.

When we all found out she had lost over ₩160,000,000 (maybe around 150,000 USD), we couldn't believe how naïve she had been. How do you not check up on that and sign paperwork and all?! 

Come to find out, she had called her bank and asked about him before transferring the money. He really did work there. He played this scam on a bunch of people with accounts at their bank and then just left the country with all their cash. 

She ended up getting some of it back, but not nearly all of it.

energirl

I was working a job at the Metropolitan Museum in New York for a week around the sculpture garden area. There was an old man I noticed towards the end of every day sketching one of the more prominent sculptures. 

It was a very detailed pencil sketch that was quite beautiful. Towards the close of the day, a group of people would gather around the man who was nearly finished with his art. 

I began to notice that he would show up at the same time every day, and the same sketch was at the same point of completion - every day. 

It turns out he was selling his "sketches" for a couple of hundred bucks a pop, but they were high-res copies he would trace over for an hour or so before unloading them on a romantic tourist looking for an authentic piece of art.

h3llp0p

Back in 2006, when I was 18, my friend and I were in a bar, and we met this guy who said he ran this pretty popular online radio station and he could give us a program on it. 

He had a flyer with a website and phone number on it, so he seemed somewhat legitimate. I was still kind of skeptical about it, but my friend was really excited to do it, and she convinced me we should do it.

He said we had to pay about $35 to buy the slot, which I thought made sense at the time, so I put up the money. We were supposed to meet with him again the next day so he could show us how to do everything.

My friend was really excited, and we spent the rest of the evening putting together a mixed CD of the songs we wanted to play.   

The next day, we went to meet him again at the hookah place, and he was not there. We called the number on the flyer, and there was no reply. 

I asked an employee about him since he said he often hosted the program there. They said they had never seen him before yesterday.

It was only $35, but at that time, it was a decent amount of money for me, and the worst part was I was actually excited to do a radio show.

-eDgAR-

Not my money, personally, but I was duped. I worked in a small convenience store, and we also processed money orders. This one guy came in for a rather large money order, around $1000. 

Paid in all cash, and I counted him to be $20 short. I told him he took the bills back, flipped through them, added the $20, and then handed them back to me. 

I didn't recount and processed the full order. The next day, I showed up for work, and my bosses are asking me about $500. 

Apparently, the guy pulled some sleight-of-hand wizardry and managed to slip $500 back into his pocket. I wasn't fired, but they were really not happy.

nondescriptsrb

Back in junior high, I always wanted to have a PS3, so I looked for one on the internet and found one with good quality and low prices. 

I talked to the guy on the phone, and we had an agreement. I sent him the money, and he sent me a picture of a sealed PS3 box with my name written on it. 

I waited for a week, and my PS3 hasn't come yet. I called him again, and he's not answering. I called him again and again until I realized I had just got scammed...

My mom didn't know what happened, and I was too scared to tell her.

[deleted]

Once I was there when my dad got scammed. We were in Austin and wanted to go down to the bridges and see the thousands of bats that flew out. 

There was a parking lot near the bridge, and someone set up in front, taking money. We give them the $7, thinking, "Well, it's a touristy thing. Of course, they're gonna gouge you." 

We came back half an hour later, and that person was gone, and the chair they were sitting in conveniently blocked the free parking sign.

A second time, I was in college, and I was leaving for the night to go to my apartment. 

Someone came up to me and asked for a ride. 

It was only a few blocks, but it was winter in Iowa and super cold. I give her a ride a few blocks away. Now, my campus was right next to a very poor, high-crime neighborhood. 

I pull over to her stop, and then she starts asking for money. I tell her I'm a poor college student and I don't have any cash (and realize I made a very bad mistake here). 

But she must have been new, or her heart wasn't into it, because after I told her no two or three times, she gave up and left the vehicle.

TumblrTheFish

My mother, my sister, and I went into an electronic store to buy a second Wii controller. I was about 13, and my sister was about 10.

We grew up quite poor, and spending 50 bucks on a new controller was a lot. So my mom asked if there was any controller for less money.

The guy showed my mom one of these controllers you connect with a cable with the normal Wii controller and said that this would work and it would only cost $20. So we bought it only to find out that it didn't work

[deleted]

I was walking down the sidewalk, and a guy up ahead sitting on the stoop of an apartment building jumped up and frantically began telling me about his daughter.

He told me who was in his apartment (gestures to the building behind him) and was having an asthma attack, and he needed $10 to go over to the pharmacy to buy an inhaler.

The red flags were flying, and my alarm bells were going off, but I had ten bucks in my wallet, so I handed it to him and said, "I hope you're telling the truth because this would be an awful crummy thing to lie about."

How do I know it was a scam? A couple of months later, I was walking down the same sidewalk and saw the same guy who started to give me the same story. That time, I yelled at him.

stokelydokely

I was in Miami. My friend and I were walking down the street, and there was this (what appeared to be) homeless guy. He was mid-sketching in his sketchbook with all of his other pieces next to him. 

They were really, really well done. I asked for the Snoop Dogg one, and my friend asked for the Kanye West one. He said it was free because it was a Monday, and those were his free days. 

He asked for a small donation, though. We each gave him $5 and went on our way.

Once we got home, we unraveled the sketches and realized they were prints. Like from the internet!   

He TOTALLY played us so well, lol! It’s really not too bad because, in the end, we only lost $5, and he probably needed it more than we did. 

It was just so funny, though, because he really had a whole act going. He was so into it, mid-sketch as we walked up and everything. A pro scammer!

chicken-fried-rice0

I was had by the "extra speakers" scam. Approached at the gas station by 2 young guys who claimed to be home theater installers for a high-end audio/visual company. 

Had laminated photo Id badges and everything. The pitch was that they had excess speakers from an order error for a high-end install. 

Said the speakers were thousands each, but they would sell them cheap if I was interested. 

Speakers looked great and were branded "theater research." 

They offered to come hook them up at my house, which went a long way in convincing me. Ended up taking the max from the ATM (luckily, only $300 then) and bought a pair. 

Once I got home and got to googling (this was pre-smartphone), I saw it was a fairly common scam. Honestly, the speakers worked fairly well and looked fantastic, so I didn't feel too taken.

elitecloser

I was 9, and these two guys who dressed up in button-up white shirts and some nice dress pants came knocking at our gate. I don't remember exactly what they said, but I remember it sounded urgent. 

The premise is they'd need like $30 to do something good for society, and in the end, I'll get the money back. I was 9, and $30 was huge. 

I had saved that money for weeks! So I gave it to them thinking I'd get the money back. When my dad got home, I told him what happened, and he just laughed at me. 

I even remember one of the guys politely asking if I'm sure I really wanna give the money to them, and I said yes....

daisyshark

I had to take care of my bedridden parents and my bedridden parents-in-law by myself after my husband died. I had to work constantly to earn enough money to feed them, and any time not at work, I was taking care of them and my son.

After they had been bedridden for 20 years, I found out that my dad was faking it all along. Not only could he walk just fine, but he was dancing and jumping all around. 

I found out his secret when my son won a contest and was allowed to take one person with him on a factory tour. I thought I would be going with him, but instead, my faking dad went. 

He had scammed me for 20 years, and he could have been helping out. I had to feed him and change his bedpan. Sick freak. We don't talk to each other anymore.

[deleted]

I was 16 (now 18), looking to make my first business online.

I found someone on Fiverr who could help me out, and to be fair to them, they did help out a bit, creating logos and helping with designs.

However, it was too good to be true. They eventually went missing for months at a time and did not complete tasks at all, saying they wanted to show me when it was finished (Pro tip: ask for progress checks).

Over the time they were with me, I must have given them over £200 ($250 US), which is a lot to me working as a waiter at the time.

There were many signs there, and her Facebook account had different people on her different profile pics. She claimed these were friends or family.

The name on the PayPal account was not hers at all. In fact, it was a Nigerian name. Her account on Fiverr got banned a few times, and she said this is because you are not allowed to offer external chat from the Fiverr chat, which I believed. 

She even included screenshots. Her Fiverr profile was from Nigeria, and her profile picture was of an Asian lady who said she lives in Chicago.

 When I called her out for being a scammer, she said she had a disease (I think something similar to cancer). At this point, I was actively looking for someone else for my project, as I'd had enough.  

I used the name on the email and found the guy that scammed me. I am u sure what to do with this information. He is a university student. 

I guess I could ruin him if I wanted to, but it's not in my nature to do so. I also want to make sure the actual scammer didn't use this guy as a fall guy for his operation.

I reversed the image and searched the pictures he used in his Facebook profile, and it turns out he has at least 30 accounts using similar pictures. The guy was scamming so many different people. It turns out he was using a French singer in his profile.

dreamersdisease01

In college, I bought a Nintendo Wii on a website when it was still hard to find in stores. The seller only lived 2 hours away, so I asked to pick it up rather than pay for shipping. 

Unfortunately, the shipping cost was built into the price on the website, but the seller agreed to let me pick it up, and I requested that they refund the shipping charge. 

So I took the afternoon off and drove over there. The seller either owned or worked in a mom-and-pop game store because that's where they were located. 

I picked up my Wii and asked about the refund for the shipping charge. 

They looked me straight in the eye and said, "Oh, that's the sales tax we should have charged you since we live in the same state" and smirked.   

Since I was in an unknown area and an unknown store by myself, I didn't want to argue over it, so I just left. I was super pissed, but I learned my lesson about the dangers of buying.

I've also gotten scammed as a seller by a couple of buyers claiming lost items or damaged items when nothing was wrong. I honestly have given up on the site. It's gotten awful for independent sellers, and as a buyer, you don't know if you're getting a genuine product. It's just not worth the hassle.

Nolegrl

My first time in China, I took cabs all around Beijing. It was hot, but every cab driver had their air conditioner off except one guy. 

He was flashy, wearing expensive sunglasses and playing music. He dropped me by Tiananmen Square, and I handed him a few ¥100 bills for the trip (about equivalent to a US $20).

He was kind of weird about the bills, passed them back to me, and said something about different bills. 

There was a language barrier, and I didn't understand what he wanted.

But eventually, I handed him a larger bill, and he gave me change in ¥100s. I tried to use one of those ¥100s at a nearby shop and was turned down. 

The extremely kind and apologetic clerk went to get a friend who spoke English, who explained to me the bills were counterfeit.

LOSS35

My friend actually got scammed, and I was with him, so I guess we both did. We went to the bank so he could get some money out of the atm. 

We walk back to his car, and two dudes approach us. Telling us how they have this extra speaker set up. They say they can’t take it back to their job bc they will get charged for returning it. 

They tell us that if they don’t get rid of it, they will have to leave it somewhere and try to sell it later on, but it would cost them money bc they don’t live around here. 

So my friend starts bargaining with them. Eventually, they came to an agreement, which I think was about $90. Once we got to his place, I googled the name of the speaker system.

It turns out it’s a cheap system, and people use it to scam others. I couldn’t stop laughing at how we got fooled and how my dumbass didn’t think of googling the speaker while we were there.

[deleted]

Back when online shopping and cell phones were both relatively new technologies, my then-girlfriend found a great deal on an auction for a new flip phone with a camera. 

The auction said to email the seller directly, and he would give a lower rate to avoid the extra fees (you already know where this is going).

She contacted him and wired him something like $300 or $400 for this new phone. He went quiet for a short time, and she started to suspect she had been scammed. 

Then, finally, he responded with a fake tracking number and said, “I accidentally mailed three phones to you. Please wire me another $600.”

At that point, she knew she had been scammed. She reported it to the website, and they wouldn’t do a thing except cancel the seller’s account (which it turned out had been hacked anyway).

doublejpee

Not me, but my father is being scammed right now. He put on his status on Facebook that he was looking for a lady. Well, that drew out the "ladies."

One in particular he adores is Monica. Monica calls every day at 7:00 am and, in that sexy computer voice, tells him how much she loves him. 

She then asks for money. The instructions for sending the money are to go to Target or Walmart and buy iTunes or some other gift card.

He then sends that to someone's address in Tennessee. He has sent money orders also. In total, he has sent that thing over $50k.

Before anyone asks, I've tried to stop it. He won't listen and believes the thing is a real woman who loves him. The bank has even taken steps to stop him. I don't have any interest in becoming his guardian. 

ComplexPick

I don't know if it was the same person both times, but it was the same "story." We've detected a virus on your computer crap thingy. 

The first time, I strung the guy along until I asked HIM what computer I was on so I could verify the issue. He paused, stuttered, and then blurted out, "IT'S A DELL." At that point, I burst out laughing, and he hung up.

The second time I got the computer virus scam call, I was able to wait a bit longer. The guy calls and says there's an issue. 

I ask what kind of computer, and he says, Dell. This time, I was able to keep my composure and act like I was genuinely concerned. 

He led me through the "process" I needed to go through, which was pretty much me sitting at my computer while I was listening to his crap. 

Then he asks me what the computer is primarily used for. I'm at work, so I tell him, "Well, it's my work computer, so I mostly use it to watch hard-core sensitive stuff." The line went completely dead after that.

FenwayFranklin

I was at an ATM in my bank while the actual bank was closed. A pregnant lady was frustrated that her card wasn't working in the atm. She looked close to tears. 

She was trying to cash a cheque, and she wasn't able to do it. She told me it was for her groceries today, and she had another kid at home. 

She asked me if I would give her cash, and she gave me the cheque to cash. This was before I knew how cheques worked. I thought they were more similar to money orders. 

I didn't realize that if a cheque bounced, it took the money out of your account. 

I thought it would just overdraft the other person. Risk-free in my mind! 

I was just helping out a kind lady who seemed down. Well, as you guessed, a week later, the cheque bounced, and I was out the couple hundred bucks I had her in cash.

Luckily, I only lost a couple hundred bucks, though at 18, that was a significant amount. I hoped she needed that money for something, and it was near Christmas, so I always hoped she did something useful with it.

Now I understand how cheques work, and just because a lady is pregnant and upset does NOT mean she isn't trying to mess me over.

GlacialAsh

My Dad did, hook, line, and sinker by one of those support scams. They did the usual scummy thing of calling an older person and using a ton of technical jargon to convince them there was a virus and they needed to go in and "fix" it. 

Luckily, my Dad was too technically inept to get them remoted into his computer, but they did manage to convince him to give his credit card details so they could have a "consultant" call.   

His bank blocked the transaction before anything happened, and then he called me (he should have done that in the first place!!) to check over his computer. So, it turned into more of a life lesson than a disaster. His bank blocked his card and sent him a new one.

zerbey

When I was younger, I started buying car parts from a dude. All of the parts always had boxes and were brand new, so I didn't think much of it other than maybe he worked at NAPA, etc, and got his employee cost, then added a bit for my price. 

But I wanted a full exhaust system from him, so I gave him money upfront, which was the normal thing, but what was different this time was that his car had no license plates on it. 

I didn't notice until he drove off, then he cold-shouldered me. Dropped all connections and blocked my number, etc. So he ran off with 1k from me.

Lucky for me, I got friends in high places who were able to check the prints on the intake he sold me and installed for me on my car.

So, since it wasn't over a felony level, not much could be done other than my own work.

I go to his house with a notice of small claims court and a business card to my lawyer attached. 

I listed out the rates of what my time and the people in high places time is worth and a total bill. I rang the doorbell and handed him the notice of court, then walked back to my car.

He comes running out freaking out, and he says he has the exhaust etc etc. When I asked him where the douche canoe installed it on his own car. 

I then make him jack his car up and take off the system right in front of me. He even had the audacity to ask me, "But you're taking the exhaust off my car. What am I supposed to do?!" My response was simple, "Not my freaking problem."

Subliminal_Image

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine got a phone call around 8 PM from Verizon saying that two iPhones had been purchased on her account from another state. 

They told her it had been flagged as suspicious, and they were calling her to see if she had made the purchase or not. They asked for her personal ID phrase.

It was to verify her identity, then let her know that since she didn't make the purchase, they would cancel it for her and that any funds that were taken out of her account for this would be returned within five to seven business days.

She called the next morning to follow up about it, and nobody from Verizon had called her. There was a purchase on her account for two iPhones.

But the purchase was made after the call she'd received the night before. Somebody had called her pretending to be Verizon so they could get her passphrase and then ordered the iPhones over the phone pretending to be her. 

Verizon canceled the order, and she wasn't charged, but if she hadn't followed up like she did, she could have been out for two grand.

jakeinator21

Not me, but my brother-in-law, who thinks he knows everything.

I went over to their house one day, and he offered me a sound system. I'm not interested, but my boyfriend is. Starts to tell us how it's worth a lot of money, blah blah blah.

Sister pops up and makes him tell us the real story. He's out on the driveway, washing the car or something. A van pulls up. 

He tells him he has this sound system; it's worth over a grand, but he'll sell it to him for a few hundred. I forgot what his story was. 

Fell off the back of the truck or something. BIL says he's going to talk to my sister about it. The dude uses the line, "Oh, gotta ask permission, huh?"

Which, of course, is exactly what my macho expert on everything brother-in-law needs to hear. So he gives him a few hundred for it.

Then, they realize it's not worth that and don't need it, and try to get us to buy it. We say no, but if you don't want it, we'll take it, so we do.

We got home, and I started to research the company. There's a legitimate-looking website. People are trying to sell them on eBay for a few hundred dollars.

But then I found a YouTube link from a guy who purchased one, knowing this was a scam company, then opened up and took apart all of the components. And found literal rocks inside the speakers. So we opened ours up. And sure enough. I still laugh about that.

hihelloneighboroonie

When I was a teenager, like 16 years old, I tried to sell my laptop (crappy one, and it was early 2000s, so the internet was still pretty new). 

A guy from Africa wanted to buy it for his daughter. I sent it to him (freaking expensive, like a hundred+ euros) and never got paid. 

I sent about 50 emails to get information on when I was going to get paid. He answered me once, not talking about the payment at all but asking me if I could send him another outlet because mine wasn't standard in his country.

swynnnn

So, if anyone played Gran Turismo 5 back in the day, they would know of the Red Bull X1 car. The fastest in the game and the one everyone wanted.

I ended up meeting someone who asked me if I could send my X1 to them, and I politely told them that it was the only one I had. After that, I didn't think much of it, and they never got angry with me.

Not that long afterward, maybe a couple of days, I got a friend request from an account that was something like "Gran_TurismoOffic."

They messaged me, letting me know I'm one of the few people selected to try out a new and improved version of the X1. That initial person who had asked me to give them my X1 was telling me they were also picked up, and the car was incredible.

I was excited. Not only to drive this new X1 but also because to be affiliated with Gran Turismo in some capacity was a huge honor for me. 

So I tell my mum, and she is immediately skeptical, but I really want to do this. Bear in mind, I was like 12 or 13. Definitely, the part where they said to sign up, they'd need my login details... 

Yeah, the younger me was dumb for not seeing the obvious. My mum obviously did and didn't allow it. I was annoyed, but I know now that if it happened, I'd have, at best, just lost my X1 or maybe as far as lost my account full stop.

RedLMR56

Scammed, but I knew it was a scam. When I was 18, a man approached me near my car at the back of the Target parking lot. He asked for money to help him "buy a bus ticket for him and his family."

I knew it was a scam and said I didn't have cash on me and tried to get in my car, but he blocked me. Pointed to an ATM 50 yards away and said, "You can get me cash to help my family there."

He was super menacing, and I felt gross about it, but I took out $20, and when he tried to strengthen his arm more, I showed him my balance, which was cents. 

He finally let me leave, but I never forgot the feeling of actively participating in a scam against myself.

dontmakeragefaceatme

Literally, a couple days ago, the owner of my company (relatively large but small enough for him to know most people) emailed my work email and asked me to do a task for him ASAP. 

And I was like, "Yes, sir! What can I do for you?" On my day off and everything. Then, he emailed me back and asked for Google Play cards.

I was like, "No, he totally doesn't know who I am." I've been working there 7 months, and that's not my role in the company. So I called my manager. 

When I said the owner emailed me asking me to do a task, my manager replied, "Yeah, that's a scam. You can delete that. (Owner's name) wouldn't use the term task."

heck_abird

Almost. I purchased a used graphics card on Craigslist. The guy was kinda in a hurry to get rid of it. It was a decent price, so I said, darn it. 

We met at Starbucks, too, so I couldn't return it. Anyway, I hooked up the card and artifacts everywhere (it's broken). The guy obviously ignored my calls. 

So, I contacted the manufacturer, XFX. I gave them the serial number on the card, and they stated it was still under warranty, but they don't make that card anymore. 

As a result, they sent me a newer version of the card! I texted the guy back, saying thanks for the upgrade, and blocked him. That card lasted like 3 years in my rig.

PinkBismuth

Guy at Gamestop told me if I got the insurance for the game, I could return/exchange the game for the current price. NQA.

I came back a month or two later to a different store and tried to return it, and the guy told me that it was a lie. 

On top of that, a manager sold it to me. He called up the other store and talked to them a bit.

I suppose he could tell I wasn't lying about it, so he gave me the money back. Yeah, it isn't like it was a terrible scam, but I had actually told a couple of people about this, and I felt pretty stupid after that.

Gogh619

I was a naive college freshman with a lot of pocket money from scholarships, so when I decided to move off campus and rent a house with some friends.

I responded to an ad that was too good to be true. I ignored every red flag. None of that bad crap was gonna happen to me. 

I'm not a freaking idiot. 

Called the "landlord" on their Google account. Wired a deposit through MoneyGram and was flabbergasted when he wouldn't return my calls when I found out he never left a key on the mat. Several hard lessons were learned that day.

Grayed_Out

Two days ago, I went to set up a new phone plan because they had a deal for three lines. The guy helping me tried to sign me up for a bunch of stuff without telling me.

He also refused to give me a physical receipt and said over and over he'd email everything to me itemized. He explained everything horribly, and I felt like something was off the whole time.

The next day, I found out exactly what he did by going to another phone store to look at an item the first didn't carry. He had added a bunch of extra things to my plan to charge me more. 

So he could make more money off me, I'm assuming. I immediately returned to his store and returned everything I got, then went to the second store again to reinstate everything. I didn't want that guy getting my money.

[deleted]

Probably 15 years ago, I was on a motorcycle and needed to buy new plastic fairings for my sports bike. I belonged to a motorcycle forum and had posted an ad looking for parts. 

I had a guy reach out to me saying that he lived in Ottawa, Canada, and would sell me the parts at a reasonable cost. Living 10 hours away, we opted for me to just send him a Western Union check, and he would send the parts.

Send money, no parts... 1 month, no parts... 2 months, no parts... 3 months, police report filed. Police basically say they will get to it when they can.

One entire year goes by, and I've already written off ever seeing my money. I was scammed. I got a random phone call from an unknown number, and it was the Ottawa Police Department. 

They give the whole "I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?". The bad news is that you won't be getting your money back (no joke). The good news is that the thief is dead.

Apparently, the guy was in a street racing accident riding a.... you guessed it.. a motorcycle. I looked it up, and sure enough, it was in the news for Ottawa.

slicedbread22

Had a friend lose 800$ on his birthday to people posing as tech support because he wanted to fix his screen. He spent 5 hours on his birthday driving to 2 stores to buy gift cards while being zipped 800$ out of his birthday.

Luckily, he stopped giving them money once someone behind the counter of a Walmart was like, “Huh? Why do you need so much money loaded onto a card?”

The guy followed up, “Because I need to go get my manager to go to our head office to give that many 100$ gift cards to us.”

He got his money back but all he had to say after was “I gonna graduate with a degree in economics from [the college we went to] with honors and go on to law school, yet somehow be stupid enough to be tricked 800$ over the phone.”

Funny thing is that the Walmart that stopped him now has a sign at the registers saying “We can not sell you more than one 100$ gift cards. THAT TECH SUPPORT WILL NOT ASK FOR MONEY THROUGH THEIR GIFT CARDS!”

GodIsAButt

Not quite, but almost. Went to Italy a few years ago. My mom, who hasn't traveled much, gave me $500 in cash to get her a piece of jewelry. 

The first thing I did in Rome was go up to one of those currency exchange booths and drop all the cash in the drawer before really knowing what I was doing.

Then, the person behind the thick glass started to haggle in a way that sounded like whoever was working the booth made up their own rules and described fees of like a hundred dollars. 

I said no and wanted the money back, and then she tried telling me I already agreed to do business. I was on the cusp of throwing a real fit (which would've probably done nothing but make me look stupid) when she threw all the cash back in the two-way drawer thing and acted disgusted.

The idea of my hard-working mom getting scammed (I would've covered it) because I was a moron tourist left me agitated most of the rest of the day.

PercivalGoldstone

My roommate in college said he was getting a fake ID and wanted to know if I wanted one too for $80 with him (discount for 2). 

He was a pretty smart guy and never steered me wrong before, so I gave him the money, no questions asked, and he said he'd get it in a couple of weeks. 

A couple of weeks go by, and I ask where the ID is, and he says he's still waiting for it in the mail.  

I was surprised since I was expecting a dude at Kinko or something (this was more than 10 years ago), so I asked how he was getting it. 

Turns out he found a website, and Western Unioned the cash to somewhere in Greece. Obviously, never saw the money or fake IDs, and the website no longer existed. My roommate's a lawyer now if you can believe it.

quickdry135