I’m not being overly dramatic, it breaks my heart when I read about someone who got duped out of their life savings because of some shady scammer online or over the phone.
But the sad fact is that it happens ALL THE TIME to good people who just don’t know any better.
That’s why it’s important to educate yourself and your friends and family members about all the crazy scams out there that people fall for.
Here are some things to look out for, according to folks on AskReddit.
1. HUGE scammers.
“Televangelists. I was raised in the cult and even I don’t get it.
Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud, served prison time, and people still send him money.”
2. There’s a lot of this going on.
“A guy in our village gave his online “girlfriend” £10k to help her out but she was rich and would pay him back.
She said she’d use the money to come visit him as well. He hasn’t heard from her in months and is still convinced she’s on her way.”
3. Gone phishing.
“Phishing emails.
I got one the last week I was in the office before we closed for the month. Pretending to be my boss who was requesting me to buy several eBay cards for some of the staff. I had a good time emailing back and forth with the guy and stringing him along for about an hour and a half.
We literally have 9 employees in the whole company. All of whom I can talk to just by raising my voice loud enough to be heard down the hallway. Additionally, I am the one in charge of birthdays and holiday office gifts.
I don’t think my boss even knows when our birthdays and staff appreciation days are…….lol.”
4. I see…money in my future.
“Psychics, those assholes take advantage of people’s insecurities to rip them off.”
5. I’m sure you’ve spent money on these.
“The grabber machines at arcades.
They’re programmed to drop the prize back into the machine 90% of the time, just before it reaches the prize hole.”
6. Sounds totally legit!
“Hot women in your area want to chat.
Just enter your bank account details here to start chatting.”
7. Multi-level marketing.
“Lots of people don’t understand that nearly every MLM is a pyramid scheme. Some of them actually have good products. I grew up on Tupperware. My mom supplemented her income by selling Mary Kay. And Anway has really decent soap.
Unfortunately many or even most of them are so focused on recruiting other people into the company and not selling the product, and that is where the pyramid starts to collapse.”
8. They don’t make calls.
“The IRS has said over and over again, and they say it every year, and it is on the news, etc.
WE WILL NEVER CALL YOU.
Yet people fall for it all the time.”
9. Not buying it.
“Astrology.
Don’t get me started. I was talking about this girl I was interested in and a bystander says
“What’s her astrological sign”
“I don’t know she was born in May or something”
“Oh no! You can’t go for a Taurus you’re a Scorpio!”
This stuff is frankly creepy.”
10. Snake oil.
“Essential oils, crystal healing, reiki, psychic readings.
All that snake oil stuff.”
11. The spice game.
“McCormick spices.
At least where I live, American grocery stores aren’t even allowed to put other brands in the same aisle as McCormick unless they’re non-competing products like salt or barbecue rubs. They even give you the false illusion of choice by having a McCormick section and an organic McCormick section.
$4 for a bottle of garlic powder from McCormick in the spice aisle, but if you go to the “international aisle”, the same size bottle from the other brand is $1. Go to an Asian or Latino or any other ethnic supermarket and you’ll get a bottle 5x as big for the same price.
And every time I’m in the aisle I see people picking it up. I want to tell them about the other aisle but I don’t want to be that guy.”
12. Love your liver.
“Detoxing supplements.
Your liver does all that you need.”
13. Oh no!
“We have your nudes.
Pay us 1000 dollars in bitcoins or we will send them to your contacts and you will never be able to look them in the eyes again without being ashamed.”
14. They don’t work…unfortunately…
“Lose weight quick pills/creams/wraps/shakes/coffees/waist trainers/electric shock ab belts/etc.
If there was a quick easy solution surely everybody would be using it and nobody would be fat.”
All good tips in there.
Just be sure to CYA (cover your ass) and always be vigilant when dealing with people online and over the phone.
Do you have any additional advice about this for all the good people out there?
Please share it with us in the comments.
