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I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know, but scammers are EVERYWHERE.
And even when some of these scams are totally obvious, unsuspecting people out there still tend to fall for them.
It’s sad to see someone fall victim to these creeps, so that’s why it’s important to know just what the hell is going on out there.
Here are some warnings from people on AskReddit.
1. Don’t fall for it.
“Anything where the government is asking for gift cards as payment.
US Treasury is funded by iTunes gift cards, yes this seems legit, hold on while I read you my credit card number.”
2. What a weird scam.
“The websites that lets you bid on expensive shit for cheap prices.
Madbids for example.
You can bid on a camera for as little as a dollar but in reality you always be outbidded by a bot. Until you spend money on the autobid credits that let’s you automatically outbid the bot.
You might end up paying 50 dollars for a 200 dollar camera but you would’ve paid 180 dollars in autobidding credits as well.”
3. A lot of folks fall for this one.
“Your computter is infected with 7 viruss.
Click here to install imediately an anti-virus and protect your computer!”
4. Always surprised…
“Copy and paste this on your Facebook page to remove Facebook’s right to your pictures and information…”
Always surprises me how stupid people can be.”
5. Just ignore these.
“Making lists of personal information and posting it on a Facebook wall for data mining. They post massive lists with hundreds of entries sometimes!
Favorite color
Mothers maiden name
High school
First car
Etc.”
6. That’s terrible
“Had a friend of mine fall for the deployed soldier scam.
She paid $8,000 in court martial fines for this person because they lost their primary weapon. Then came the gold scam, there was a package with stolen Iraqi gold that was being held at the border and she could get it all taken care of for $22000 or go to jail.
That’s when she called me… My wife and I looked through everything this person had sent her and figured out the whole thing was fake. The shipping company that was holding the package, the Canadian soldier wearing US marine gear and badging, the court martial paperwork… Everything! It was kinda fun playing detective.
But then we had to break it to her and keep showing her the evidence repeatedly. It took a few weeks of her calling and asking, “But what if?” before she really got it.
All told she was taken for about $20000, would have been 40 if she hadn’t have called when she did
It was brutal.”
7. A lot of Nigerian princes out there…
“A nice exiled Nigerian Prince contacted me by email. His royal family has been overthrown by the military who has blocked access to the bank accounts whilst they are in hiding.
Fortunately their accountant still can access their wealth and they desperately need a foreign account to move the money so it can’t be seized by the state until they are safe again. With amazing luck, they chose me in Australia to help them, which I must for the generous offer of 25% of the millions they need to move as long as I provide my bank details and a scan of my passport just to confirm I’m real.
If I don’t help, I would never forgive myself. Apparently I’m their last chance as others have failed them and I’m to keep this just between the Prince and I. I’m probably putting myself and the Royal Family at risk by discussing it on Reddit, but thought this post worthy of bringing awareness to their plight.”
8. Call the FBI.
“I used to be a 911 dispatcher and old people call ALL THE TIME about scams.
They always think it’s real but a family member made them call and ask us if it is.
Once they think it’s not they want the local police to investigate. Um, yeah, Glenda, we don’t usually investigate crimes that are originating from NIGERIA here in rural Montana.
They often give them their social or address or other information before they call. Ugh.
Please don’t call 911 for this. Notify the FBI if you want to tell someone.”
9. Total scam.
“I love you.
Please send me money so I can visit my dying sister in COUNTRYNAME.
I know I’ve only known you two weeks online, and we’ve never met in person, and I’ve called you from three different burner phones–but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.”
10. That’s BS
“HELLO. WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR’S EXTENDED WARRANTY!”
My car is 20 years old and has 205K on the clock. There is no warranty.”
11. Beware of Catfishing.
“My Great Aunt is currently getting catfished.
Divorced her husband of 44 years, sent the entirety of her $80 k settlement check she had to the guy and continues to send more to this day all because she thinks she’s engaged to Bob Dylan. Bob fucking Dylan.
I’m not going to go into full detail because it’s been going on for 2 or 3 years now but it’s crazy.”
12. All about the money.
“Scam emails. “Send me this much money so I can free my funds and pay you back 10x!”
My father fell for this in 2013 -_- We had to get the RCMP involved to get him his money back. No they weren’t on horses =< That’s just ceremonial. Otherwise they’re just federal cops.”
13. Avoid at all costs.
“Using sex for identity theft.
Either the classic “HORNY SINGLES IN YOUR AREA ARE BEGGING TO FUCK YOU! YES, YOU!!!”.
Or something like e-girls who advertise a $30 fuck and say that will even drive out of State to get to you and ask you to either make a deposit first or give your credit card info.
Sex apparently will always sell and you can take advantage of people with it.”
14. All those videos.
“Any of those videos that purportedly show all kinds of “kitchen hacks”, some of them are fucking dangerous whilst others are just a waste of ingredients.
If you leave a wooden spoon over the top of ANYTHING boiling to stop it boiling over, for example, you really should just turn the heat down and avoid potentially burning yourself on a really fucking hot utensil. Its not hard. No, you can’t melt down gummy bears to make a jelly/jello.
Why even try when jelly/jello is fucking cheap anyway? Avoid ANYTHING that Blossom or Yummy post, I am sick of explaining to people on Facebook that they are horse-shit. If it looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. Just learn to do things the old fashioned way.”
Be careful out there and keep your eyes open!
Now we’d like to get your opinion about this.
In the comments, tell us what obvious scams people should be on the lookout for!
The more you know, right? Thanks!
