Have You Ever Fallen for a Scam, and if So, What's The Most Embarrassing Scam That You've Fallen for?

freekay on 28/11/2024 - 08:17
Last edited 28/11/2024 - 10:23 by 1 other user

I've seen a number of forum posts popping up about people getting swindled/hoodwinked/heckin' bamboozled, and I wondered how many more of us have been artfully dodged?

I'll start:

Back in the wild west days of eBay (where money transfers to a bank account was a legitimate payment option) I purchased a copy of Windows Vista (Ultimate) and paid the seller through bank transfer.

Not sure if I'm more embarrassed about the bank transfer, or paying for Vista (Ultimate, no less). Anyway, needless to say the item never arrived and the seller disappeared. Filed a police report but I've yet to hear from them (it's been 84 years).

Poll Options

  • 54
    No, I've never fallen for a scam, ever
  • 47
    I've been scammed once
  • 5
    I've been scammed multiple times
  • 2
    I'm literally a walking target because I fall for scams all the time
  • 4
    I'm the scammer lol
Financial Scam

Comments

  • altomic on 28/11/2024 - 08:30
    +12

    I responded in detail to a post about falling for a scam. The OP took those scam details and used them to scam me.

    • Lord Fart Bucket on 28/11/2024 - 14:04

      In order to properly investigate this claim, i need $500 in giftcards, you login and password and also your banking details.

  • SnowDragon on 28/11/2024 - 08:42
    +3

    I was looking for a PS4 below a certain firmware so I could install CFW. Found a guy on gumtree but he was 200km away but offered to post. Sent him $200 via payid and he ghosted me. Before I sent the money he offered to send a pic of his licence and medicare card which I found a bit odd at the time.

    Wasn't a cheap lesson to learn but could have been worse. Annoyingly his gumtree had a few positive reviews and stayed up for weeks after I reported him with screenshots and all. Also reported to the cyber crime cops but heard nothing back.

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 08:51

      You know, I ALMOST fell for the same scam. But then my spidey-senses kicked in and ghosted the guy. In hindsight, I might have missed out on a really cheap PS4 Pro.

    • skid on 28/11/2024 - 09:14
      +2

      That really sucks.

      Did you ask him for a pic of the PS4 showing that version of firmware on a TV and maybe have the date visible in the pic too? Scammers usually do not have the item to begin with and asking for a fresh pic can catch them out.

      • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 09:29
        +1

        Nah it was one of those "I have lots of interest, send deposit now and I'll reserve for you"

      • SnowDragon on 28/11/2024 - 09:41
        +1

        Yeah he sent a pic with firmware etc. After the fact I did a reverse image search and it didn't find anything so he could have actually had the PS4 and just not sent it.

        I think he wanted $250 for it and I said I'd think about it and get back to him and he immediately lowered it to $200 so I said ok - another trap in hindsight.

    • tessel on 28/11/2024 - 12:29

      That shit continues today. They send pics of drivers licence and Medicare cards to make you think they are legit. Those cards belong to other people, so after they scam you you go to the police with an ID card that belongs to someone else and they cop the blame. What a lovely world we live in.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 28/11/2024 - 08:48

    Bitcoin cash lol
    Didn’t even have time to set a stop loss

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 08:51

      I may or may not have invested in XRP when it hit ATH.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 28/11/2024 - 08:53

        At least u got a chance of recovering (assuming you still diamond handing)

      • pegaxs on 28/11/2024 - 10:22
        +3

        I bought $500 in XRP when it was about $1.50 a few years ago… dropped down to like $0.10 so I just let it rot in the account… It started to go back up and got to $0.20, so I thought, ok, and threw in another $2,000… It dropped back to $0.10… I left it in the account to rot…

        About 2 days ago it was up to $2.25, I cashed my $2,500 back out and kept the left over in there in case it goes stupid again and shoots up like BTC. All told, I think my "average price" across all my buys was about $0.35/XRP, so when I saw it at $2.25… *YOINK!*

        • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 10:23

          Noice!

          • pegaxs on 28/11/2024 - 10:28
            +1

            @freekay: Just checked it again after it was back down to $2.18, it is up again to $2.26 again, so put in another sell order for $2.50.

            It's a massive scam, because next year when I think I've made bank on my XRP, the ATO is going to want their slice and I'll have still made a loss :D

        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 28/11/2024 - 11:30

          living the dream mate

          the ATO is going to want their slice and I'll have still made a loss :D

          i guess at least you get the >12 month hold discount rule on the tax

          • pegaxs on 28/11/2024 - 12:03
            +2

            @Jimothy Wongingtons: I think I bought it back in 2018?? ish? and I have only just gotten my money back… Ive only broke even so far… Well, broke even cash wise + whatever XRP I still have left…

            Thanks Trump :D

    • Cave Fire on 28/11/2024 - 12:31
      +2

      That's chill… I've been "hard rugged". Sounds like some sort of hmmm…. Basically like in the movies. Hackers drained my crypto account while connected to their site. $2.5k! Their domain contact is in Oslo, Sweden lol. Was buying dodgy coins back then.

  • ForkSnorter on 28/11/2024 - 09:03
    +3

    The biggest scam I've fallen for is buying a property in the inner-city area of a capital city. Thankfully out of that trap now. Life is so much better (and houses are cheaper) in the more distant suburbs and semi-rural areas.

  • JustinFR on 28/11/2024 - 09:20
    +7

    We got scammed by a buyer on eBay. They bought a 3070 when they were first released, claimed that there was damage on the PCIe connector, requested a refund, and returned an empty box. We disputed it, eBay sided with the buyer and that was that.

  • DingoBilly on 28/11/2024 - 09:21
    +4

    I've fallen for scams a few times. Nothing major, maybe $1000 total across all of them.

    Luckily(?) the most expensive was when I was young. Losing most of my networth ($300) then made me pretty open and wary of people.

    Lost a bit in crypto scams because well crypto is a scam lol. Helped me realize that whole space is full of fraud/scam and nothing actually there of value.

  • Fredfloresjr on 28/11/2024 - 09:31

    Was ages ago when someone offered me a NOKIA 5500, yes the first gaming phone. Happy old days.

    Someone messaged me at yahoo messenger and I trusted him. That's it. So far, until to this stage, haven't lol.

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 09:38

      Yahoo messenger… that takes me back

      • Bruceflix on 28/11/2024 - 10:01
        +4

        ASL?

        • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 10:25
          +2

          those mIRC days… with the fish slaps and scripts and port bombings…

  • Sweet3st on 28/11/2024 - 09:32
    +3

    I'm ashamed to admit that I once fell for a 'Telstra' cold call we can offer you a better deal. I must have been half asleep at the time as I usually just hang up. The caller needed to 'verify' my identity by sending me a code which I then needed to read out to her… I did and instantly thought o no. The next part is the terrifying part. I called Telstra over and over for the next 2 hours and no one in the Indian call centre would believe my account had been compromised. 'No madam, that was a legitimate call from Telstra'. Meanwhile I can see they are changing details in my account. Finally by sheer persistence I found someone who listened and reported it to fraud. There were no payment methods on the account but they did use it to order an expensive iPhone. Embarrassing lesson and I'll never get those 2 hours back.

  • stickingly on 28/11/2024 - 09:35

    Years ago when traveling in a third world country a guy befriended us, showed us around, and ended up spending a few hours with us. We ended up giving him some money to get something for us and he disappeared with the money.
    It was actually quite impressive how much effort he went to for what was a small amount of money for us, less than $20

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 09:39

      Look, if he showed you around and you had a good time, did you really get scammed?

      • Save 50 Cent on 28/11/2024 - 12:03
        +1

        Yes.. if they paid for some weed and didn’t get it then obviously they were scammed.

    • Subere on 28/11/2024 - 10:27

      That's was probably 2 months wages

  • sumyungguy on 28/11/2024 - 09:47
    +12

    My marriage, it's a romance scam, ongoing…

    • godofpizza on 28/11/2024 - 10:25

      When they say love is free, it's not really. Once your on back, the meter is running.

    • mini2 on 28/11/2024 - 11:59

      Yeah, the exit costs are high.

  • ihbh on 28/11/2024 - 10:02
    +5

    I got a call from Telstra recently saying that my IP address had been hacked and the hacker was at it right this moment. They asked where I do my online banking? I said on my PC. I panicked and they said don't worry, just download this software and give them access to my PC and they will get rid of the hacker for me.

    So I did and they asked me for the password and I whispered it to them. They said speak louder but I said someone walking past in the street might hear it. I said put the mouthpiece closer to your ear. So they did.

    Then I told them my password: "BANG BANG YOU'RE DEAD, 50 BULLETS IN YOUR HEAD."

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 28/11/2024 - 10:13
    +2

    had a tradesmen say he was going to do a job for me - convinced me he need a upfront payment for the materials - paid him around $600, he never turned up to do the job the police couldnt help me as it was civil matter they did try contact him he had f—ked off to NZ

    i have never paid more then $50 upfront to a tradie since - but it was a harsh lesson for me as that was a lot of money for my back then but it is life

    • pegaxs on 28/11/2024 - 10:34
      +4

      I've never understood how this is a "civil matter"… it's theft. It's fraud. It is most certainly a criminal matter.

      • Seraphin7 on 28/11/2024 - 11:06
        +8

        Anything where the popo can't just issue a fine seems to be classed as a "civil matter". I understand this is the lingo taught at police school that civilians would better understand as "can't be ar$ed".

      • Crow K on 28/11/2024 - 11:39
        +2

        More likely to be a civil case of disputed contract ("he didn't do what we agreed") than criminal case of fraud ("he used deception to obtain things from me"), which is why it gets batted to the civil courts.

  • Dollar General on 28/11/2024 - 10:20
    +7

    Private health insurance

    • AnotherRedLight on 28/11/2024 - 14:56

      Seconded! Its an absolute rort unlesss you are "lucky" enough to claim frequent surgery.

      I pay a small Medicare surcharge now and put the $400 something (couple) premium into a separate HISA for a rainy day.

      Am no longer scammed $5000 per year.

  • MrThing on 28/11/2024 - 10:28
    -5

    Women

    • HamBoi69 on 28/11/2024 - 10:36
      +1

      Username checks out.

    • ihfree on 28/11/2024 - 11:20

      Got a story?

    • Some Human on 28/11/2024 - 11:41
      +1

      As a woman, can confirm.

  • Slippery Otter on 28/11/2024 - 10:28
    +1

    Paid $150 for $250 Steam gift cards on classifieds here. The user is still active on here and got away with it. He keeps changing his username..

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/303763#comment-4637668

    Thankfully I had a sugar daddy at the time who brought me an AMD RX 480 when I complained about it, sold it later on for a little profit of $150 on top of the GPU he paid for hehe.

  • pegaxs on 28/11/2024 - 10:33
    +10

    Having kids… Who conned me into that?? "They are great! they are so much fun… They are like the best thing to ever happen to you…" only to have kids and find out that they are the opposite, while everyone who had kids before me are all laughing and saying "sucked in, we got you too!! Welcome to hell!"

    What a scam they are… They eat all your chocolate, use up all your toilet paper and get to a certain age and everything wrong in the world in somehow my fault… And it's all "OMG DAD! I hate you!!" because I wouldn't buy them a $2,900 iPhone for their birthday. :D

    Oh and my first trip to Viet Nam and I got scammed by an old lady selling bottled water on the street… I paid about the equivalent of $0.80AU (About $12,000VND) for it and my wife called me an idiot and that I got scammed because it shouldn't have been any more than $10,000VND (or about $0.60AUD)

    • Ash-Say on 28/11/2024 - 12:16

      This is best story so far lol

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 13:14

      I'm rolling at your wife's comment! This is true of every Vietnamese lady I've met. (don't @ me, my mum's Vietnamese)

  • dirtybigbjelke on 28/11/2024 - 10:36

    I got scammed at a money changer window overseas. Someone standing out the front of the window acted like an employee, changed the money for me, and by sleight of hand pocketed a small amount of my local currency. Lesson learned.

  • Benoffie on 28/11/2024 - 11:43

    FB post for a game rhat was within the legitimate post of the game company. Long story and caught lots of people. Only email impacted. Ridiculously, the game company only ended up warning people rather than changing their MO

  • ytthr on 28/11/2024 - 11:57

    Ebay -buyer returned empty box and ebay refunded them as return was marked as delivered. I lost out.
    I hardly ever use ebay anymore.

  • treeman on 28/11/2024 - 12:40

    I got scammed by some guy selling ticketek gift vouchers around 12 years ago.

    I purchased a few from him through a listing on ebay.

    All seemed fine. I used them originally myself going to a concert myself. All processed fine and I purchased tickets straight away.
    Then I also saw an advertisement on gumtree to buy more gift cards. Then what I would do is buy them for 30% off buy concert tickets then on sell those concert tickets to people for face value and pocketing the 30% sometimes even higher depending on how much he would sell them to me.
    I did this quite a bit with the same guy. He said he worked in the mining industry and got these as gifts for work or whatever. I didn't doubt its validity as they processed fine no issues at all.

    It wasn't until about maybe 3 months into my venture when my parents said someone rocked up on their doorstep wanting their money back for their concert tickets as they were apparently purchased with fraudulent gift cards. They rocked up onto my parents doorstep as sometimes people would pick up tickets from them as they were at a more suitable location.
    I had also sold 2 more lots of tickets to that concert so phoned them apologising and refunding their money.

    My ticketek account was still valid I even had a few other concerts coming up which still seemed valid. These events later however were cancelled once they found out the gift cards were purchased with stolen credit cards. But sometimes people didn't realise and they didn't get cancelled or they realised after the concert was over.

    I contacted police and told them all the details and sorted it out.
    I did make some money on that but in the long run, I refunded money to innocent buyers so was down about $500-$600.

    The person I was buying them from was using stolen credit cards to buy them, however there was someone down the line that was doing all the dirty work so I am not sure if he got into a lot of trouble in the end. I found him on facebook and he looked like a drug addict.
    I also found another person from this forum also buying ticketek gift cards from him but they were yet to have any concert tickets cancelled.

    I think that's all feel free to ask me any questions.

    • ihbh on 28/11/2024 - 13:04

      however there was someone down the line that was doing all the dirty work

      That would be you helping him launder the stolen funds.

      • treeman on 28/11/2024 - 13:05

        What are you on about?

        The person down the line was the one supplying the stolen credit card numbers.

        • ihbh on 28/11/2024 - 13:06

          That's up the line. :)

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 13:05

      That is one crazy adventure!

      • treeman on 28/11/2024 - 14:23

        It was, I just had to put it down to experience and move on.

  • Homr on 28/11/2024 - 12:44

    When I was a low level finance clerk doing Accounts payable, I paid a few invoices that were scams like the ASIC renewal ones.

    • mini2 on 28/11/2024 - 13:41

      ASIC annual review fee is legit though?

      • Homr on 28/11/2024 - 13:47

        yes but the invoice was a fake and with scammers BSB and account number.

  • rave75 on 28/11/2024 - 12:45
    +5

    I got swindled renting an airbnb.

    • montorola on 28/11/2024 - 14:34

      I take it you dealt directly with the host instead of via airbnb?

      "pay outside, stay outside" LOL

  • Tiredman on 28/11/2024 - 13:00

    The usual don't lend money if you are not prepared to flush it down the toilet. Small sum but still..

  • apple2016 on 28/11/2024 - 13:16

    nigerian princess

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 13:18

      As in you are one, or did you get scammed by one?

  • geekcohen on 28/11/2024 - 13:21
    +2

    Not me, but my mother in law who could not be told.

    She was called by someone at "the bank" who convinced her to install a remote/screenshare app on her phone and log into her bank account. They could then see her account details and withdrew money from those accounts. She never told us how much, but we believe it was under $2k.

    She is now on the scam hit list getting calls and emails from all sorts of people. She doesn't answer calls she doesn't know, but they just keep changing their number and calling and calling and calling.

    She cannot be told.

  • tenpercent on 28/11/2024 - 13:42

    I used to think voting for my preferred choice of Pepsi vs Coke would make a difference to the direction the country is heading. But I have later realised they're almost identical and that they vote in unison on all the important Bills that shape the direction the country is headed, for better and worse.

    • freekay on 28/11/2024 - 13:46

      I have news for you if you think voting for Mountain Dew is going to make any difference either…

      • mrdean on 28/11/2024 - 13:58

        MD is a Pepsi-Co brand. Sorta like The Greens are owned by Labor.

  • barge-in hunter on 28/11/2024 - 13:53

    Late one night while half asleep, I found a "further 50% off Superdry" deal post right at the top of the 'new deals' page here on OzBargain… you know, listed in the last 60 seconds.

    The URL was pretty close to the official site so I went ahead and bought some stuff. It wasn't until I got the push notification from my CC app listed as <insert random company name here> that I realised it was a fake site.

    Luckily that's the only time for me. It's not OzB or the moderators fault - they just didn't have time to pull the deal before I'd already clicked on it. It was pulled down shortly after with some random reason given - would be good to warn people though with something like "suspected scam" or something

  • Caped Baldy on 28/11/2024 - 13:53

    Sigh, I had been good. Got a call from Binance saying my account was breached and to transfer out some crypto to a secure wallet while they investigated. Fortunately, not my life savings but a decent chunk.

    They somehow managed to spoof one of Binance's email address.

  • Bignudge on 28/11/2024 - 14:08

    1. I was contacted by a man claiming to be from the Police magazine of some sort. He was asking me to pay to have my business advertised in that magazine and said that the funds go towards charity and to the families of the "boys in blue". The dude spoke perfect Australian english and sounded like a real cop. I nearly paid but only stopped after realising that this same dude called 4 times that day and was very pushy.

    2. I had a man come to buy a concrete saw for $700 and offered to bank transfer. He did the bank transfer infront of me and I saw the Commonwealth green tick so I let him go. My instincts made me take a photo of his licence before he left. All in all, he did a scheduled transfer instead and cancelled it afterwards. I made a police report, they came to his house, he said he intended to pay but now the machine is broken. The cops said it was a civil issue and also now my issue to organise to get the machine returned now. Of course the dude never returned it and never saw my money either.

    3. Went to Vietnam and got totally ripped off buying snacks off the street in the district 1 area. I always felt preyed upon my entire trip trip.

    4. As a kid I went to the sunday markets and bought a Noctua PC fan for cheap. When I got home and opened the box, it was actually someone's old PC fan that they put back in the new box…. I was so hurt :'(

  • mtishi on 28/11/2024 - 14:16

    Few days ago, found a very cheap Steam Deck OLED on eBay by a reputable scammer, few days later, some guy leaves a review detailing how this is a scam. Apparently, they wait for you to not receive the item, and when you open an Item Not Delivered, they add a fake tracking number with the same postcode, automatically tricking eBay into siding with the seller, and as eBays policies on Buyer Protection only mention that postcode needs to match, you lose the appeal as well. Currently have my Item Not Delivered claim open and just waiting for him to play out this scam, hopefully a miracle happens and I win the dispute but yeah be careful of this one.

  • Gina Rinehart on 28/11/2024 - 14:26

    Someone said they would trim my rune armour but logged out when I traded them

  • WastedWombat on 28/11/2024 - 14:36

    When I was a really young kid, I came across someone on Maplestory who said they could dupe my items FOR FREE because they just had found this glitch.

    So I gave them all my best items… and they said "ok brb"

    So I waited for them to come back online and I kept checking. But they never came back with my items..

  • Shane043 on 28/11/2024 - 14:52

    Voting for the Labor Party

  • FlyingMiffy on 28/11/2024 - 14:56

    Ebay. Was hoping to get a copy of Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation. Went to a bank branch to deposit the money… no game, police report and 50 bucks gone. That was a lot of money for a kid who got paid 5 bucks a day at Target over Xmas for work experience…

  • Qazxswec on 28/11/2024 - 15:20
    +2

    I was onced asked if i would wait 8 minutes for fresh angus patties for my 2 Classic Angus burgers, waited the 8 minutes, got home, no patty on either burger.

  • Camelface on 28/11/2024 - 15:26

    Being a vegan, I had no choice but to eat $30 rocket salad at the pub. I thought that was a scam.

  • buy swap sell on 28/11/2024 - 15:27

    I am still waiting for my sea monkeys to arrive after sending in a coupon from a magazine when i was a kid.

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