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

  • 251
    No, I've never fallen for a scam, ever
  • 234
    I've been scammed once
  • 46
    I've been scammed multiple times
  • 5
    I'm literally a walking target because I fall for scams all the time
  • 11
    I'm the scammer lol
Financial Scam

Comments

  • ColtNoir on 29/11/2024 - 09:06
    +3

    Just once with the good ol Bali money changer scam

  • souljah on 29/11/2024 - 09:09
    +1

    Probably saved my mum and mother in law from a few dozen scams and then walked right into one myself last year.

    Lost $50 putting a deposit on a TV that was "getting a lot of interest and needed a deposit to hold". Was middle of moving house and pretty chaotic trying to sell stuff and buy stuff (smaller place, things not fitting etc).

    Spidey sense said this isnt right but brain said - who would go to all this effort for $50… Worst part was showing up at some randoms place for a TV they new nothing about and the wasted time there and back when trying to pack/unpack.

    Wife a few years ago clicked on a "just jeans sale" through Facebook and ended up on a very convincing duplicate site - reversed the charges but compromised CC meant a long few days getting new ones, changing automatic payments etc.

  • Loopholio on 29/11/2024 - 09:19

    I fell for a scam when I bought a TV at JB Hi-fi. The guy convinced me a $25 XCD surge protector ULTIMATE SERIES would keep my stuff safe. It's just one of those little plugin things that do very nealy nothing..

  • Ruddaga on 29/11/2024 - 09:25
    -1

    Dating. Biggest scam ever. And has cost me tens of thousands.

    • Protractor on 29/11/2024 - 12:24
      +3

      Is that you Mr Tate?

  • warkolm on 29/11/2024 - 09:32
    +2

    I put a deposit on a cybertruck, worst scam ever but I got my money back

  • JustBrowsing456 on 29/11/2024 - 10:19

    MLM :-(

  • TheMidnightChef on 29/11/2024 - 10:46

    Bought a phone off OCAU marketplace many years ago. Received any empty box.
    Seller blamed auspost.

  • jdhau on 29/11/2024 - 11:17
    +1

    Saw a meta quest 3 on FB Marketplace for #350. Sent $50 for a 'deposit'. Bye bye.

    • souljah on 29/11/2024 - 11:59

      So many of those up there. I gave up trying to get a second hand one as 90% of the ones listed were a scam.

      Spent a couple of weeks reporting every scam listing for Q3 in spite - who knows if that even does anything.

      • nosey on 29/11/2024 - 17:10

        Ive been thinking of selling mine but xant be bothered dealing with people. $500 min though in Canb if anyone interested.

  • nosey on 29/11/2024 - 11:43
    +2

    Scammed by a room mate 25 years ago.

    Telstra bill was in my name. Had a bill of about $1k that was all his. He moved out without paying and basically said "sucker" and he was right.

    Never trusted another person fully since and certainly avoided those sort of scenarios.

    Edit: geez I'm old, quarter of a century ago and still bitter lol.

    • Protractor on 29/11/2024 - 12:25
      +1

      Revenge is a dish best served cold.

  • alikazi on 29/11/2024 - 12:15
    +1

    Fell for a dodgy listing on eBay - $500 Ikea Gift Card for $250. Not fully though.

    Messaged the seller (apparently an older woman) for days and asked for proof of balance. Replies seemed genuine - as in she couldnt figure out how to take a screenshot etc. behaviour was consistent with what I would expect from a non tech savvy older woman.

    Then she stopped replying. Wasnt sure if she stopped replying because she cant prove the balance or if as a non tech-savvy older woman she cant handle everything I am asking for.

    After a few days she changes the listing to $500 Ikea Gift Card for $100. I am too enticed to bother with the proof of balance anymore. I jump the gun and pay the $100. She never replies, changes her username and no further contact. I report to ebay - they say they will take action against the account but cant recover my money. I report to the bank - after a week they say they tried everything but couldnt recover the payment.

    Through previous conversations she had shared 2 of her phone numbers with me. Checked out on Whatsapp with profile pic and everything. Now I keep calling her from Private Number and shes annoyed :)

    • Protractor on 29/11/2024 - 12:28
      +3

      You should sign her up for the biggest spam emails/texts you can find on the web.Let her spend her time beating them off.

      • alikazi on 29/11/2024 - 12:29

        Yes good idea. Penis enlargement pills always looking for a new customer

  • Blugok on 29/11/2024 - 13:49

    I scammed a scammer once 😁

  • drprox on 29/11/2024 - 14:22
    +3

    Embarrassingly twice! At least twice in a big way, happy to share though very embarassing.

    1.) sold a GPU, the person paid with PayPal and collected in person. Once they had left I found out they had paid with a stolen PayPal account so the payment was reversed once the owner found out and I was out of pocket. Note: I actually had an opportunity to not hand over the card here as did receive the email from PayPal just prior to them collecting it. I ignored it. Such is life.

    2.) this one hurt. Bought car wheels and has multiple conversations with the vendor. They sent me plenty of info (clearly all mocked up) to support. I paid via bank transfer. Shame on me. The wheels obviously didn't show up. Again, there were some warnings here that I ignored along with paying via bank transfer.

    Thankfully none of this left me without food on the table but I am more vigilant these days.

    • smartazz104 on 02/12/2024 - 12:36

      Thankfully none of this left me without food on the table but I am more vigilant these days.

      Yeah I hope you know to take CASH ONLY when allowing a buyer to pick up an item.

  • A-mak on 29/11/2024 - 15:26

    Decided to try Temu as some friends swear by it and I had the "3 free items" wheelspin gambling garbage. 3 free spins turned into $70 min spend figured sure grab a bunch of crap and see if any is actually worth it. Nope lol. At least I was able to have the most expensive item ($25 battery air pump) refunded directly as opposed to 'credits'.

    Went to a local free function on the 2nd (and final) day, foodtrucks for dinner (yum). Saw Paella, looked good; wanted seafood "were out, only have chicken left" ok… Turned out blander than a frozen meal ended up barely touched and in the bin. Walk past 10mins later and a new big pan was put on display steaming (seafood ofc). Initially had planned to go back and try a $20 burger from them, decided not to (they scammed themselves too I guess). I get that food trucks are stupidly expensive for the portions but this is the first it was just dogsh@$# and if it were a restaurant I would have sent it back.

  • yamborghini on 29/11/2024 - 16:01

    First and last time I got scammed was in Runescape. I think they got away with a sword. I must have been 11 but honestly it was a very cheap lesson to learn for the future.

  • illogicalerror on 29/11/2024 - 16:04
    +5

    Came home one time and missus asked me if I had some trouble with the police, I'm like "no, why?". Apparently they'd called and were prepared to drop a warrant for a cash payment. lol

    When I asked her if the police on the phone had an Indian accent she said yes, but she didn't want to be racist thinking that every Indian person who calls her is a scammer. Sweet dear she is.

    Fortunately she never paid them though, told them she was going to wait and discuss it with me. We never heard back.

  • CharlesLee on 29/11/2024 - 17:00

    KONY 2012, bought some nonsense after watching that doco back in high school…

  • Kempe on 29/11/2024 - 17:10
    +6

    Been scammed once about 40 years ago.

    Knock at the door and a guy with some kind of identification said he was from council and they are coming round the area painting your house number on the kerb to assist emergency services locating your house quickly.

    The cost was $2 and they would be around in about 4 weeks.

    Gave him $2 and thought it was a good idea, he was very plausable.

    Forty years later and its still not been done lol

  • gromit on 29/11/2024 - 17:19
    +1

    The sadest one I know of is my sister falling for the old long con of someone claiming they live off making one big bet every few months from some inside information on a guaranteed win for the horse races. One of those in real life scammers that befriends a heap of people over a few months explaining how he supports himself and then tells them he has got his next big tip, but he is so nice and generous he will let them come in on it this time as they are his friends. Sister rang me asking for me to sell some shares for her so she could give to him to get a huge payoff. I explained why he was a con man and that she was going to lose all her money, she agreed with me finally. Heard a couple of weeks later my sister and most of her friends lost every cent they have as despite the warnings they believed their "friend" and he disappeared with the lot.

    • try2bhelpful on 29/11/2024 - 20:04

      I feel for your sister and her friends. I hope one day this guy tries the scam on the wrong person and gets the whoopin’ he deserves.

      My sister worked at the counters in the Post Office and they were always trying to convince people trying to send postal orders that they were being scammed.

      • gromit on 29/11/2024 - 20:18
        +1

        yep I was both very sad for her and very annoyed that she ignored the warning. Greed and trust in friends sometimes override logical thinking and common sense.

        • try2bhelpful on 30/11/2024 - 11:04

          Don’t trust your friends for financial advice.

  • Niveus Equitis on 29/11/2024 - 17:22

    Bookings.com sent me a message through their internal system as one of the hotels I booked to verify credit card details. Luckily I cancelled my card asap after the spider senses kicked in. The hotel messaged me later that day confirming they did not send it. A few weeks later news articles popped up detailing the scam.

  • abshkr on 29/11/2024 - 18:31
    +1

    Once bought a laptop from Gumtree where charger was not included. When a charger was plugged in I found out that laptop did ot have a motherboard or disk in it and the seller wont respond to me.

  • jackspratt on 29/11/2024 - 19:56
    -1

    Given a fake (counterfeit) RMB50 note as change from a street seller near the old Silk Alley Market in Beijing.

    A small supermarket up the road threatened to call the cops when I (innocently) tried to use it to buy something a few minutes later. I calmed them down by giving them a real one, and didn't ask for change.

    Obviously, the street seller had scarpered meanwhile.

    Took the advice of those who had been there longer than me, and unloaded it on a taxi driver for a late night fare. I was assured he would unload it equally quickly on an unsuspecting customer.

    • Bignudge on 30/11/2024 - 16:40

      Well the thing with counterfeit money (at least in Australia) is that it's perfectly legal and fine to use if you didn't know or suspect that it's counterfeit. Got paid in a stack of $50s off a shady guy? No problems, don't check it, spend it slowly as usual but probabaly avoid the ATM or self checkout.

      Do that in another country and your milage may vary lol

  • garygaz on 29/11/2024 - 20:20
    +1

    Whenever the iPhone 7 was released, was going to buy it for my missus for christmas. Stupidly went onto gumtree and had someone offering it for a few hundred below retail - saying it was a work phone upgrade they didn’t want.

    Met the guy in person, thing was cling wrapped tightly and felt like it was a new iPhone in its retail packaging in hand. Handed over the cash. As I walked around the corner I already had an odd feeling about it and started to rip off all the cling wrap and opened the iPhone box . Was a 30 buck android phone surrounded by some stones (for weight) and a note saying sucked in. I ran back around the corner and he was already gone.

    Lesson learned

    • m2pic on 30/11/2024 - 08:39
      +3

      Brutal.

  • vicerum on 29/11/2024 - 20:27
    +2

    We were on a holiday in Caloundra a few years ago, at a market, and got offered some scratchies. Might win a prize.

    Sure why not… and guess what? We actually won a holiday package to Fiji.

    To redeem we had to drive down to the city and then listen to some old bloke in his 50s telling us about timeshares, and all we needed to do was pay up $12,000 to buy into these damned timeshares, and we'd be allowed to stay at their Fiji resort.

    We just got up and left. Scumbags. Wonder how many other poor suckers fall for this scam?
    Luckily the only resource we lost was time that afternoon.

    • try2bhelpful on 29/11/2024 - 23:47

      We had something similar with a small “gift”. Fortunately just a waste of our time because we weren’t interested.

    • altomic on 30/11/2024 - 09:51

      I had this happen when I was in bangkok in 2001. - holiday investment timeshare thing
      the bonus was a free carry-on luggage with wheels and extendable handle if you attended the presentation.
      we (wife and I) just had to sit through the presentation done by some old aussie guy who looked like an alcoholic.
      we openly said from the start we were just there to sit through a 30 minute presentation to get a free suitcase (it was a nice suitcase).

      the guy was trying his best to present the spiel, but he knew we didn't care.
      we were living in Japan, holidaying were we wanted on the Yen, had a house in Aus, etc.
      presentation finished and I said "give me the suitcase" - a deal is a deal.

      only recently got rid of the suitcase after ~100 uses as it was now cracked and filthy.

  • Stevecro on 29/11/2024 - 21:05
    -1

    I got married , enough said.

    • timhn on 30/11/2024 - 07:27
      +2

      You married a scammer?

  • oblivianz on 29/11/2024 - 23:30
    +2

    Bought a phone on marketplace once. It was working perfectly at the time of transaction. The next day, the phone was reported missing (insurance job?) and the IMEI number was blocked making it a useless phone.

  • idealdeal on 30/11/2024 - 00:19

    When I was getting started with crypto, I send some BTC to Elon

    • SoapyWooder on 01/12/2024 - 13:54

      How?

      • idealdeal on 05/12/2024 - 21:22
        +1

        I thought Elon would double my crypto and resend! Lol

  • THICKnSLOW on 30/11/2024 - 00:38

    I wanted to be a lord and my missus a lady so I bought land from Established Titles, one of the most shilled products on YouTube for a while a couple years ago.

    I'd say a lot of people got scammed for installing solar, because now with the increased precipitation from the melting polar ice caps, clouds be covering their sunny days of solar power.

    Should have invested more in hydro and windfarms to be brutally honest.

    • try2bhelpful on 30/11/2024 - 11:02

      My solar panels still generate a lot more power than we use. We are getting to where a battery will be worthwhile. Once large scale storage is cracked Australia will be sitting pretty with renewables.

  • timmeh15 on 30/11/2024 - 04:52
    +1

    Many years ago a lady at the station said she lost her wallet and needed couple of dollars to buy a ticket home so I helped her out. Saw the same lady again couple of days later asking the same thing from another person than I realised she was a scammer.

    • LiteDough on 01/12/2024 - 10:40

      Yea…this has happened to me a few times.

      An old man said he needed money for a bus. It was late a night. After I gave him a few dollars, he walked home (definitely no buses the way he was going). I still see him around doing the same thing years on.

      Last year, a young man in front of a bank asked for a couple dollars for the bus…when I walked away, he was still asking for money from passer-bys. He was little more than a teenager, so I thought he accidentally spent all his money.

      Another time it was an older woman in front of the station…no story here, just somehow thought women were more trustworthy than men.

  • Eeples on 30/11/2024 - 07:24

    Tea House scam in Beijing about 10 years ago.

    $100. (I got off easy).

  • m2pic on 30/11/2024 - 08:37

    I found $4k of high end Swiss made photography lighting gear on eBay. Greed got the best of me as he offered a better deal for direct bank transfer. My friend picked it up and brought to Melbourne. The main item was defective and started to smoke when I turned it on. Repair was about $1.2k. Used it all for about 2 years and sold for about purchase price. A lot of heart ache and shame in between though. Guy was a true (profanity). Honestly, this post makes me love OB even more.

  • Bullion78 on 30/11/2024 - 08:40

    About 22 years ago now but fell for the classic bargain latest and greatest nokia phone, I think it might have been the first colour nokia. Guy was from Romania and demanded western union…LOL I know. I was young. Expensive lesson to learn because I bought 2 and it was about 8 or 9 hungey IIRC.

  • Intoxicoligist on 30/11/2024 - 09:03

    I got done in Russia. Lady was dressed in traditional garb and some people on the tour encouraged me to get photos with her. As we were taking them she whispered how it was her job and to pay her however many roubles. I was fresh off the boat that morning and regretting drinking a liter of American honey the night before so I just went with it.

    It was like $80 AUD for those bloody photos, on my own damn phone! I keep them to remind me of how easy it is to be a dumb tourist.

  • muncan on 30/11/2024 - 10:03
    +2

    First year Uni, someone put a little note from a girl in my locker saying they liked me and gave their email. I take the bait. A couple of emails in they reply from their main email account by mistake, was a guy I went to school with just fooling around with me. I was too foolish to realise what was going on and asked how she knew the guy from my school. Thankfully that relationship ended pretty quickly.

  • R-Man on 30/11/2024 - 10:17
    +2

    I spent way too much time down a rabbit hole on reddit, reading about banks closing your account because you made crypto transfers, and crypto exchanges freezing your account if they suspect anything illegal, or if you unknowingly transacted with a criminal crypto wallet. Naively, i thought this might happen despite my very simplistic CEX > wallet > CEX transactions.

    I then read a post about this happening to a guy and how "he wishes he knew then what he knows now" and links to another reddit post… thank links to an anti-money laundering bot "wallet scanner". It supposedly produces a report about how sus your wallet is.

    In my moment of fear, anxiety, and without anyone to talk to, i did it. My wallet literally warns me "only connect with apps you trust, do you wish to continue". I'm like yeah of course, its on reddit, it must be legit. A second approval comes up "this app is trying to access your portfolio. this can put your portfolio at risk". yeah yeah no worries approve.

    The website then says in all lowercase "this wallet is clean". I am still waiting for the pretty pdf report? like Experian right? Right?

    Guys, like somehting straight out of the simpsons, i fell for the wallet inspector scam. They emptied my crypto wallet which had about $700 value. I am thankful thats all I had there.

    Huge moment of self reflection there. I only moved some coins to my wallet because Binance was looking sus when they stopped AUD withdrawals. It's funny how we think we're applying a safeguard i.e. moving the asset into your own control… it seems we don't really assess the new risk, which is that the new person in control .. is YOU!

  • altomic on 30/11/2024 - 10:25
    +1

    I was scammed in Italy in 1998.
    i had just arrived and was reunited with my girlfried after 3 months apart.
    we were having 5 days in rome and then head to London to live for a year.
    it was our first day/morning out and we were walking through rome (about 500 metres from our hotel on a back street) and a car pulls up next to us.
    the driver starts speaking in Italian. my italian was pretty basic , i understood he was asking for money for petrol, so I responded asking why.
    he could hear my accent and he asked in english "where are you from?"
    me - "straya"
    him - "where in australia?"
    me - " melbin"
    him - "oh, i have a cousin in geelong"
    me - "cool" (feels a connection with the dude)
    him - "why are you in Rome?"
    me (being a young romantic and with my girlfriend in rome) - "we are on our honeymoon"
    him - "that is beautiful, can i give you a gift?" (feels flattered at generosity)
    me - "if you want"
    him - "yes , no problem, I am a designer, here (hands over a white plastic bag with something large and leather looking in it) have this designer jacket.
    me (surprised) - "oh thank you"
    him - "maybe you can help me - my fuel card (holds up a plastic card) isn't working, could you give me some money for fuel"
    me - (opens wallet and shows I have no Lira) "we just arrived we have no italian currency "
    him - "I just gave you a present, why won't you help me?"
    me - (now a little confused) - "uhhh"
    him - (he grabs my wallet, removes a £10 note, hands back my wallet , puts car into gear and drives off).

    That whole event took 30 seconds.

    my girlfriend and I are standing there feeling confused, and I'm holding a bag. I take out the "leather looking thing" and it is a brand new with tags , but god awful vinyl/leather look jacket. just hideous.

    we both look at the jacket and then at each and both were like "what the (profanity) happened there?!?!?!"

    only £10 , and a valuable lesson learned about scammers on day 1..

  • Ranonymous on 30/11/2024 - 12:29
    +1

    A recent Gumtree scam that someone tried on me was to suggest they were happy with the price of a car I'm selling and they want to meet to inspect it "tomorrow".
    After a little bit of correspondence they asked if my car had a "JV Inspection" and then said that they wanted me to get a "Just Vehicle Inspection" done on it for their peace of mind. After I looked up the website, it looked like it was either re-selling PPSR certificate information at a 2500% markup or simply gathering credit card details for use in fraudulent transactions. The scammer wasn't interested when I told them this company doesn't do a mechanical inspection, and that they should just go to the Personal Property Securities Register and do a $2 check themselves. They kept insisting that I buy the "JV Inspection" and that they'd repay me when they were giving me the money for the car.
    It's easy to see how some might fall for this. The scammer would have to somehow be associated with Just Vehicle Inspections (based in Mulgrave, Vic. according to their website) - whether it was the person behind the website itself, or someone paid a commission to drum up business - who knows! I certainly wouldn't be using their services, and I certainly wouldn't be paying upfront for an "inspection" that doesn't even involve an inspection just because someone promised to pay me back. No doubt they'd never turn up to any meeting that was arranged.

  • jackspratt on 30/11/2024 - 12:58
    +3

    After a little bit of correspondence they asked if my car had a "JV Inspection"

    Anything mentioning jv should be an immediate red flag. 😲

  • Lockieasy on 30/11/2024 - 13:04

    10 or so years ago I got scammed by a skincare pop-up shop, one that sits in the middle of a shopping mall.

    The guy was such a smooth talker it's like I lost focus on what was happening. He did a treatment on me where he rubbed this ointment on my arm and it curled into balls which he said were my pores being cleansed or something. I took it hook, line & sinker and bought a couple of scam products for $150. :(

    It only hit me when I got home. Why do I have these weird tacky skin products? I did some googling and… DAMN he got me good. I did a lot of research on scams after that and haven't been fooled like that again. Lesson learned.

    • blueyez on 01/12/2024 - 01:51
      +1

      At least your experience of this kinda shop wasn't like mine… I told the lady I didn't have money to buy anything as soon as she tried to engage, but she insisted that insulting me to my face about my skin was a sure fire way to crack a sale. She applied some products and then got mad when I walked off without buying anything…

      • Lockieasy on 02/12/2024 - 16:04

        Good on you. Crazy how these scammers are allowed to set up shop like that, but I guess money talks. 😬

  • ptl93 on 30/11/2024 - 14:05
    +1

    I was scammed by a 13CAB driver. Booked & prepaid for a van through the app to take my family to Melbourne airport but they sent an SUV (Kluger) instead. SUV driver then insisted that he would call "his friend" to carry the rest of us to the airport. I asked him if there would be any extra charge and he said no. After arriving at the airport, he asked us to pay his friend and told me the "no extra charge" was for his SUV and I would still need to pay his friend. I ended up paying (which I shouldn't have) so that we wouldn't miss the flight. Contacted 13CAB after and they ignored my email so that would probably my last time using them. Their driver is for sure living up to his name - ehteshame.

    • blueyez on 01/12/2024 - 01:49

      I hope you share this via social media and Google reviews, will get their attention for sure

  • CharityCase on 30/11/2024 - 14:12

    Lottery

  • iguana on 30/11/2024 - 15:49

    I was scammed relatively early on in my internet purchasing days. In the 90s and early 2000s, I used to purchase items on eBay. There was no easy way to pay for items so I used to send cash in the mail. Mainly US currency. Never had a problem.

    In 2003 I wanted a digital camera to take photos on a holiday. I was the highest bidder on a brand new Canon Ixus digital camera. It was about AU $500. I opted to pay the Australian seller via bank deposit. Needless to say the camera never arrived and the seller never responded to my messages. Shortly after his feedback on eBay was filled with negative feedback of people complaining they never received their items.

    I'm not sure if the seller went rogue or whether the seller's account was hacked by a scammer. Regardless, I never received the item nor a refund. A few months later the account was deleted from Ebay.

    Fortunately, this was the only time I've been the target of an online scam.

  • Promistaker on 30/11/2024 - 18:32

    Many years ago, I sold a phone to someone; he did a bank transfer to me, which never arrived.

  • Desert Rainbow on 30/11/2024 - 19:23

    Yes…
    Got Married one time…
    Learnt the greatest scam lesson of my life..

  • IpGem on 30/11/2024 - 20:30

    I scammed a scammer if that counts

  • russianhacker on 30/11/2024 - 20:30
    +2

    Stories from an old man, please keep the amounts in mind as worth WAY more at the time than they are now.

    It was the early days of eBay for me (in the 1990's). A guy sold me a stereo via auction. He then messaged me to say something along the lines of "Oh hey someone broke into my shed and stole my stereo". I was thinking…well this guy already has my money (via bank transfer as was the style at the time) when he said "I have another stereo that I can offer you for just $20 more". I replied "well the stereo you initially sold me had no remote, does this subsequent one have a remote?". He assures me that this one does. I pay the extra $20 and he sends me the original stereo sans remote. eBay's dispute resolution has come a long way since those days, or maybe I'm just wiser…or both.

    As a young man with his third ever full time job I applied for finance to buy a second hand car from a dealer. As I'm signing the paperwork the dealer tells me "oh I've made a mistake on the paperwork and sold you this car for exactly what we bought it for…oh no….I will need at least another $50 so we have some kind of profit". I kinda ignored it and when I went to pick up the car (after the finance went through) he said "oh yes I need that $50 to cover my mistake of selling you this car at cost" and in my naivete I thought, well he already has my information and the finance company probably already paid them so I guess I'd better pony up the extra cash. I'm less gullible these days (I hope)

    There are more, but for now I need to sip a snifter of port and enjoy an epsom salt bath to calm down.

  • 1Kenobi on 30/11/2024 - 21:00
    +1

    Marriage. Bait and switch.

    Then kids. Should have read the T&Cs before I hit accept.

  • Ti-au on 30/11/2024 - 21:54

    Shipping Containers and equipment (everything from construction, to shop fitout supplies) are the latest big scams - pay a deposit and we will deliver.
    No one every delivers it.

  • spacemannn on 30/11/2024 - 22:18
    +1

    This guy said he could trim my full steel armour. Gave him my full set. He also suggested we share accounts, I logged out to log in to his account, login credentials didn't work. Tried to log back into my account, that also didn't work. Lost a full steel set and my lvl 18 account. 12 year old me was very sad. I still haven't recovered.

  • blueyez on 01/12/2024 - 01:45

    A very long time ago (I think when myki cards were first introduced), bought a cheap myki off a random that sent someone else to hand over the myki. Turns out this dude was scamming others by using their bank details to top up these mykis before selling them for his own profit. PTV still on my ass about some of mine as they now show a negative value as I'm assuming those who had their bank accounts/whatever compromised got their funds back and PTV reversed the funds.
    Ironically I did see a gumtree post warning about this behaviour but this was after I'd bought some. Discovered something was wrong when the mykis eventually went into the negative and stopped buying them from randoms that give too good to be true discounts.

  • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 01/12/2024 - 07:44
    +1

    The scam that I fell for was LUNA, and lost about AUD 75k there.
    I told pride in not investing in all the meme coins, and making steady gains.

    It was a stable cryptocurrency before that- and a top 10 cryptocurrency at that, but there was a fundamental flaw in its algorithm- my brain and heart didn't agree, as the heart was greedy and wanted it to succeed.
    I was presenting at a conference in Canberra, and didn't monitor it closely when UST broke it's peg to US dollar.
    In just a couple of days, it was virtually worthless.

    But in cryptocurrency, you essentially invest what you can afford to lose.
    Currently, still doing well with BTC at an ATH, and the alts doing well.

  • Dyl on 01/12/2024 - 09:56

    One time someone offered to trim my full rune set.

    I'm not proud of that day

  • ContinuousCustomer on 01/12/2024 - 11:09
    +3

    My wife scammed me, and it’s a subscription scam service, I make money, she empties my bank account. The worst thing about it is it’s totally legal.

    • Ghost47 on 02/12/2024 - 13:15
      +1

      Marriage is the oldest subscription service 🤣

  • noslappers on 01/12/2024 - 12:30

    Bought speakers off some guys in a Van! they stopped my mate who then bought them to me - to be fair they weren't that bad, silver lining sold them online years later,this guy buys them, picks them up from my house then calls me later telling me how crap they are and wants to return them, something about paper cones or some other BS, I tell him no refunds sorry so he just left them at my front door, I sold them again shortly after!

    Bought a mobile of some random like 25 years ago as a kid, guy wanted to meet at local shopping centre - got home and started missing calls, the speaker was faulty - guy refused to return it, lesson learnt check everything before you pay for an item.

    Recently bought a Stand up paddle board of market place, was new, I asked the guy if he had more to sell as I wanted 2, he gave me his website, it looked legit, purchased with paypal, never even got a confirmation, new it was a scam, paypal refunded me shortly after.

    Bought some car rims off market place - Met up ion the city as was half way for me, they assured me they were fine (not buckled), tire shop called me shortly after - one wheel was too buckled to use :(

  • Kiro on 01/12/2024 - 12:44
    +1

    She said having kids is fun, the best thing……

  • SoapyWooder on 01/12/2024 - 13:06
    +2

    I know someone who scammed air bnb but got scammed back

  • ymmf on 01/12/2024 - 14:47
    +1

    Remote car purchase on Gumtree - the seller from Dubbo had all the documents - rego certificate, license, video of the car itself. PPSR checked out. Called to see if I could place a deposit to hold the car while I arrange for a trip there. The accent was a little bit inconsistent with the ethnicity on the driver's licence but I didn't pay enough attention to put me off. More embarassing fact was that the bank account was ANZ in Victoria which I knew from BSB. Of course once the deposit is transferred there is no person to be found. Reported to police and bank - police didn't care. Bank lodged a claim. Miraculously after almost half a year the money came back! Never ever deal with car without cash in person since.

    • skid on 02/12/2024 - 09:16

      Miraculously after almost half a year the money came back

      On that timeframe, I think what happened was the bank worked out that it was their fault and paid you back. Similar thing happened to me when it was a bank mistake.

  • kaleidoscope on 01/12/2024 - 23:13

    Almost had me one time. I was shopping around for a kamado cooker and found a shopify web front with moderately attractive deals for a range of their products with nsw store address and a warehouse listed with phone numbers and even chat / email support (i enquired about a product through these channels).

    But as they were not listed as retailer / dealer through had some second thoughts to verify them before proceeding. I found another reputable bbq store that had the same exact warehouse address as shopify so called them to verify if their warehouse supplies for multiple stores. This confirmed my suspicion that the shopify web front was a scam as the folks from the reputable store said they do not own a second web store nor supply to another business.

    What surprised me was, the fake web front had everything checked out (email support / chat all came through their own domain emails). But anyway ultimately I found couple of days later the store front was taken down.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/12/2024 - 23:59
    +1

    IRL nope, thank you RuneScape for teaching me all about scammers - Wish I still had that partyhat though :(

    • howieyo on 02/12/2024 - 10:47
      +1

      Still waiting for my trimmed armour…

  • MindGrenadius on 02/12/2024 - 09:21

    Back in the day in crypto world they had obvious ponzi sites where you send BTC and they send back double. Did it a few times with some smaller amounts and it worked so tried to get in before it all went belly up and sent a full BTC, probably $5-600 at the time?

  • RedDevil860 on 02/12/2024 - 12:00
    +1

    Having kids

  • Shame on 02/12/2024 - 12:23

    I voted once

  • Peaky on 04/12/2024 - 13:31

    Nothing major, just a few big-ticket items via eBay which were all refunded eventually.

    Oh and I downloaded a Runescape hack program back in the early 2000s. Put my details in and my entire account was cleaned out in about 5 minutes. Was a good excuse to move onto WoW.

    I think my Uncle is getting scammed via an overseas 'investment agency' that cold called him. I don't know enough about that scene to know for sure if he's being scammed… but I fear he's in the hole for at least 50 grand. And he won't listen to reason.

  • mini2 on 04/12/2024 - 22:39

    I got lazy and wanted a remote dodgy pink slip. Found a scammer on airtasker, all seem legit up until he cracked a whinge about the fees airtasker was charging for the job. I PayID the dipshit and got blocked after a day of me chasing him.

    If my car wasn’t in pieces at the smash repairs, I’d gone to my usual dodgy places to sort it out. It’s only $40 but man, that hurt my pride.

  • Spooke512 on 12/12/2024 - 01:53
    +1

    I got scammed buying an xbox with postage through gumtree. Filed a police report through acorn at the time. Fast forward a year, got a call from a local detective that they were close to arresting the person. About 6 months later they informed me the person had been arrested and my money had been recovered. Ended up getting it all back. I was very surprised.

    • freekay on 12/12/2024 - 10:42

      I'm absolutely shook. Police actually doing police things?

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