Have you ever been scammed?

[PeggyHefferon]

Understood. I guess I count it as a scam even if it turned out okay.

I would as well. Especially if the individuals didn't get caught.

[Thrif-t]

mmm, ya know I can honestly say I've never been scammed or fallen for a scam. But I'm generally not a trusting person so I will research and ask a million questions before I commit to anything. Scammers probably get tired of answering my endless list of questions and move right along

[97guns]

I would as well. Especially if the individuals didn't get caught.

I'm not sure if the guy got caught or not but the San Diego sheriffs office called and questioned me, I don't know what constitutes grand larceny but his operation took a couple hundred thousand bucks

[msomnipotent]

We were scammed out of 2 timeshares by an employee of the company, but we are legally obligated to not divulge details. I took it to mean I could still bitch about it (which I try to do whenever the opportunity presents itself), but not the whos and hows.

[clatoden99]

A lot of people in the freelance industry - particularly, online - have endless stories of this kind.

There are clients who will "hire" freelancers and make them work with no upfront payment and promises to pay within a few days or a week then would suddenly disappear.

There are freelancers who also trick clients to pay upfront payments but will not do the job and the client has no way to get their money back.

A lot of scam involves people wanting to earn money but ends up spending money just to earn money.

As the saying goes, there are only two types of people in this world, those who take advantage and those stupid enough to let others take advantage of them.

[scfr]

I dealt with a quick-change artist when I was a teen scooping cones at the fair. He did not get away with any money, but he did get away with a free cone. It still bothers me to this day that I let that lousy so-and-so get away with a free cone.

[Gailete]

I personally haven't been, but my brother the math whiz has. He was buying his first house about 2 years ago and was doing most of the stuff through phone calls and email. I don't know the whole story, but he got an email that said he had to deposit/pay $38K immediately and he sent it and has never seen the money again. He was always considered the 'smart' one in the family and I guess thought he could do this without picking the brains of somone in the family that has bought and sold a few houses in her time (me) or his other sister or two brothers. I would have told him it was a scam as I had heard of this nonsense happening.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

This is on an even smaller scale than scfr's free ice cream cone scam. In fact, I was only out twenty-five cents.

At a garage sale, I bought waterproof mittens for my five year old. Brought them home, peeled off the price tag that was was bigger than the quarter I paid.... only to find the seller had used the adhesive price sticker to hide the fact that there was a rip in one mitten!

A small thing, but it made me sad that someone would deceive for 25 cents and deny a little kid warm hands in winter. Obviously, the seller had at some time had a child who needed warm hands. I was bothered that another parent could be so lacking in empathy for another child.

I put a tab of duct tape on the mittens and my son used them for a while.

[Gailete]

peeled off the price tag that was was bigger than the quarter I paid.... only to find the seller had used the adhesive price sticker to hide the fact that there was a rip in one mitten!

Very sad to do that. I remember as I transitioned out of being a nurse in uniform to being one in street clothes, I was at church one day and was talking to a woman and somehow the subject came up that I didn't have much in the way of Sunday CHURCH clothes. He asked me if I would like some hand me downs and since she was a woman that dressed well I said yes. So I get this bag of clothes from her and not a single item was appropriate for church, most weren't even in good enough condition to scrub out the oven or paint the house in. Everything was stined and nasty looking. Not even the sort of stuff I would send to the thrift store! One does wonder where peoples brains are at. Srry off topic, but it sure would make me leary now of buying old used clothes like some sell on line. I don't think sellers of stuff like purposely are trying to scam folks but it ends up with the same results. You pay your money and get nothing out of it.

[NicolasR]

If you guys go to Southeast Asia you will get scammed NUMEROUS ammount of times Did travelling Thailand-Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam. Probably the last is the worst. Happened in States and Canada too though. I think once in life everyone faces it.

[colby99]

No but if someone else has please don’t feel bad.

Don’t get down on yourself about it. It happened to be the now The San Diego Chargers middle linebacker (who is doing just fine) and it was his friend playing a joke on him. And he was on TV crying because of her apparent death.

Whenever you think you are not being catfished or you feel really bad about letting it happen to yourself. It happened to a Heisman finalist. Manti Teo has got your back!

[Smallsteps]

I never understood the "grandma" scam because I would call the kids parents or kid themselves to see if in Mexico or whatever before ever heading out for wire transfers or what ever.
Most other scams that involved some get rich or great deal thing is more understandable. It amazes me how many people fall for what on surface seems so obvious.. a year or two ago people called small businesses told them their utilities payment was lost and they were going to turn off power unless they went to specific store for money orders ........ in the world of most places including this utility having online sites that show your balance etc. but some fell for it instead of logging on or calling the company back to verify.

I understand it can happen to anyone but most pitches I have seen or read about have red flags to go ask questions or not make sense. My spouse almost fell for a ad on Ebay when they asked for Walmart cash cards I said NO. It was through Ebay and they had a precaution measure to get money back but I would rather " miss out" on some too good to be true deal then lose my money by not stopping and thinking about it.

[Gailete]

My spouse almost fell for a ad on Ebay when they asked for Walmart cash cards I said NO. It was through Ebay and they had a precaution measure to get money back but I would rather " miss out" on some too good to be true deal then lose my money by not stopping and thinking about it.
Like

Considering that for the most part, eBay sellers can or should, only take PayPal for payment. ECRATER has a few more ways to pay for goods, yet some new sellers will come in advertising varied places and ways to pay and when you tell them they could get suspended for doing that, it always becomes a problem of - 'I didn't know that' even though they figured everything else out!

My favorite is the Nigerian scam. I can see and read those in my junk folder, and I am amused that people will fall for it. All they should do is think about it. Why would anyone willingly give over millions of dollars to someone they don't know?

BTW. Anyone with help here. Up to last week all my junk mail went in the junk mail folder, even emails that I consistently pull over to my inbox. Now suddenly, at least half of my junk mail shows up in my inbox and I'm not sure how to fix it. I have a hotmail program via MS Outlook. If anyone one can tell me how to fix this I would be grateful. Simple instructions please