/r/Scams

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/BuckFrog2 on 2025-07-12 18:14:49+00:00.

So I got hired on at what I thought was a call center (in Egypt). I think they may have been a scam center though. We sit on these computers and they have this software that just automatically calls random American numbers (I'm assuming mainly older people).

We were trained to tell them that this was "medicare providers" and that we needed to update their medicare card for 2025 (even though that was a lie) and we needed to confirm their medicare information (including their medicare number) so that we could ensure they are receiving their annual benefits.

We would tell them that we had all of their medical information (including their medicare number) even though we didn't, and that we just needed to confirm it so that we could open their profile and get them their benefits.

Then the big thing was to try to assess their medical situation and get them to agree to receive a brace (for back, wrists, shoulders, knees, or ankles) that they didn't have to pay for and it was covered by medicare. Even if they didn't think they needed a brace, we needed to try to convince them that they did and agree to receive one.

Now I think that the part about medicare paying for it might have been true so these people didn't have to pay for it. My guess is that the business got money from the American government paying for the braces (which in turn, means American taxpayers are paying for it).

The first 4.5 days I worked there was training then they had me start calling people on the 5th day and after an hour or so I just couldn't do it (I just felt slimy) and told the managers that I quit (note that I didn't understand how slimy this company was until the 5th day, I guess I was naive).

Would you consider this company to be scamming people? Do you think I did the right thing by quitting or no?

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/machomanmorton on 2025-07-12 18:22:33+00:00.

So I got a call from my uncle asking if I was in jail and I said “No I’m at work”. He then explained me that someone called my grandma pretending to be me, asking her for 5 grand to bail me out. My whole family starts freaking out calling me worried I was in jail (which I was not).

Normally, my grandma isn’t that vulnerable (she didn’t give them the money Thank God) but she said the dude sounded exactly like me so she thought it was real. I called him myself and the number that called her ((800) 3five4-6989) pretending to be my uncle and that I had money to bail me out. He greeted my as “Mr. Goodman” with an American accent. So cruel people would to this to elders.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/BeaksAndEyeballs on 2025-07-12 14:10:03+00:00.

My brother (71) has been married to his wife (78) for 27 years. A few months ago, she watched a movie she absolutely loved and decided to find the fan page for the (very handsome) 34 year old male star. She sent him a nice message telling him to keep up the good work.

To her surprise, he responded and they’ve now been “talking” every night for three hours. After a couple of months of this, she told my brother she wanted a divorce. He was stunned and tried to explain that this was clearly a scam, likely AI or a professional catfish, but she won’t hear it. She’s all in.

Now, after months of nightly “conversations,” the guy has told her he’s coming to town tonight to take her to dinner. She and my brother are still somehow coexisting under the same roof and keeping things reasonably cordial. The scammer originally wanted to come to their house, but my brother (rightly) put his foot down.

I reached out to the real 34 year old actor, and he confirmed that the fan page is fake. He was kind and even offered to talk to my SIL directly, but she refused.

Here’s the thing, she has no money and almost no assets. So I’m left wondering, what exactly is the scam here? Is someone going to try to abduct her (I wouldn’t exactly mind…), or is he just not going to show up at all? What’s the endgame when the mark has made it very clear she’s broke?

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/PressureBig2099 on 2025-07-12 14:07:17+00:00.

So as the title said, this man approached me with a "hey gorgeous" (im an 18 year old girl) and told me he's stranded on his 10 hour shift. He asked me to take him to an auto shop down the street, in MY vehicle. He tried to show me he had his amazon tech gear but it just looked like a wad of cables. He also seemed relatively calm, almost as if he planned what hed say far ahead of time. I said I was on my way to work and then walked into a shop I don't work at. I did not see a stalled truck anywhere in the area, amazon truck or otherwise. He completely disappeared after I went into Michael's. He didn't approach anyone else after that. Was this a scam or is he trying to commit crimes by taking advantage of people? Edit: there's a bus stop that'd be a 5 minute walk away over here.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Vicious_Moonlight on 2025-07-12 13:50:10+00:00.

My mother has a BF who lives in the US but has an Asian bank account. From what she has told me he is trying to send her some money, his international bank to her US domestic one, but before the transfer can proceed taxes need to be paid. The amount from what I can glean is 25k or more that he is trying to send to her. This situation is raising a ton of red flags for me and I’ve told her to be careful but can this situation be legit? I’ve google but couldn’t figure out if taxes need to be paid before international bank transfers. Total scam or could be legit?

Edit to clarify some detail.

He is trying to send her 25k or more not asking her to send him the money

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/CBoy636 on 2025-07-12 00:09:36+00:00.

So this just happened to my wife. She got a phone call with the caller ID saying Maricopa Sheriff's Department (where she use to live), guy gave name and badge number and a case number and more to sound legit. She was told she missed court and that she now has a warrant out for her arrest. The person then went to say that she needs to head to the local sheriff's to get things straightened out.

Well heres where the real scams started, she was told she needed to stay on the phone with them while she went there and while she was on her way to the sheriff's department the guy said hold on before you step onto government property you need to pay fine or you will be arrested immediately and things will be more complicated. Well the guy told her to buy MoneyPak cards to pay the fine over the phone. Not trying to blame my wife but this is when she should have realized it was a scam. But no she gets really nervous with law enforcement due to past trauma and with the threat of being arrested she wasn't thinking straight. Well she emptied her personal checking out buying the MoneyPak cards to pay the "fines" but wait that wasn't enough to cover them!

She comes home to grab her credit card and this is when I get involved. She ask me to grab her credit card from the safe and I'm like ok??? And try to get info from her. Well she says she can't talk about it or else she could receive another charge and I could be charged as well. Warning bells start going off!

I immediately call the local sheriff's department and explain what I know. They confirmed it's a scam and tell me how there are programs that can spoofs numbers so they look like they are coming from a legit number. I immediately tell the wife it's a scam and she hangs up and starts crying that she already sent them 750 through the moneypak card.

I'm angry and upset that these scammers have so many ways to sound legit and scary people so much that they can't think straight. I hope this helps others so that they don't fall to the same scam or similar ones. My sheriff's office says that the common one for our country is saying missed jury duty but my wife was told she received subpoena and missed the court date

TL;DR scammers took 750 using scare tactics to tell my wife she and a warrant for her arrest unless she paid fines. The caller ID said sheriff's department and they gave enough information to sound legit

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Any-Improvement8256 on 2025-07-11 23:36:04+00:00.

Started getting emails and texts after talking to a woman online who turned out to be "underage". I was sus from the very beginning so it never really went anywhere because they refused to video chat, etc. nothing but some texts. they've been trying to extort me on and off over the last year asking for $200 here and there, etc. I have never engaged. But in the last month, they have started to send flyers with my information saying that I'm a womanizer that I chase underage girls, etc., etc.. to all of the agents at my real estate office as their phone numbers and emails are public. I've reported it to the local police sent into the Internet crimes and no one seems to be able to do anything. My livelihood is being ruined. My reputation is being ruined, and I never even really engaged in the first place - no pics, nothing. Anyone have any advice other than 'don't engage?'

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/BenGrahamButler on 2025-07-11 19:24:14+00:00.

We just bought a house, she posted pics on FB.. She gets a message from a friend (she has hundreds as a realtor so doesn't know all her "friends") that was giving away a baby grand piano because her dad died and she saw my wife's posts about pianos (true!) and wanted the piano to go to someone that loved it as much as she does. Sounded totally legit as my wife has several very well off realtor contacts in her company.

She was texting and I did ask a couple questions like "who is this woman giving you a piano, another realtor?" and "wow that's worth at least $7k". My wife was so excited about getting the piano and this was a stressful week, having bought a house and all..

Long story short there was something weird in the email that tipped her off and she had to call the bank and cancel the wire she had already sent, and was able to do so successfully. Wow.

As scams go this was a pretty decent one I thought. My wife is very intelligent, just a very busy person with a ton going on today. I'm not surprised it almost worked for the scammer.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Rolly2k15 on 2025-07-11 08:13:48+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Most_Panda283 on 2025-07-11 05:45:51+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Reaper72244 on 2025-07-11 02:35:13+00:00.

So today I got a call on the store phone from some Indian guy claiming to be the company boss. Obviously he wasn't, but kept persisting that he had ordered a package that would arrive to our store. He told me to 'count the money in the register to pay for the delivery', I did not. He got increasingly annoyed when I asked my co-worker to call our manager (they had already left for the day). So the manager arrive to assess the situation. I gave them the cameras number and to explain exactly what information I gave them. I told them everything and they said that our boss and any upper management don't call the store phone. I'm a fairly new employee, can anyone figure out what the scammer tried to get from the interaction?

PS: the number was from Florida.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/glitterfineapple on 2025-07-10 23:16:39+00:00.

My father met a woman on Hinge from China when she was here in America in winter. They spent so much time together, it really seemed genuine. They’ve talked all the time, he’s gone there to visit her a few months ago. It seems legit, but then money got involved, and I’m very confused by this.

Numerous times, she’s asked him to get him esim cards for her because they “work better than here”. Also, now twice he’s had to go to banks for her. Apparently, there’s no issue to him, because he’s not putting his name on anything, but he is being a middle man. He’s gone to the bank in NY, a teller has came out, and she has talked to them, I believe the teller talks in Chinese to her.

She is a judge in China, and apparently has so much money, but there’s a lot of details missing, like a child she cannot see, and parents he was not able to meet suddenly on his visit to China.

Next week he’s going to a Citi bank and he will video call her from the bank so she can speak with a teller. Supposedly, she has received a letter when she tried to do internationally banking that she just has too much money over there in China, she is worried someone will take it, and because of that, she put money in US banks she cannot access, and she cannot call here about it.

It really makes no sense to me, and I don’t understand his involvement. I’m worried this is the beginning of some pig butchering scam or something suspicious. I don’t want him to be tied to her in this way, I don’t know if she is doing something and scamming multiple people. I’ve just never heard of something like this. He is insistent it has to be Citibank for some reason and in NY because it’s easier for her. I am very confused why he’s involved and the go between, and I think it’s something sketchy. He believes because his name isn’t on it he’s just helping her. But I’m worried somethings going on behind the scenes. He claims he’s not moving money, I’m just not sure what’s happening, and I feel like there’s something scam-ish, but maybe I’m paranoid. Thanks.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Houndsofhowl on 2025-07-10 22:31:50+00:00.

A man claiming to be in the military, stationed in Poland, sent money and gold bars, now the package is held up in customs, and they’re asking me to pay 4K in Bitcoin to have it released for tax & certificates. Is this a scam?

She says, “he’s real because she’s face timed him, and he’s sent her pizza from papa johns for lunch”

We’ve told her that the bitcoin is the major red flag, as well as the rest, but absolutely can’t convince her.

Any tips here?

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Based-Grizzly81 on 2025-07-10 22:02:17+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Underrated_Dinker on 2025-07-10 21:46:40+00:00.

I was at work this morning (racquet sports facility) when a man called in. He had a heavy Indian accent. He said he has a friend staying in the hotel next door that he's been calling and won't answer. He asked if I would go to his friend's room to knock on the door. I said "I don't think I want to do that", then he flatly replied "I will pay you $100". I said "No" and hung up.

Very strange right? Or maybe this is a common scam. I tried to google "hotel friend scam" but didn't see anything that matches.

I thought at first that his "friend" might try to rob me, but that seems like complete overkill if you just wanted to mug a random person.

Or maybe he wanted to just get my bank details when "paying" me? But then why make me go to a specific room? Why not just ask me to go to the hotel front desk or something less suspicious?

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/brilaforte on 2025-07-10 03:06:20+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/andrurogerz on 2025-07-10 00:32:47+00:00.

I am really not sure if this is actually a scam, but I'd love some opinions from the community.

I parked my truck across the street from my house in the suburbs today, and when I was getting in to leave this afternoon, a man in a white pickup truck with two beat-up chest freezers in the bed slowed down to talk to me. He said something about having "extra steaks" from a delivery, and asked "you like steak, don't you?" I replied "I don't eat meat" and he drove away without a word. It sure felt sketchy, but what is the angle here? My wife thinks he meant to kidnap me and stuff me in one of the chest freezers, but I think he was trying to offload some low quality horse meat. Anyone have other ideas? Should I report this to the police?

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/No_Investigator_7199 on 2025-07-09 23:55:28+00:00.

Very early morning, my young son comes running into my room waking me up, someone is knocking at the door. I was expecting a package, so I figured it was the mail service and ignored it.

Few minutes later, its much more aggressive now. Very loud banging. I get up and look out the window, there's a truck and some individuals. I dont recognize any of them. No markings of a company on the truck. The knocking is getting VERY aggressive now. Like theyre trying to knock down the door. Now Im starting to freak out.

Immediately called the police, they show up a few minutes later. The police talked to the people outside, and then came inside the house. The police told me they were hired by the owners of the property to clean the house for selling. (I am the outright owner, and I did not hire anybody nor selling the house.) I told the police this, they went back outside.

The police came back with a key the individuals had, the key had a tag on it with my address and the name of a realty company. They were trying to use the key to get into my house. The police said the people tried to contact who hired them but nobody answered. Eventually everybody left and that was it.

Ive never heard of any sort of scam like this. I cant even imagine what the scam possibly would be. Maybe it was just an honest mistake. I'm hoping maybe somebody on here can recognize this and maybe give some insight.

Thanks!

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/AWB-Sounds on 2025-07-09 15:57:18+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Koreatown_Amigo on 2025-07-09 03:20:28+00:00.

I was on the pier over the weekend, stopped to see if a girl could dead hang off a bar for over 45 seconds to win a prize. She actually ended up holding on for 90 seconds, winning the biggest prize.

I put my camera away after taking a pic and I felt something on my right hand. I turned and saw that a man (I think hispanic male, around 30 yo?, stocky) was poking my hand with a folded up piece of paper. He appeared to be doing this deliberately. I looked at him, he looked back at me. His face was kind of blank. I noticed he was with a woman around the same age. They were both dressed very casual, t shirts and shorts.

I didn't say anything, he poked my hand again, as if he wanted me to grab the paper out of his hand, but I didn't so it just fell on the ground. He didn't say anything. My friend and I walked away.

My friend asked me what that was all about, I said no idea but I felt like it was some kind of scam. The piece of paper was folded up in such a way that I could imagine maybe a message was written inside of it? As I was walking away, I turned to look at them. They were kind of talking to each other, then started kind of looking around. I checked my pockets and my backpack. Nothing was missing.

About 25 minutes later, coming back from the end, I told my friend I wanted to see if the paper was still on the ground. It was. I didn't pick it up.

Anybody have any idea what happened? The hand pokes IMO were completely intentional. Did they think I had dropped the paper? I doubt it.

In case it's useful info, no, I didn't look like a tourist. Because of the way I dress, I could be mistaken for a certain type of "rich" LA person, not sure. I was wearing sweat pants and a hat.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Odd-Chapter-8576 on 2025-07-09 01:39:23+00:00.

My 80 year old grandma has become a victim of a scammer. She thought she was dating this guy and for 7 years she was sending him money because she believed he was real. Now fast forward to February on 2025, she was kicked out of her home because she gave away all her money because she thought this person is real.

They are still trying to contact her and now they’re trying to make her a Money Mule for them.

She still believes this guy is real and is coming to save her no matter how many times we have showed her he is fake.

If anyone knows what my family and i could do please help.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/amelia420_ on 2025-07-08 18:57:18+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/illbp on 2025-07-08 15:54:21+00:00.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/lovingbearzzz on 2025-07-08 21:07:14+00:00.

Hey guys! I've been working my new job for 2 months, I work as a cashier at a grocery store. Today left me a little shaken because I don't know what this customer's intention was. The interaction was odd. Maybe I'm over thinking it?

So this guy in medical scrubs comes to my lane with 2 items, a $50 gift card (which was partially already torn from it's packaging) to a gas station and a package of beef jerky. I greet him and ring up his items.

It's time for him to pay and he tries to pay for his stuff with apple pay (which, yes, my store takes). But his debit card thats attached to his apple pay keeps declining. He starts to get frustrated, fiddling with his phone and is complaining that this never happens to him, that he has over $4k in his bank account (he showed the cashier next to me the balance of his bank account, i didn't see it because his phone brightness was dim)

He's distraught his stuff keeps declining and desperately pleads that me and the cashier next to me can help him pay for it and he could venmo us the exact amount. He claims he's stranded and that the gas station gift card is for gas and he's essentially stranded here with no gas in his car and he's here on his lunch break and he's gonna be late for work. I keep apologizing that there is nothing I can do but to void the transaction.

He starts to get frustrated with me and claims he needs these items. And he gets on a phone call with presumably his wife and is asking her desperately to send over money or place on online order (which my grocery store does) for the items he needs. And that he needs it desperately. I couldn't hear anyone on that phone call, maybe the volume was loud enough. But the call ended with her not being able to help him.

And that's where i started to get more suspicious because, if he desperately needed to go back to work, why wouldn't the person on the other line drive over to drop him off? He then starts to get aggressive with me and my other coworker next to me, out raged that nobody could simply take his venmo for "helping him out" and he storms off.

I voided the transaction and destroyed the gift card, as that is protocol at my job to do when we have to cancel a transaction. Don't worry, the gift card was not activated or anything. So there was no money lost, from my awareness.

I can't help but feel bad for this guy if he was really in that much desperate need of help. But there was truly no way I could help this guy. Or if he was out to scam me. Was he trying to scam me? What kind of scam would you even call this? And how can I make sure that I don't get taken advantage of working the register?

Thank you to anyone who reads this and any helpful advice anyone gives me.

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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Ok_Literature2548 on 2025-07-08 19:41:41+00:00.