Tax

Tax scams can happen in many forms, such as phone calls with the caller ID spoofed to a real tax number, text messages claiming you have money available to claim, and emails that look like they come from the tax agency. The scams usually involve phishing, but can also involve threatening you and demanding payment immediately, sometimes threatening you with prison time if you do not agree to pay a settlement. If you see one of these scams, report it to the agency they are impersonating.

Tech Support

Tech support scams can start with the scammer contacting you, through a random phone call, pop-up on a website, notification, or email. You can also run into tech support scams by Googling a support phone number and seeing an advertisement placed by a scammer meant to look like a legitimate support page. To avoid tech support scammers, always ensure you are on the correct website when you’re looking for a support number to call. Don’t be afraid to hang up and double check if you have called for support but think you may be talking to a scammer. If you’re talking to support and they mention anything about gift cards, hang up.

Underage

This scam usually starts on a dating app and you will encounter a normal woman whose profile says she is above 18. Later you will be contacted and told that the girl is underage. They’ll usually pose as the girl’s father, another family member, or a police officer. They will tell you that your life will be ruined and you will be a sex offender, but will offer you the chance to pay them to make the problem go away. The stories they use as to why you need to fork over money vary, but the common ones include therapy for the girl, payment for a broken phone or computer, etc. Of course, there is no girl and no crime has been committed, so if you are involved in this scam all you need to do is ignore their threats and move on with your life. The scammers may contact you again in the future after you block/ignore them, so be ready in case that happens. If you have already sent money to the scammers, you should try to dispute the transaction and see if you can get your money back. NOTE: Scammers pretend to be underage boys as well and the text above still applies, but it’s called the underage girl scam as those are the vast majority of cases.

Wrong number/Mandy

An intentional wrong number text is the entry point to multiple different types of scams. Because these are so prevalent and lead to several unwelcome outcomes (including you confirming you have a live number, leading to more spam/scams), it is recommended that you do not reply to them, even out of courtesy. They hope to take your courtesy, parlay it into a conversation (often by commenting how nice you are and giving some suggestion of fate in meeting this way), and eventually deploy a scam. If you received a wrong number inquiry that seems to assume a connection with you (e.g. seeking a specific friend, inquiring about a doctor’s appointment, asking about a business correspondence, etc.) and there are no pictures included, then you are likely at the beginning of a crypto scam. You can see a video of this scam develop from wrong number to crypto scam at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ_flb9tGuc If you receive a random text from a woman that is trying to play up a relationship/hook-up angle and includes an alluring photo, you have encountered what this subreddit often calls the Mandy scam, based on the name used in an early incarnation of it. The replies are sent by a bot and will give the same responses (with some slight variations) regardless of how you respond. The bot also has a few specialized responses that occur when you say words like ‘bot’ or ‘scam’. After a series of replies, it will eventually push you to go to an adult/cam/age verification site.

You can report spam texts by forwarding them to 7726 (SPAM): https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-report-spam-text-messages

There is also some evidence that intentional wrong number texts can be part of a data-gathering exercise where each bit of info you give (e.g ‘Hi Susan!’ and you reply with your name out of courtesy) is collected to be used against you in other scams.

Refund

Refund scams usually start with a spam email about a fake transaction, although they can also be sent through SMS or any other messaging service. The message will provide you with a phone number to call if you want to cancel the transaction, and if you call the scammers will try to get you to provide credit card or banking information in order to receive your refund. Scammers have been taking advantage of Paypal’s invoice system to send out realistic scam emails through Paypal itself, here is a news article about that technique: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/08/paypal-phishing-scam-uses-invoices-sent-via-paypal/. Here is a Snopes article regarding the Norton variant of this scam: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/norton-email-renewal-scam/.

Rental

Rental scammers usually list apartments at lower than market rate, and will ask for some money up front, or will offer you the keys for money up front. The scammer has no property to rent, and any money you send to the scammer will be lost. Be very cautious if you are trying to rent a place in a city you don’t live in, as seeing the apartment in person is a good way to find out if you are being scammed or not. However, just having physical access to the apartment does not mean that you are not being scammed, so be careful.

Review

Amazon review scammers are trying to buy 5 star reviews without looking like they’re buying 5 star reviews. A long time ago, sellers could offer free or discounted coupon codes to buyers in exchange for an “honest” review. This practice was banned in 2016, replaced by Amazon’s Vine program. FTC rules also dictate that any reviews or product promotions obtained in this way have to be clearly labeled as such. To get around both the FTC’s labeling rules and Amazon’s ban, there are websites and private Facebook groups that link together shady sellers with people willing to sell positive reviews. These shady sellers are usually Chinese, selling cheap products that would otherwise not receive positive reviews (or many purchases at all) naturally. They gave you those strange instructions of clicking [this] first, then clicking [their product] to make your selection of their product look more organic to the algorithm. You pay for it in full on Amazon, then are reimbursed via PayPal (which Amazon famously doesn’t use) to hide the transaction. If you don’t like the product, they do the return on Amazon to make them look like good, true-to-their-word sellers to the algorithm. But most people will just take the PayPal refund and hand over the 5 star review. One should never trust an Amazon (or other merchant’s) review - carefully research the products they purchase instead. Of course, there’s always the chance that an Amazon Review scam is just a scam and they’ll just take your money and run.

Romance

Romance scammers pretend to be in love with their victims in order to ask them for money. They sometimes spend months grooming their victims, often pretending to be members of the military, oil workers or doctors. They tend to be extremely good at taking money from their victims again and again, leading many to financial ruin. Romance scam victims are emotionally invested in their relationship with the scammer, and will often ignore evidence they are being scammed. Convincing a romance scam victim they are scammed is extremely difficult, but we have received success reports from using Dr. Phil’s shows on romance scammers or episodes of Catfish - sometimes victims find it easier to accept information from TV shows than from their family.

Skype

This scam occurs when you meet a woman/man on dating service/social media site/forum/wherever and they ask you to go on Skype, Kik, or another messaging system. They will ask you to exchange naked pictures, and they will usually ask you to include your face in the pictures. They will then threaten to reveal the pictures to your family/friends if you do not pay them. The best thing to do in this situation is block the scammer and deactivate your account for a while. Paying the scammer will not make them back off, and just tells them that it is worth their time to continue threatening you.

Steam

You will receive a message from someone claiming that they accidentally reported you, and they will direct you to the profile of a Steam/Valve employee or admin. The other account will then either try to steal your account, or steal your items. If you encounter this scam, ignore the scammers and report their accounts.

Sugar

Sugar dad/daddy/mom/momma scams are very common and usually come in two varieties: fake check style scams, and advance-fee scams. Fake check style scams involve the scammer making a fraudulent payment to you that will later be reversed, and then you making some sort of payment to the scammer that will not be reversed. Common examples include the scammer sending you a fake check and asking you to buy gift cards, or to send money via Western Union, or to purchase Bitcoins. Another common example involves the sugar scammer offering to pay your bills, or offering you banking information that you will use to pay off your bills. These bank accounts are stolen and the innocent victim will reverse the charge when they notice the fraud. The second variety of sugar scammers use advance-fee scams, where they offer you money but require you to pay first. They may ask for you to pay them to prove that you are loyal, or they may require you to pay a processing fee. It’s common for sugar scammers to send spoofed emails that look like they came from services like PayPal or CashApp that will inform you that you have received money, but that also ask for a processing fee before the funds are released.

Task

Task scams involve a website or mobile app that claims you can earn money by completing easy tasks, such as watching a video, liking a post, or creating an order. The app will tell you that you can earn money for each task, but the catch is that you can only do a limited number of tasks without upgrading your account. To upgrade your accounts, the scammers will require you to pay a fee. The goal of this scam is to get people to download the app for easy money and then encourage them to pay to get to the next level. It’s impossible to get your “earnings” out of the app, so victims will have wasted their time and money.

Influencer

This is a dishonest marketing technique where a user will reach out to you on a social media platform, usually Instagram, and offer you the chance to work with or promote a brand. Sometimes the main brand account will reach out to you, but other times a fresh account will message you and direct you to contact the main account. Working with the brand will involve buying their products, though you may be offered a discount. This technique is usually used by dropshipping sites that sell items from Aliexpress at inflated prices, so even with the discount they will make money from your order. This is simply a marketing technique sent to many people at once to get people to order from their site, so if you receive a message like this all you need to do is ignore it.

Instagram

This scam is a variation of the verify/pin scam. You will receive a message from someone who is asking for your help to log into their account. This message could be from a contact you trust, but the account is actually compromised. They will either ask you to add their email or phone number to your own account, or ask you to receive a verification link that you will copy and send to them. Either way, these steps will allow the scammer to change your password and lock you out of your account. The purpose of this scam is to gain access to your Instagram account which they will then use to scam other people. They may also attempt to blackmail you into creating videos that promote their scam. If you receive one of these messages, ignore it and report the account as hacked.

Job

Fake job scams come in many different varieties, though most share common characteristics that you can use to spot the scam before becoming a victim. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Google Hangouts or a similar online service. Their English will be awkward, and they may be re-using a script, so Googling unique sounding parts of the email may yield useful results. They will offer high wages for the work being done, and they will “hire” you by telling you that you are hired, rather than going through the normal process that a company takes when hiring an employee in your country. If they mention anything about a check or about receiving and sending out transactions, it is a fake check scam. If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it is a parcel mule scam. If they ask you to purchase items up-front, ask you to pay a fee in order to be hired, or ask you to purchase gift cards, it is an advance-fee scam. If the job involves posting advertisements on Craigslist or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam people. If the job invovles Bitcoin ATMs, it’s a scam.

MLM

MLMs are a great way to lose money and friends. The vast majority of people who get involved in MLMs do not make money, and the money that is made is made by the people at the very top.

Muse

The muse scam is a new variant of the fake check scam. The scammer will contact the victim over social media and claim to want to use their image for an art project. They will offer a generous sum of money and offer to pay via check. The victim will be instructed to send money to the scammer for “materials” via an irreversible method. The scammer will often use a stolen social media account to increase their credibility. Usually the fake check deposit will be reversed in a few weeks, but it can also take several months. If you do not have the funds to cover the amount, your balance will go negative. Your bank will usually charge a fee for depositing a bad check, and your account may be closed depending on the severity of the scam.

Parcel mule

The parcel mule scam involves fraudsters sending you packages and you shipping them out to other people. The items are fraudulently obtained, usually with stolen credit cards, and the investigation into the fraud will lead to you rather than to the scammer. Here is the Wikipedia page for this scam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_mule_scam, and here is an article from the USPS: https://about.usps.com/publications/pub300a/pub300a_v04_revision_072019_tech_022.htm

Pet

First, you will encounter a breeder who may have their own website or who may post listings on an established website. They will offer a good price for a pet with papers, however they will not be able to meet you in real life, and will only sell you the pet with the use of a shipping/courier/freight service. The scammer will demand payment via irreversible payment methods such as Cash App, Venmo, Western Union, or cryptocurrency. The websites they use are usually very easy to spot, as the domain will have been registered recently, and the images they use should be findable using reverse image search. Once you pay the scammers and they know they have you, they will demand more and more fees for things like airline insurance, crating fees, papers, import permits, etc. If you are involved in a pet scam, you need to stop talking with the scammers and dispute any transactions that you are able to dispute.

Pin/verification

You will receive a legitimate authentication text from a company like Google, Craigslist, or Microsoft, and you will also have someone else asking you for the pin. Sometimes the scam starts on Craigslist, and the scammer will ask you to verify that you are a real person, and will say that Craigslist has many scammers which is why they want to verify you. Sometimes you will receive a random authentication text, and the scammer will text you without any previous contact. The goal of the scammer can be to verify accounts that require phone verification, verify postings that require phone authentication, or to steal your accounts.

PS5

The PlayStation 5 testing scam. This scam is usually spread on social media and offers the chance to become a tester for Sony and receive a PS5. These advertisements are lies. The actual scam can be an advance-fee scam where you will be asked to pay before receiving the console, or it can be an information gathering scam. If you see one of these posts, you should report them.

Recovery

Also known as refund scams, these scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either “recovery agents” or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply advance-fee scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It’s normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.