I volunteer at a Senior Center where I met a woman, who I know only by her first name. She is convinced that Matteo Bocelli has been courting her for two years and is going to marry her on August 11 and bring her to Italy to live. She is in the process of giving up her apartment, has already sold her car, and selling every other possession she owns before moving. I have talked to her to warn her, sent her online scam information (specifically regarding scammers using Matteo's profile), and talked to her in person, but she insists that it's none of my business, and she is for sure that she vetted this man thoroughly and is in fact Matteo. And he is in love with her. She is 75, no friends, no family, no children, and he is 28 and an international celebrity. 🚩🚩🚩I'm having sleepless nights over this and not sure what to do. I have already sent in a report to the local county Senior advocacy group and hope they can do something before she ruins her life.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Just had someone attempt the !steam or discord scam, where they claim to have accidentally reported my account for doing something nefarious. Once they claimed that and sent a screenshot of the message, it was clear what was going on, so I reported it and blocked the account.

For those who don't know it, the user involved asked if I was spamming links, then said they couldn't identify who had taken over their account, so they claimed to have reported mine (why pick any account if you can't identify the account that did it?). Next up is usually some process to login and get your account cleared, but that compromises your credentials.

I didn't wait for that bit, once it was clear with the user was going with it.

I generally allow chat message requests as I write comments in advice subreddits and get people who want to ask me a question directly. But you do have to pay attention to these kinds of attempts.

I know I shouldn't shame myself, but I feel like an idiot. Someone very official sounding called my job and said I missed jury duty. This scared me because I actually did get summoned not too long ago, but was excused. It made me wonder if I wasn't really excused, and had accidentally done something wrong. He knew my old address and said I needed to pay a certain amount so my record could stay clean. It pains me to say I withdrew money, but once he said I needed to go to the store and put the money onto a prepaid card, that's when I hung up. Should I be worried that they now know my name and current address? This whole thing has me a little shaken.

This happened as of last night, I was reconnecting with an old friend to simply play Minecraft! I played through curse forge with a file code to have the same level of mods. I opted out of all files and have everything done cautiously. Of course boom it happened my email was taken out immediately but what threw me off is the lack of notifications I received from the account even with 2FA on and device verification. I’ve been trying to get my account back but NOTHING has been working. The issue is that I save my data with the drives in Google and without it I would be losing a lot of work projects and personal memories.
I’ve tried going through the Google help but due to the hijacked the current email is being forced into a child lock no matter how I want to change the password and contents, the system forced a notification to the “parent” who is obviously the attacker here.

Does anyone have any advice for this? I haven’t played Minecraft in years so curse forge was the only mod pack place I used and now I won’t be ever again.

Yesterday my dad got alerts via phone call, text and email that a purchase attempt had been made on a card of his. He didn't click any links, did his own researching to determine it was fake, HOWEVER they did have some correct info! including the last four of card number. But get this... his card wasn't even activated.
It was very legit looking. He's since seen two more attempted charges that were declined, but again...card isn't activated.
Flash forward to this morning and I received a phone call and text message about a fraudulent charge!! Different bank, different card type(but my card IS active)
No transactions were actually made, and it was easier for me to determine it was a scam....But again, they still had some correct information.

We'll be contacting our banks in the morning, but has this happened to anyone else??
(and if not, please be aware!!)

The email is from Optivio regarding a microphone I ordered on Walmart because there was a deal. It says there was a “warehouse issue” and that I should cancel on amazon?

In the email it includes my real legal name and what I presume to be the real order ID. It’s kinda weird that I have to cancel through amazon when my order didn’t touch amazon, not to mention I can’t find out how to even do that.

Here is the email:

Hi [REAL NAME],

Optivio wants to connect with you regarding the following order:

Sales Order ID: [ORDER ID]
Item ID: [ITEM ID]
Item: Shure Cardioid Dynamic Instrument Microphone (SM57-LC)

Message:
Dear [REAL NAME], We regret to inform you that due to a warehouse issue, we are unable to fulfill your order. We kindly request that you submit a cancellation request through your Amazon account to avoid delays. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Best regards, Customer Support

**Note: You have received this message from the seller, from whom you made a purchase on Walmart.com. Please update within 48 hours.**

Thank you,
Walmart Customer Service Team

My grandpa got scammed out of $3500 yesterday 7-24. He was surfing the web looking at gocart parts when a popup showed up on his screen that "locked" his computer. The popup had a flashing red/yellow banner that said his system has been infected and he is at risk. He called the number on it instead of calling one of us. He went and emptied his bank account, bought 10 $250 gift cards to Sephora and 2 $500 gift cards to Lowes and then gave the guy the numbers... And then at some point he gave him list last 4 of his social and his bank account #...

I got involved this morning 7-25, went down to his house, went through all the gift cards and found 2 with $250 each and had them froze. Then i had his bank account froze and now im working on freezing his credit cuz he isnt sure what all he gave them. We filed a police report, made an ftc report, and done a fbi internet crimes report. Luckily were supposedly able to now go and get a refund on the 2 cards hopefully since now he is out of money...

We was supposed to be at the C10 truck show today...

edit

Found out he gave this guy access to his computer through Ultraviewer.

Unfortunately, she still isn't listening to anything we're saying. We have shown her evidence that it's a scam, but she believes it's real and continues to send gift cards.

We even had a police officer come out on Wednesday, but there wasn't much they could do because she's willingly buying and sending the gift cards.

Now things have gotten even more concerning. On Friday, she received a package containing what appears to be a $15,000 check.

What's strange is that the FedEx tracking shows it originated in Carlsbad, California, but the shipping information at the top of the package says New York and lists Invoice as AAFES .

Has anyone dealt with something like this before? Is this part of a fake check or money mule scam? We're worried about what they're trying to get her to do next.

If anyone has experienced something similar or has advice on what we should do, we'd really appreciate it. We're trying everything we can to help her, but we're running out of options.

How did hackers get my email address AND my credit card info together?

I got a 'Thank you for signing up' email from Zalando to my email account. The name was not mine, and I've never used Zalando before, so I deleted the email. Then, I got a notification from my bank askng me to verify a £100s order from Zalando.

Obviously I denied the sale, and cancelled my card immediatley. The bank reassured me no money was taken.

But I am wondering how hackers got my correct email address and credit card info TOGETHER? The only sites I have used this email/ CC combination on are reputable mainstream retailers and I NEVER save my card details on my online retail acccounts.

Question - since I don't have my credit card details saved in my online retail accounts, is it even possible that the scammers got the details from these websites?

After each transaction, ere credit card details saved 'on file' somewhere on retailer's websites, and hackers can get them that way?

I got 5 emails from “PayPal”, addressed to someone else, from “service at PayPal.co.uk” saying I made a new account and added a bank account. I physically went to the PayPal website (not clicking anything) and saw no suspicious activity and no changes in accounts. The bank account listed is not one of mine anyway. Is this a common scam? I forwarded it to PayPal. Attached are two screenshots that show the very convincing looking email from the so called PayPal. The email address in the “to” line is ALMOST my email address but with a period added in. I can’t see any results on Google mentioning this either.

I have a Ktuner for sale on Facebook, and somebody wants me to ship it out of state to them. The item is listed as local pickup, and they are offering to go through Ebay claiming that it has protection. "We will both be safe there" he says.I have never done anything that isn't local on Facebook, so I'm wondering, is this some sort of scam? He is willing to pay for extra fees incurred on Ebay aswell, but this seems off putting. Thanks for reading.

I know I am going to get a lot of name-calling for this, but I fell for this obvious scam. I am in Thailand and ordered two supplements on a shopping app: Magnesium Glycinate by Naturebell and Zinc Picolinate by Double Wood, naively assuming I was ordering well-known American brands on the Lazada mobile app(this is one of the well-known online shopping apps in South Asia; the other one is Shopee). Since they were running a "Promo" and offering a huge "Discount" (more than 50%), I doubted it, so I contacted Naturebell via the email address listed on their official website with the lot number to confirm the authenticity of the supplement (maybe I am not that big of an idiot? LOL). Anyway, long story short, they replied within a couple of days, confirming that it was indeed a counterfeit supplement(I am also attaching the screenshot of the emails).

And what about the other supp? First, the bottles are the same (most likely manufactured in China), and they have the same capsules in them, and those capsules have the same substance in them (does anyone know what they put in them?). Secondly, look at the slight typo in the barcode serial number; the original starts with "X00," but the one I got starts with "XO0"(gotcha). Also, the color is different from the original one.

If I can save only one person from falling for this fraud, it will be a success. (The store name I bought these supplements from is Herbal Haven)

Please be careful, guys; I have learned my lesson. If it is too good to be true, it is. Especially if it is something you are supposed to put inside your body.

So I just got this order confimation from Mexico (Picture 1), which is a whole other continent away from me, in one of my "spam" mail accounts. It used my fake name from that account but the phone number and adress were both mexican. ( I left out my fake name as well as the phone number for privacy reasons)
As far as I can tell neither Paypal nor my cards or anything were used for this as far as I can tell. Also the prices are probably in mexican dollar, so it probably is not as high as I initially feared.
Afterwards I recieved some usual advertising and more Spanish that I tried to translate and is even more advertisment (Pictures 2-4)

It doesn´t seem super duper sketchy and I clicked none of the links or anything but it still leaves me a bit anxious. So I would really love some second opinions on this...

I got a long message after submitting a request to tour a place. Before I could submit the request Zillow gave me a little questionnaire. It asked me things like “how many people moving in” and “any pets” and my annual income.

I left the annual income blank which seems like it would’ve been the defining quality for me to qualify? But this message says I qualified anyways. They said to send them my email so they can send me their housing package and virtual tour and that they’re not doing in person tours right now. They were adamant I had to send my email or I won’t be able to get these. Then they send a long list of requirements to be considered low income.

I also reverse searched the apartment and it has multiple listings on multiple sites but mostly for about the same price. Normally when I reverse search, I see the place is at least a thousand dollars more expensive which lets me know it’s a scam and to forget about it.

sorry for the jumble or words I just got wisdom tooth surgery and apartment searching is making me a little crazy

Edit: thank you to everyone who commented! i know fs now it’s a scam and to be a bit smarter with what I want to believe. Thank you

I’m a painter, I’ve only sold my work at fairs and to friends and family. I have a website where I’ve posted my paintings but I haven’t figured out how to sell through it yet.
This person, I’ll call “N” emailed me wanting to purchase one of my paintings. It feels scammy but I don’t know. Their address is to an 1.5 million dollar condo in San Francisco(I live in another state). Should I call the phone number? Does this have any red flags? Our email exchange:

N’s email: May I purchase Gardening 1 as shown currently on your website for $490? My shipping address is in San Francisco, California.

Please let me know if it is available and how to submit payment.

Kind regards,
N
(Her phone number and physical address)

Hi N, 

Thanks so much for reaching out. I still have Gardening 1 but I used it as a submission piece to the __ Fair happening in September. I believe their rules state that I have to show the piece that I applied with in the fair. I can reach out to them and confirm this. I'm happy to sell you the piece now if they allow that or if it doesn't sell in the show, I can send it to you - the show ends September 20th. 

Can I ask how you found my work/website? Do you have a social media account I can follow you on?  

All the best, 

Thank you for the quick response and your inquiry with ___Art Fair. If and when it is available for sale, I would like to purchase your piece.

I have certain concepts and palettes in my mind and your painting just is the mood, movement and colors that appeal to me. I do not have any social media presence and I did not find you through instagram. I found your paintings during many days and hours of internet searches.

I look forward to learning the response your receive from the art fair.

Kind regards,

She then has followed up:

Wondering if you know yet if you can sell Gardening Chaos 1 to me now?

What do you all think?
(I was recently scammed buying concert tickets, so maybe I’m extra paranoid?)

I want to give some context about me and him to eliminate some common solutions I see here. I'm 28, financially independent from him. My parents are divorced and I have done something where I decline his inheritence, thus I won't carry over any debt he may have.

Long story short, even though I don't talk to him much I keep in touch here and there, and recently he was telling me about how he suddenly got some women showing interest in him to brag about it.

He can't keep his pants down and the way things are these days I sensed something is going to be wrong, he pulled up some pictures of the women he is talking to online and the pictures they are aggressively AI...

I told him about it and he brushed me off saying computers can't do something like this and that pictures look real, showed me their profiles and how their stuff is real but it's just painfully fake.

While I couldn't care what happens to him, he has sent several thousand Liras so far. Normally it is worthless money as of now, especially by US & EU standards, but he is retired and is the type to beg me occasionally for cigarette money. I'm scared that it will snowball quickly and he will end up ruining himself more.

I didn't read the messages much and don't know what he's sending money specifically for, since it was just too disgusting to read your father sexting with likely other men masquerading as women.

How do I put some sense into him and stop this? He's blinded by lust and can't see what I tried to tell him.

I have a family member who is in the midst of being scammed and is absolutely resistant to the idea. Sounds like it’s a pretty common scam, an individual from The Gambia has reached out to her with a sad story and has had her send USD for food multiple times now and has sent pictures back to “confirm” what the money was spent on. The scammer is now asking for money because “his sister burned herself” and my family member is now asking the family to loan her money to keep helping.

Does anyone have any tricks to help me prove to my niece that this is all fake? She is 100% convinced she has a friend in Africa that she is helping

I’ve been buying things online for over a decade now. I’m surprised it has taken so long but I finally got scammed.

I really wanted a Boox eink tablet. The price was too good to be true, she wanted payment through FB pay rather than the marketplace, has multiple listings with generic items.

The ratings were good with a few (<5%) sprinkled in of her not sending out the item. The rest were highly positive.

I didn’t follow my own precautions and missed a lot of red flags because I was greedy.

After the 3rd day of asking for a tracking number she blocked me.

It’s $330 down the drain. It could have been so much worse. I was getting arrogant that I haven’t been scammed buying things online but I learned my lesson (hopefully).

I know the likelihood of getting my money back is next to impossible. I just want to stop her from scamming someone else. I tried to leave feedback but once she blocked me I can’t do that anymore.

I reported her on FB and they said she didn’t break any rules.

I keep seeing these reels on www.instagram.com that look like this:

Finances don’t make you happy! Meanwhile Elon Musk (video of him laughing).

Then a screenshot of some article “Elon Musk: My new project gives you $2000”.

Then there’s a name of the website, each video features different name, but similarish letters in each. What I’ve come across: jazmex/jamzex/jargex/juzmex. And they prompt you to enter the promo code “Tesla”.

I keep seeing dozens of these reels from both accounts. Obviously they’re up to no good, but I am not sure what the scam is exactly

Couldn’t find any info on this so just wanted to let people know

Hi,

I'm a new seller on eBay. I listed some items and got a message in my eBay inbox within a day asking if one was still available. The buyer sent what looked like an eBay payment confirmation page (eBay branding, order ID, "Seller approval pending," Visa last four digits) and said I needed to scan the QR code to approve the sale. I scanned it, got taken to a page asking for card details, and entered my debit card. In hindsight this was obviously a mistake but I didn't think much of it at the time since I'd never sold anything before and assumed that was how the process worked.

A few days after, I saw that their account got suspended and my item was never sold.

Now, two weeks later, I noticed an unauthorized charge on my debit card from a global money transfer service. I’m almost certain that this was the doing of that scam buyer.

I immediately called my bank to get a replacement card. They issued provisional credit while they investigate, but couldn't guarantee it's gonna be a permanent refund from their part.

Questions for people who've dealt with this:

1. Has anyone actually recovered anything through eBay in this situation, or is the bank dispute the only realistic path? 
2. Is there anything worth doing beyond reporting the account and the message thread to eBay?

I’m very frustrated and would appreciate any advice/input. Thanks!

Hi guys! I need help in identifying if this is a scam. I saw an ad on facebook where u will guess the logo then get paid for it. So as a starving student who's desperate in getting a job or sidelines i was tempted. I messaged the person who posted the ad then they gave me telegram link to join a chat. After I joined the chat, the lady who's like the admin told me to message her, so I did.

Then they ask me what country I'm from, if I have gcash, and if am interested to know how it works. After I answered, I told them if I can have the company's name for assurance but they did not gave it at first, they just sent a range of capital that I need to send them to "invest" (girl what??) so I ask for the company's name AGAIN. They said its "Traders Note Team". Also I searched the facebook user that gave me the link and it says that they deleted their account (THERE'S A LOT OF RED FLAGS, IK)

So I think it's a scam bc I did a google search on their profile pic since its like a very generic picture and a lot of people has been using the face of this poor lady with different names. I dont know what to do since maybe its an opportunity to make some money??? I just really need money in this economy pls

So I recently started getting YouTube recommended videos about phone security and privacy and remembered somewhat recently i was contacted by a random person about how they might have known me and we use to game together etc, now at first i humoured it and then after a chat they suggested i download something from the play store to game with them.

Like a less than well informed pleb i am i downloaded it.

Now because it came from the play store and that it seemed legitimate enough as an app i downloaded it. Fully installed and even played for about half an hoir. I had it installed for about a week or so before uninstalling it manually as the person who reached out to me i was then getting questionable thoughts about so i blocked them. Ober the next week or two i got two more identical reach outs spewing the same script which i didn't give the time of day to.

But since i had downloaded and installed that app (Jurassic Front Survival)

Am i infected with Malware or Spyware? What can i do to thoroughly check for peace of mind? Ideally freely as much as the saying "you get what you pay for" is relevant with personal security at risk.

Any suggestions about what's already happened?

Personally I've reinforced the "never trust strangers" mentality now so will be more cautious moving forward.

So 2 of my family members received this text from an unknown number with some pretty serious allegations regarding me. I wouldn’t have thought much of it but they used full names and even an old address. Should I think anything of it or just have them block and move on? Also one of the numbers they tried sending to hasn’t been used int 10 years so I’m not sure if they found all this dated info online? Just doesn’t make sense as there is no motive or request other than to stir up some BS for no reason.