Ever Been Scammed?

Big Nasty

Almost on a daily basis you see threads on boards in relation to one scam or another be it something online, a call to your phone or something that happens to the street.

A good few years ago I got scammed by a chap that started coming to our local pub on a regular basis and one night 'forgot' his wallet so I spotted him a fifty. Worse fool me, last I ever saw of him!

Anyhow, that was small beans but I've seen and heard of people falling for scammers on a fairly large scale, i.e. running in to thousands.

So have you ever been scammed? Was it an ingenious well thought out ploy or were you just a dumbass (like me )?

MickySticks

PM me your bank accounts details and I will tell you.

kfallon

Had a grand taken out of my bank a/c, got a phone call from AIB asking if I had made any withdrawals in the previous 24 hours! They refunded me the money and sent me a new ATM card!

Was also given a counterfeit 'nifty' by a bookie in Leopardstown, now whether he knew it was dodgy or not is another thing but of course I went to the bank the next day to lodge a few hundred in winnings and the teller gives me the bad news.....€50 down the drain! If I had prob gone to a shop, a pub, the bookies etc there's a fair chance it wouldn't have been noticed!

Tar.Aldarion

Yep, I lent somebody on boards 50e and they never paid it back. Was always swapping around money on the poker forum, from site to site, so didn't think much of it. That's about it so nothing much really.

foxyboxer

Not personally, but my Old man got a letter in the post claiming he'd won €100,000 on the Spanish Lottery. The eejit thought it was legitimate and wanted to get in contact.

"Have you ever been to Spain?"
"No"
"There you go! :rolleyes:"

Dublin Chick

Yeah. About two years ago on the Shelbourne Road. Walking back from the shops to my place I met a guy who claimed to have lost his car keys and was stranded needing a bus fare to Kildare to get a spare set. Well dressed. Gave me the name of the company he worked for. It was a really hot summers day and I remember he was sunburnt. Felt terrible for him and gave him €20 and he insisted on taking my phone number / giving me his phone number so he could return the money. Actually never dawned on me that it was a scam till I told a male friend of mine what happened and he tried to call the guy. All he got was a message on his phone saying something along the lines of HAHAHAHA you have been robbed!

Underdraft

I've had fair share of unsatisfactory transactions that could loosely be described as fraudulent, but straight out scammed like you describe OP? Nope, can't say I have. I certainly wouldn't just lend 50quid to some punter I knew to see down the pub.

Big Nasty

MickySticks wrote: »

PM me your bank accounts details and I will tell you.

PM Sent!

mikemac1

Found forty punts in the local supermarket and handed it in. Now this was a fortune to me at the time when I might get one punt a week in pocket money
So two thirds your annual salary to you

Handed it to the owner, he said it was his and pocketed it and walked off. I'm still bitter
Revenue came down on the owners years later over Ansbacher accounts, karma

The mammy was so proud of me though, ah bless

foxyboxer

Underdraft wrote: »

I've had fair share of unsatisfactory transactions that could loosely be described as fraudulent, but straight out scammed like you describe OP? Nope, can't say I have. I certainly wouldn't just lend 50quid to some punter I knew to see down the pub.

Never to strangers, but if you know them you just need a bit of collateral.

"You wouldn't give us a loan of a fifty till next week would ya?"
"No problem. Just give me your passport and I'll gladly give it"

Considering it costs over 80 euro to replace one, they'll hand it over if genuinely stuck.

cade

I bought some merchandise that proved to be fake, so that was €50 down the drain.

I got stung a few weeks ago going into a cinema with what turned out to be a fake €20, though they let me into the film for free, so I only really lost €8 there.

Finally I lent a friend I worked with €200 as he was broke for a weekend we were going out on due to expenses at work. Well afterwards he fobbed me off saying he was going to talk to the office to reclaim the expenses. Well after a few months he just told me that I'd have to talk to the office myself as he'd never bothered; I got it sorted quite quickly and wrote him off as a friend from that point onwards.

Big Nasty

Underdraft wrote: »

I've had fair share of unsatisfactory transactions that could loosely be described as fraudulent, but straight out scammed like you describe OP? Nope, can't say I have. I certainly wouldn't just lend 50quid to some punter I knew to see down the pub.

Chap was on the scene for months, in with all the locals, etc. Seems like an awful amount of work for €50. Anyhow, he got me!

Underdraft

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Chap was on the scene for months, in with all the locals, etc. Seems like an awful amount of work for €50. Anyhow, he got me!

Just think of it as paying €50 for an important life lesson. Won't ever happen again I'm sure.

44leto

I lent whom I thought was a good friend and work colleague 200, it really sounded a plausible story and I told him to not worry about it, give it back when you have it.

A few months later he left the job and I then learned, his marriage had broken up, there were people pursuing him all over Dublin over his debts. He was addicted to the slot machines and gambling, I hadn't got a clue about that or any of his problems, I remember being jaw droppingly shocked. Up to then I would have regarded him as a sound normal guy.

I never got it back, the last I heard he is living in England, I never will get it back, but nor will any other of his debtors. They say gambling is the worse of all addictions and i believe them.

wilkie2006

At the end of a Friday night, a guy came over asking for 10E to get home, explaining that his phone and wallet had been robbed. He was well-dressed and pretty sound so I gave it to him. Over the next few weeks I must've met about 10 other guys with the same "problem". Bit of a scummy thing to do, I thought.

In fact, when I told one of the next guys to fcuk off, he came back with, "Come on, I'm not homeless or anything!" Surely that's reason not to give someone money?

Masala

Was looking to rent a room in a house in Dublin and called around to see it. Nice couple showed me around and showed me the room. Nice room but pained with wall to wall with Jungle Animals - very well done but more a kids room!! They said that they never got around to painting it!!

Agreed Rent and Deposit and paid them over in cash. Moved in and never saw them thereafter!! A week later - I opened the door and the 'owners' nearly jumped out of their skin!! It seem the real owners were overseas and had employed a couple to 'house-sit' their property but they thought that they would make a quick sub-let and conned me in. Owners came home sooner than expected and sitters had to vacate with my money.

Real owners real nice and gave me back my money.....hope they caught up with those others and got their money back!!!

44leto

I was also one of the suckers who believed Mary O Rourke and then went on to lose their Bollox in Eircom shares.

recylingbin

This Nigerian lad had just inherited 6 billion dollars but hadn't the 200 dollars he needed to get a solicitor to deal with the paperwork. He asked me for a lend of it, by e-mail, and told me he'd give me a couple of hundred thousand when he got sorted.
I obliged, as I thought it would be terrible if he couldn't access the money and had to live in poverty for the rest of his life.
So, I headed down to Western Union and organised a transfer. 11 dollars charge for a 200 dollar transfer. Scam city.

davet82

back my card got skimmed couple of days before christmas 2 years ago, 1200 euro, 11.59 23rd 600 euro withdrawl and another on 00.15 at a different bank machine as they knew they couldnt withdraw the lot on the same day, although the nice people AIB credited my account within a few days as there was good few done at the ATM on mary street D1, be warned use ATMs in shopping centre/Shops not the ones on the streets!

Kiera

5-6k was taken out of my savings a few years ago. Some fecker robbed our postman and got hold of my statement and made up a fake driving licence then went into the bank and took my money out. I was in Spain at the time which is how they clicked that it was fraud.

Got it all back within a week and a hold was put on my account. 9 months later they came back and got more money out. Fat lot of use that hold had. Took all money out of that bank and set up a new account in a diff bank.

BackScrub

#ge11

gosuckonalemon

I bought a branded watch on ebay. Paid around 95e. Looked decent and the seller had 99% positive feedback with hundreds of ratings.

As soon as I saw the box, let alone the watch, I knew it was as fake as x-mas.

Got in touch with the buyer, told them to refund my money. They said they would but I'd have to return the watch. Then they said instead, I could keep the watch as long as I gave them a 5 star rating. It dawned on me this is how the scammers probably got so many happy customers.

Ended up refunding me 75e and I kept the watch. (They still probably made a profit). Then I reported them to e-bay straight away.

Lesson learnt.

davet82

*also got scammed by FG...


not another cent my arse!

44leto

Kiera wrote: »

5-6k was taken out of my savings a few years ago. Some fecker robbed our postman and got hold of my statement and made up a fake driving licence then went into the bank and took my money out. I was in Spain at the time which is how they clicked that it was fraud.

Got it all back within a week and a hold was put on my account. 9 months later they came back and got more money out. Fat lot of use that hold had. Took all money out of that bank and set up a new account in a diff bank.

So that actually happens, I routinely rip up my statements but I kind of thought that kind of fraud was an urban myth.

gaf1983

When I was a student one summer I saw an ad in the local paper for a "part-time, work from home, routine data entry" job. So I applied for it, they got back to me by email and told me I'd have to pay €15 for my "starter pack". I paid the money, and in fairness got my "starter pack" which was really just instructions/advice about how to con more people into the pyramid scheme using the same techniques they had used. I rang the phone number (based in India) and gave the person at the other end a piece of my mind, but the end result was I didn't get the part-time, work-from-home, routine data entry job, and I was down €15 down.

There was a silver lining though - the same summer the National Consumer Agency had some scam awareness campaign on their Bebo page, and asked people to post comments with stories of the times they had been scammed, with iPod Touches for 10 of the best scam stories - sure enough I won myself and iPod. Looking at it another way, I suppose you could say I paid €15 for the iPod, either way, we all lived happily ever after.

Kiera

44leto wrote: »

So that actually happens, I routinely rip up my statements but I kind of thought that kind of fraud was an urban myth.

Nope unfortunately it happens. They caught the girl who did it and you should have seen the state of the made-up licence she was using to take my money out. An Post had sent out a letter to each house in the estate letting everyone know the bag was robbed but my house mate never told me about the letter and threw it in the bin :rolleyes:

44leto

Kiera wrote: »

Nope unfortunately it happens. They caught the girl who did it and you should have seen the state of the made-up licence she was using to take my money out. An Post had sent out a letter to each house in the estate letting everyone know the bag was robbed but my house mate never told me about the letter and threw it in the bin :rolleyes:

Sh!t I think I will invest in a shredder.

Thanx, that is useful to know.

Underdraft

44leto wrote: »

Sh!t I think I will invest in a shredder.

Thanx, that is useful to know.

Get a cross-cutter while you're at it, not one of those ones that makes 'spaghetti' like in the movies.

mikemac1

gaf1983 wrote: »

There was a silver lining though - the same summer the National Consumer Agency had some scam awareness campaign on their Bebo page, and asked people to post comments with stories of the times they had been scammed, with iPod Touches for 10 of the best scam stories - sure enough I won myself and iPod.

Awww, there is justice in the world

I like your story

M cebee

greed seems to be a factor in some cases

i know a good number of seemingly smart people who bought useless generators from the nacks

Kidchameleon

Yep OP I got scammed. I was led to believe in 2006 that if I didnt buy property I would never get on the ladder. So I baught a 1 bed apt miles away from home for 200k and now I'm stuck with the thing and its worth about 70k.

caitmb

On holidays in Morocco a few yrs ago I bought myself a lovely watch,only €30 but never got to wear it.....the dude in the shop kindly offered to pack it up in a nice box but he must have got mine mixed up with the one hand missing rusty piece of sh1t that I left the shop with!!

Naive or what and to make it worse it was on the last day so I couldnt go back and point out his error.....:(

Underdraft

caitmb wrote: »

On holidays in Morocco a few yrs ago I bought myself a lovely watch,only €30 but never got to wear it.....the dude in the shop kindly offered to pack it up in a nice box but he must have got mine mixed up with the one hand missing rusty piece of sh1t that I left the shop with!!

Naive or what and to make it worse it was on the last day so I couldnt go back and point out his error.....:(

It was probably his first day.

The Jammy dodger

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Almost on a daily basis you see threads on boards in relation to one scam or another be it something online, a call to your phone or something that happens to the street.

A good few years ago I got scammed by a chap that started coming to our local pub on a regular basis and one night 'forgot' his wallet so I spotted him a fifty. Worse fool me, last I ever saw of him!

Anyhow, that was small beans but I've seen and heard of people falling for scammers on a fairly large scale, i.e. running in to thousands.

So have you ever been scammed? Was it an ingenious well thought out ploy or were you just a dumbass (like me )?

Yup. A guy who a year ago took my wifes mac laptop to be fixed. He said if he couldnt fix it he'd give us our money back. it's now been over a year and we have not seen our 250 euros or laptop since.Worst thing is that he done work for mybrother all the time as my bro owns a business and we've never seen him again.

phoned him couple of times but kept saying he'll drop the 250 euros next time sees my brother again. but to no avail.

Agricola

Almost got done by the old "salesman's bargain of the century" routine in Italy a few years ago. When I wasnt forth coming with the 100 euro petrol money he requested as a good will gesture, he ripped the jacket out of me hand and sped off!

vard

I've had a few minor cases of people taking advantage of kindness... but nothing damaging financially.

My Dad though is another story altogether. He was forced to pack a brand new top of the range mac book into his checked in bag on a flight from Miami to Heathrow. When he arrived the case had been opened and the laptop box had been opened with a knife - everything was still there... except of course the laptop. Can't blame him for that one - he should have demanded to be allowed to bring the laptop separately... but can't blame him for not jumping to the conclusion that Miami airport staff would steal from him. I have no doubt this is a regular occurance there.

He was scammed by the same scamming gardner twice... Willy, his name was.

He was scammed out of a loan/investment of 200,000... by a supposed long term friend.

He bought a car which as it turned out, ended up being stolen by the person he'd bought it off. By chance I happened to be driving it when this revelation popped its head up. I was taking the ferry back from Hollyhead when I was stopped by a radom police check. They lifted the bonnet and peeled off a fake chassis number. The car was taken, I was locked up and when released ended up being stranded in the utter ****hole that is Hollyhead for the next 24 hours.

He's had a few other petty scam / car related incidents, but at the moment nothing I can remember.

Either he's too trusting or just a bit daft...

corglass

Masala wrote: »

Was looking to rent a room in a house in Dublin and called around to see it. Nice couple showed me around and showed me the room. Nice room but pained with wall to wall with Jungle Animals - very well done but more a kids room!! They said that they never got around to painting it!!

Agreed Rent and Deposit and paid them over in cash. Moved in and never saw them thereafter!! A week later - I opened the door and the 'owners' nearly jumped out of their skin!! It seem the real owners were overseas and had employed a couple to 'house-sit' their property but they thought that they would make a quick sub-let and conned me in. Owners came home sooner than expected and sitters had to vacate with my money.

Real owners real nice and gave me back my money.....hope they caught up with those others and got their money back!!!

I don't believe this story.

cloud493

In 2009, I was trading(like on adverts basically) on a forum, and some chap with allegedly good feedback like, the relatively 5 stars, took up a trade with me, I sent off a Nintendo DSI happy as larry. A day later I was messaged by a moderator, telling me it was a big scam, and all the feedback given was by duplicate accounts of this chap. Never got the console back