I've been scammed

Tom 86

Tom 86

Senior Member
Location
Indiana
Well, this could get to be a long post but I'll try to just hit the high points. Last Wed. I got a messenger that & old friend I worked with for some 20+ years wanted to talk. So I got on & was talking to her & she knew all our old past workings together.

She then said she has a friend that can get me Federal grant money of 50,000.00 up to 100,000.00 Told me to click on this woman in the messenger chat with us. So I did. She set me up with $75,000.00 all I had to do was pay for the document rendering of $2,000.00 So I went to CVS & got 2,000.00 worth of gift cards & sent them to her through my C.P.

Well, a day later she was back saying that I now have to pay the 3,000.00 for IRS taxes on this grant. So again more gift cards. Finally yesterday she said the CIA was holding my FedEx package at the border. That's when I got worried. I called this woman I worked with & she said oh my God They got you too? She said I'm not on Messenger & that is not me.

So I called the sheriff & put in a scam report. Then DIL came over & she put in more scam reports to Facebook & other places. I called all my credit card phone numbers & they locked all accounts down. They are sending me new cards by FedEx today.

So if you are on F.B. or messenger with a friend & you get a request to talk with this other person. Call that friend first to make sure it's actually them your talking with on Messenger. I'm out possibility $5,000.00 My Bank card says they might get my $3,000.00 back from them as the woman had not cashed the gift cards yet & Kim locked that account so she can't get the money. Kim said you also have insurance on that card through our Regions bank here.

Just be very careful this time of year. Scammers go after older people. :mad::mad:
 

OMG...!!! I've heard of this type of thing happening, never known anyone have it happen to them personally.. Horrendous , may these scammers rot in hell... :mad:

I just want to know, it's one thing to steal someone's ID and pretend to be someone else to draw you in... but how on earth could this scammer know all the details of where you worked and the people you worked with ?.. Surely when you were chatting to the 'workmate' they couldn't know details of situations that you both knew from your own work environment .

When this woman said '' they got you too ''.. what did she mean ?.. had she been robbed from them ?..how ?... who did they pretend to be when they were scamming her
 

hollydolly said:
OMG...!!! I've heard of this type of thing happening, never known anyone have it happen to them personally.. Horrendous , may these scammers rot in hell... :mad:

I just want to know, it's one thing to steal someone's ID and pretend to be someone else to draw you in... but how on earth could this scammer know all the details of where you worked and the people you worked with ?.. Surely when you were chatting to the 'workmate' they couldn't know details of situations that you both knew from your own work environment .

When this woman said '' they got you too ''.. what did she mean ?.. had she been robbed from them ?..how ?... who did they pretend to be when they were scamming her
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Holly,
This woman I worked with was also scammed. last year, They got her info the same way as they got mine. When you fill out the info for the grant you give them your address, phone number, age, male or female, Also send a selfie to them for government use.

So as this woman said that's how they got all her info & also a lot of it is on F.B. under your ?? that tells where you worked & who your friends are on F.B. She got taken for $5,000.00 but she did get $2,500.00 back.

As the sheriff said when he remotely connected to my computer & was talking to them these people are in another country from what I can trace he old me on the C.P.

Kristi, my DIL knows a lot about scams as she use to work for the sheriff's dept. So she got on my F.B. & locked down a lot of my information or removed it. So no one can see where I worked or who my friend's list is.
 
Tom 86 said:
Holly,
This woman I worked with was also scammed. last year, They got her info the same way as they got mine. When you fill out the info for the grant you give them your address, phone number, age, male or female, Also send a selfie to them for government use.

So as this woman said that's how they got all her info & also a lot of it is on F.B. under your ?? that tells where you worked & who your friends are on F.B. She got taken for $5,000.00 but she did get $2,500.00 back.

As the sheriff said when he remotely connected to my computer & was talking to them these people are in another country from what I can trace he old me on the C.P.

Kristi, my DIL knows a lot about scams as she use to work for the sheriff's dept. So she got on my F.B. & locked down a lot of my information or removed it. So no one can see where I worked or who my friend's list is.
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Just absolutely horrific... ..if only these scammers got a life sentence when they're caught, they might think twice about this crime
 
hollydolly said:
Just absolutely horrific... ..if only these scammers got a life sentence when they're caught, they might think twice about this crime
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They can't do anything with them per my sheriff, as they are out of the country, so our laws don't pretend to them. They can track them but when it goes out of the USA then there is nothing that can be done.
 
Note to all: Any time you are asked to pay something in gift card, money orders, or any non traceable financial vehicle RUN!!
Yesterday I got and e=mail that they have $ 25 mil waiting for me in a Nigerian bank, The other day I got an e-mail from someonr in Portugal with the response sent to Gabon in Africa.
In my Outlook Junk account I am always getting stuff from banks where I have no account, or Costco, Lowes, etc for a survey or gift card
 
bowmore said:
Note to all: Any time you are asked to pay something in gift card, money orders, or any non traceable financial vehicle RUN!!
Yesterday I got and e=mail that they have $ 25 mil waiting for me in a Nigerian bank, The other day I got an e-mail from someonr in Portugal with the response sent to Gabon in Africa.
In my Outlook Junk account I am always getting stuff from banks where I have no account, or Costco, Lowes, etc for a survey or gift card
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Very true. But this one of mine was on a US government grant. I know a lot of kids going to college that gets State & Federal grants for their college fee.

I guess I was in so much pain on my right leg & knee & the meds I'm taking I could not think straight. 😩 Oh well, an expensive lesson learned. If I see any more of them I'll call DIL to come to take care of them. It's really hard to think straight when your pain level is over 10 & meds don't bring it down.
 
Tom 86 said:
So if you are on F.B. or messenger with a friend & you get a request to talk with this other person. Call that friend first to make sure it's actually them your talking with on Messenger.
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Excellent advice, there!

That is awful, what happened to you. It's very important to alert others, though. Thanks for that.
Even though we all think we wouldn't go for it, you explained very well, that you had a lot of reason to think the person you knew for years was legit and interacting with you. And the first amount of money seemed lower than a scammer would request, too.

I hope you can get the best outcome possible, but I'm sorry this happened to you, Tom.
And that these scams are as successful and ongoing, as they are.:(
 
Being asked to click on anything , any link, any other person, was a red flag, for any of us to remain aware of;
as was the request to do the financial transaction with gift cards. Huge red flag, there.

But the difficult and most confusing thing, in this example;

was that it seemed extremely believable in the first place, that the communication was with a person known from the personal past, and then, someone very good with English, as well.
 
I just hope this thread will keep others from getting scammed. As my sheriff said when going through 3 days of conversations This woman was good to know all Evelyn's & your background.

Take a moment step back & go through the messages really well. Make sure all your F.B. is secure so no one can get into it & steal your information. I had a lot of mine set to "public" DIL came & said wow there's how they got your information. She changes that to "just me"
 
Tom 86 said:
I just hope this thread will keep others from getting scammed. As my sheriff said when going through 3 days of conversations This woman was good to know all Evelyn's & your background.

Take a moment step back & go through the messages really well. Make sure all your F.B. is secure so no one can get into it & steal your information. I had a lot of mine set to "public" DIL came & said wow there's how they got your information. She changes that to "just me"
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You are right, and so is that sheriff. Some of the scammers are excellent at what they do.
It's very good that you told us about it, Tom.
You might truly prevent someone else from repeating your mistake.

I also think that you and many people, use that "public" option, because you wanted it to be available to any of your actual friends and contacts, which is very understandable, but it isn't actually wise for any of us to do it that way.
 

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