Latest Scams Register

The advance-fee scam arises from many different situations: investment opportunities, money transfers, job scams, online purchases of any type and any legality, etc., but the bottom line is always the same, you're expected to pay money to receive money. So you will pay the scammer and receive nothing.

It can be as simple as the scammer asking you to pay them upfront for an item they have listed, or as complex as a drug scam that involves an initial scam site, a scam shipping site, and fake government agents. Sometimes the scammers will simply take your first payment and dissappear, but sometimes they will take your initial payment and then make excuses that lead to you making additional payments.

If you are involved in an advance-fee scam, you should attempt to dispute/chargeback any payments sent to the scammer, you should block the scammer, and you should ignore them if they attempt to contact you again.  

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 usually sell cheap products that would otherwise not receive positive reviews (or many purchases at all) naturally. You're either asked to pay for it in full on Amazon, and be reimbursed via PayPal (which Amazon famously doesn’t use) to hide the transaction, or receive a gift card.  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. 

This is a variant of the advance fee scam. The scammer will often use a stolen social media account to increase their credibility. A scammer will contact an artist, and ask to purchase one of their works of art (paintings, digital media or photos), and they will offer a generous sum of money. It can take three forms: a fake payment email (in which you're instructed to pay some fee to receive the money), a fake check (in which you're asked to forward some money elsewhere), or a fake NFT minting scam.

In this latest variant, the scammer suggests to buy the art piece in NFT form. The victim is instructed to mint the NFT in a fake minting website, which charges money for the fuel (as any NFT minting service does). The difference is, the scammers control this fake website and run away with your money. After you mint the NFT, the scammer disappears without paying for the piece.

 The exact wording of the emails varies, but there are generally four main parts. They claim to have installed a RAT (remote access trojan) or any type of software/malware after visiting a porn/adult video site, they claim to have a video of you masturbating or watching porn, they threaten to release the video to your friends/family/loved ones/boss/dog, and they demand that you pay them in order for them to delete the video.

Rest assured that this is a very common spam campaign and there is no truth behind the email or the threats. If they had a video of you, they would show it to you to prove that they have it. 

There is a variant with death threats in which they will usually claim that they have been paid to kill you, and will threaten to kill you/your family if you do not pay a Bitcoin ransom. They usually also claim that they will kill your family if you report the email. The emails are spam and can be ignored.

The scammer is creating and shipping out fake orders in order to both boost order numbers and place false verified reviews.  Receiving packages as part of brushing doesn't mean that your private information is compromised, if the items are relatively inexpensive.

If instead you received an expensive item, such as electronics or something like that, your account may be compromised. Log into your account and see if there are orders under your name. A scammer that has access to your account would instead be using your credit card, or a stolen credit card to purchase things in your name and ship them, and then have a porch thief pick them up from your door.

For example, when Amazon accounts are compromised, orders can be archived by the thieves to hide their tracks. Look for archived orders under your Amazon account to find possible hidden orders. If that list is clean, it means that this order didn't originate through your account.

If you're buying a car, a scammer will list a car on a marketplace site and will ask you to email them. They will tell you that they will ship or otherwise transport the car to you and allow you to inspect it. They may use the name of a company like eBay or Amazon to make the scam sound more legitimate. The scam is that the car does not exist, despite whatever pictures you have received, and you will be asked to pay for the car using gift cards, crypto or irreversible wire transfers.

If the seller is real and wants to actually meet, you may face a different type of scam (which involves a run down, stolen or otherwise bad deal of a car). To prevent this, you need to meet at a mechanic's shop you trust and have a full inspection of the vehicle. Remember all sales are final when dealing with used cars. The seller needs to come to meet you, so as mentioned above, the offer for a courier doesn't help.

If you're selling a car, the scammer will try to have you pay for a verification on a scam website, some VIN check lookup or certificate of records of some sort. Remember you're the seller, you set the terms. If you want to provide some certification, use a website you trust. They can do their own verification if they don't trust yours. And also, they can try to pull a fake check on you. No buyer is sending a courier to pick up a car they haven't seen.

And again, if the buyer is real and you actually sold the car, the same rule applies: all sales are final, so do the proper paperwork, consult a subreddit dedicated to car sales and make sure the transfer is completed.

Courier fraud situations usually start with a phone call from a scammer who may know lots of information about you. Scammers will impersonate bank employees, police, or other government officials. They will say that your account has been linked to fraud or another crime, and will request your assistance. You'll be asked to either withdraw money, or purchase gift cards or expensive items, and you'll be directed to give the money to the scammers in some way. One thing that sets courier fraud out from other phone scams is that there is often a local connection, as victims may meet someone in real life to hand off the cash or items. 

Fake cryptocurrency websites and apps controlled by scammers are becoming more and more common. Sometimes the scam begins with a romance scammer who claims that they can help the victim invest in cryptocurrency. Victims are told to buy cryptocurrency of some kind using a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, and then they are told to send their cryptocurrency to a website wallet address where it will be invested. Sometimes the scam begins with a notice that the victim won cryptocurrency on some website, in this case messages will often be sent through Discord.

In either case, the scammer controls the website, so they make it look like there is money in the victim’s account on their website. Then the scammer (or the scammer pretending to be someone official who is associated with the website) tells the victim that they have to put more money into the website before they can get their money out of the website. Of course all of the money sent by the victim has gone directly into the scammer’s wallet, and any additional money sent by the victim to retrieve their money from the website will also go directly into the scammer’s wallet, and all of the information about money being held by the website was totally fake.

If the scammer used Bitcoin, then you can report the scammer’s Bitcoin wallet address here: https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/reports. If the scammer used Ethereum, then you can report the scammer’s Ethereum wallet address here: https://info.etherscan.com/report-address/. You can see how much cryptocurrency has been sent to the scammer’s wallet address here: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. 

Fake job scams come in many different varieties. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Whatsapp, Telegram or Teams. They will offer high wages for the work being done, oftentimes with wildly varied wage ranges by hour, 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 say they will cut you a check so you can buy equipment for remote work, it's a scam in which they make you purchase equipment on a fake website under their control, with your own card, and when the check bounces in a few weeks you're left holding the bag (and the equipment never comes).

If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it could be 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 they mention Bitcoin ATMs, it's always a scam.

If the job involves posting advertisements on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam other people (especially if it's rental listings). 

The fake payment scam occurs when someone tries to trick you into thinking that you have received a legitimate payment when no such payment has been made. The most common method they use is sending you an email meant to look like a payment confirmation. In some cases the emails will be almost indistinguishable to a legitimate email sent by the payment service. Scammers are known to also show you screenshots instead of an email. Never trust a screenshot a stranger shows you, because it is probably doctored.

Scammers spoof the 'from' email to match an official address, and make you think you received a legitimate email. To combat a fake payment scam, verify online payments by logging in directly to the service. Do not check your junk folder, and do not assume a payment is legitimate based on an email alone. If a payment isn't reflected on your account and the person you are dealing with insists they have sent it, call support and ask about it. Here is an image of a scammer trying to pull off a fake payment scam. There is also a variant of the fake payment scam where you will receive a legitimate but fraudulent payment.

A variant of the fake payment email is just an advance fee scam: the scammer tries to convince you that your funds are on hold, and that you have to upgrade your account by sending the scammer some money to authorize the payment. No payment processor works like this. If you think you're dealing with a scammer, you're probably right. Always trust your gut.

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.

If your account was stolen there is a way of reversing that yourself. You don't need professional services and ignore anyone reaching you in private with offers of hacking it back. Those are scammers. Make an effort recovering your account. A taken over account is a tool for scammers, you want to stop that.

You can recover a Facebook or Instagram account with a simple step. Every time a scammer takes over your account, Meta will email you about it.

Read this guide from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/203305893040179 which basically says that if the email address of your account has been changed, you'll receive an email from security@facebookmail.com to undo the change - If you can't find that email, visit this page and follow the steps: https://facebook.com/hacked

Read this guide from Instagram: https://help.instagram.com/368191326593075 - same as above, but the email comes from security@mail.instagram.com - If you can't find that email, visit this page and follow the steps: https://instagram.com/hacked

It is called pig butchering because scammers use intricate scripts to "fatten up" the victim (gaining their trust over days, weeks or months) before the "slaughter" (taking them for all of their money). This scam often starts with what appears to be a harmless wrong number text or message. When the victim responds to say it is the wrong number, the scammer tries to start a friendship with the victim. These conversations can be platonic or romantic in nature, but they all have the same goal- to gain the trust of the victim in order to get them ready for the crypto scam they have planned.

The scammer often claims to be wealthy and/or to have a wealthy family member who got wealthy investing in crypto currency. The victim is eventually encouraged to try out a (fake) crypto currency investment website, which will appear to show that they are earning a lot of money on their initial investment. The scammer may even encourage the victim to attempt a withdrawal that does go through, further convincing the victim that everything is legit. The victim is then pressured to invest significantly more money, even their entire net worth.

Eventually, the website will find an excuse why the account is frozen (e.g. for fraud, because supposed taxes are owed, etc) and may try to further extort the victim to give them even more money in order to gain access to the funds. By this time, the victim will never gain access and their money is gone. Many victims lose tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. Often, the scammers themselves are victims of human trafficking, performing these scams under threats of violence. If you are caught up in this scam, it is important that you do not send any more money for any reason, and contact law enforcement to report it.

Recovery 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. 

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. 

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.

Always inspect the property in person with the landlord, property manager or realtor. Never alone, never with an access code, never virtually. Only send deposits and application fees after inspecting the property, and get a proper receipt for it. Anyone trying to collect money from you without meeting you is a scammer or a bad landlord.

Verify the identity of whoever is inspecting the place for you. It's always good to check with neighbours to see if the person you're dealing with is legit, or if there's a story behind it. You may learn that this is actually an Airbnb and that a scammer got an access code for it. You may find out the real owner/renter is away on vacation. And if it's a sublet, be informed about it and check with the original landlord to see if it's allowed.

Never sign contracts, or pay deposits, or even application fees/reservation fees without meeting in person first. Never ever send a photo ID or anything not considered public information. Nobody should ask you to pay to reserve your spot without meeting face to face.

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 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.

If you know someone who is involved in a romance scam, beware that convincing a romance scam victim they are scammed is extremely difficult. 

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, WhatsApp, Telegram, 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 go private in your socials 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.

Also beware of recovery scammers suggesting you should hire a hacker that can help you retrieve the photos or get back at the extorter. They can't, it's a trick to make you lose more money.

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. A very common characteristic (but not entirely exclusive) is that you have to complete sets of 40 tasks. 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. This makes it a variant of the advance fee scam.

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. This type of scam preys on the sunk cost fallacy, because people demonstrate a greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment has been made, and refusing to succumb to what may be described as cutting one's losses.

If you're involved in a task scam, cut your losses. Beware of recovery scammers suggesting you should hire a hacker that can help you retrieve the money you already invested. They can't, it's a trick to make you lose more money.

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 police or ATO.

Tech support scams an 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 money, gift cards etc, hang up. 

Mail or parcel scams  are notices sent to your phone or email, claiming that a package has failed to be delivered to your home. The text or email tells you that you need to provide more information or customs fees to receive the package. These scams are phishing for your personal information, financial information, or password for the mail service’s website, or can be trying to get you to pay up front for a service you will never receive. 

Sometimes the charge is less than a dollar and victims will brush it off, even when realizing they've been scammed. The scammers are not looking to get a dollar out of you, but instead they just stole your credit card details.

If you entered your card details in a website such as this, and submitted the form, even if it said that the transaction failed and to try again with a different card, it doesn't matter: they already stole your card details. You need to call your bank and report the card stolen, and ask the bank representative to disable the automatic account updater service when issuing the new card.

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 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. 

You will receive a legitimate authentication text from a company like Google, Facebook or Microsoft, and you will also have someone else asking you for the pin. 

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 social media accounts via a password reset pin that you shouldn't share with anyone ever.

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, start 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. 

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. 

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.