Recently an article in the Cut entitled “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger” went viral, telling a first-hand account of a personal finance columnist who was convinced by a cold caller claiming to be a CIA agent that she needed to give him money or risk her accounts getting frozen. It started a massive conversation about scammers, who are far more numerous and dangerous than most realize.
You may think it could never happen to you, but last year alone scammers bilked a staggering 10-plus billion dollars from Americans. So we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their disturbing brushes with scammers...here are their stories:
1. "My aunt Pat thought she had a Facebook friend and they arranged to meet and go on a holiday together, mind you she only knew this lady over Facebook and didn’t even know her age or anything about her. She agreed to meet and go on a holiday to Spain (we live in the UK) that would cost around £4—5k. This ‘lady’ said that she would book the flight and everything they would do so Pat sent £4-5k to this lady's bank account. Long story short, she never went to Spain and her ‘friend’ never spoke to her again."
2. "A scammer sent me an email saying he had hacked into my computer and made a video of me masturbating to porn. He said he would send this video to ALL my contacts if I didn't send him money. The thing is, I'm asexual and sex-repulsed. I never, ever watch porn so I could tell he was lying. I laughed and never answered. And to all the people who get that kind of email, just don't answer. It's a trap."
—anonymous
3. "I got a call from the local police department saying that I had a bench warrant out for my arrest after not showing up for jury duty. They told me that I had to stay on the phone and could not talk to anyone and if I immediately got in my car and came to the police station that I would be able to put my case forward and hopefully get it taken care of but I couldn’t get off the phone in case I was fleeing. They knew my address, and when I stated I had served recently they knew the dates. I had two children at home and was scared that going through the court process to get this situation resolved would take so much time and money. I work full time and I was so exhausted that I got totally sucked in."
"The person on the line started getting aggressive and would yell when I asked questions or seemed to push back. When I wrote the number down and called it on another line, the local police voicemail picked up. It felt very elaborate. Once I got into the car they had me stop by a local store that sold a certain type of cash card and they were claiming that was the only way to pay them since the police don’t accept cash to pay off the warrant while they investigate the mistake — as I hadn’t received a notice of selection. I decided on a Walmart that I knew would have a police officer. When I arrived I found the kindest Walmart employee who quickly realized I was being held ransom over the phone. They held my hand and walked me to the officer who assured me that I didn’t have a warrant and took the phone. The second the person heard police on the other line they immediately hung up.
I am a highly educated individual. No, they didn’t get any of my money but the stress and time taken away from me cannot be fixed and it was incredibly scary. I can see how anyone can fall for this."
—anonymous
