Am I being scammed (by a sugar daddy)? [duplicate]

Question

Let me preface this by saying that I’m aware of how this all sounds, and ultimately I’m probably an idiot.

Without getting into a long back story, I recently found myself on a website seeking a sugar daddy (I already know what you’re thinking). Finally find a potential candidate. We start talking about an arrangement. Offering $500 a week allowance. I created a separate bank account with a separate bank that I don’t use for protection. He wants the debit card number, not the account number, to load the account. He paid my phone bill, but then ordered 3 new iPhones (sirens start blaring). One is supposed to be for me. They are being sent to my address, so I’m hoping if this really is a scam, I can intercept them and send them back.

Answer 1

A couple of points:

• questions in the form "is XY a scam?" almost always have the answer yes.

• the chances of a sugar daddy paying for a virtual relationship without actual physical contact are almost 0%

• he probably ordered those 3 iPhones on your debit card. He might have paid your phone bill with your card too, or maybe with someone's else money as a bait. This could be a loss of some thousand dollars. Even if there was no money on the account, the account possibly has some overdraft facility.

Answer 2

I used to be a banker, and this type of scam was typical. From a bankers perspective- You'd be surprised what you can do with the debit card number, you can create a digital identity based on this alone, enough to do serious financial hurt.

From check fraud, wire fraud, to ecommerce fraud the list goes on and on- you name it. The person (bad guy/girl) could create a clone of the card (this was typical), then deposit bad checks under a stolen identity- and immediately withdraw the funds (usually insurance, medical, medicare, social security type checks; checks stolen in the mail from old people- who take forever to report lost or missing).

All sorts of frauds that can happen, that most likely will land you in prison if you're unaware. Being unaware isn't too much of a legal/criminal defense. For sure you'll end up on checksystem at the very least and investigation by a local police department if greater than $200; to top it off, after being blacklisted into checksystems- you can't bank with anyone for at least 7-10 years- which means you'll be cashing your future employment checks inside of check cashing services and good luck with that.