260
votes
Accepted
I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work?
This is a very trivial scam.
Flow is like this:
Send money to Mr. X (you, in this case).
Call Mr. X and ask for the money back, because mistake. Usually they ask for a wire transfer/cash/gift cards/...
- 181k
253
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Absolute scam. Any time anyone asks you to open a bank account so they can send you money and then you have to send some portion of it back to them, it's a guarantee that it's a scam.
What happens ...
- 10.1k
210
votes
I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work?
This is almost certainly a scam or a mistake. This is not good, spendable money: it is not yours to keep.
Very simple to handle. Tell the bank, in writing that you were not expecting to receive ...
146
votes
Accepted
Bank claims debit card was physically scanned - half a continent away. What could have happened?
It’s possible your card was skimmed. This works by the scammer getting a physical swipe of your card, for example from a bogus attachment to a legitimate card reader, then making a duplicate card. ...
- 9,392
143
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
Absolutely a scam 100% chance. This is one of the most common scams out there.
Here's how you will get ripped off.
They send you a check which will deposit in your account
Seeing the deposit went ...
- 53.3k
143
votes
Stranger sent me $12,100
This is certainly some variation of the overpayment scam
There are many variants, but they usually start with a fraudulent payment of some type into your account. They payment may be a bad check, a ...
- 13.9k
140
votes
Accepted
Scamming an investor by offering a quick sale of a property at her named price
It is not always easy to tell how a given scam will end up making money for the scammer. This is due to a lot of things, such as intricacies of paper trails, or story details that get passed on / ...
- 42.9k
115
votes
Accepted
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
The other answers describe why this is highly likely to be a scam.
This answer describes why you don't want to get involved, even in the unlikely case that it isn't a scam. I'm describing this using ...
- 1,332
111
votes
Is being asked to pay for business supplies via Bitcoin an employment scam?
This is scam. Companies do not offer jobs without qualifications. Plus asking you to pay by bitcoin is scam and can't be traced. Even bank transactions are difficult to recover.
Don't transfer ...
- 57.2k
108
votes
Accepted
Counterfeit checks were created for my account. How does this type of fraud work?
When this happens, your bank should give you your money back. Your bank will then recover the money from the bank that accepted the check, and that bank will then attempt to recover the money from ...
- 116k
105
votes
Accepted
Someone wants to send me cash by DHL. How's this scam supposed to work?
It looks like a "shipment scam" mixed with "bait and switch". There are few ways you can get robbed:
The "DHL" (not really) will say they have cash for you but they need ...
- 2,356
105
votes
Accepted
Is there any danger of my neighbor having my wife's signature?
He COULD use the signature to forge her name on a check or a contract. Of course that would be wildly illegal. Just because she gave him the signature voluntarily (under false pretenses) doesn't mean ...
- 22.9k
103
votes
How do you send money when you're not sure it's not a scam?
The two basic rules for not getting scammed while apartment hunting are:
Never sign the contract before you inspected the property in person
Never pay money to inspect a property in person
Carefully ...
- 24.1k
102
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Yes, it is a scam.
Think about it: Why would a stranger offer to give you money? Why would she need you to pay her own employees? She wouldn't. It is a scam.
You have more to lose than just the $...
- 116k
102
votes
Someone wants to send me cash by DHL. How's this scam supposed to work?
An uncle of mine fell for a variant of that scam last April. This is what happened in his case:
He had a 2nd hand Apple laptop for sale for 250 Euro and advertised it on Marktplaats (the Dutch ...
- 971
93
votes
How does a scammer know the first 4 digits of my card number?
The first 4 digits of a card number typically just indicate the issuer and are probably the same as your old card and lots of other cards from the same bank.
From Wikipedia:
Payment card numbers are ...
- 30.1k
85
votes
Is it a scam if someone asks for my full name, email, and bank name?
This is a common scam on Instagram right now. You can find other examples on reddit of this; one example: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/tbbpq6/artist_scam/
It's a fake payment scam. The ...
- 830
84
votes
Scamming an investor by offering a quick sale of a property at her named price
A similar one that happened to me was someone offering to pay a $38K loan debt to me by quit-claiming a shared property deed we had (different transaction). So he was "giving" me his half of the ...
- 841
83
votes
Received a package but didn't order it
If you didn't order it, it's free
Ohio -- like most states, the US Federal government and the UK -- has a law like this one:
Ohio Revised Code 1333.60
Voluntary delivery of unordered goods ...
81
votes
Accepted
Taxes when transferring money
I would respond to your friend this way: "Either you are planning to do something illegal, in which case I don't want to be involved, or you are planning to do something legal, in which case you don't ...
- 47.3k
81
votes
Accepted
Is Saikyo Sakura Assets Holding a legit company?
If you had a 50%+ roi trading opportunity, would your first response be to patiently ring up strangers and sell it to them?
Big hedge funds fight each other to outrun the S&P by a few percentage ...
- 5,768
76
votes
Accepted
Dealership wants more money years after vehicle is paid off?
If they have no idea what you are talking about, you could ask whether the dealership will send you a letter saying you do not currently owe them anything, nor have they charged off anything you owed. ...
- 30.2k
74
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Don't do it.
If it's not the classic scam described in Daniel Anderson's answer, then it's probably money laundering. In that case, the woman would actually wire you money, which you have to wire to ...
- 838
73
votes
Is the apartment I want to rent a scam?
The two basic rules for not getting scammed while apartment hunting are:
Never sign the contract before you inspected the property in person
Never pay money to inspect a property in person
Carefully ...
- 24.1k
69
votes
Ex-husband is trying to find out my banking info
Ask your lawyer if it makes sense to press criminal charges against your ex-husband and/or his girlfriend for attempted identity theft, harassment and/or fraud.
Other than that you can only hope that ...
- 24.1k
67
votes
Friend sent me $6500 through his company and told me just to send it back
The most likely result is that you'll send your "friend" their money and they will disappear forever. A couple of weeks after you've sent the money, the bank will find out that the original deposit ...
- 13.9k
65
votes
I believe this to be fraud — hired, then asked to cash check and send cash as Bitcoin
Yes, it’s a scam. There are red flags all over it. Ask yourself whether you really think a huge multinational like Nissan would work in this way.
- 24.4k
62
votes
Why is my bank unable to track a direct transfer I made to another (fraudulent) account?
The other bank knows, but is protecting their customer's privacy
Th fact that a routing number was needed says it is a completely different bank. Your bank is not privy to customer data at other ...
59
votes
Accepted
Is giving my girlfriend money for her mortgage closing costs and down payment considered fraud?
With the standard "I am not a lawyer" disclaimer, consider this question:
If you and your girlfriend split up sometime after purchasing the house but before getting married, would you expect her to ...
- 2,131
58
votes
Is it a scam if someone asks for my full name, email, and bank name?
Even if they can’t hack you with just that information, scams can be elaborate and involve multiple stages of gathering information about you. The first part of the scam might be to obtain the name of ...
- 829
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible