Worst scam you've fallen for

Beechwoodspark · 12-01-2021 10:50am

Just on the buying rounds Craic

Few years ago I was in a bar on new year eve

Waiting for friends to join me

Was minding my own business at the bar when a group of maybe 8 lads (early to mid 20s) started chatting to me etc etc. I exchanged a few friendly words (think it was about football results, something mundane anyway) was a good atmosphere for New Years.

one of them out of nowhere decides to pay for my pint. I was surprised but said thanks very much and went back to my seat.

About half an hour later I was coming back from the jacks when passing the group the ring leader stopped me and said “ah there you are, it’s your round now mate, here John wants a Heineken, I’ll have a Guinness, mick wants a coors, Larry wants a vodka and coke” etc etc. There was around 8 of them so would’ve cost a fair amount to get them all a drink.

I said eh what, I’m not in your group. Then yer man tried to get aggro and started almost threatening. I said lads I’m not in your group but if it suits I’ll buy you specifically a pint back to level things and call it quits.

I then did this, and in meantime my own friends arrived in. Brought the pint over to him said thanks and see ya. Noticed that once I was in a group of my own their smart arsery was replaced with a sly surly type of attitude.

Later that night in a nightclub that same group were going around mouldy drunk and trying to start fights.

Not so much a scam as attempt at intimidation I suppose

Bandana boy · 12-01-2021 10:50am

6541 wrote: »

One would wonder why did I buy jocks in a pub ... .

Well because you thought they were a genuine stolen/shoplifted product

Delighted you got scammed !

tdf7187 · 12-01-2021 10:50am

Alcohol.

partyguinness · 12-01-2021 11:08am

I spent €200 on a fancy penis extension kit about 15 years ago. Honest to God it's hilarious when I think about it.

Lavdogg · 12-01-2021 11:08am

Not a scam just pure stupidity.

I had never ordered via deliveroo before and the missus ordered us a nice take away for approx 30 quid.

Driver arrived and i handed him over the money along with a 5 euro tip.

Sitting down to eat the grub and I get a phone call from the delivery guy thanking me so much for the very generous tip and it was hard for him at the time as he was a student.

Told the other half, mentioning how strange it was that this fella was chuffed with a fiver tip and she looks at me dead in the eyes and says I paid by card ðŸ€¦*♂️ðŸ€¦*♂️

Was too embarrassed to ask for it back!

partyguinness · 12-01-2021 11:11am

Lavdogg wrote: »

Not a scam just pure stupidity.

I had never ordered via deliveroo before and the missus ordered us a nice take away for approx 30 quid.

Driver arrived and i handed him over the money along with a 5 euro tip.

Sitting down to eat the grub and I get a phone call from the delivery guy thanking me so much for the very generous tip and it was hard for him at the time as he was a student.

Told the other half, mentioning how strange it was that this fella was chuffed with a fiver tip and she looks at me dead in the eyes and says I paid by card &#55356;&#56358;*♂️&#55356;&#56358;*♂️

Was too embarrassed to ask for it back!

Well, console yourself with the notion that you made him very happy.

Irish_peppa · 12-01-2021 11:12am

Not a scam per say but cute none the less . Was with a Friend of mine decided as it was their birthday that Ill buy dinner before heading out for the night for both us my treat. In any event sitting in the Indian restaurant and my friend in front of the waiter couldnt decide to have the Chicken Jalfrazi or Lamb Bhuna.... ""Would you mind if i ordered both?" I though it was quite a funny quip and sniggered thinking ha good one can you imagine.......... It wasnt a funny remark my mate proceeded to order 2 main meals even the waiter asked curiously "Are you sure 2 main meals?" :eek: So instead of a bill for 2 i got nailed for a meal for 3

In fairness both plates were cleared !;)

cms88 · 12-01-2021 11:18am

Insurance

skooterblue2 · 12-01-2021 11:20am

razorblunt wrote: »

I remember my Accounting teacher for the Junior Cert telling us that if our parents had any spare cash to throw it into Eircom. He even said "if the can remortgage for the cash they should".

If you are dealing with the irish government you are going to get ridden.

Beechwoodspark · 12-01-2021 11:24am

Irish_peppa wrote: »

Not a scam per say but cute none the less . Was with a Friend of mine decided as it was their birthday that Ill buy dinner before heading out for the night for both us my treat. In any event sitting in the Indian restaurant and my friend in front of the waiter couldnt decide to have the Chicken Jalfrazi or Lamb Bhuna.... ""Would you mind if i ordered both?" I though it was quite a funny quip and sniggered thinking ha good one can you imagine.......... It wasnt a funny remark my mate proceeded to order 2 main meals even the waiter asked curiously "Are you sure 2 main meals?" :eek: So instead of a bill for 2 i got nailed for a meal for 3
In fairness both plates were cleared !;)

Jasus I just hope they were a good friend of yours. They were taking the liberties there

JohnCleary · 12-01-2021 11:27am

CruelCoin wrote: »

On holidays in Bangkok, Thailand.

Was walking to a temple, when a policeman told us it was closed that day.

An accomplice then sprang out of nowhere to offer a Tuk-Tuk tour, and i said fuggit, why not.
Drives you around the city a bit then makes a stop at some obviously in on it jewelry shops, etc.

I enjoyed the drive though, so not a total loss.

Corruption is a hell of a thing.

One of the oldest tricks in the book. The policeman wasn't a policeman (or, VERY ulikely he was, anyhow). I don't know how the average Somchai in Thailand gets away with wearing uniforms etc. to mimmick officials and no one bats an eyelid.

As you said, in this scenario, as long as you don't part with your cash for a suit or gems, the only thing wasted is your time and often it can be a bit of craic if you have the time to burn.

CruelCoin · 12-01-2021 11:55am

JohnCleary wrote: »

One of the oldest tricks in the book. The policeman wasn't a policeman (or, VERY ulikely he was, anyhow). I don't know how the average Somchai in Thailand gets away with wearing uniforms etc. to mimmick officials and no one bats an eyelid.

As you said, in this scenario, as long as you don't part with your cash for a suit or gems, the only thing wasted is your time and often it can be a bit of craic if you have the time to burn.

The driver was quite good, and very chatty, we got a proper historical tour, that was actually very good!

Lasted half the day, cost nothing (he gets a cut from the shops, but I didn't buy anything).
I then hired him out for the rest of the day to continue the tour.

josip · 12-01-2021 12:16pm

CruelCoin wrote: »

On holidays in Bangkok, Thailand.

Was walking to a temple, when a policeman told us it was closed that day.

An accomplice then sprang out of nowhere to offer a Tuk-Tuk tour, and i said fuggit, why not.
Drives you around the city a bit then makes a stop at some obviously in on it jewelry shops, etc.

I enjoyed the drive though, so not a total loss.

Corruption is a hell of a thing.

Temples are a favourite for them in Bangkok.
There was one place on the Khaosan Road where you'd save a couple of minutes to the hostel by going through the temple.
But come evening, the police would wait for drunk Western tourists and do a traditional wallet check to find, waaahhhey, a small pouch of hash.
So you'd give them a few dollars to let you off.
One guy with us got caught twice in the one night, he was raging.

CruelCoin · 12-01-2021 12:26pm

I have another in Bangkok.

We went for some drinks on Pat Pong (the road where you can find those "ping-pong" shows, don't judge me, i'm human).

Up some stairs to a strip-bar, and they start doing some ping-pong shows, some blowing darts through blowpipes in their ahem....to pop balloons, etc. Fascinating stuff altogether.

Anyway, we get some drinks, and then I notice, **** lads, we're the only westerners here and all of the bouncers and strippers have drinks also. Bugger.

I point this out to the lads, and we try to leave, only to be confronted by what can only be described as a literal wall of angry hookers demanding we pay the entire clubs tab.
Some shouting later (threatening to call the tourist police works wonders btw), we manage to leave with only paying for our own drinks. Ran down the road, got into a taxi, stopped halfway and changed vehicle, then back to the hostel.

I've never put that story on paper before.

Stay on the ground floor in Bangkok lads.....

Everlong1 · 12-01-2021 12:37pm

Paid a tout €200 for a ticket to the Coldplay Croke Park gig a couple of years ago. One of those ones you print off at home. Got to the gate to be told it was already used.

Captain Havoc · 12-01-2021 12:38pm

Mister Vain wrote: »

I'm ashamed to say I fell for a phishing scam last year. I'm normally very security conscious, but the text claiming to be from BOI looked genuine as it came from the same source as all the other BOI texts. Thankfully the guards caught the fooker and I got my money back. I was kicking myself for letting it happen though.

I got the same thing from AIB the other night, but I didn't fall for it. I just reported it to AIB. Same as you, I thought it was from AIB because of the text message, and I could see the previous messages from AIB in the thread, but I went to the website from my computer and a message on the home page said that my AIB Visa card had a suspicious transaction. If I went via the link on my phone, I may not have been any of the wiser.

Mister Vain · 12-01-2021 2:00pm

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I got the same thing from AIB the other night, but I didn't fall for it. I just reported it to AIB. Same as you, I thought it was from AIB because of the text message, and I could see the previous messages from AIB in the thread, but I went to the website from my computer and a message on the home page said that my AIB Visa card had a suspicious transaction. If I went via the link on my phone, I may not have been any of the wiser.

Yeah I've obviously heard of these phishing scams before, but I always assumed they would come from a different number pretending to be the bank, not the exact same number. That's what threw me. So me thinking I was stopping a "suspicious direct debit mandate," I was actually authorising it. Fortunately for me the scammer was in Ireland and not somewhere in the middle of Africa.

ILikeBoats · 12-01-2021 2:01pm

Along the lines of the Bangkok stories. Not so much a scam but we were still in the first two weeks of our travels so were still a bit naïve.

We arrived in Hanoi in Vietnam and got a taxi at the airport. We agreed 15 USD or something to the hotel, half way through the journey he says Vietnamese Dong only, we hadn't any so he stopped at an ATM. Having just come from Laos, the conversion rates were completely different and we never looked up the rates, this was before smartphones etc.
My friend was accompanied to the ATM and the guy was just pointing at an amount. 4 million dong or something! Went with it anyway. He tried dropping us to a different hotel, obviously to get some commission, we made him bring us to our booked one and away he went. When checking in, the staff were asking for a lot less for a 4 night stay than what we just gave the taxi man. Turns out we gave him 180 USD or something.

Silly us. Lesson learned. We were a lot less trusting and more vigilant after that.

JohnCleary · 12-01-2021 3:16pm

CruelCoin wrote: »

I have another in Bangkok.

We went for some drinks on Pat Pong (the road where you can find those "ping-pong" shows, don't judge me, i'm human).

Up some stairs to a strip-bar, and they start doing some ping-pong shows, some blowing darts through blowpipes in their ahem....to pop balloons, etc. Fascinating stuff altogether.

Anyway, we get some drinks, and then I notice, **** lads, we're the only westerners here and all of the bouncers and strippers have drinks also. Bugger.

I point this out to the lads, and we try to leave, only to be confronted by what can only be described as a literal wall of angry hookers demanding we pay the entire clubs tab.
Some shouting later (threatening to call the tourist police works wonders btw), we manage to leave with only paying for our own drinks. Ran down the road, got into a taxi, stopped halfway and changed vehicle, then back to the hostel.

I've never put that story on paper before.

Stay on the ground floor in Bangkok lads.....

When in BKK (or anywhere, tbh) and you want to visit a ping-pong show, insist on paying an entrance fee. If they insist on "no charge", order your drinks right away and pay UP FRONT, do not build up a 'bin'. That way, when you do decide to leave, you've already paid.

I've spent some time in BKK and Thailand in general. Anytime we meet backpackers who insist they must 'experience' a ping-pong I give them them advise and it's never let them down.

54and56 · 12-01-2021 4:20pm

CruelCoin wrote: »

Stay on the ground floor in Bangkok lads.....

Solid advice.

I lived there for 3 years and the only times I ever had any hassle were from Tuk Tuk & Taxi Drivers seeking to take advantage and venturing into an upstairs ping pong bar in Patpong with some visiting friends which went pear shaped as we left, bouncers blocking the door until we paid some phantom bar tab we'd apparently built up. It wasn't a mega amount (€50 or so) and was definitely in excess to the drinks bought for ourselves or the entertainers who hang around looking for "lady drinks".

We said we'd pay 1,000 Baht (about €25) and leave without any hassle or we'd call the Tourist police and let them sort it out.

Once the 1,000 Baht was produced the bouncers melted away and we were out the gap.

Apart from those experiences Bangkok and Thailand in general was always a very safe happy place to visit and/or live for me.

The only other advice I'd give is always always always agree a fare with a Tuk Tuk driver in advance and always insist taxi drivers turn on their meter. If they say it's not working, get out, no exceptions!!

realdanbreen · 12-01-2021 5:31pm

smurfjed wrote: »

Friend's maid got enchanted by an online "American Serviceman", they chatted online and he convinced her to send him money, this went on a number of times, she was basically borrowing that money from my old drunken and horny friend, it all ended when the friend got called by the police to bring his maid to explain her money laundering. She had sent something like €80,000

And yes it was a friend.

Drat! Same thing happened to my Butler one time.

CruelCoin · 13-01-2021 1:07pm

One from Egypt:

Paying a taxi driver, I was meant to get a 50pound note in my change, but i got a 50piaster note (0.5 pounds).

That's pretty common in poorer countries that have small units of currency in paper notes.

JimmyMW · 13-01-2021 1:08pm

getting married :eek:

10000maniacs · 13-01-2021 1:51pm

The old Dublin taxi driver scam of the 80's. We were on a school tour to Galway but the return bus could only go to Connolly Station Dublin.
When we arrived at Connolly Station, a group of taxi drivers met us as they overheard that we would be getting the train to Laytown.
They "informed" us that there was a 24 hour rail strike which was common in the 80's. We fell for it and got the taxi to Laytown quadrupling the transport costs. Needless to say there was no rail strike.

The Tetrarch · 13-01-2021 3:58pm

Voting for someone who said things were getting boomier.

B.A._Baracus · 13-01-2021 4:54pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Just on the buying rounds Craic

Few years ago I was in a bar on new year eve

Waiting for friends to join me

Was minding my own business at the bar when a group of maybe 8 lads (early to mid 20s) started chatting to me etc etc. I exchanged a few friendly words (think it was about football results, something mundane anyway) was a good atmosphere for New Years.

one of them out of nowhere decides to pay for my pint. I was surprised but said thanks very much and went back to my seat.

About half an hour later I was coming back from the jacks when passing the group the ring leader stopped me and said “ah there you are, it’s your round now mate, here John wants a Heineken, I’ll have a Guinness, mick wants a coors, Larry wants a vodka and coke” etc etc. There was around 8 of them so would’ve cost a fair amount to get them all a drink.

I said eh what, I’m not in your group. Then yer man tried to get aggro and started almost threatening. I said lads I’m not in your group but if it suits I’ll buy you specifically a pint back to level things and call it quits.

I then did this, and in meantime my own friends arrived in. Brought the pint over to him said thanks and see ya. Noticed that once I was in a group of my own their smart arsery was replaced with a sly surly type of attitude.

Later that night in a nightclub that same group were going around mouldy drunk and trying to start fights.

Not so much a scam as attempt at intimidation I suppose

Reminds me of a chap I knew years ago.
At the start of the night he would always buy shots for a group of people. Sometimes it would be for the group I knew him with and sometimes you'd see him do it with others he knew.

Most drinks (and shots) were 3 euro as it was a mid-week special. So he'd buy shots for about 5-7 people then throughout the night systematically tap those same people for a drink. However he would ask for a JD & coke (6 euro)

riddles · 13-01-2021 5:13pm

I went on a booze trip to Prague. Decided to buy jewelry for the mrs spend ages in a place on a street like Grafton street picking a necklace. The lady was attractive to say the least and pushed a sell on something more than I was expecting to pay. I arrived home with the present wrapped and it was the classic switcheroo. Turned out to be a cheap bracelet. I was too wrote off from the time over there to even raise a protest.

Sgt Hartman · 13-01-2021 6:18pm

I was approached about 3 years ago by what looked like a Buddhist monk on Abbey Street, Dublin. He smiled and he put a beaded bracelet on my wrist. He then produced a notebook wishing for me to write my name down and to give him €5 towards the bracelet. I was taken back by this so I just gave in a euro instead. I walked away and left him there with a face like thunder. I thought it was quite a cheeky tactic he used, his little scam backfired on him though.

I also stupidly called a gutter repair "company" I found online. I should have known something was up because he had a rather put on posh accent. Anyway on the day of the appointment 4 big guys turn up in a white van and they ask to have a look at the attic. They tell me that there's damage inside the attic and they say that they can do a sealing job for €2k. When I objected the guy with the "posh" accent tells me that they can do a temporary job with a six month guarantee for €1k instead. I told them rather firmly that all I wanted done was my gutter. He changes to a surly tone and does the guttering instead, charging €70. The gutter was still leaking afterwards so I don't think himself and his four cronies actually done anything. They were obviously just along as an intimidatory tactic to try and bully me into accepting their original offer. I was afraid to report them afterwards in case they came around at a later date and burgled my house. I was kicking myself afterwards for being so naive and gullible to hire someone like that. Next time I'll ask for a local recommendation on Facebook. My Dad done the guttering a week later and he saw no damage whatsoever when he checked the attic, neither did the surveyor when I was in the process of buying the house. It was obviously a total scam and the big guys were brought along to try and intimidate me. Utter scum!

Mister Vain · 13-01-2021 6:58pm

The obligatory extortionate drinks for the girls in strip clubs is another one.

pgj2015 · 13-01-2021 8:35pm

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

I was approached about 3 years ago by what looked like a Buddhist monk on Abbey Street, Dublin. He smiled and he put a beaded bracelet on my wrist. He then produced a notebook wishing for me to write my name down and to give him €5 towards the bracelet. I was taken back by this so I just gave in a euro instead. I walked away and left him there with a face like thunder. I thought it was quite a cheeky tactic he used, his little scam backfired on him though.

I also stupidly called a gutter repair "company" I found online. I should have known something was up because he had a rather put on posh accent. Anyway on the day of the appointment 4 big guys turn up in a white van and they ask to have a look at the attic. They tell me that there's damage inside the attic and they say that they can do a sealing job for €2k. When I objected the guy with the "posh" accent tells me that they can do a temporary job with a six month guarantee for €1k instead. I told them rather firmly that all I wanted done was my gutter. He changes to a surly tone and does the guttering instead, charging €70. The gutter was still leaking afterwards so I don't think himself and his four cronies actually done anything. They were obviously just along as an intimidatory tactic to try and bully me into accepting their original offer. I was afraid to report them afterwards in case they came around at a later date and burgled my house. I was kicking myself afterwards for being so naive and gullible to hire someone like that. Next time I'll ask for a local recommendation on Facebook. My Dad done the guttering a week later and he saw no damage whatsoever when he checked the attic, neither did the surveyor when I was in the process of buying the house. It was obviously a total scam and the big guys were brought along to try and intimidate me. Utter scum!

Is the bit in bold a joke?

Have you never seen cowboy builders? Most of the time the cowboys are recommended by some so called friends.

Airyfairy12 · 13-01-2021 8:36pm

When I was about 21 I was applying for Summer jobs with no luck and getting really desperate. I finally got contacted by a local Pixiphoto to come in for an interview, I was over the moon as out of all the jobs id applied for, most of them where retail, waitressing, this one job that I got called for an interview was related to photography which I was really interested in.
So I went in and a woman not much older than myself is giving the interview on her own. Its not so much an interview, she says she wants to give me a trial straight away but hands me loads of leaflets and tells me to stand outside, hand them out and try to get people to book in for portraits, she had a book with a pen on a table already set up in the spot she wanted me to stand and she'd come back out to me and if I had enough people signed up id get a job.
Desperate for work and a bit naive I went along with it. The photography shop was attached to a mothercare and as I was standing outside the mothercare shop I could hear the women working there talking about me and how I wasn't even trying and talking about how I look, just being b!tches in general.
After an hour and a half the woman didnt seem to be coming back out to me so I went into her, she told me I was to stand there till 1pm, another 2 hours. Needless to say I didnt get the job.
The next week I was walking past the shop and noticed a woman standing outside handing out leaflets. A few weeks later my friends brother got called for an interview and was told stand outside and hand out leaflets. It turned out they called people for 'job interviews' so they could get people to work for them for free for a couple of hours. No doubt they had someone new to hand out leaflets straight away after I had left.
The companies closed down now but since closing, loads of former staff and customers came forward about how badly they were treated by the company.

pgj2015 · 13-01-2021 8:44pm

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

When I was about 21 I was applying for Summer jobs with no luck and getting really desperate. I finally got contacted by a local Pixiphoto to come in for an interview, I was over the moon as out of all the jobs id applied for, most of them where retail, waitressing, this one job that I got called for an interview was related to photography which I was really interested in.
So I went in and a woman not much older than myself is giving the interview on her own. Its not so much an interview, she says she wants to give me a trial straight away but hands me loads of leaflets and tells me to stand outside, hand them out and try to get people to book in for portraits, she had a book with a pen on a table already set up in the spot she wanted me to stand and she'd come back out to me and if I had enough people signed up id get a job.
Desperate for work and a bit naive I went along with it. The photography shop was attached to a mothercare and as I was standing outside the mothercare shop I could hear the women working there talking about me and how I wasn't even trying and talking about how I look, just being b!tches in general.
After an hour and a half the woman didnt seem to be coming back out to me so I went into her, she told me I was to stand there till 1pm, another 2 hours. Needless to say I didnt get the job.
The next week I was walking past the shop and noticed a woman standing outside handing out leaflets. A few weeks later my friends brother got called for an interview and was told stand outside and hand out leaflets. It turned out they called people for 'job interviews' so they could get people to work for them for free for a couple of hours. No doubt they had someone new to hand out leaflets straight away after I had left.
The companies closed down now but since closing, loads of former staff and customers came forward about how badly they were treated by the company.

Clever scam in a way. They probably used jobBridge when it was available. 9 months to learn the art of handing out leaflets.

Airyfairy12 · 13-01-2021 8:46pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

Clever scam in a way. They probably used jobBridge when it was available. 9 months to learn the art of handing out leaflets.

No doubt they did, sure jobsbridge was the biggest scam ever.

pgj2015 · 13-01-2021 8:55pm

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

No doubt they did, sure jobsbridge was the biggest scam ever.

It sure was. I remember subway trying to hire sandwich artists for 9 months through it. it was a disgrace how the employer didn't even have to throw you 50 euro a week for working for them, I think they were actually paid to employ you. And small businesses couldn't avail of the scam, I mean scheme.

akelly02 · 13-01-2021 8:56pm

It's ok, you can blow inside me , I'm on the pill.

Airyfairy12 · 13-01-2021 9:01pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

It sure was. I remember subway trying to hire sandwich artists for 9 months through it. it was a disgrace how the employer didn't even have to throw you 50 euro a week for working for them, I think they were actually paid to employ you. And small businesses couldn't avail of the scam, I mean scheme.

Yes, I remember centra doing the same and the Department of education and skills were advertising for qualified teachers through it.
How it was legal is mind boggling?!

pgj2015 · 13-01-2021 9:07pm

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

Yes, I remember centra doing the same and the Department of education and skills were advertising for qualified teachers through it.
How it was legal is mind boggling?!

They just got away with it because the country wasnt doing well to say the least, half the country was unemployed, places like super value used it when it should have been made available to small businesses. Sure I remember a thread on here where someone was actually working for free(not even on jobBridge) for some people in her local town, all the staff including the boss started ringing in sick and the woman working for free was running the company lol,she had customers ringing up or calling in eating the head off her about different issues. That shows you how peoples desperation for a job was used against them.

Purple Mountain · 13-01-2021 9:09pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

They just got away with it because the country wasnt doing well to say the least, half the country was unemployed, places like super value used it when it should have been made available to small businesses. Sure I remember a thread on here where someone was actually working for free(not even on jobBridge) for some people in her local town, all the staff including the boss started ringing in sick and the woman working for free was running the company lol,she had customers ringing up or calling in eating the head off her about different issues. That shows you how peoples desperation for a job was used against them.

And unfortunately people who found themselves unemployed felt almost compelled to participate in these schemes and scams to keep up their skill set and avoid CV gaps.

skooterblue2 · 13-01-2021 10:30pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

It sure was. I remember subway trying to hire sandwich artists for 9 months through it. it was a disgrace how the employer didn't even have to throw you 50 euro a week for working for them, I think they were actually paid to employ you. And small businesses couldn't avail of the scam, I mean scheme.

They were hiring teachers through JobsBridge until the Unions said a hard no.

kerryjack · 13-01-2021 10:35pm

Bought a colour tv out of the boot of a car on a building site in west Dublin 30 years ago fully wraped and in a box, this was a time when a tv could cost a 6 or 700 pounds, never worked probably paid 100 quid for it cant remember but I was fairly peed off.

darragh o meara · 14-01-2021 1:27am

Not so much fell for it but was subject to it.

Recently was looking through my online banking account and noticed a transaction to Ebay USA that I hadnt made, when I looked further into it there was a number of transactions totaling about 1000 euro and that they had been taken through my Paypal Account.

Straight off the bat, I tried to log into Paypal to see what they were about and found that I couldn't get access, trying to reset the password gave me an error that the account didn't exist etc. So not getting anywhere there, I went into my email and eventually found emails for the purchases and also an Account termination email, surprisingly these were in the deleted folder and a rule setup that automatically deleted emails from Paypal which made me realise that I had been hacked and that I had in fact been using the same password for both. Here's when the fun started, Paypal didn't want to know about it as I no longer had an account with them and when I managed to get through to someone ( Extremely difficult to speak to anyone in Paypal at the moment) I had to repeat my story from start to finish every time I called. In the end after 15+ phone calls and countless hours spent explaining the situation, on hold, supplying this that and the other etc. I got fed up and rang Joe Duffy's team for the crack, they contacted me back and took all the details and obviously contacted Paypal because low and behold a Paypal manager contacted me later that day and sorted everything in 10 mins.

Long and the short of the scam,

Scammer gained access to my Paypal and email.
Changed the address on the account.
Spent what he could before the payments got stopped.
Closed my account so I couldn't dispute the payments or stop them for that matter.
Fixed my email account so I wouldn't find the emails easily.

BTW: I managed to get the scammers name and address as one of the items he purchased needed to be in his name and he added it to the order. I spent an idle day while isolating looking up and signing him up for every bit of religious literature/ home visits I could find, pretty much anything I could do to annoy the life out of him for a while.

Moral of the story, with anything you want to keep safe setup 2 factor authentication. In this case my password was pretty strong and as random as you can get, letters, upper/lower case, symbols the lot.

Purple Mountain · 14-01-2021 1:33am

^ I totally feel your pain.
I fell foul to someone unscrupulous that I paid via PayPal. I automatically thought, great, PayPal, I have protection.
Everything you describe above I went through.. countless emails, repeating myself over and over, never getting same person, conflicting information etc etc. Went on for about two months.
In the end, I actually thought they were ripping the pee out of me because no company could be that pathetic.
In the end, I got my money back that I proved I was owed (onus on me of course) and it was like I was a huge burden to them.
I actually do have a number for the supposed unscrupulous seller and like you I was thinking of playing mischief but I'd no way of knowing if that was even his correct contact details.

darragh o meara · 14-01-2021 1:39am

Purple Mountain wrote: »

I actually do have a number for the supposed unscrupulous seller and like you I was thinking of playing mischief but I'd no way of knowing if that was even his correct contact details.

Cant be certain if I had the right fella myself but his instagram profile showed him with one of the personalised items he purchased

, coincidence or not it was too good an opportunity to pass up on

pgj2015 · 14-01-2021 7:33am

darragh o meara wrote: »

Not so much fell for it but was subject to it.

Recently was looking through my online banking account and noticed a transaction to Ebay USA that I hadnt made, when I looked further into it there was a number of transactions totaling about 1000 euro and that they had been taken through my Paypal Account.

Straight off the bat, I tried to log into Paypal to see what they were about and found that I couldn't get access, trying to reset the password gave me an error that the account didn't exist etc. So not getting anywhere there, I went into my email and eventually found emails for the purchases and also an Account termination email, surprisingly these were in the deleted folder and a rule setup that automatically deleted emails from Paypal which made me realise that I had been hacked and that I had in fact been using the same password for both. Here's when the fun started, Paypal didn't want to know about it as I no longer had an account with them and when I managed to get through to someone ( Extremely difficult to speak to anyone in Paypal at the moment) I had to repeat my story from start to finish every time I called. In the end after 15+ phone calls and countless hours spent explaining the situation, on hold, supplying this that and the other etc. I got fed up and rang Joe Duffy's team for the crack, they contacted me back and took all the details and obviously contacted Paypal because low and behold a Paypal manager contacted me later that day and sorted everything in 10 mins.

Long and the short of the scam,

Scammer gained access to my Paypal and email.
Changed the address on the account.
Spent what he could before the payments got stopped.
Closed my account so I couldn't dispute the payments or stop them for that matter.
Fixed my email account so I wouldn't find the emails easily.

BTW: I managed to get the scammers name and address as one of the items he purchased needed to be in his name and he added it to the order. I spent an idle day while isolating looking up and signing him up for every bit of religious literature/ home visits I could find, pretty much anything I could do to annoy the life out of him for a while.

Moral of the story, with anything you want to keep safe setup 2 factor authentication. In this case my password was pretty strong and as random as you can get, letters, upper/lower case, symbols the lot.

Could you not report the thief to the police?

darragh o meara · 14-01-2021 8:00am

pgj2015 wrote: »

Could you not report the thief to the police?

I could but he is in the US and I'm in little ole Ireland. Hardly worth the hassle. I'm sure the deluge of all sorts of leaflets and visits to discuss this that and the other will annoy him enough to make him think about doing it again, in reality it probably wont..

Sgt Hartman · 14-01-2021 8:04am

pgj2015 wrote: »

Is the bit in bold a joke?

Have you never seen cowboy builders? Most of the time the cowboys are recommended by some so called friends.

Yeah you're right, it's another little scam tactic. The so called gutter repair "company " had quite a few fake recommendations on their own Facebook page.

pgj2015 · 14-01-2021 8:19am

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

Yeah you're right, it's another little scam tactic. The so called gutter repair "company " had quite a few fake recommendations on their own Facebook page.

yes but even recommendations from real people you know can lead to you being shafted by a cowboy builder. I wouldnt pass any heed on any recommendation or anything really from facebook.

pgj2015 · 14-01-2021 8:19am

darragh o meara wrote: »

I could but he is in the US and I'm in little ole Ireland. Hardly worth the hassle. I'm sure the deluge of all sorts of leaflets and visits to discuss this that and the other will annoy him enough to make him think about doing it again, in reality it probably wont..

I would still report him, it might stop him doing it to the next victim.

dinneenp · 14-01-2021 11:45am

darragh o meara wrote: »

I could but he is in the US and I'm in little ole Ireland. Hardly worth the hassle. I'm sure the deluge of all sorts of leaflets and visits to discuss this that and the other will annoy him enough to make him think about doing it again, in reality it probably wont..

Physical location is irrelevant! Paypal deal globally. Report him.

jbv · 14-01-2021 12:01pm

wally1990 wrote: »

Not an offical scam but I felt like an idiot and robbed due to my own stupidity

In new York, wrecked from.shopping all.day with herself and sick of shops plus walking!!

I was standing outside some.clothing store while herself was inside

Outside the store there was this beauty stall [hand wash, facial creams, etc]

Anyway this sales woman walks over to me and grabs my arm and basically says oh come try our hand wash ****e etc

So tired and unwilling to decline I went about 5 feet away

So 2 min later im washing my hands into a basin and sure doesn't the water look off colour [prob eating, touching money etc all day] and she is look oh great cleaning product bla bla

Then she rubs some creams on my hand while bigging up the product and its natural origins and ****e

Im a male and couldnt give a f to be honest

Anyway , im half alseep and she is like 'will you take a bit for you and the wife and I asked how much?

50 dollars she said

And why the **** I didn't walk away then i dunno

Handed 50 quid for bascially a bar of soap and cream

Wife comes out and big smile oh what did you buy

I just handed her the bag in my own disgust and said lets not talk about it

I hated myself for blowing 50 dollars but being so tired I just wanted that woman to **** off

5 years ago and still annoys me

They still do it.
Check 1st Floor, Jervis Shopping Center, Dublin.
They are all Jewish and selling some products based on the salt from the Dead Sea.

Worst scam you've fallen for

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