No had a close call though. My grandfather got a call that I was in jail for drinking under the influence (quite out of character for me because I don't drink or like driving). The guy apparently sounded like me and claimed that a $1000 gift card to target could get him out (sketchy). That day I felt like visiting him because I had not seen him for a few months, so I did. I went there and my grandfather look so surprised that I was no longer in jail (never was). He had the 1000$ gift card in his hand and was just about read to dial it in, we had conversation about it and ended up saving him his 1000$. At least I know he'd do anything for me, despite this being a scam artist. Praise be to the FSM!

Long time ago, an acquaintance answered a newspaper ad that guaranteed income, and he sent in the $10 or whatever to get the info, which was... put ads in newspapers that guarantee income.

My brothers fall for them all the time and they never learn. I used to try to tell them not to put their money in those things, but they just got mad and said that just because I went to College I think that I know it all. They have lost so much money and they still fall for many of those scams.

My facebook friends posts that drivel all the time. When I point out it's a scam, they reply "Well it may be true" and enters the contests.

My sister has to be the most gullible person out there. Back in 2000 she emailed me saying she got this letter and could not believe her good fortune. Reading the letter I see it's a Nigerian scam and told her to throw it away. Since then she keeps emailing me shit wanting to know if it's true or not (it takes two seconds for me to google the shit).

The last was an employment opportunity to work at home. They wanted to send her a check, deposit it into her account and buy "equipment" (office equipment) with 10 itune cards, which she was supposed to email them the number and PIN codes to prove she purchased them. She got the check (very excited), but got confused about the itune cards. Luckily I explained it enough for her to file fraud charges on them before she deposited the check and got the cards.

I ordered a Beautiful bed from Amazon. The company I purchased from turned out to be a scam. They actually used phony copies of Amazon's own order system to get money sent Around the real billing system. Fortunately I made "copy screen" images of the whole procedure. Amazon quickly reimbursed me and I was able to get my bed through one of their legitimate vendors.

Time shares are horrible from what a coworker says. Not only can he not get out of paying for it, he has to pay maintenance fees for the resorts even if he doesn't go.

My sister answered her phone one day and asked, "Is this Scam Likely?"

Scamming as evil... never sleeps. Is a full time job to a lot of humans. I used to work on reloadable credit cards were the target was the elderly helping out a grandchild from going to jail. Sad when I had to tell the customer it is a "victim assisted crime" with little law enforcement can do since they voluntarily provided the information over the phone. By the way IRS will never call you. Law enforcement never call you to keep one of your loved ones out of jail either.

Not the kind of scam you're thinking of probably, but long ago a friend talked me into going to see a "psychic". Well, right away this person knew I wasn't going to be fooled, so she gave me a very short, general reading.

My friend, however, was another matter. I found out a couple of weeks later that she had gone back several times, paying more each time, because the psychic told her that the energy generated from the money transfer helped her see more clearly.

I had a friend who fell for the pidgeon drop scam. In my early days on AOL I gave my password to someone claiming to work for company, though realized that I had fallen for a ploy and changed my password befote logging off, phew. A phishing scam fooled me for a few minutes once, but since I didn't have an ATM card at the time, I was just puzzled as to why they wanted info I couldn't provide.

They get more sophisticated every day. I got scammed by people pretending to part of the fed loan forgiveness program. They had an actual addrea in the us. An actual better business bureau number, web site blah blah blah. Turns out it was all a shell company.

They get more sophisticated every day. I got scammed by people pretending to part of the fed loan forgiveness program. They had an actual addrea in the us. An actual better business bureau number, web site blah blah blah. Turns out it was all a shell company.

they wouldn't be scamming if they weren't making money

when I get something suspicious I always verify the source. Also I always initiate contact with a legitimate phone number or address that I obtained. This is the only way to be safe today

nearly fell foul of the "virus" scam where people claim to "represent" Microsoft and charge you for removing non existent virus , they sounded so plausible, DO NOT GIVE YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS ONLINE !

I knew one man who was taken in THREE times and the last time he put the law firm he managed out of business. While not a lawyer himself, he was the firm manager and had single signature access to firm funds. When issuing paycheck, he diverted the money meant to be sent for taxes to whomever was scamming him to the tune of about $350K. When his crime was imminent, he attempted suicide, was committed then diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and died. I helped his wife wrap up her life with him and move out of the area.

I have never fell victim to a scammer either in the mail or Internet

Just got this in the mail. This time they dint even try ti guess what vehicle I have. They just say, “ your vehicle.” Feel free to call and be belligerent with’em, just don't give thrm your money.

I’ve known people who were attempted victims but caught that shit, funny stories they have to tell for sure...

But the gullible, the lonely, and the easy prey don’t always catch on.

That prince is gonna give me my 25,000 bucks any day now....any day now....I did fall for a VCR scam when I was a lot younger....but this was a lack of communication thing....I thought this guy was a friend of my roommate, and he thought he was a friend of mine, so he took our 25 bucks and ran with it....we had a 25-dollars-lost mourning party which spanned 3 states and many speed limits, so it was totally worth it....

James Veitch has a funny TEDTalk about email scammers that I get a real kick out of (the follow-up one is funny as well):

One of my nephews fell for one of those free cruises scam. He paid the "tax" on it or something like that and never heard from them again. He's only like 22 or 23 so he's still a bit naive.

I think people would give up trying if they didn't work on some people

Yes a friend of mine called someone telling her that he was the IRS. She didn't give them money or anything. She called the IRS herself.

Biggest scam I know everyone I have ever known has fallen for it. (Christianity)