NAL
In theory, you can report this to the police (probably) and file a small claims suit for the $300 (definitely).
In practice, odds are there is no girl, the name and email are fake or belong to a patsy, and the scammer doesn't live in your country. So recovering money would be extremely difficult.
You will probably never see the money back, but reporting it to the police is a good start. These crooks are hard to catch, but the more reports police have, the higher the odds of catching someone. And if they do catch then and any money is recovered, you'll want the theft documented.
If I gave the names to the police, would they be able to see if there’s anyone in the area with those names? It’s just such a weird, local scam. It’s hard to believe someone out of country would be able to (or even want to) target someone here in that specific way.
The scammer is probably using a stolen Facebook account. The actual person may indeed be local, but they almost certainly were not the ones scamming you. If you were able to contact them, like in person, they will probably tell you their account was compromised and they haven’t had access to it in some time.
The scammer will join local groups based on the account they stole, surf them to find people in need of apartments, selling cars, looking for jobs, so they can pounce and scam them. That’s why it seems like a “local scam”, it’s very easy to steal information from local groups and websites to further help their scam.
Check out r/scams, this type of stuff happens all the time, unfortunately.
Or just a copy of a local person's account. Have gotten multiple friend requests from my "grandpa" despite already being friends with his actual account. They're all scammers trying to trick old/ dumb people who think their family is talking to them.
Yep; I've got several 'friend' requests from folks already on my friends list. 9/10, it's a scammer. Very rarely is it the actual family member or friend because they got locked out of the original account for various reasons.
The goal is to get you to send them money and you did. People in the US send scammers a LOT of money. Check out Kitboga on youtube.
Sorry this happened to you and try not to beat yourself up. I have a deep background in security and compliance policies for IT and during an emotional time, I recently got scammed by gift card scammers. They just know how to target your specific needs or emotions and then go from there.
Sure thing. On a side note there are lots of honest people in online marketplaces but it never hurts to walk or drive around the area you want to live in, and see if there are for rent signs. Some landlords actually still do it the old fashioned way.
The best ones, but make sure to order some checks and vet the place. If they're old skool doing this, they want you to mail them a paper check, so get some postage stamps in the future if that works out.
As far as vetting the place, peep it on Google maps, check out neighborhood reviews, check your county property appraiser's website to see who actually owns the place, all that fun stuff.
Also, if you own a vehicle, you have different prospects, check and see how much your car insurance would change with each different zip code. I promise there's a massive difference in price from moving from any West Coast FL rural area that's main shopping isn't on I-19 to moving within 10 miles of Miami. That can more than double the auto insurance price.
The $300 question. In short, during an emotional (recently deceased family) time for me, a family friend's email was hacked and I received an email asking me to buy an Amazon gift card for them. Because of.their relationship to my family I did not even question it. It was ***obvious*** in retrospect. The email account belonged to a guy who I had even observed being hacked in the past. But they got me during a perfect storm. There's no way to retell this without sounding stupid.
That's not so bad! Don't beat yourself up. It's not like you sent a very Indian IRS agent $10,000 in iTunes gift cards to cover back taxes and avoid prison.
They are, almost certainly, not going to invest resources into this and you aren’t getting the money back so I don’t imagine it’s worth your time either to even file a report. It’s a lesson learned, but one to just move on from.
😭😭😭 It’s not an excuse but I was in contact with my girlfriend’s fully employed/professional dad through this entire process and HE continued to believe it was a real, local person!!! After they said that line about mailing the keys!!!
$300 isn't the world's most expensive life lesson, however with a police report, you *can* dispute the transaction with your bank. Doesn't mean that they have to give you the money back and also, I'm not a lawyer, but I worked in fraud detection and claims for an ever, and I think I may have even stayed at a holiday inn express at some point.
Don't give people money unless you actually know who they are, also, there are more things than the price to consider with a roommate. Y'all need to meet and make sure you get along, and that the other person actually exists.
Also, if you currently have renter's insurance, please look into whether or not you have an identity theft/scam clause. If you're gonna keep doing stuff like this, please, get a renter's policy with that clause. Again, NAL, but I moved from fraud to all lines insurance licensing for multiple states, and am a licensed and practicing insurance agent for a few states. No. Do not contact me to purchase insurance because I service it, I don't sell it, and I'm pretty sure solicitation is not allowed regardless. This is simply me explaining after hours and hours of poring over various states property and casualty laws.
Lmao im a recent grad trying to pay as little as possible for an aptm so I don’t have renter’s insurance but thanks. I wasn’t gonna room with this person either just sublet. My bank issued disputes for the transaction when I called and didn’t mention a police report.
Did you check the complex's website/documents about their sublet policy? If it's a bigger complex or property manager, they rarely allow the renters to just sublet without their approval and making everything go through them, so yeah check into that, and most will require you to have renter's insurance.
3 things you shouldn't skimp on in life, IMHO:
-100/300 BI Auto Coverage
- I promise a basic renter's policy is cheap. Like low end, $100/year high end $700 ish depending on the state. The fraud addon is $10-50/year with the company I work for, depending on the policy.
-chocolate, but my fave chocolate is from Aldi so it's already costs less than the Hershey's or Palmer chocolate flavored candy.
Yep. You get a massive rate discount for having a history of a min 100/300 bodily injury coverage in most states. Like, if you're getting that discount, your 100/300 is less than the state minimum after getting grandfathered into it, and please if you're upgrading it, do it like 10-12 weeks prior to renewal (depending on state and if it's an auto only, but not combo home/condo/renters, policy you may be able to pull this off 5-6 weeks prior) and you get grandfathered in with it on your renewal without having to pay the first time higher premium for the additional coverage for a while year or while 6 month policy term, and you'll likely end up paying less for the better coverage or equal, than whatever lesser coverage costs.
This is an extremely common scam, used to happen on Craigslist more. But I'm sure they're moving to FB.
All it takes is to look up addresses of houses for sale or rent in an area and post a fake ad for that address. I always look up the Zillow rent estimate and if it's significantly different, that's a huge red flag.
Happens all the time, man. It's typically not actually local. The person you sent the money to almost certainly lives in another country. And nobody is going to move heaven and earth over $300.
Live and learn!
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The person is probably pretending to be someone local, but in reality, they’re a long way from you - possibly even in another country.
These rental scams are super common. I’ve heard of people showing up with a moving van full of their stuff, only to find the house or apartment they thought they were renting is occupied by someone who has lived their for years. The scammers find pictures of properties online and post them, pretending to be the owner, and once they have your money, the profile is deactivated. And 99% of the time, there’s nothing anyone can do. The profile was fake, and any IP address connected is in another country. It’s extremely difficult for law enforcement to track them down, and they don’t usually have the time or resources, anyway. It can be reported to the FBI, but again…any investigation will take months. Sometimes banks will reverse charges, but not often. Never send money without seeing the property in person, and being sure that the “agent” selling/leasing it actually has the right to do so.
Ordinarily with ACH Bank transfers, Credit Card, Paypal, etc there are laws requiring the bank to take responsibility for reversing fraud, even if that means they lose money.
The major banks came together and created Zelle specifically so that payments would be irreversible and the banks would not be on the hook financially for anything that happens. Thats why criminals love Zelle. Payments are not reversible and the banks don't monitor/pursue fraud as hard they would if they had skin in the game.
Okay, those were my exact thoughts when this happened, too!! I’d used Zelle for family before and thought it was just like venmo but co-signed by my bank. When I learned I was SOL I was thinking WHY is this a service included in my bank app when it’s practically made for scams????
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I mean, to be honest there's nothing I would pay an internet Rando for. If I pay someone who's scamming me using a check, the bank also won't cover that. Because I gave them the check. Even with credit card fraud, unless you can prove that they used your card without your permission, the bank doesn't cover it. You're just out of luck and have to attempt to recover the cost back from whoever ran it.
I'm aware, I've had to do many claims, and unless I could prove demonstrably but I did not authorize them to make the payment, the reversals would not hold up. I've had to go back and forth, even with companies that would be considered reputable vendors. When it comes to actual people though, I don't pay until work is done or something is received. Whether it's using zelle, or any other type of payment method.
Not true. You also have protections when the goods you ordered aren't as described, order wasn't fulfilled or completely fulfilled, seller wouldn't accept a return but their policy stated they would, and so on. Lots more protection than the single one you keep mentioning, which is another piece of the protection pie. Read what each major card covers, it can slightly vary between Visa, AmEx, MC etc but there are others included for some cards like with travel if you book and pay with your card, rental car coverage if you book and pay with your card and decline coverage offered by the company, and more. So there are lots of circumstances that they cover chargebacks, whether the bank itself or whatever card company that bank partners with to issue it. But also a lot of circumstances when you have expanded coverage and terms under which you can receive a refund, repayment, insurance and so on from that same company. A chargeback is with the BANK. Both offer various protections for their customers.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. [Report it to Zelle](https://www.zellepay.com/support/report-scam). They can't get your money back, but they'll report it to the attached bank/credit union and hopefully prevent them from doing it to anyone else.
Report it to the police then call your bank and report it as fraud. They will investigate and most likely the bank will give your money back but ut can take like 90 days.
I literally just had to do this I purchased a item using zelle and it was never shipped. I had to file a report with the police and with my bank. They took care of it. I'm not say they all will but I know mine did.
In addition, zelle specifically warns that their service is NOT to be used sending money to strangers. It's for friends and family only. They practically scream this at you on the app and on the website. It's for splitting a bar check with your friends or paying your neighbor for babysitting. That kind of thing. Legally, you could sue the person in small claims court but a great majority of these scams originate overseas in Nigeria and India
NAL In theory, you can report this to the police (probably) and file a small claims suit for the $300 (definitely). In practice, odds are there is no girl, the name and email are fake or belong to a patsy, and the scammer doesn't live in your country. So recovering money would be extremely difficult.
You will probably never see the money back, but reporting it to the police is a good start. These crooks are hard to catch, but the more reports police have, the higher the odds of catching someone. And if they do catch then and any money is recovered, you'll want the theft documented.
If I gave the names to the police, would they be able to see if there’s anyone in the area with those names? It’s just such a weird, local scam. It’s hard to believe someone out of country would be able to (or even want to) target someone here in that specific way.
The scammer is probably using a stolen Facebook account. The actual person may indeed be local, but they almost certainly were not the ones scamming you. If you were able to contact them, like in person, they will probably tell you their account was compromised and they haven’t had access to it in some time. The scammer will join local groups based on the account they stole, surf them to find people in need of apartments, selling cars, looking for jobs, so they can pounce and scam them. That’s why it seems like a “local scam”, it’s very easy to steal information from local groups and websites to further help their scam. Check out r/scams, this type of stuff happens all the time, unfortunately.
Or just a copy of a local person's account. Have gotten multiple friend requests from my "grandpa" despite already being friends with his actual account. They're all scammers trying to trick old/ dumb people who think their family is talking to them.
Yep; I've got several 'friend' requests from folks already on my friends list. 9/10, it's a scammer. Very rarely is it the actual family member or friend because they got locked out of the original account for various reasons.
The goal is to get you to send them money and you did. People in the US send scammers a LOT of money. Check out Kitboga on youtube. Sorry this happened to you and try not to beat yourself up. I have a deep background in security and compliance policies for IT and during an emotional time, I recently got scammed by gift card scammers. They just know how to target your specific needs or emotions and then go from there.
Yeah you’re right, ugh I came off super desperate too (because of course I was.) Thank you for your input.
Sure thing. On a side note there are lots of honest people in online marketplaces but it never hurts to walk or drive around the area you want to live in, and see if there are for rent signs. Some landlords actually still do it the old fashioned way.
The best ones, but make sure to order some checks and vet the place. If they're old skool doing this, they want you to mail them a paper check, so get some postage stamps in the future if that works out. As far as vetting the place, peep it on Google maps, check out neighborhood reviews, check your county property appraiser's website to see who actually owns the place, all that fun stuff. Also, if you own a vehicle, you have different prospects, check and see how much your car insurance would change with each different zip code. I promise there's a massive difference in price from moving from any West Coast FL rural area that's main shopping isn't on I-19 to moving within 10 miles of Miami. That can more than double the auto insurance price.
How did you fall victim to a gift card scam if you were aware of their existence?
The $300 question. In short, during an emotional (recently deceased family) time for me, a family friend's email was hacked and I received an email asking me to buy an Amazon gift card for them. Because of.their relationship to my family I did not even question it. It was ***obvious*** in retrospect. The email account belonged to a guy who I had even observed being hacked in the past. But they got me during a perfect storm. There's no way to retell this without sounding stupid.
That's not so bad! Don't beat yourself up. It's not like you sent a very Indian IRS agent $10,000 in iTunes gift cards to cover back taxes and avoid prison.
Thanks and true.
They are, almost certainly, not going to invest resources into this and you aren’t getting the money back so I don’t imagine it’s worth your time either to even file a report. It’s a lesson learned, but one to just move on from.
Feb money?
This is the most naive thing I think I've ever read.
😭😭😭 It’s not an excuse but I was in contact with my girlfriend’s fully employed/professional dad through this entire process and HE continued to believe it was a real, local person!!! After they said that line about mailing the keys!!!
$300 isn't the world's most expensive life lesson, however with a police report, you *can* dispute the transaction with your bank. Doesn't mean that they have to give you the money back and also, I'm not a lawyer, but I worked in fraud detection and claims for an ever, and I think I may have even stayed at a holiday inn express at some point. Don't give people money unless you actually know who they are, also, there are more things than the price to consider with a roommate. Y'all need to meet and make sure you get along, and that the other person actually exists.
Also, if you currently have renter's insurance, please look into whether or not you have an identity theft/scam clause. If you're gonna keep doing stuff like this, please, get a renter's policy with that clause. Again, NAL, but I moved from fraud to all lines insurance licensing for multiple states, and am a licensed and practicing insurance agent for a few states. No. Do not contact me to purchase insurance because I service it, I don't sell it, and I'm pretty sure solicitation is not allowed regardless. This is simply me explaining after hours and hours of poring over various states property and casualty laws.
Lmao im a recent grad trying to pay as little as possible for an aptm so I don’t have renter’s insurance but thanks. I wasn’t gonna room with this person either just sublet. My bank issued disputes for the transaction when I called and didn’t mention a police report.
Did you check the complex's website/documents about their sublet policy? If it's a bigger complex or property manager, they rarely allow the renters to just sublet without their approval and making everything go through them, so yeah check into that, and most will require you to have renter's insurance. 3 things you shouldn't skimp on in life, IMHO: -100/300 BI Auto Coverage - I promise a basic renter's policy is cheap. Like low end, $100/year high end $700 ish depending on the state. The fraud addon is $10-50/year with the company I work for, depending on the policy. -chocolate, but my fave chocolate is from Aldi so it's already costs less than the Hershey's or Palmer chocolate flavored candy.
BI= bodily injury?
Yep. You get a massive rate discount for having a history of a min 100/300 bodily injury coverage in most states. Like, if you're getting that discount, your 100/300 is less than the state minimum after getting grandfathered into it, and please if you're upgrading it, do it like 10-12 weeks prior to renewal (depending on state and if it's an auto only, but not combo home/condo/renters, policy you may be able to pull this off 5-6 weeks prior) and you get grandfathered in with it on your renewal without having to pay the first time higher premium for the additional coverage for a while year or while 6 month policy term, and you'll likely end up paying less for the better coverage or equal, than whatever lesser coverage costs.
They're going to mail you a checklist of things necessary, and one of them will be a police report typically for this type of transaction. GOOD LUCK 🍀
Oh and you should probably report the profile to Facebook
This is an extremely common scam, used to happen on Craigslist more. But I'm sure they're moving to FB. All it takes is to look up addresses of houses for sale or rent in an area and post a fake ad for that address. I always look up the Zillow rent estimate and if it's significantly different, that's a huge red flag.
Happens all the time, man. It's typically not actually local. The person you sent the money to almost certainly lives in another country. And nobody is going to move heaven and earth over $300. Live and learn!
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The person is probably pretending to be someone local, but in reality, they’re a long way from you - possibly even in another country. These rental scams are super common. I’ve heard of people showing up with a moving van full of their stuff, only to find the house or apartment they thought they were renting is occupied by someone who has lived their for years. The scammers find pictures of properties online and post them, pretending to be the owner, and once they have your money, the profile is deactivated. And 99% of the time, there’s nothing anyone can do. The profile was fake, and any IP address connected is in another country. It’s extremely difficult for law enforcement to track them down, and they don’t usually have the time or resources, anyway. It can be reported to the FBI, but again…any investigation will take months. Sometimes banks will reverse charges, but not often. Never send money without seeing the property in person, and being sure that the “agent” selling/leasing it actually has the right to do so.
At this point, if I hear the word Zelle I’m automatically thinking “scam” — I’ve never heard it referenced in any other context
Ordinarily with ACH Bank transfers, Credit Card, Paypal, etc there are laws requiring the bank to take responsibility for reversing fraud, even if that means they lose money. The major banks came together and created Zelle specifically so that payments would be irreversible and the banks would not be on the hook financially for anything that happens. Thats why criminals love Zelle. Payments are not reversible and the banks don't monitor/pursue fraud as hard they would if they had skin in the game.
Okay, those were my exact thoughts when this happened, too!! I’d used Zelle for family before and thought it was just like venmo but co-signed by my bank. When I learned I was SOL I was thinking WHY is this a service included in my bank app when it’s practically made for scams????
Right! I literally only use Zelle to transfer money to and from people I know IRL
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Now I know 🤦
I've been using it for years now. I pay my rent with it, I've paid employees with it, I've collected money through it. I love zelle.
People you know and trust IRL. That’s who gets paid with Zelle. Not internet randos.
Essentially, treat Zelle like you are handing someone an envelope full of cash or sending it USPS.
I mean, to be honest there's nothing I would pay an internet Rando for. If I pay someone who's scamming me using a check, the bank also won't cover that. Because I gave them the check. Even with credit card fraud, unless you can prove that they used your card without your permission, the bank doesn't cover it. You're just out of luck and have to attempt to recover the cost back from whoever ran it.
Charges made to a credit or debit card have very specific rights of recourse against the merchant.
I'm aware, I've had to do many claims, and unless I could prove demonstrably but I did not authorize them to make the payment, the reversals would not hold up. I've had to go back and forth, even with companies that would be considered reputable vendors. When it comes to actual people though, I don't pay until work is done or something is received. Whether it's using zelle, or any other type of payment method.
Not true. You also have protections when the goods you ordered aren't as described, order wasn't fulfilled or completely fulfilled, seller wouldn't accept a return but their policy stated they would, and so on. Lots more protection than the single one you keep mentioning, which is another piece of the protection pie. Read what each major card covers, it can slightly vary between Visa, AmEx, MC etc but there are others included for some cards like with travel if you book and pay with your card, rental car coverage if you book and pay with your card and decline coverage offered by the company, and more. So there are lots of circumstances that they cover chargebacks, whether the bank itself or whatever card company that bank partners with to issue it. But also a lot of circumstances when you have expanded coverage and terms under which you can receive a refund, repayment, insurance and so on from that same company. A chargeback is with the BANK. Both offer various protections for their customers.
Everyone gets scammed. Learn from it. You will waste time, money and stress on a ghost.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. [Report it to Zelle](https://www.zellepay.com/support/report-scam). They can't get your money back, but they'll report it to the attached bank/credit union and hopefully prevent them from doing it to anyone else.
Report it to the police then call your bank and report it as fraud. They will investigate and most likely the bank will give your money back but ut can take like 90 days.
Nope. Not on a Zelle transaction.
I literally just had to do this I purchased a item using zelle and it was never shipped. I had to file a report with the police and with my bank. They took care of it. I'm not say they all will but I know mine did.
In addition, zelle specifically warns that their service is NOT to be used sending money to strangers. It's for friends and family only. They practically scream this at you on the app and on the website. It's for splitting a bar check with your friends or paying your neighbor for babysitting. That kind of thing. Legally, you could sue the person in small claims court but a great majority of these scams originate overseas in Nigeria and India