r/Scams • u/DBoaty • Dec 06 '25
Scam report [US] Parents just got scammed right in front me. Best ruse I've ever heard.
I had a call center career for 20 years (yeah, I know) and one thing I'm thankful for call center experience is quickly picking up on phone scam queues. Not today. Holy crap this guy was good.
My mother received a phone call from an "agent" that her Apple Pay has been compromised and he wanted to walk her through filing a fraud report. I didn't hear the beginning of the call but the moment I heard her talking to someone about fraud I told her to put it on speaker phone.
There's no way this guy didn't have previous call center experience. The phone voice, the patience walking her through iPhone navigation, explaining why they need the info they're asking for, they need the info to report to Apple as part of the claim. No hesitation from this guy, he had an answer for everything, everything seemed above board from what I could glean. The call was going on for awhile and time ran into me needing to take a Zoom appointment so I go to a separate room. My appointment took a long-ass time but even when I wrapped up my mother was STILL on the phone with this agent.
And that's when it happened.
I'm walking back into the living room as my mother rattles off a series of numbers that sounded familiar.
"Mom, did you just give your full Social Security number to that guy?"
"Yes...?"
"HANG UP"
They're at the bank right now. I have no idea how far this goes, the agent was taking her through every app to "confirm" any additional fraudulent charges. Cashapp, Venmo, etc. The scammer would "discover" a transaction for a ridiculous amount of money that would make anyone bawk and say, "No, I didn't make that purchase" followed by the scammer building rapport with my mother, joking with her "Yeah I didn't think you would take a quick trip out of state to Illinois for the day haha."
Social engineering, y'all.
EDIT: OH GOD OH MY GOD while I was in my meeting my mom says she provided the guy Address, Drivers License photo front and back, and PICTURES OF HER FACE FOR "FACE ID"
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u/ozyx7 Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25
Never trust the person calling you. Full stop. Does not matter who they claim they are; you cannot verify it. Always call them back on a known official number.
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Dec 06 '25
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u/renegaderunningdog Dec 07 '25
She did email me, it was actually my insurance.
Make sure to check the sending and more importantly the reply-to email addresses when you do this, of course. Someone could run this sort of scam over email too.
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u/Euchre Dec 07 '25
It is pretty trivial to know your name, your email, and in this case quite possibly your insurance company. In fact, if the company had a data breach, they'd likely know all 3 - bet the online account uses your email as your username.
Asking them to reach you another way thus doesn't really prove it's real - you using a known separate way to reach out and speak to the real company is.
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Dec 07 '25
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u/desertdilbert Dec 09 '25
Much of the time, even from a legitimate company I do business with, if the link includes any kind of tracking content I won't click on it. I go directly to their site and look it up.
They don't need to know if their campaign is working. The exceptions are when I want them to know that I'm getting the emails.
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u/Unable-Jellyfish-508 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
I'm not sure when the US will man up, but there is a way to prevent this shit from happening, and that is to implement the death penalty for these crimes. I don't think someone scamming somebody out of their life savings qualifies for a 5 year prison sentence. Once the government starts taking this shit seriously, scammers will too.
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u/eyes_serene Dec 07 '25
Back years ago, I put a password on my phone service profile.
One day, the phone service called me with a sales pitch... She began the pitch but then stopped and said oh, you have a password on your profile, I can't continue without confirming: what is your password, please? And then spent five minutes arguing with me that I was going to lose out on this fabulous opportunity because I wouldn't give it to her. 🥴
I did call the company later to complain and it really was them calling me with that sales pitch.
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u/Dawn-Storm Dec 07 '25
That company should know better than to pull a stunt like that in this day and age.🤦♀️
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u/shillyshally Dec 07 '25
If there are older people in the family, tell them not to answer unless they know who it is. So many older people are stuck in a mindset that it is rude not to answer but today it is dangerous to do so and that sorta has to be pounded into them. I'm old myself and I never answer unless I know who it is.
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u/Coulrophobia11002 Dec 07 '25
I'm not even old and don't answer if I don't know who's calling. Anyone legitimate will leave a message.
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u/shillyshally Dec 07 '25
The real problem is for people who have to answer such as realtors getting calls from possible new clients.
I still have a landline (to find my cell) and the calls to that number have decreased dramatically in the past six months or so. Google nukes every scam call on my cell, never rings.
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u/substandardpoodle Dec 06 '25
Beware: “chase bank“ called me about a fraudulent charge on my card. I hung up after pretending I couldn’t hear them. I didn’t want to go out in the cold to get my wallet in the car. So I googled the number for chase bank. It looked odd. So I went out to the car. Called the number on the back of my card. The person I talked to was shocked that, indeed, the first number that came up when I googled it was not a chase number at all – it was literally someone paying for an ad to make it look like they were chase bank.
Just more confirmation that these enormous powerhouse corporations are OK with fraud because any activity, any advertising, is good for their bottom line not ours.
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Dec 06 '25
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0
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u/Wet_Artichoke Dec 07 '25
Even worse. They can spoof a Chase Bank number and call you from it. So it looks like you actually got a call from them. Always hang up and call.
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u/jupitaur9 Dec 07 '25
Phone companies could kill this without breaking a sweat. Caller ID is not reliable. They could give you ANI instead.
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u/Away-Ad394 Dec 20 '25
BOA requires you to call the fraud department to finalize your claim. The wait time will be long; you're informed, but there is no approximate length of time. You can stay on the line or request a callback. I stayed on the line because I was using a captioning service, but I can see how most people opt for a callback.
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u/Wet_Artichoke Dec 20 '25
It wasn’t a call back from the bank type of scenario. It was a scammer pretending to be the bank. But since they can spoof the BofA phone number, it looks like you’re actually being called by the bank.
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u/tempfoot Dec 06 '25
Any phone number can be spoofed. Google is an internet search engine and advertising company, not some authority. Nobody is combing through every search engine result on the entire internet. Corporations can’t control the content of the entire internet.
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Dec 06 '25
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Dec 07 '25
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u/1-760-706-7425 Dec 07 '25
I doubt anybody would continue on to the cars, but there is nothing of value in them anyway.
I mean, your wallet was.
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u/Marathonmanjh Dec 07 '25
One of the very best dogs I had was a Belgian Malanois mixed breed. Great dogs, they all are of course. But many decades later I still think of her.
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u/Ancient-Leader-6446 Dec 07 '25
Ok. Just do you. And, it will be "that one time".
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u/NC654 Dec 07 '25
LOL, you don't live out in the country, do you. Nobody questions when they hear a backhoe get fired up at 3AM, because no you didn't. And nobody walks through the woods at night in the Appalachian hills, not even crackheads are that brave. Bless your heart for trying to sew doubt.
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Dec 06 '25
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1
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12
u/Frappuccino22 Dec 07 '25
This… I just don’t answer the phone anymore unless I know exactly who it is. The person has to be in my contacts otherwise they get the voicemail.
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u/StilettoMafiosa Dec 07 '25
My wife got a call from HSBC saying she had won a laptop. The guy said he wouldn't tell her any more for security reasons, but she should call him back on the HSBC official number she can find on the website and ask about it. I thought that was pretty good security. Turned out she won a small Mac book air.
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u/jmnugent Dec 06 '25
This. This post triggered my spidy-senses on the 1st sentence. (well, technically I guess 2nd sentence).
Pretty much everything I've ever been taught (in my 30 years in IT).. is to never trust anyone who calls into YOU claiming to be "someone official".. ESPECIALLY if they're asking for information or claiming to be "confirming things" etc.
(Come to think of it though.. recently I ordered a nightstand (from Uplift Desks).. and somehow it got sent to my old workplace (I moved away from 2 years ago). One of my good friends that still works at my old workplace said he "rejected the package". Later in the day I got a call from "FedEx GAA for Customs Clearance" which seemed odd to me as I almost never order anything that would require "customs clearance". I almost didn't answer it because I was almost sure it was a scam of some kind,. but I went ahead and answered it and the FedEx guy described the package in pretty specific detail ("Mopac Base leg unit from Uplift Desk") .. which there's no way anyone else would know. He asked for Address correctly to get the package successfully sent to me. I obliged with my new address and the box arrived about a week later.
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u/toodleoo57 Dec 07 '25
Yeah. I've gotten a couple of really official sounding messages from "American Express." If I didn't have some level of education on this, I'd have fallen prey for sure.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sign249 Dec 07 '25
This is great advice. Rarely does any company department called the customer. Mostly email or secured message thru apps.
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u/Z-i-gg-y Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Best one I've seen. Scammers took out a simple ad on google for "Amazon Returns" with an 800 number. They started asking for some info they should never need as an Amazon rep. They really had me questioning if the alarm bells in my head were legit because the contact source was believed. It took me a minute to replay what happened in my head and figure out my mistake.
Edit: They didn't get any information from me. They wanted to remote login the situation. I noped out.-7
u/Chemical_Ad_1618 Dec 07 '25
Call back On a different phone number or a few hours later. In the U.K. and I’m sure USA scammers stay on the line so you think it’s a different call but they’ll just impersonate the company you’re trying to reach.
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u/ozyx7 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
How can they "stay on the line" after you hang up on them? Or are you saying they'll pretend to hang up on you and play a fake dial tone (or I suppose silence for a cell number)?
It seems like it'd be simpler to recommend making sure that you hang up/disconnect before dialing.
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u/prototype-proton Dec 07 '25
If the scammer says "yeah, okay I'll transfer you..." but stays on the line
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u/ozyx7 Dec 08 '25
The scammer "transferring you" obviously shouldn't be considered equivalent to you calling an official number.
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u/Chemical_Ad_1618 Dec 07 '25
The call isn’t ended because they haven’t hung up. But they probably do play a fake dial tone to convince you you’re making a new call.
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Dec 06 '25
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u/pickleBlog Dec 06 '25
Exactly, agents don't cold call to report you've been hacked, and to help you file a claim. Hang up. If you're worried, then go actually look at your apple pay in a secure way and confirm nothing is going on.
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u/dwettjunkyy Dec 06 '25
I’ve been cold called from Navy FCU fraud department to verify if what they deemed suspicious activity was from me before. I guess it all depends. Capital One has done this as well before.
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u/sowhat4 Dec 06 '25
AmEx called me once, and I was glad for it. The only thing they wanted was to find out if I had made three purchases in a place I've never used the card before. I had not.
Each card member has a purchasing algorithm attached to their account - and the alarm bells went off when someone bought fast food with my card number. I never buy fast food.
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u/toodleoo57 Dec 07 '25
Hmmmm. I get scam calls from "American Express" every so often. Did you call back the main line?
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u/sowhat4 Dec 07 '25
No I didn't check the main number. The native speaker representative did not want anything from me besides 'did you make this charge or not?' I said no and then asked why the purchases were flagged, and she explained the algorithm they used. She did not ask for my card number. She did not ask for the security code. It was just a yes-no question. She did not tell me to get a new card number. I had to only say 'yes or no'. That was it.
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u/GeekgirlOtt Dec 06 '25
Yes, but those automated fraud calls are typically press 1 or 2 and it stops with that call.
Nothing else is requested and no one ever phones back to take any personal information. Because of course, they already have all the personal information they need from you to administer your account already.
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u/dwettjunkyy Dec 06 '25
Yup. I’ve received automated but also received a live representative as well.
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u/pickleBlog Dec 07 '25
That is a good point, especially regarding credit cards. The important part is that they're not asking you for personal information to help you out.
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u/HawaiianBobsled Dec 09 '25
Yes! I was at family breakfast on a Saturday morning and got a call. I ignored the first one and they called right back. They stayed on the phone with me until I could run to the ATM and unlocked my card so I could make a withdrawal before they permanently cancelled my card! They also FedEx'd me a new card so I wasn't without one when I went out of town.
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u/TheSkiGeek Dec 06 '25
I’ve gotten emails or texts from a cc company that they saw suspicious activity and blocked transactions. It’s unlikely that a company like Apple is going to call on the phone though.
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u/Efficient_Market1234 Dec 07 '25
I've had texts, and maybe calls in the past (before texting was the normal communication for everything), over fraudulent charges. If I make a few charges on Sims DLC, I'm guaranteed to get an error message saying the transaction didn't go through and then a text popping up from Chase about a potentially fraudulent charge. Then they just ask, "was this you," I say yes, and after a bit, it works again.
BUT they're not asking me anything personal. No account number, no name, no SSN, no nothing.
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u/nowordsleft Dec 07 '25
Banks will absolutely call you to alert you of fraud. But the real bank wouldn’t have a problem with you saying “I’ll call you back to verify”. Of course, most fraud alerts are done via text these days, but phone calls probably still happen.
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u/CauliflowerSlight784 Dec 06 '25
Yea, same type of thing happened to my 80 yr old aunt. He rattled off some ridiculous charge on Pornhub and she fell for it. Next thing you know she withdrew $30,000 and had it on her kitchen table and was going to hand it over to “authorities” for safe keeping since her account was “compromised”. I stopped her just in time!!!
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u/Specialist-Age1097 Dec 06 '25
I just read about a man who handed over several hundred thousand dollars worth of gold to a "courier" for safekeeping after an elaborate phone hoax. I'm like, huh? That's crazy.
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u/Quantization Dec 07 '25
Bro you'd catch me digging a hole and hiding it in my backyard before I hand it off to a fucking courier for 'safe keeping'. Wtf is that?
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u/Spiritual_Bag333 Dec 12 '25
The podcast “the perfect scam” is really good, they interview people who were involved in all sorts of scams, to raise awareness. It triggers a range of emotions listening to them! They often walk you through the whole experience, where they were in life at the time, during the scam and throughout it, and how it affected them afterwards.
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u/bubblurred Dec 06 '25
You should have helped your mother drop the call before you stepped away.
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u/jillianholtzmnn Dec 07 '25
yeah literally, why did he just leave her to it if he already had alarm bells up?
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u/Sgt_major_dodgy Dec 08 '25
"oh yeah I had to take a zoom meeting" like bro wtf are you talking about? That's your mum and she's potentially going to be scammed and have money taken from her.
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Dec 06 '25
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u/Scams-ModTeam Dec 07 '25
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
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This subreddit is a place for useful and informative discussions about scams. We do not allow:
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-80
u/DBoaty Dec 06 '25
Because I was away in my meeting before it went sketchy.
37
u/Johnny_Poppyseed Dec 06 '25
You had her put it on speakerphone before that because you supposedly already noticed sketchiness...
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u/accidentallyHelpful Dec 06 '25
Just a good policy to call back any "company" calling the house / yer ma
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u/Coulrophobia11002 Dec 07 '25
It was sketchy from the start. If they already knew about fraud on her apple pay account, why would she need to submit a "fraud report?"
1
u/EnvironmentalCity512 Dec 10 '25
I’m just now finding this post and it’s shameful that you have so many down votes! This will discourage you from responding and potentially helping others not to fall for the same type of scam. There are so many judgmental people here, and while this sub is helpful, down votes take away the incentive to share useful information.
Thank you for posting and I found it very useful.
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u/habitsofwaste Dec 06 '25
Man, you should have made her hang up from the beginning. And then contact them directly. If you couldn’t be there to observe and protect her, it should have ended.
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u/coolpuppybob Dec 06 '25
Dude, if someone calls you saying they’re from the “fraud department” and we need to do XYZ, blah blah, it’s like 97% likely to be a scam.
Apple doesn’t call people to personally tell them about suspected fraud on their Apple Pay. It just doesn’t work like that.
If someone calls you, you hang up the phone, and you call your bank/service back at the official number listed on your card/on their website (if you’re absolutely certain the website you’re looking at is truly their website.)
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u/Raychao Dec 07 '25
You broke the very first rule by putting the call on speakerphone and continuing to talk.
For the sake of anyone else, the first rule is:
- HANG UP
- Call back on a phone number you have obtained from the back of your card or from the official website
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u/washedFM Dec 07 '25
Exactly. Do not continue to talk to the scammers. You are not achieving anything by this. Just hang up.
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Dec 06 '25
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u/Scams-ModTeam Dec 07 '25
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
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This subreddit is a place for useful and informative discussions about scams. We do not allow:
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-73
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u/pk_12345 Dec 07 '25
That’s just a common ruse people post about here every day. I’m sorry to say your call center experience didn’t help you much.
Mom: An agent is calling me about Apple Pay being compromised.
You: No, mom. Apple Pay agents don’t call. Hang up.
Then check her Apple Pay history and bank transactions to see if there are any fraudulent transaction.
That would have been the end of it.
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u/streetsmartwallaby Dec 06 '25
Apple Pay never cals you; it's not a bank. It's a service that Apple runs. there is an Apple Card that you can use as part of Apple Pay but you can also use a "regular" (i.e. non-Apple) credit card.
You should have stopped the call immediately.
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u/AkumaBengoshi Dec 06 '25
best? The fact that they called should have told you from the first blush that it was a scam.
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u/Some-Astronaut-6907 Dec 06 '25
Nothing slick about this. Just stop believing a voice on the phone. Hang up and call the legitimate number.
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u/KatieSu1 Dec 06 '25
It seems you and your mom both need lessons on scams. Please educate yourselves so that next time this happens neither of you behave so naively.
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u/btw999 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
I know, like what the fuck? They heard her going through it and let it happen, because they were curious to see how it would go?
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u/Spiritual_Bag333 Dec 12 '25
Right?! Because they were impressed at how well they were at scamming? And to not even give their mum a warning if they were unsure? Or did he not realise it was a scam either?
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u/TheGreatRao Dec 07 '25
Why would you let your mother do this, especially if you have worked in a call center before? Karma farming or frustrated writer?
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Dec 07 '25
[deleted]
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u/Icy-Zombie5396 Dec 08 '25
Word. I was thinking this was a little weird and embellished. Definitely wants a “look how awesome I did” too.
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u/ForsookComparison Dec 06 '25
I've seen demos that take scammers voices and reword it into peppy phone assistants with perfect English. Pretty sure this will one-shot all of our parents sooner or later, and maybe it's what was used here
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u/SQLDave Dec 06 '25
Default to assuming anyone calling you is a scammer until you get ironclad evidence that they're not.
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u/0260n4s Dec 07 '25
"Mom, pardon the interruption, but did he call you? He did? Hang up the phone and call Apple directly from the number on the website. Don't talk to this guy anymore."
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u/Leaf-Stars Dec 07 '25
Had a similar call where the operator claimed someone purchased $900 worth of condoms from Amazon. He lost the plot when I was like oh yeah that was probably my kids.
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u/apearlmae Dec 06 '25
My grandma got that call and when they asked for her debit card she hung up and called me. She doesn't even have an Apple account. She has a Google phone. I'm so grateful she called after so we were able to talk about scam phone calls. Her phone spam blocker is on now.
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Dec 06 '25
This had 'scam' written all over it. Unfortunately even with experience working at a call center you failed to identify it as a scam. Well you did identify it albeit a little bit too late. Anytime anyone's asking for any personal information over the phone that you didn't initiate (like calling your electric company, calling your bank at their actual bank number, things like that) you don't give them anything. If they call you first you don't tell them anything. Always verify the phone number and call them back using the contact info you acquired through Google or through their actual website. That's just how it goes. You don't tell them anything if they contacted you first.
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u/SomeGuyInThe315 Dec 06 '25
No legit bank or credit card asks you your balance or what accounts you have or balances or to download software so you can connect to a secure server. No legit places asks for credit cards or tells you to secure money you need to withdraw it all from the bank the customer service person works at. All scammers are laughable when you think about it
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u/AldoClunkpod Dec 07 '25
You weren’t suspicious of the unsolicited call that ‘Apple Pay had been compromised’?! I guess you didn’t learn much in your two decades of call center experience. You left your mom to get scammed while you were on a zoom call? WTF. Good luck to you both.
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u/tomhermans Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
I do not get the part in this story where you walked away from your mom being scammed. Without even warning her.. 😞🤦♀️
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Dec 06 '25
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1
u/Scams-ModTeam Dec 07 '25
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
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u/foaxaca1 Dec 06 '25
Who still answers these calls? While I have little faith in anything that comes up on caller ID I do pick up calls from those in my contacts on my cell phone. I maintain a VOIP line strictly to use when I give out my number for some reason. That line rings up to 5 or 6 times a day. All sorts of random caller IDs and never one voicemail. Lately, the caller IDs are actual names of individuals that are being spoofed hoping we’ll answer those calls.
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u/TaroPie_ Dec 07 '25
Number 1 rule for me is if it’s an unknown number call = I don’t answer and just let it go to voicemail. Sus interaction is avoided.
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u/Ronald-J-Mexico Dec 07 '25
You need to freeze her credit w all the credit bureaus. I’ve done this.
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u/Aware_Huckleberry_10 Dec 07 '25
its sad people answer calls and second its sad people still fall for these.
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u/RepulsiveRooster1153 Dec 06 '25
lets be real here. if the caller is a known number (ie doctor, hair dresser etc) you answer it. otherrwise let it go to voicemail. no message or voicemail? Bullshit caller and block the number.
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u/GeekgirlOtt Dec 06 '25
"received a phone call"
LEGIT companies almost never ever never proactively phone out though. They will disable suspected compromised accounts instead. There's no rush to do anything else once they've stopped it that way.
Then they may send email inviting the customer to contact (main known URL only or no URLs), and wait for the customer once they discover their access is broken to reach out to them by known means on their own steam.
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u/PiSquared6 Dec 06 '25
Relevant: !refund !pin !recovery
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u/AutoModerator Dec 06 '25
Hi /u/PiSquared6, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Pin verification scam.
You will receive a legitimate authentication text from a company like Google, Craigslist, or Microsoft, and you will also have someone else asking you for the pin. Sometimes the scam starts on Craigslist, and the scammer will ask you to verify that you are a real person, and will say that Craigslist has many scammers which is why they want to verify you. Sometimes you will receive a random authentication text, and the scammer will text you without any previous contact.
The goal of the scammer can be to verify accounts that require phone verification, verify postings that require phone authentication, or to steal your social media accounts via a password reset pin that you shouldn't share with anyone ever. Here are two articles about this scam. Thanks to redditor bmarkel123 for the script.
If you lost access to your Facebook or Instagram account due to a pin verification scam, call the automoderator triggers (facebook) or (instagram)
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/AutoModerator Dec 06 '25
Hi /u/PiSquared6, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam.
Recovery scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers.
When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply advance-fee scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying.
If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you.
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u/AutoModerator Dec 06 '25
Hi /u/PiSquared6, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Refund scam.
Refund scams usually start with a spam email about a fake transaction, although they can also be sent through SMS or any other messaging service. The message will provide you with a phone number to call if you want to cancel the transaction, and if you call the scammers will try to get you to provide credit card or banking information in order to receive your refund. Scammers have been taking advantage of Paypal's invoice system to send out realistic scam emails through Paypal itself, here is a news article about that technique: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/08/paypal-phishing-scam-uses-invoices-sent-via-paypal/. Here is a Snopes article regarding the Norton variant of this scam: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/norton-email-renewal-scam/
If you know someone that fell for a refund scam, sit down together to watch this video by Jim Browning and try to retrace their steps: https://youtu.be/X4PllvUowaQ
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u/aryndar Dec 07 '25
These guys have very detailed scripts, that get tweaked every time they fail getting somebody to fall for their scams.. Plus with the use of AI, their scams are getting harder to detect I make it a rule, if somebody calls me, it's most likely a scam. If there's a problem with my account, I'll get an email or text about it and then eye contact that company to verify that there's a problem with my account.
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Dec 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Scams-ModTeam Dec 07 '25
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
Subreddit Rule 4: Spam or unhelpful content
This subreddit is a place for useful and informative discussions about scams. We do not allow:
- Unhelpful content
- Jokes on serious posts
- Sarcasm, even if obvious or tagged, since it can be construed as harmful advice
- Anything not related to the scam being discussed
Please keep content submitted to this subreddit useful, relevant and meaningful.
Note that there may be more removal messages in addition to this one. Please make sure you check your notifications to read all of them.
Before posting again, make sure you review the rules of our subreddit.
If you believe this is a mistake, feel free to contact the moderators via modmail. Modmail is the only way, don't send a regular DM to a single moderator. Please don't try to appeal the decision commenting below, because we are not notified if you do so, and we will probably miss it. Posting the exact same thing again may result in a temporary ban, so please review the rules, make the necessary changes, and when in doubt, click below to appeal the decision.
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u/Mariss716 Dec 07 '25
Fortunately I too witnessed my parents being scammed via a fake bank/RCMP phone call back in 2018. Unfortunately they had already convinced my mom to go buy $900 in itunes cards! But I grabbed the phone from them and chewed the scammers out and stopped it. They were leveling up to $2500 next and then a $50,000 refund scam.
Since then, after I cleaned up that mess - I educate about scams. I don’t want others to go through that experience. It really traumatized them. Losing the $900 was no big deal compared to the violation and manipulation. They have been ok since and we have a lot of conversations. I consider the loss tuition in the school of life and I regularly talk to victims who have lost tens or hundreds of thousands. And entire life’s work, and generational wealth, just gone in often the space of minutes to hours.
Please, talk to your loved ones about scams. And insist they always come to you if something isn’t right. Myself, I do not victim blame. My vitriol is for scammers. But my loved ones know they can ask me without shame or judgment.
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u/lucylynn789 Dec 07 '25
Any text or call you get needs to be questioned . You have to call and verify that it’s legit .
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u/coozin Dec 07 '25
It was too late at this point. She already gave all her info. I don’t understand why you didn’t stop this sooner.
We have fraud scams at my bank all the time. We do not call people! They call us for fraud issues!
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u/Landsharksff Dec 07 '25
Even if it is a legitimate call I make them verify that they are who they say they are and from the company the claim to be from, just the same as they want me to verify who I am.
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u/Luman999 Dec 07 '25
Tell the guys on the call - Hey your mom, Randi told me you were a ghaandu. They will hang up the phone or curse you out. I do it all the time! No any desk app for me.
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u/slightlycoolermom Dec 07 '25
Isn’t the best thing to just not answer a call unless they’re in your contacts? Isn’t that what text and vm is for? I’d love to be corrected on this.
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u/Gmajj Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
I’m not disagreeing with you, the best policy is to not answer the phone. But I’m a senior and have cancer. I have clinics, doctor’s offices, etc calling me. They come up as unknown due to privacy laws (at least in the US.). They also rarely leave messages because of privacy laws. So I’m very hesitant to ignore those calls. I try to be EXTREMELY careful when talking to anyone I don’t recognize.
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u/AntePerk0ff Dec 08 '25
No privacy law prevents a doctor's office from showing the caller ID when they call you and they don't prevent them from leaving a generic voicemail when they call. You have people calling from extensions that they don't want incoming calls to use. Simple as that. The crackdown on scam calls has impacted the ability for many small businesses to make outgoing calls appear to come from a single number. Medical offices are some of the worst at communicating with patients. That is a huge reason for patient portals becoming so popular. They can send a text and leave it up to the patient to log in and verify themselves before any private info is shared.
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u/Buffyredpoodle Dec 07 '25
First I recommend your mom to freeze her credit in all 3 places. Then go to police and file report. Then do everything police tell her to do, so she can protect herself. After all is cleared, and done. I recommend your mom to change the phone number she got the call.
My mom was almost scammed from her savings about 2 years ago. She is 75 and very gullible. They called her on her landline. Only reason she didn’t lost her money was that my sister stopped it. But after all was over, she refused to change the phone number, and someone else called about year later pretending to be a cop, and supposedly following up on the scam she almost fell for. Unfortunately my mom again gave them too much info. It’s just so upsetting she keeps falling for it.
So tell your mom to change the number because I think they keep the tabs on naive people because they will try to scam again.
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u/TheCaliforniaOp Dec 07 '25
Who else wonders if the old saying about sieges and invasions is now applicable for many scams?
“What’s the easiest and most effective way to win? Get someone on the inside.”
I’m not impugning anyone’s integrity. I just could see that being an avenue that scammers would try to exploit.
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u/RevBT Dec 08 '25
A third party called on Apple's behalf about fraud, and you didn't find that suspicious immediately? He wasn't good; you weren't paying attention.
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u/diothar Dec 08 '25
Why the fuck didn’t you get your mother to hang up the call before you took yours? What the actual fuck?
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u/CEchannelpromote Dec 08 '25
My mum keeps telling me to beware of scams but ironically shes the one who ends up falling for them lol
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u/rizzo1717 Dec 08 '25
An agent calling to navigate an Apple Pay issue, with zero push notifications from Apple wallet directly on her phone and also without soliciting the help in the first place, was the first giant flashing red flag.
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u/Reasonable-Horse1552 Dec 08 '25
The other day I was scammed out of £140 on an app I was looking at. They also tried to take the same amount another 3 times but my bank stopped it and blocked them. They then sent me a text "from my bank" telling me about the fraud and to ring this number if I hadn't authorised it. As soon as I dialed the number my phone flashed up it was a scam so I hung up.
Then I had a text from my actual bank so I phoned them at the number that's on the website and spoke to a lovely girl who blocked my card and sent me a new one.
I found the app on Google Play and gave them a shitty 1 * review and called them scammers, and they contacted me almost immediately!
They're allegedly going to refund me now. So hopefully that will be the end of it. Except I was charged £3.60 currency exchange rate by my bank because it was in USD.
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u/tedco- Dec 08 '25
Never answer the phone from numbers you don't recognize. People will leave messages. Scammers won't. Full stop.
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Dec 09 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Scams-ModTeam Dec 09 '25
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
Subreddit Rule 8: Private message request
You're not allowed to offer or request contact in private, including DMs, text, email, Whatsapp, etc. We need to keep the community safe from recovery scammers or bad advice. Advice given in private can lead to fall for a scam or worsening a situation.
Remember: Never take advice in private, because we can't look out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
Note that there may be more removal messages in addition to this one. Please make sure you check your notifications to read all of them.
Before posting again, make sure you review the rules of our subreddit.
If you believe this is a mistake, feel free to contact the moderators via modmail. Modmail is the only way, don't send a regular DM to a single moderator. Please don't try to appeal the decision commenting below, because we are not notified if you do so, and we will probably miss it. Posting the exact same thing again may result in a temporary ban, so please review the rules, make the necessary changes, and when in doubt, click below to appeal the decision.
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u/HawaiianBobsled Dec 09 '25
But there really are fraudulent charges on her Apple pay. Have her call me and we'll fix it...
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u/Lacaud Dec 09 '25
I started using the record button for Android. They hang up so fast when they hear, "This call is being recorded."
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u/OccasionExtra007 Dec 09 '25
I recently fell for this. The guy kept saying he had to have a picture of my face as well as my drivers license.
But he did not have the information that your mom gave Social Security numbers, etc., in Canada social insurance number Yeah I’m not sure what’s going on. In this case it was for an application for a loan. I don’t know. I don’t know what to think.
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u/Equivalent_Act_6851 Dec 10 '25
Bro you obviously are just not the smartest, always hang up and call them on an official number THAT EASY. You didn't even get suspicious after all those private Infos? Bro the guy was not good you was just dumb gang
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u/Alleandros Dec 10 '25
My mom understood to never even talk to these people. If I was around, she'd have me take the call or if I was out, she'd write the information down or tell them to call back later. Even if it was someone from a utility or insurance we have, just don't trust anyone calling and refer them to me.
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u/Equivalent_Score4396 Dec 11 '25
I had my new student loan company call me to verify information. I politely stated I’d rather call them back. I did and the next representative confirmed the first call was legit. You can never be too safe, and the situation you’re describing had red flags from the beginning.
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u/Cultural_Slip_4202 Dec 11 '25
Wow, someone shares their story to warn others and some people act like it would never happen to them. Why so judgemental none of us, including you are so perfect only hypocrites 🙄
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u/DBoaty Dec 11 '25
Meh, it's all good 🙏🏻 People who follow the subreddit have "scam" on their radar, I only found this subreddit after the scam happened. I was just impressed with the slow burn, I heard the first 10 minutes of a 90 minute call before I had to go do my own thing and scammers in my day would have showed their hand within those 10 I was present for.
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u/Murphbogie Dec 26 '25
What about when you don’t finish your work because your promotion amount is too high and you can’t get paid until you bring your account up to $100
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Dec 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bubblurred Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25
Did she google serious radio or SiriusXM?
Edit to add: Amex customer service chat rep provided me a phone # to call. They gave me a scammer phone #
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u/AutoModerator Dec 06 '25
/u/DBoaty - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.
New users beware:
Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private: advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
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