I was about 11-12 and very interested in sign language. A guy came up to me and pulled the old I'm deaf, buy this card con. I tried to sign "no, I'm sorry". He didn't seem to get it. I felt so bad about my signing being so terrible, I gave him my only $10.

Ihadacow , RODNAE Productions Report

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I remember being in computer class in elementary school and an ad came up for me to win $1000: "You are our millionth visitor, call this number to win money.". I was so upset when the teacher told me it was fake because I already planned on what new video games I was going to buy.

Master_Cracker Report

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An email something like

"You're paypal has been accessed from an unknown source, click here to update your password."

It looked official and asked for me to login to update my password. When I realized the website didn't allow me to view my profile I panicked. I then spent the day taking the nessassary precautions.

Lesson, always go to the website yourself and don't click links in emails.

EpicYoda420 Report

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When I was in high school (early '70s), my English teacher announced that a publisher was having a poetry contest, and the best entries would appear in a poetry journal. Several of us in class submitted our work and anxiously awaited the results.

Surprise! ALL our entries were accepted -- the good ones and the really bad ones. At first we were ecstatic. Then we found out that each of us had to pay to get a copy of the journal. What a scam. Even our English teacher got snookered.

BSB8728 Report

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I went to a tiny fair in a mall parking lot with a few of my friends two years ago, and one of my goals was to win a tiny stuffed animal for my boyfriend. I came up to this booth that “guaranteed a prize every time, even if I lose” and the man gestured to all the small stuffed animals on display. So of course, I thought I was getting one of those. I win a prize as guaranteed, but this dude pulled out this dinky little emoji plush that was maybe 3 inches in diameter and gave it to me with a sly smirk. I wasn’t that happy but I wasn’t going to fight either. What a scam.

Luckily though, I was walking around and saw a tiny stuffed animal that happened to be my boyfriends favorite animal, I asked if I could trade my stupid emoji for it and the guy said yes. He probably couldn’t care less but at least he was nice.

Always ask which prize you’d win.

TheCrustyPancake Report

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That guy who just ran out of money but needs to buy a train ticket to go home and see his family.

At the time I was like, "gosh, even if there's a chance he is lying, I want to help."

About thirty seconds later I was like, "I am an idiot."

senatorskeletor , Pixabay Report

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Not really a scam but a joke.

Buddy gave me one of those very real looking fake scratch tickets and it had said I won $5k. I was about 2% skepticism mixed with 98% elation because I was thinking "S***, $5k I can pay off all my credit debt and even start an RRSP."

I was gutted when he revealed it was a joke card. Went from feeling like my life had changed and I finally got that little bump I've been waiting for, to feeling like an embarassed ass for falling for it. Now when anything good happens to me I automatically assume its a joke someone's playing on me.

ScruffsMcGuff Report

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Was desperate for a job, looked at the newspaper ads (it was like 15 years ago) and saw this "Marketing opening opportunity". I called the number and the guy I spoke to was really enthusiastic, almost instantly gave me an appointment for what he said was an interview a couple of days later. Of course when I asked what did the position involved exactly, they replied "We'll explain everything once we meet you." So I get there to find a room full of chairs and a small stage with a cardboard saying "Please take a seat". I now think this must be some kind of group interview as more people are coming and sitting in the half empty room. Two guys takes the stage, while two others in the back closes the doors, then locks the doors. A woman asks why they are locking the doors and one of the guy says "Well we wanna make sure you get ALL the information before you make a decision". That sounded pretty weird, and by then I knew I was in some s**tty situation. Is this some kind of bats**t religious group? What the hell am I doing here...

Then one of the guys on the stage puts a large box on a table, and starts the classic "We are happy to have you here today, in fact we're really excited, because you will be the first in the whole city to make this much cash, you just won't believe it"... he opens the box to show a set of knives and says "We welcome you to Cutco". Now I wanted to get out, but looking at the door the two guys were standing by it like security guards. "Sorry for locking the doors, but this opportunity is so great we can't take any risks, we don't know, one of you may well be a spy." Had to sit through an hour of listening to him talking about his freaking knives and how nice they were.

anonymous Report

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Finally my rage can hopefully be heard.

I just left a career in mental health - was prowling for work that paid anywhere above $35k when all of a sudden John Doe from my high school a decade ago who created and maintains a multi-million dollar Japanese steak house asks me to "come to his house personally around 9pm because we needed to catch up. Maybe work if you are interested."

F***ing BAM right? Here I am thinking God, all my hard work was finally about to pay off and here comes a what I thought would be MGMT position or something relevant but no.....nonononono it simply wasn't. This dream of job turned out to be a MLM scheme and I knew it when I saw the casual pretzel bowl with like salsa dip and s**t in the basement on the table, with a projector and a room full of people.

I fell for the scam - which is why I hate MLM in the first place. You are supposed to target close people in your life and it makes for bad business.

ElliotGrant Report

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My old roomate got thrown in jail one night - he went out drinking with a bunch of friends and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, I go with his girlfriend to bail him out. We get to the jail and some guy approaches us and ask if we need a bail bondsman. We have no idea what we're doing so we say yes and then go to some bonds place. He asks us for $300 for the bail then goes inside - and never comes out. So my roomates girlfriend goes inside to see where he is and nobody's ever heard of him. So we lost all his money and he's stuck in jail for 2 days until they release him. He wasn't happy that we lost his money and failed at getting him out. I was 17 at the time so didn't think people would be that cruel - I know better now.

foozerluck , pxfuel Report

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I got into Scientology for a while. The thing you have to understand about Scientology is that when they pitch it to you, it sounds really f**king awesome. They make it sound like there's something easy to fix with your brain that, after you fix it, will improve every area of your life. Oh, and they have a navy. There was a time in my life when I wanted nothing more than to join the Sea Org and help make the world Clear.

Dear_Occupant Report

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Lost $700 to a housing scammer. Back in May this year I inquired about a CL ad for a house for rent. It was a perfect match for me. Nice house, good neighborhood, owner would let me have whatever pets I wanted without any fees. Should have realized it was too good to be true. Made the mistake of wiring them the deposit money without signing anything or meeting with anyone.

The worst part is that I was being so careful the whole time, researching and verifying any information given to me, and I still made a stupid mistake that cost me money I couldn't afford to lose.

Sango12592 , Anete Lusina Report

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When I was young and slightly drunk a man accosted me at the cashpoint and convinced me to give him £40. He said he would pay me back and gave me an address and phone number. When I returned to the cashpoint the next day I realised he had Keyser Söze'd the streetname directly behind me. I did not get back the £40, although the amount of money that guy has saved me since by making me realise how innocent I was means it's probably one of the best investments I ever made.

Messianiclegacy Report

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Hit a bad shot on a golf course. heard a thump sound. man came out not angry, but seemed sad and said i broke his window. his kids were in the other room, so nobody was hurt. still he threatened legal action. (i now realize he LIVES ON A GOLF COURSE so this s**t must happen to him all the time) long story short, i was shook up and gave him all the cash in my wallet about $150 to get him to calm down. he took it said he'd fix the window, we exchanged info so he could see if the window cost more or less than i gave him. I was still scared of getting sued. called/emailed him the next week to see what was up, both were fake.

Yes, i should have asked to see the window. Yes, i should have not been such a shook up wiener. I got scared and thought i was doing the right thing. Sometimes, i am not a street smart man.

anonymous Report

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I wouldn't say I fell for it but while walking around Tokyo I was stopped by this monk who explained that he was traveling the country on foot and asked for a monetary donation. When it was clear I'd help him out, he pulls out a money book and shows me what people generally give him and to write my name down next to them along with the money amount. It was full of big numbers clearly going into the hundreds and thousands of dollars. It's implied that I should match those donations otherwise I'm clearly not a good person.

Realized it was an immediate scam, and a very obvious one.

He then waits for me to pay up and I gave him the equivalent of $5. 500 yen. He kinda looked at me like I just insulted him and I walked away. I checked google later that night and apparently he was a well known scammer in the area.

KGhaleon Report

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A guy asked me for $5 because he was out of gas. He told me if I gave him my address he would mail it back to me. I told him, no problem keep it. Then I watch him walk down the street and into a bar.

anonymous Report

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I fell for the "Become a supermodel" scam. I was 15-16 at the time with little self confidence. I've got stopped on the street by this guy saying that he works for a modelling agency and I have a great look etc. I ended up registering with the agency (even though I am like 5 foot 3 on tall days), even paid a registration fee which meant that they did a "book" for me, with 10 professional photos and they taught all the models how to walk. One week before the fashion show (that would skyrocket all our careers) was supposed to take place they disappeared. The registration fee was quite hefty, there were like 150-200 girls registered with them when they packed up.

Phoenixinda Report

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This was a close call at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. I arrived with my girlfriend, she's a photographer, and we stopped by to grab a burger jn one of those places from the arrivals foodhall. My girlfriend left her camera on the table with me and went to the toilet. At one moment an old lady came from my left and started asking me stuff with an awful accent, I couldn't understand anything she was saying. By the third or forth attempt I understood she was looking for the toilet. I didn't know where the toilet was but my girlfriend was just coming back from it, from behind me, I saw and asked where the toilet was but she was frozen like "what the hell is going on?". I turned my back again to the table and there was a guy with his hands on her camera. By this time the old lady had already vanished. The guy patheically moves his hand to the napkin holder and asks if it was ours. I don't even think he waited for an answer, he just turned and went away. It was all very quick, took us some seconds to realise we almost lost the camera and the whole thing was a scam.

factotum- Report

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Guy at the gas station said he and his cancer ridden wife broke down a mile up the highway, needed $10 to get them gas for a 30 mile trip to the city. I just got paid was feeling rich so I gave it to him. Went to the same gas station two days later and the guy was there again with the same problem.

kdiddy733 Report

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When I was a little kid, my dad drew several circles on a sheet of paper. Then, he would have me roll a quarter down my nose to try to get it to land in certain spots for more points. The goal is that when the quarter lands, you trace the quarter with a pencil, then you roll, trace, roll, trace etc until you get a certain number of points.

The joke is that the person rolling the quarter ends up with a streak of graphite down their nose and looks like an idiot. I wasn’t happy. It was embarrassing and I felt betrayed.

anonymous Report

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A guy I went to high school with scammed a town full of people in the next state over by pretending to be a Food Network chef. He claimed that he was setting up a barbecue in their town with people such as Bobby Flay and Robert Irving in attendance, then proceeded to charge $35 a ticket to the tune of $10,000. The charade fell apart when he did a presentation and people realized he had no clue how to make most of the stuff he was demonstrating. People did a little digging and realized he wasn't a chef and had never been employed by Food Network. The police agreed not to press charges if he gave everyone their money back.

theycallmemomo Report

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I worked serving food at a country club. The management decided to prank my young, naive, wholesome self.

Basically my supervisor asked me to go inquire to the head chef about the state of the ‘dingleberries.’ I assumed it was some type of fancy berry and did as asked. Head chef had me pass the message back to her that they were still “too dirty” and not ready yet.

You can’t imagine how I felt once I figured this out years later.

flea_bee Report

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High School kids were selling magazine subscriptions in the parking lot of the strip mall. I felt sorry for them and placed an order. Never received the magazine - apparently they were just scamming peeps.

abrnmissy Report

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" Hey man. If you type your password, it'll bleep out. Look. My password is *******"

I lost my first runescape account this way. I ended up recovering it about a year later, but I felt bad and didn't keep it because the guy had made that account a member and was nearly level 80 in everything.

ask_me_about_kirby Report

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When I was 18 I sent +/-$100 in cash to China for a fake ID. The lady at the post office even said "Be careful sending cash to China, it's probably a scam!" and I thought "Pssssht, it's okay, I read reviews online and it's legit." It wasn't legit, the reviews were fake.

I literally sent cash to China for nothing. I am not a smart man.

frombolognaa Report

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One of those "I'll fix your bumper, right here in this parking lot" scams. These guys would prowl the parking lot outside of shopping centers, looking for any car with a dent. When the driver shows up, they make their sales pitch, which is something along the lines of: "Hey, I work at this body shop at [random place that likely doesn't exist]. I fix up dents like yours all the time; my shop usually charges [made up figure], but i'll tell you what, i'm actually just getting off work and I have all of the equipment I need to fix your bumper on the spot, for a fraction of what it would cost you."

I like to think of myself as a rational person, and I have never fallen for anything so transparent before. But for whatever reason, I fell for it.

Not my proudest moment.

datank56 Report

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I fell for the penny auction sites. "Buy $50 in credits and bid on these super expensive items for a penny"

Spent all of my credits in like 10 minutes. BULL

anonymous Report

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There was a company advertising that they would help people wipe out predatory student loans. Long story short I blew $800 on a company that got shut down by the Gov't for fraudulent practices and was denied a refund.

Therearenogoodnames9 Report

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I went to buy a Rolling Stones ticket from a scalper years ago (i know, i know) and he talked me into a VIP Backstage Pass. He said that's all I need! Free food, booze, all the perks. He insisted the sticker was all I needed to get in, no paper ticket necessary.

So a few hours later I go to the show, obviously can't get in - it was a VIP pass from the night before. There was no date on it, just a different shape.

I try every single gate hoping someone won't notice/not care and finally try the media entrance. The nice lady ushered me right in, I took an elevator up to the main concourse and I was free as a bird. I didn't have a seat obviously but I snuck down to the floor and ended up having a great show.

Havarti_Lange Report

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i was working at costco, checking reciepts at the door. it’s boring as f**k, then a woman walked by with an incredibly low shirt that looked like it had been pulled down even further to where her breasts were almost out. i didn’t leer at her, but it certainly caught my attention, as well as my female co-worker doing the same thing across from me. didn’t notice the bottle of jack daniels tucked in her purse, i got honey-potted :/

potent_ham_sandwich Report

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Working as a gas station cashier, a guy asked for 5 $20 lottery tickets, so I put them on the counter with the rest of his items. I asked if he had a loyalty card and he said he left it in his car and went to get it. He never came back, tickets were gone. Whoops.

Damsel_Moreorless Report

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Taking a picture with Elmo in Times Square and paying up $20. He also kept badgering me for MORE money and saying he needed to share with his other costumed buddies. I lied and told him that was all the cash I had left. >:T

whalebaboon Report

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Hot girl from high school hit me up when I was in Iraq. Chatted with me a couple months. Needed $500 for a new phone. Sent it to her. Never heard from her again.

Dwn_Wth_Vwls Report

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When I was in high school, I went to a carnival with my girlfriend at the time. We were walking by the games and she saw a stuffed animal she wanted. The carny knew how to win the game, I just couldn't do it. I lost $70 on it. I was about to walk away at $20, but he said he'd give me the money back if I was successful. I still feel like a moron about that.

OffTheMerchandise Report

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I once got locked out of my car one night. I called the first name on the google search. I was given a quote of $60 so I agreed. The "locksmith" only used a slim jim to open my door and I was charged $130. I had no choice but to pay and walk away very sad.

El_Clinico_Magnifico Report

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I'm an amateur 3D artist. I got picked up by a group that was doing a demo for a major, major video game company that just about all gamers know of, if they don't own games by that they play religiously. It was a dream job: I was gonna be a character artist.

After a few weeks of awaiting a decision, I was accepted. I told my family, who announced it when my entire family was in town for my cousin's wedding. I didn't want it announced there for lingering fear of this very reason.

The guy turned out to be bats**t insane, and is either leading all of us on, or is insanely ambitious but genuinely has no clue what he's doing. Either way, he's disappeared off the face of the planet, likely with a fair amount of artwork and 3D assets.

TeethOrBullets Report

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A very naive 11 year old me belived that you could get free steam games with a "Steam-Key generator". It seemed easy. You just had to write your username and password into a program, then you had access to all the games you wanted. I did exactly that, and lost my account with hundreds of games. Still mad at myself. Damn it.

Lag5pike Report

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I played Runescape when I was like 14 with this kid named Sparky every single day. He was my good friend and I trusted him. We'd chat and cut logs all the time. He asked to wear my party hat (before lending was a thing, it was a green party hat worth around 20 million gold at the time) after knowing him for like 2 years.

He logged off and I never saw him again. Green party hat gone. I was sad more that I lost my friend over a dumb in game item.

Doebino Report

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my dad signed me up for a “be an extra in movies” casting service he found in the paper when I was in highschool (I wanted to work in film at the time). 70 bucks and a few weeks of no calls later, he told me not to tell mom. Shouldve probably gotten the hint when they just asked for names, no photos/height/weight or any details casting would need.

rad-boy Report

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Bought one of those helium balloons for my 6 year old daughter on holiday in Austria. Asked in my best German how much it costs and pointed at a hello-kitty-shaped balloon.

Seller pretended he didn't understand me but handed the balloon to my kid.

When I asked again he named the price (oh now you understand?). It was far too expensive but of course a can't take the balloon out of my kid's hands an he knew that.

My kid walked away happy with the balloon and I knew he pulled a dirty trick on me. I walked away with an international universal finger signal when she wasn't looking. €15 less in my pocket.

Azuil Report

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In Lego Universe a guy told me he'd show me a cool glitch for 10,000 coins. I was young and stupid. Bastard took the money and ran.

Baconator004 Report

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One of those “drop your business card in the fishbowl” things to win a free gym membership. Got called, got excited. Turns out they call EVERYONE in the fishbowl. They waive the monthly fee but you still have to pay a 199 enrollment fee, a monthly gym maintenance fee, and we’re required to rent a locker. My free membership would have cost about 30 bucks a month for a year.

I left, tried to warn a few others that showed up to claim their prize.

cincyfan04 Report

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It was 2.5 years ago and I wanted a leather jacket...I've never had one, so I did my research online. Got directed to this seller, and I was quoted a 6 month wait-time for the jacket to be made to my measurements. I sent him a $800 payment...never got the jacket

anonymous Report

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The Good Feet Store- I was working 16hr days and my feet were killing me spent $800.00 at this store for a few pieces of hard plastic that could never have worked, this was about 5 years ago and I'm still pissed off about it

NostralDumass Report

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Guy knocked on door and convinced me to buy electricity from him. Said he works with the utility to get me the best rate and convinced me I will save money. I accepted. Next electricity bill was double what I usually get. I was essentially charged once by the utility and once by his company - which I learnt is a utility marketer.

I cancelled my account with them.

cvpushkar Report

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Young me was duped into thinking it meant anything when poetry.com said they wanted to publish my poem.

They definitely implied very strongly that it was so great they wanted to publish it, and not just "hey, we'll publish this if you pay us $X."

Even got audio of some dude reading it out loud (along with all the other poems written by people who paid, presumably) who pronounced my hometown wrong.

I'm still a little bitter.

anonymous Report

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The suit scam in Thailand aka Laughing Buddha scam.

The moment i stepped into the shop I felt something was wrong. I tried to say no and make my way out but I was a weak minded person. In the end, I was pressured and bought 2 suits in the end. To be honest, i didn't think it'd arrive, i was going to do a charge back on my credit card. But the suit did come and it did fit me quite well.

Material is meh but the price is cheaper than what I'd have to pay for a tailored suit but not as cheap as what I could've actually gotten. They also came to my hotel room late at night for a fitting (which i was thinking I might get robbed after leaving the place and thinking about the whole process). Giving them my hotel address and room number might not have been the brightest idea.

I am not a smart man. I could've been worst off, I got lucky with only some damage to my wallet.

alastoris Report

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You are the 1,000,000th visitor to this site.

I was 6 or 7 using windows 98 you do the math.

taboo007 Report

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I lost my wallet. I have 2 dollars and I need 3 dollars. Do you have 5 dollars?"

Proceed to give 5 dollars and he just took it and go. I stand speechless.

hell_razer18 Report

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Habbo Hotel 15+ years ago. Through giveaways and smart trading, 11 or 12 year old me had accumulated several pieces of furniture. Some guy told me he could double my furniture if I gave him my password. Being an idiot kid in a less internet savvy time, I gave him my info.

He took all my stuff and told me I was a retard. I was utterly crushed that I fell for it. I felt like a complete idiot for days afterwards.

Obviously not a big scam or anything, but little kid me learned a big lesson about learning to apply doubt to weird claims or to-good-to-be-true promises.

Jprime777 Report

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I feel so dumb for this. Gypsy pulls up next to my jeep and says he will take the dents out of the doors for 100 bucks. He puts some wax over the dents "to keep the paint from cracking" then proceeds to wiggle a tool through the inside of the door to push the dents out. He actually did push them out a little bit but I could tell that they would still show once I removed the wax (the wax was there to make it harder to see the dents, when the paint isn't shiny it's harder to see imperfections even if they are big). I told him he didn't actually fix it and I rubbed the wax off to show him. But now I'm standing there with just me and two gypsies with tire irons in their hand. So I paid them. I justify my cowardice with the fact that it was Christmas time

longducdong , H. Michael Miley Report

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The whole 'Kony' thing. I remember being so keen to paint my town red and then found out they were pretty much keeping all the money..

anonymous Report

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I hate it and always used to fall for ads in sites you expect to download a file from showing a download button in their as to get you to download their malware

TheElitistCommando Report

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