Topic: Beyond crypto, we are being scammed by scammers. (Read 364 times)

Sorry for losing your money out of naivety, this is a lesson for you henceforth, next time don't trust total strangers who call you about any financial matters, even if they claim to be from where you're supposed to get money from, because employees in the company can give your details to their scam cronies and defraud you. Scams are not perculiar to the crypto space alone, infact scam has been before the invention of cryptocurrency, only that scammers are becoming more sophisticated with the innovations of technology. Also be careful when anybody offers you investment opportunities that are too good to be true, even if that person is your loved ones, because it might be a scammer that sold the business ideas to them, there's no free money anywhere.

I receive many of these calls and messages on a weekly basis from scammers. They claimed to be one of the bank's customer service representatives and asked for credit card numbers and CVV codes to activate the card. They said they would close the card if I didn't do this. I know at first glance that they are scammers, and I also have applications that show the caller's identity.

What happened to you, OP, is a little different, as they tempted you with the lottery amount and made you feel anxiety and fear so that you would lose your focus, as they were in a hurry to send them what they asked for, or you would not get the donation. If you had returned to your awareness for a minute when they told you the OTP number, you would have uncovered their scheme before they stole your money. I am sad about your loss, but you have learned your lesson now. There are no free lessons in this life. What the person who calls you does is use methods that are used by scammers, even on communication applications, social media, and others. Still, they use phishing sites and new scam exchanges to gain your trust, show you the profits and gains, and then cheat you. It is the duty of every person not to trust strangers, not to send anyone any critical personal data related to him, and not to believe what he hears because they may also try to mimic voices using AI.

If you have dealt with them before, you know that you can't be a victim of theirs for the second time around.

While the scam is quite familiar, it's true that the victims are likely hypnotized by them and that's due to how they're playing with the emotion of their victims. They know how to talk and bring the conversation as if the victim is dancing in their palm.

Oftentimes they just select random personal information an give it a shot if the person is going to fall for it. I've had an experience similar to this not twice, but all the time they tried using new formats, I was just smart enough to know that it's a scammer behind the phone call. They've tried using the personality of a banker claiming that if I don't send them my otp, my account would be blocked forever, come on how can I fall for this when we were strictly advised by the bank not to share any useful information to anyone other than physical contact with the bank itself.

Op sorry for the loss, but I'll also like to advise you that you avoid filling some forms like survey that requires your personal information like full name, phone number, resident address etc online. Most of those platforms are fake, and they sell your data to those fraudster to use in convincing you, by giving you a brief description of who you are. They say a wise man cannot be cheated twice, so with this experience, I believe you won't give out those personal and useful information no matter how convincing the person might sound.

Some scammers have gone beyond this level, they now try’s to convince you to be friend with them trust them and most times they even start by given your their fake private information just to build trust with you and once’s you start trusting them that’s when they will start their scam scheme which you will not even know that they are trying to scam you, they will start by asking for small information when you less expect it and most times self they ask for direct help from you which you will use your own hand to hand over your funds to them without even thinking about it twice, they are good in what they are doing when you catch them with one pattern they come up with another next time.

If you live in a country where you need money to go to the police and report a crime, and you also think that this company has more power than the law, then you are unfortunately in a big problem and you live in a country where criminals have more rights than those who become theirs victims.

The proof you have is the phone number from which the call came, and the fact that you gave someone access to your bank account, which was then emptied. It means that it is a bank transaction that left a trail that can be followed.

Maybe it's too late to report fraud, maybe it's not - but the decision is up to you. Personally, I would always try to find those behind it, not only because of what they did to me, but also because of what they will do to others.

From your narration OP, you fell for a weak scam, my grand mother wouldn't even fall for such trick. First you would have called in, to the company or try to visit there to know if you've won any lottery,  because on your own part you should know that you didn't apply for any lottery, so how come your now winning, for me that would have been the first question you should have asked yourself before going ahead with whatever they have to offer you.

Sometimes I actually believe these scammers hypnotize some of their victim with some sort of magic trick to force them into believing them, and probably when they are done with you, that's when you realise yourself.

Thank you for supporting me with proper advice. However, after the accident, I also felt the need to file a police case. But I went back after thinking about many things. I did not have the courage to file a case at the police station; I was scared. Because the company is very well known and trusted in my area. I kept coming back, thinking I couldn't handle the case with such a reputable company. No one will believe. No one will support me. I need some proper evidence with which I can prove myself. I myself gave them the OTP number. In that case, what else should I do?
   I don't know much about the law, and I don't have enough money to file a case with the police right now. Moreover, the accident happened a month ago. I can't say with a hundred certainty who did this scam with me. Who is to blame? Should I take any action in this situation?
    Meanwhile, my loss was huge for me because I was saving little by little to invest in Bitcoin. That afternoon was like a nightmare for me; Within minutes, I was losing my hard-earned money. For a few moments, I found it hard to believe that I had confessed to cheating. I can't tell my family or anyone about my loss, and I can't bear it myself. When it seems too much, I beat myself up for my own stupidity. Maybe after some time I will get over my loss, but only these moments will pass through the sadness.
   However, I learned a great lesson from this scandal. Never be greedy, fearful, or panicked. You have to deal with these fraudsters with a cool head and think about all aspects.

I apologise for your loss. Scammers will stop at nothing to obtain what they want, so in this case, I won't hold it against you alone because you're thinking that doing something will make your life better. Rather, I will hold you accountable for realising that you shouldn't attempt anything involving online calls that you're not sure about. For starters, if a scammer claims to be a manager, you should ask him to confirm this. If you answer the call and try to work with him right away, you're just giving him the confidence to continue scamming you.

The only advice I can give you right now is to act quickly, get a new credit card, and make some changes to ensure he can never access your belongings again. I was surprised to learn that you even sent out the OTP on your own. Regardless of the situation, banks won't request your OTP if you want to apply for a loan or for anything else, so please exercise caution and prevent scammers from taking advantage of the hard work you have put in.

Scammers are everywhere looking to rob you blind don't fall for their bullshit it's easy to tell when someones a scammer cause nothing adds up they ask for private information request you share your screen or ask for otp codes / passwords.

Give them nothing, act like your trying to give them the information they ask for, give them fake information and insist its accurate mess with their puny minds until they get frustrated and give up on scamming people for the rest of their day.

I already wrote to you that you should report the case to the police, especially if you suspect that the fraud came from a company that you believed to be legitimate. It is possible that someone from that company stole your personal data and used it for this scam, or that the whole company was actually just a cover for collecting personal data that they then used for their dirty business.

I accept that it was my fault, because I know that OTP number should not be shared with anyone OTP number is like wallet access, and I will lose my funds by sharing it with anyone But in this case, I can't blame myself entirely; I am also explaining the reason.
   I got a call with the name of the organization I applied for the grant (from the scammer). And besides, not only me in that organization, many other entrepreneurs like me applied for grants in the organization. And from there, it is said that some people will be selected and given grants through lottery. And the recipient of the donation will be notified via email. However, by then, the lottery selection process was over, and I did not receive an email. (Sorry, I forgot this while talking to the scammer.) So I gave up hope of a grant and started preparing myself separately for my venture. Although I find these types of phone calls suspicious, they were draining my brain in the process. So there was no time to think.
    Later, I tried to contact the company about the matter, but the result was not as expected. I am not sure, yet I fully believe that someone from that company scammed me. Otherwise, who other than them will know my personal confidential information, which I have given to that organization through KYC?

An experience with a scammer always leaves a distasteful taste in my mouth. I feel pained each time because getting scammed is not greed or fear but it is more about letting your guard down. I think some key takeaway from the story is that – if you are called and told that you won some grant, lottery, whatever it is that requires some personal information, do not be in a hurry to respond, first of all verify their claims. Tell them to hold on and check whatever website or email they claim to have sent. Secondly, if it cannot wait and threatens your peace of mind because of the pressure, then let it go. Anything legit will not mount such pressure on you. Please if it looks and smell like a scam, it is a scam.

Once again, this can happen to anyone. Take the lesson and be proud of yourself for having the courage to tell the story.

Yes, OP will surely feel regret, and other members saying that it was his fault doesn't help. He fell victim of a carefully thought out plan: the scammers already had his data and the story they told him made some sense. On the other hand, we can assume that the OP is human and has emotions, and isn't 24/7 over-vigilant, so don't feel too bad and learn from this painful lesson. I hope you the best in the future.

The best way to avoid some petty scams is not to expect anything from anyone. It is funny how people expect to reap where they did not sow. They suddenly believe that a stranger will enrich them. There are many signs of scam that we overlook even when they are glaring;

• Anyone requesting for your personal data
• Anyone pressuring you to perform an activity without thinking well
• Put one and receive two 

And lots more. These are the basics and when we understand the basics, we will understand them even if they become dynamic on the long run.

This is a common scam. I’d think people would be familiar with this kind of scam by now. It seems our greed gets the better of us most times. Scammers play on our emotions and use it as a tool, greed and fear. This blocks our better sense of judgement of the situation.

In addition to all that has been said, I recommend when faced with such situations, it is important to be calm. You ask better questions, and 9 times out of ten, the scammer is following a script and isn’t prepared for certain questions. Be more inclined to say no to any requests and call your bank immediately.

@Alana Arden, you are every scammer's dream (unfortunately), because instead of doing one of two possible things - block the number of the person who calls you and claims that you won some money or report the case to the police, you decide to waste your time and ultimately money.

For a successful scam, it is necessary for the scammer to have good tactics, but also for the potential victim to be naive enough to believe the same story. The lesson of the story is that it is not only scammers who should be blamed, but also all those who trust them. It's good to warn others publicly like this, but if you want to do more, warn everyone around you - and why not report the whole case to the police, because it's a bank transaction that can be tracked, and possibly even the money can be returned.

The whole outcome in your story was a fault all yours, and I will tell you why.

Firstly, you didn't participate in any lottery yet someone strange guy came up with a cooked strategy that you have won some cash 18,500 and out of greed for free money you couldn't ask him salient questions about  what really led to your winning a lottery money when you never participated in any.

Secondly, as an entrepreneur you are expected to be smarter than this never to panic or be too rushy over things of this nature, it all entails that you could easily sell out your company to fraudster if you had had one. Under Fiat OTP number could be likened to the seed phrase of your crypto non-custodial wallet, you don't for any reason let a third party has access. I tell you, the scam surge in cryptocurrency nowadays is higher than it is with fiat, so learn from your mistake so you don't repeat it with your crypto asset.

Being told about winning a lottery isn't crypto-related but thanks for the advice, I always like telling people not to start what they can't finish, listening to any strangers can get the best of you this is why you should not give them a chance at all unless you are already familiar with scammers tricks, as for beginners how will they know?

A scammer is never going to ask you for money directly, this is the mindset of some beginners thinking that when they ask for money they will just block them, you have no idea how smart some scammers can be, they are very good with manipulating the mind, so its better to block any strangers from your DM, or social media accounts.

Take it or leave it, strangers will never DM you for anything good, remember that they never knew you, so they are there to take good advantage of you, don't give them space to even explain themselves, lock out any DM from total strangers, adjust your app securities to only accept DM from your friends, I believe that every social apps have this feature in their security settings.

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I am sorry for your loses, you need to get a new credit card and block the old one, learn from this mistake, you should never expect anything from where you never sow anything, it's greed, have you ever play any lotteries in the past? Why would anyone claimed that you win anything and you believe them? Think please.

Look, I get how these scams can happen.  The scammers know just how to push people's buttons with promises of easy money and  even experienced people can get reeled in when dollar signs are flashing before their eyes.  Don't beat yourself up too bad over this.  We've all fallen for things that seem too good to be true at some point.  Consider it a pricey lesson, but at least now you know - no ones handing out free cash, especially not over the phone.  Going forward when some deal sounds unbelievable, do yourself a favor and pause, hang up, look into it further before getting your hopes up.  There's no shame in being skeptical and doing your due diligence.  These scumbags are experts in manipulation - the important thing is that you learn from this and don't let it happen again.  Keep your guard up but don't close yourself off from opportunity either.  You live and you learn.

The question starts with; how did they know your number and also about your search for money and then decide to use it against you?

I don't know if I've shared this story of mine on the general board but I know I have on my local board. It was something that happened to me when I went to create my BVN and first bank account.

It all started as a joke when I got to the bank - they were having a network issue so they rescheduled us for another day but on getting home I received a call and when I took the call the person at the other end called my name, date of birth and told me that I did come to the bank that day to create my Bvn and account - that I should check my message that I'll see both of them there and tell him the both of them so that he can just help me activate it so I won't have to come back to the bank again - I checked but there was nothing there (because of the network issue nothing was done for me) 

On returning to the bank on the rescheduled date - I sat opposite the bank worker who was creating the account for me - and then I got a call from the same number, and he asked for the same thing (my Bvn and account number) I told him that I still haven't gotten it and ended the call. I then asked the worker I'm front of me if they had any worker by that name the caller told me but he denied it stating that it was a scam attempt.

But the issue now is - how were they able to get my information within less than 24 hours? Not only my phone number but also my details, I knew for sure that nobody was standing close to me during the period I was filling in my details, and yet it got leaked somehow.

The word scam has been existing before the discovery of cryptocurrencies. There are more scammers outside the crypto space, hence we need to be very vigilant. I suspect that the organization you applied for a soft loan from might be the scammer. There are usually a lot of these organizations in my country who pretend to give people interest-free loans and grants but their real intention is to scam the people.

I am sorry that you had to lose such an amount even when you are not gainfully employed. But the most important thing is that you have learned a lesson from this experience. I am sure that you will never be a victim of such a scam because you are now aware that nobody should have your personal financial information. Nobody needs your card details to pay money into your account because what they only need is your account number. Hope you have reported to the bank and the law enforcement agency because the transaction could be traced and these criminals tracked.

I'm sorry for your loss. But scammers are precisely aiming at a psychological attack, which is called “now or never!” This is a fairly common scam. To say that someone has won a prize, but there are only three candidates, and the one who applies for the prize faster will receive the prize.
People stop thinking, and scammers put pressure on them. Haste turns off consideration.
OP, you are not alone, but now you have had a good experience.
Always think about why they are calling you, why you should win prizes, and whether there is something connecting you with these people. Any doubtful facts should be included.
And most importantly, If you suspect that you are being deceived, you are not mistaken; you are being deceived. Intuition works great in these cases. Listen to her.

I am sorry but it was your problem that you have given willingly those details of your OTP. The banks are always giving the reminder that you shouldn't give anyone your OTP even the bank employees but only you. This is the reason why I don't entertain unknown calls telling that I've won money with the lottery or anything that are related to money if they can't verify who they are. Most of these scammers have taken our phone numbers somewhere where we've written it on forms on the malls, banks, or anywhere and the same goes when we register on a website that their database have been leaked. You shouldn't be gullible with such random calls when you don't know what they are saying and no idea how did you won such promos or giveaways that they are saying. Another thing is with these scammers email, you don't click any link from them and I hope that you have learned a valuable lesson here to never entertain random calls.

You choose a complicated thread title. If someone after reading your thread title, do not have a clue of what the thread is all about, there's a problem somewhere.

There are even scammers offline and who know you in person and keep scamming you directly or indirectly. I have known a group of boys who scam their own friends with women and they still mingle.
Scammers are becoming smarter everyday and it pains me when people fall for cheaper scams as the one that happened to you. It is something popular that you are not supposed to fall for. However, sorry about that and take heart.

I think the mistake was from your ends because they already knew your weak point what makes scammers gets into so hard is when they knows your weak point then they start working from there to harm and scammed you so easily, at first you were desperate sourcing for money to expand your business and I believe it was there your information was leaked to them then they decided to work on you through the little information they got from you without you knowing that you unknowingly releasing your information to them to start working on you that was why you were easily scammed.

Then other thing I noticed about it is when you needed the money so urgently and you know what that means to someone who is in hurry for money and you will definitely make a mistake, and the worst part of it is that you couldn't think that if someone is sending you money the only thing they needed is just an account number and the displayed name, but instead you were being covered and carried away by greed causing you to lose even the smaller balance you have on your phone without knowing you are gradually being deceived by them.

Such scam attempt is already i known methods with bank scams, it is quite popular in my country and they have used that method to scam almost all the gullible bank customers, but then you have to know that there will definitely be an insider in all of this and at some point you need to install caller identify on your phone, that way you get alerted if your caller is a scammer, a spammer or whatever and that way you already have an insight of what to expect from each of your callers and who they are, secondly you will have to block you cards and change your pin if not the scammer will still have full access to your account and can do whatever he wishes on the account since you already granted them the access at first.


But if you take the necessary steps to clean up your account,  you will be free and have full control of the account, but try not to listen to anyone who calls claiming to be from your bank, because your bank will never call and will only reach you via email and whenever it involve anything that has to do with account security,  you should not do it online and rather you visit your bank branch to carry out such services.

Perhaps you aren't enlightened with the rate of scams in the world before hand which is the reason you fell for the scam. It has been on air that scammers are roaming around looking for vulnerable people to scam, such scam has been popular be the fact that you haven't heard of it till now shows that not everyone has heard of it yet but for me I have a very much similar experiences with scammers but I didn't give in because I'm always suspicious of everything untill it's proven beyond doubt.

In such a situation as yours what is always best is to seek people around you opinions before you can go ahead to take any action. if someone was aware of your transaction with the scammer maybe he or she would have brought you out of your unconscious/conscious state of mind, hence scam would have been prevented.

Perhaps you have learnt a big lesson out of this experience and as such you wouldn't be making such mistake again, as you rightly said beyond the crypto world there are a lot of scams that seems so really but if everyone can be suspicious of everything then scam will reduced because once scammers notice that you're trying to find the truth before you take any action they will flee away.

Anyways, sorry for such a bad experience and lost of funds that would have been used to purchase some Bitcoin now that we are in the bull season.

You should get a new credit card as soon as is possible. Having a card which the numbers are public is a great security risk and you could be facing similar scam attempt at another point you least expect it.

You should also do some checks to discover how your phone number was gotten and if you have out your email, check all accounts linked to that email.

Knowing and understanding everything, this is the first time in my life that I have been cheated by fraudsters. How?
    I was an entrepreneur before entering the crypto sector. But due to various problems, I had to resign from entrepreneurial life. Anyway, a few days ago, I got a call from a popular organization of entrepreneurs. A person claiming to be the manager of the company (a scammer) called me and told me that I had won a lottery from their company and received a grant of 18,500 (local currency). If I give him my bank account or credit card number, he can send me the donation. I was skeptical at first, but later I trusted him for a while as he told me that all my personal information was absolutely correct. Because earlier, I applied for low-interest loans and grants from various organizations to boost my venture in my entrepreneurial life.
    But trusting him for a moment disappointed me. He told me that he emailed me three days ago, but I didn't reply, so he called me himself because today is the last day to receive donations. I should give him the bank account number or credit card number now, or I won't get the donation after the time is up. They were doing everything in such a hurry that I didn't have time to think about anything and got a little greedy. I gave him my credit card number, but after a while, he called me and said there was a problem with my card. And the grant wasn't going through, so if I don't fix it now, I'm going to be in big trouble. . . . .
I was nervous as well as scared. The fear was so great that I forgot that I was being deceived. They were deceivers. He told me that now I have to give my card's OTP number to fix the card. If they don't know the OTP number, they can't do anything, and the problem won't be solved. They menuplate me in such a way that I lose my presence of mind and give them the OTP number of my card. And after payment, he withdraws 18,500 (local currency) from my credit card. This is not the end. The second time the same thing happened to me, I refused to give the OTP number, knowing everything. When I called the guy that time, the number was blocked, and that's when I realized I'd been scammed.
     My brain got activated, and I immediately checked my mail, but I didn't get any mail about this. I was so angry with myself that I could not express it in words. I wouldn't have fallen into such a big scam if I checked my mail earlier without being afraid of his words. Both my greed and my fear have harmed me greatly.
  There are plenty of scammers outside of the crypto world that we are constantly getting scammed by. Such events often happen in earthly life, but still, we all knowingly panic or fall into temptation. I shared what happened to me as a result of my knowingly careless behavior. I want to warn everyone: If you get such a tempting call, do not share your personal information with anyone out of fear or greed. No one should make the same mistake as me.