Asklemmy

got an email during university that I had been given access to an array of digital resources for free, all I had to do was link my university email credentials. Only after I had already done that did I realize how sketchy it was, but then it did actually turn out to be legit. Wish i remembered/still had access I remember there being some good stuff on there

I bought a premium airsoft gun at a outdoorsman show that advertised as >300 FPS. It was more like 30 FPS when I got it home. Really sucked, was like months worth of allowance and shoveling money.

A bank tried to sell me a pension fund contract. Luckily, I know my math and found out that it was so bad that I'd call it a scam.

Somebody on RuneScape back in the early 2000s threatened to report me if I didn't tell them my password and so I reluctantly told them and immediately got locked out of my free, low level account :⁠-⁠(

I've never fallen for bad scams luckily but I fall for little ones sometimes. Like once I was entering the subway in a country where I didn't speak the language and this guy coming the other way said the trains were cancelled, so I asked how do I get to X place, and he's like "Oh, my friend has a taxi company, come with me and I'll sort you out". I was just about to follow him when I came back to my senses. Obviously there was nothing wrong with the trains and he was trying to fleece a tourist... or kidnap a woman, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Didn't fall for it, but I got hit with an attempt at a pig butchering scam a week or so ago.

It was fun. They texted, I acted like I knew them, and I think that they eventually got frustrated because I kept agreeing that I remembered them very well, and that it wasn't a 'wrong number', oopsie I sent a photo to the wrong person tee-hee.

Been there lol

The Earl Tablet.

One time when I was in middle school I started playing RuneScape, and there was this helpful guy hanging out in the starting area. He told me he could get me better gear if I followed him. He took me to the wilderness and killed me and stole all my stuff. I didn’t really know anything about the game so I thought that without my precious starting gear I would be lost, so I started a new account.

And then once I had played a lot and understood the game better, I made a bunch of sets of steel armor and food and I hung out in the starting area and gave it out for free to new players. Because fuck that guy. I decided I would take his evil and turn it into kindness.

I honestly don’t know what he had to gain, the starting gear is worthless. Maybe he just liked fucking people over.

When I was a teen looking for a job, I checked the classified section of the newspaper. Saw a job post I thought I could do and called them. Ended up giving them some of my info, and maybe my social security number, don't remember. All I know it I put them on hold to ask my parents a question about something, and they said "anybody can put things in the paper". That's when I learned that scammers just post their shit in public with little to no consequence.

college

When I was about 16 I was walking past a nightclub as some guys were packing up a van outside. One of them called out to me and started telling me a story about how they were fitting out the club with a new sound system and had some surplus speakers. They asked if I wanted to take them off their hands. Really, I wanted to go and research them first, but this was in the olden days before the entire internet was in your pocket. They showed me the brochure and manual, I gave them £200 cash, and they drove me home in the van with the speakers. On the journey I started to get suspicious and got them to drop me a few roads over from my actual house. Lugged the speakers home by hand, started researching them and found it was a common scam. The units themselves were totally fake and from what others had said were a fire hazard. Police weren't interested as I had given the money freely. I had a buddy take them to the dump in his van. I spent quite a while researching who was behind it and ended up with the details of the "company" manufacturing the units in a workshop in London. I then spent a few weeks having fun prank calling them with various soundboards (Arnie was the best!). I made my peace with the whole scenario by framing it as an overpriced, but entertaining subscription to a guilt-free prank call experience.

I believed in the American system and government

Two I can think of, luckily neither was that bad.

Firstly I got impatient and bought a new DSLR camera kit off eBay, thinking I would save money and get a good deal. It came with two decent lenses, supposedly, and a bunch of other accessories. Very highly rated seller.

After I made the purchase, I get a message to expect a phone call from such-and-such number. Strange, I thought. They call and immediately I can tell it's a bait-and-switch. They tell me what they're going to send, but it's not what was in the listing. Only one lens, instead of two, and some other shenanigans like substituting inferior brands and cheap shit. I called them out and said either you deliver what was promised in the listing, or I'm opening a dispute, and it won't be a good look that you tried to change the deal over the phone.

Anyway I got what was listed, but overall it was a disappointment. Grey market items from overseas, not official US licensed gear, so I had no warranty. But I ended up paying as much or more than if I had walked into a local shop. It wasn't counterfeit, but just left a bad taste in my mouth. The seller disappeared from eBay not long after that...

Second time: I received one of those emails with a password in the subject. It looked familiar, and was in fact an (old) password I had used. Someone took a hacked DB and just fired off countless emails with the passwords to the matching email addresses. But the tone of the email was what spooked me. It said, I have had full access to all your emails, I have figured out how to reset accounts and hacked into your webcam and have some very interesting photos. Either you pay this amount to this bitcoin address or I send the photos to all your contacts and your life will be ruined.

In the moment, I panicked like oh shit this is legit. Even though I couldn't imagine what photos they referred to, it was still scary being blackmailed. I thought about it, discussed with some people, and they helped calm me down. After a few days, I realized it must be a scam. It was so generic. Surely if it was real, they would mentioned specifics... my name, or what I looked like, or some other unmistakable details.

Over the years, I received a number of other variations with the same jist, and different passwords (my email address was in several major leaks in mid-2000s). I'm glad I didn't fall for that shit, regardless of how serious it seemed in the moment.