19 Simple Ways to Get Scammed Online: I Did It and So Can You!

Everyone wants to get scammed online! It's a rite of passage in the 21st century.

What feels better than truly believing you are buying something, only to find out later that your money went to some scammer halfway around the world? Does a punch in the gut feel better? A karate chop to the neck?

Nope, getting scammed feels WAY better! Trust me, you are going to really enjoy getting scammed.

I know because I've been there. I've sent not hundreds, but thousands of dollars to people online, only to find out later that I was not going to get anything in return. I'm an expert at getting scammed, you might say.

As an expert, I'd like to share my wisdom for how you too can one day get scammed online. Just read and follow along to join the ranks as one of the suckers. This will be fun!

I have too many good stories of how I've lost money not to share them. Should I be embarrassed to share my stories of getting taken and having scammers steal from me? After all, there seems to be this stigma that getting your money taken by strangers and being taken advantage of is a bad thing. I'm here to convince you otherwise.

Don't worry, getting scammed can be a lot of fun – I should know, I've lost money more times than I can count!

I'm the best at getting scammed, the best!

1. The Nigerian Prince

We've all heard of the Nigerian prince, and we all know he's very wealthy. You get an email that says he really wants to send you a few million dollars, but he just needs to know you really want it. Just send him $10,000 (or whatever amount he feels like at the time) and the money will be all yours!

This particular scam is too juvenile for me. Even I'm skeptical of these emails. Like I said, I'm an expert and would never respond to something so obvious. Is anyone naïve enough to transfer money to scam artists posing as Nigerian Princes these days? If you don't want to fall for these, just ignore it and don't send money or provide personal information to people you don't know and whose background you can't verify online. Easy peasy to stay safe.

The kinds of scam artists that get me are when people that you DO know and have some relevant history with ask for money and then take it and run. Those are the scams I fall for. I laugh really hard when those happen.

2. The Fake YouTube Expert from India

Now, I want to share a few scams that I've personally fallen victim to… all in 2018. Yep, in a period of 1 year, I got scammed 3 different times. I told you I was really good at this stuff!

This first little fraud was more of a long con, and boy did I fall for it. This little doozy started way back in 2014 when I was contacted by a reader of my blog (yep, a Niche Pursuits reader got me).

Back in 2014, he shared some things he was working on that were going well, particularly with YouTube. In 2016, he offered to sell me a YouTube channel, but I didn't take him up on it. We actually did some phone calls and over video he showed me the backend of his channel with stats, earnings, etc. A short time later, he sold it… everything seemed pretty legit as I saw the completed listing, etc.

Fast forward to 2018, he reached out and said that he had built a second YouTube channel and was looking to sell again.

Again, I did another phone call with him and he showed me the numbers and it looked pretty legit. However, I didn't want to buy the channel… so he offered me something else. He said for $2,500 he would teach me exactly how he builds YouTube channels with massive followings quickly.

In addition, he would not only teach me, but he would have his team create a new channel for me, create the first several videos, and get my channel to a certain subscriber level for me. It would be a white-glove service to build and launch my YouTube channel.

After a couple of discussions with him, I said, “What the heck… let's do it!” I then proceeded to transfer money to his account. After all, the worst that could happen is I lose $2,500.

Well, turns out I lost $2,500!

After sending the money to a stranger in India, he did communicate with me for about a week. He shared a couple of interesting YouTube tricks and everything seemed legit.

Then excuses started to pile up. He had a wedding and was out of touch for a week. Then he went silent for multiple weeks. He showed up long enough to tell me to be patient.

Then he disappeared altogether for months. No communication, no phone call, no channel, nothing.

To rub salt in my wounds, my 14-year-old son keeps laughing every time he asks how my YouTube channel is coming along! “Only an idiot sends $2,500 to a stranger in India for a YouTube channel.”

At least that's proof I've raised my son right. He wouldn't have lost money.

It's now been 8 months and I don't have a single YouTube video to show for it. Oddly, the “stranger from India” did randomly communicate with me a couple weeks ago (so I know he's alive) and said he was sorry… but he didn't send my money back yet.

I won't hold my breath on getting it back.

Feel free to let me know if you want his contact details and you'd like to get scammed. It will make you and your family members laugh really hard when you send him money and you don't get it back!

3. The Wire Destination Switcheroo

If you think sending money to a mystery man in India to become a YouTube star is funny, you are going to love this (at least I know I do!).

I sent $3,500 for socks. Turns out I didn't get any socks.

This one requires a little explanation. Remember, I'm really good at this stuff, so try to keep up.

So, I've been running an Amazon FBA business for several years. I manufacture products in China, ship them to Amazon, and sell them under my own brands. You can read how I got started selling on Amazon here and how I sold an Amazon FBA business here. (I also use this Amazon email automation tool.)

So, for several years I've been wiring money to companies in China… to people I didn't know. I've NEVER had an issue.

That is until I decided to get into the sock business. I had a unique idea for some socks and I worked with a manufacturing company to get them designed and managing having samples made.

This reputable company sent me the samples with my custom design, they looked great! All along the way, I had been working with “Amber” (Chinese manufacturers always go by American first names).

Turns out Amber was pretty sneaky. I should have caught this one, but I've had so many successful transactions with manufacturers that I wasn't overly cautious. But if you want to get scammed like me, you should NEVER be overly cautious and always double-check things.

At some point along the way, “Amber” switched her email address from [email protected] to [email protected] (just an example, not her real email address). That should have been the first of the warning signs.

However, she was still communicating about all the correct details of the order, so nothing seemed off about her emails (and we just missed that it was a new email address).

Then it came time to send the payment of $3,500. Amber, the fake hotmail Amber, sent the wire transfer details. I grabbed the financial information and sent a wire money transfer for $3,500 without being cautious.

Turns out Amber had pulled a little wire transfer destination switcheroo! Instead of the wire transfer money going to China, I sent the money to Thailand to a “company” with a different name.

Bottom line is that fake Amber was a scam artist who stole my money and disappeared. At this point, the real Amber, with the legitimate company name email address and contact details that I had been dealing with in the beginning, started asking when we were going to send funds.

Uh oh.

I immediately felt sick as the reality of the situation hit me. We started to unravel what had happened to the lost funds. Even though we caught it just a couple days later and tried to get it back, the banks couldn't return the money on a “guaranteed funds” wire transfer.

I kissed my $3,500 wire money goodbye as it went to a lady not named Amber in Thailand. She probably wasn't even a lady.

We exchanged A LOT of emails with the company after this. The scammer HAD to have been inside their company, but nothing ever came of it. They were as confused as we were.

So, I spent a ton of money on some cool socks, but all I got instead is this story that I'm totally not embarrassed to tell every chance I get. It makes me look really smart.

Oh, and I decided to not re-order from that company. My sock empire just never took off after that.

Get some more tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of this kind of fraud with our guide to the Amazon automation scam.

4. Free Stuff on Craigslist!

My wife loves this story. She loves it so much she has forbidden me from ever using Craigslist again.

If you have used Craigslist before, you will know there is a “Free Stuff” section to search on the website. I've posted free stuff on Craigslist several times throughout the years.

If my dishwasher, dryer, or something else big breaks down, I'll just list it for free rather than loading it into my truck and taking it to the dump. I've done this for over a decade and never had an issue.

That is, until my lucky year, 2018.

Long story short, I ended up with an old couch and an old chair that I couldn't even get rid of by donating to Goodwill. So, my next try to get rid of them was Craigslist. Surely someone would want a free couch and chair, right?!

Sure enough, a day later we had a taker! However, we were just pulling out of our house to head out the door to church when the cunning Craigslist couple arrived to collect. I got out of my car, introduced myself. They said they had just moved into town and were glad to get some free stuff.

They seemed nice.

Being the really smart person that I am, I decided it was more important to be on time for church than to stand around and watch them. So, we left while they were still loading up our couch.

Turns out they decided to load up more than my couch as soon as we left.

They started with our portable basketball hoop. Yep, they loaded up the entire basketball pole, backboard, hoop, etc. Then they started gathering up our basketballs, soccer balls, and whatever else was laying around in our yard.

In the meantime, my wife used her Craigslist spidey-sense, and decided she wanted to go immediately home and check on the house. So, we got to church, then she immediately went back.

She got there just in time to see them pulling out of our driveway with our stuff. Fortunately, they didn't come back, but we are down a basketball hoop and some other sports gear.

So, in summary, I listed a free couch and chair on Craigslist, and one lucky couple ended up with a whole truckload of my stuff.

That feeling you get when you come back home and see a bunch of your stuff missing and your wife just gives you THAT look? Oh man, that's delightful!

I've been forbidden from ever using Craigslist again, and my wife likes to remind me of this fun little time I got scammed whenever she can.

Oh, and the best part is that they actually left the old chair. So, I still had to make a trip to the dump, which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place. That's just wrong!

Apparently, I'm Not Alone

Turns out a few other readers of Niche Pursuits have been victims of online scams as well. Here's a sample of some of the comments people made to a Facebook group request I made for other people's experiences to report scams they've fallen prey to.

Remember, there are lots of opportunities to get scammed online. From investment scams to identity theft to winning on a foreign lottery, we've got plenty of methods for you to know that “just scammed” feeling.

So, pick your favorite of the latest scams from these common types below and see if you can experience the joy we have all found in letting the scammers get your money!

(Names withheld to protect the innocent…)

5. Grandparent Jail Scam

I have an acquaintance who had his elderly grandparent scammed. The scammers find out some personal details about their grandchildren and then call them claiming that they “are in jail” and need them to send cash to “get out of a bind”. Sad but true. And I have some elderly family members whom have also had similar scam phone calls attempted on them.

These scammers will often obtain personal information about their potential victims, and then use this to send them fake emails or text messages purporting to be from contacts such as a family member or friend in need of financial assistance. To make matters worse, many of these scams target seniors who may not be familiar with how to use mobile devices or other technology, and so they can easily be duped to provide personal information or sending money to the scammer.

6. Fake Job Hiring

I was a victim of job hiring scam. They got a .com with a big company whose domain was .co.uk. They then interviewed me for more than a half hour, until the question came up “What are your bank account details? We want to make sure they will accept transfers from us.” The flags went up, I did some more research and had their hosting and job posting accounts suspended.

7. Fix the “Computer Errors”

I was a computer tech servicing a client's computer. While I'm sitting there, the woman gets a phone call that says it's from a well known company in the tech space beginning with M. I took over the phone call and followed along with the phone tech. He told me to go into the Windows event log on my computer and then told me all of those errors (which are normal errors) were dangerous and that for $100 he could fix the computer via remote access. I told the “phone tech” that I knew what he was trying to do, and that I would not be giving him remote access to my client's computer – and to go suck an egg!

Protecting your devices is important.

8. Just Cash These Travelers Checks…

Years ago when I was searching for a job I saw a small job advertised for someone to check some travelers' cheques. They sent me the cheques, and all I had to do was go and cash then and I could keep half the money. Of course they were fake… and I got a lift in the back of a police car as a result!

9. Girl from Texas or Old Man from Bangladesh?

I get a lot of freelancers who claim to be young english-speaking women who are in fact non-native english-speaking people and likely not women either. I think people get more jobs if they're Bianca age: 20 from Texas with curly blonde hair than some guy from Bangladesh age 56. The problem is, I can't tell cause none of these people speak fluently. 🙂 Happens all the time btw

10. You Won the Online Lottery!

Years ago I’ve got an email to my private domain email that my yahoo account has been selected to win a $1000 in their lottery. The email, domain sent from etc. was looking really reliable (especially for a 10-year-old). Thankfully, it was really hard for me and my parents back then to make an online bank transfer from PLN to USD which I was told to make as payment verification for the prize…

11. Missing Parts from Your Amazon Order?

Amazon customers returning broken items or simply only returning part of a product. A.k.a buying to get a part. This causes Amazon to resell it and the next buyer will certainly leave a bad review as they will be missing a part! Hate this.

12. Just Pay My Graphic Designer…

For web designs you will get an email about web design and do you accept credit cards as payment. If yes, great. I am blind/deaf/in the hospital or some reason they can't talk on the phone. My graphic designer doesn't take credit cards. Can I pay you the full amount and then have you pay my graphic designer? A month later… charge back for fraud and you are out the money.

13. Wait, He's Not Nigerian!?!

This is the biggest one… Scamming thousands of people into believing the ‘Nigerian prince' is Nigerian. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/31/us/nigerian-prince-fraud.html

14. Please Cash this Large Check for Me

Some guy wanted to buy my old piano, but it was this scammer. One second after I posted the ad, he replied and said his name was like Earl Von Cleef (something distinguished) and that he was ready to buy the piano and send a delivery guy to get it. I didn't reply.. then weeks later I got a check for 3x the amount of the piano.. it was written from an oil company in Alberta, for like $2K. Guy then texts and says “did you get my money.. quick, go cash it!” and I was like “why is it 3x the amount I asked?” he's like “it's a tip just for you sir”. I didnt take the bait but called the oil company up, got their accountant and he was like “yeah, someone got a hold of our checks and is handing out fake checks” … I'm like “oh, ok”. Lucky I called that oil company and fished around in their directory 'til I got someone. Oil companies don't always have secretaries.

15. Confirm This Code So I Prove You Are Real

Craigslist scammer: they list an item for cheap, like a PS4 for $150 and request that you text to contact them. When you do, the scammer sends a Google confirmation code text message to your phone number and asks that you repeat that code to them to prove you're not a bot. This code is actually a reset code text message to tie a phone number to your Google account. If you give them the code from the text messages, the scammer will then have access to your Google account and any information associated with it. Pretty scary!

16. You Need a VIN Report?

Post a vehicle for sale on Craigslist and a short while later you'll get a message that the person is interested and they want you to get a VIN report from whatever scammer company they own.

17. MLM, Ponzi… Just Join!

I was scammed in my very first online job where an MLM kind of Ponzi scheme was being offered by a company called Speak Asia (check out Multiple Income Funnel for another example of this kind of business). It was a big investment scam which took India by storm with TV ads and all. Lots of my friends made money through it before I joined. But the government agency opened its eyes as soon as I joined it by spending a fortune from my already broke pockets unfortunately and hammered it down. 😂

It closed before I could make a single dime.

18. Sell These Counterfeits on eBay for Me

I made a stupid mistake many years ago when I was looking for ways to make some extra money on the side.

I ended up getting in contact with a distributor in China who needed “Sales Representatives” to sell their company stock using our eBay accounts. I was listing things Beats by Dre headphones, Ugg Boots and items from other well known company brands. Which I was told were 100% genuine. (Buyer beware!)

After doing this for nearly 2 months, some customers were messaging me saying they were fake and wanted a refund. Some were happy with them but still informed me they weren't the real thing and some messaged me to say their product had been seized by customs.

Things got very ugly when I sent my last fee to the distributor for him to dispatch my recent orders at which point all contact with him went dark. I was left with hundreds of complaining customers who were waiting for their products who I couldn't refund because I had already sent the money to the distributor company.

I felt sick!

Luckily, PayPal refunded all the money owed to those who had paid but I was left with eBay and PayPal fees close to £2000 and had all my accounts suspended.

I look back at all this now and can't believe I got myself into such a mess, I'm a changed person and I'm grateful for the lessons I learned during what felt like such a horrific time.

19. Send Me Money via PayPal

Now I've given you plenty of options for ways you can get scammed, feel cheated, or lose out on some money, but I've got one more great idea. If none of the previous options are appealing to you, I'm going to make this final option really easy to submit to.

Just send money to me on PayPal.

That's right, for the very low price of just $25, I'm going to give you the feeling of being scammed. Send me $25 from your bank account and you will get absolutely nothing in return. No thank you, no products, nothing. What a great deal!

Just the benefit of that tingly feeling of losing your hard earned-money.

Go ahead, click the “Buy Now” button and get that experience you've always been wanting. You know you want to.

Now, if for some reason after reading this entire article, you are hesitant to send me your hard-earned money, I'd have to say that my work here is done!

P.S. What to Do if You're Actually Scammed Online

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat tongue-in-cheek article on how not to fall prey to scam artists.

It's important to be aware that scammers will often try to trick people into giving them sensitive information or providing personal details. In some cases, they may even pose as representatives from legitimate businesses in order to secure the trust of their potential victim. If you are ever asked for your personal information or money, it's important to be vigilant and make sure that you verify their identity before giving them anything. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so you're right to be suspicious!

If, like millions of others, you or your any of your family members DO find yourself in an iffy situation, I highly recommend you check out this official resource by the Federal Trade Commission: 10 Things You Can Do to Avoid Fraud to help you recognise the warning signs and get savvy to the latest scams.

The Federal Trade Commission is a great resource for avoiding fraud, but you can also consult the United States government's website on scams and fraud prevention. This is a great list of tips to stay safe and avoid common types of getting scammed – which is a lot easier than attempting to get your money back.

Stay safe and stay alert out there!

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