Worst Scams That Young And Gullible People Fell For

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Worst Scams That Young And Gullible People Fell For

This life is a wild emotional rollercoaster that chucks curveballs our way on a stubbornly consistent basis. If it seems like things are running along smoothly and you haven't hit a bump in the road for a while, maybe you've finally gained all the wisdom that you can, or life is just taking it easy on you for a hot second. With that being said, many of us have fallen prey to the shadiest and sneakiest of scams when we were young, gullible, and blissfully ignorant. This AskReddit thread pays homage to those unfortunate scams that preyed upon the young souls of the world when they just didn't know any better.

1.

Text - h3dcra5h • 1d Timeshare condo at the Massanutten Resort in VA. Was a 20-something newlywed with a new house and no kids. Wife and I thought we were going to live that double-income-no-kids lifestyle. Plus we had a new joint bank account stuffed with wedding gift checks. As the sales pitch dragged on, I felt sicker and sicker, but kept telling myself that this was ultimately going to be an "asset" and we would have access to a getaway whenever we wanted. My wife drove home that day while I

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Text - A_Quiet_Corner · 1d I got one of the keys that car dealerships send in the mail with the "if it fits, you win a free car!" postcards. Drove 20 minutes out to the dealership. They wanted my email and phone number and asked if I would wait in the lobby for a sales person to help me. The sales rep straight up told me that it was just a promotion. The key wasn't actually for a vehicle despite looking like one. So I wasted almost two hours of my life between the driving and time at the dealers

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Text - CTTT93 · 2d Got scammed by a taxi driver in Rome, the fare was €25 and I got the money ready and separate prior to the journey. When I got to my destination I gave him the money but he swapped one of the notes and said I only gave him €15. I was getting my bags and didn't think anything of it just apologised and gave him another €10. Didn't realise till he drove off, I know it's a small amount of money but I still kick myself to this day. Reply 1 1.1k 3 •..

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Text - tkcal • 1d Sea monkeys looked nothing like the comic books promised me they'd look. l'd seen the ads in the comics for years and dreamed about having my own underwater kingdom of little buddies who'd swim up to the side of the bowl and smile at me every day, but back in those days in Australia we just didn't get any of the cool stuff that was advertised in US comic books. Until one day, quite by accident, I found one packet of Sea Monkeys waiting for me in the toy section of the local sup

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Text - Ixpqd · 2d Some dude on Roblox wanted me to join his world. I went ahead and did it, and it asked for me to "login" to "verify" that it was me. It said "server shutting down in 60 seconds" and counting down so I rushed to do it without even thinking twice. Luckily my mom contacted the Roblox support team and after days of trying to get them to do something, I got the account back. Quite a clever scam for using on 8 year olds like me at the time. Fucking piece of shit Reply 319 3 ... +

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Text - CPOX • 2d I was in college and playing COD Black Ops late at night shortly after it came out. In the middle of a round, my phone rang and it was a robot from "Visa" saying my debit card had been compromised and I should enter my 16-digit card information. Well I wanted to continue on with my round as fast as possible,so I typed in the number. Then when the robot asked me for the expiration date is when I realized my mistake and told my friends I had to go... Called and cancelled the card

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Text - lemisset · 2d I was going to rent a house with a guy I knew through a friend. I was a sophmore in college and he was a few years older than me already in the workforce. We agreed that we would go 50/50 on the utilities but he suggested that I put them all in my name so I could build a credit score. I thought it was a great idea! Turns out he was deadbeat and wouldn't be able to get them in his name. I found this out after he routinely stiffed me on his share of the utilities. Probably los

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Text - GaryBuseyWithRabies · 2d I was desperate for a job with no call backs. Finally get a hit. Sales job. I hate sales but a paycheck is a paycheck. Show up for my "interview" and it's multiple people getting pitched. 100% commission MLM crap. They were actually encouraging us to hit up family and friends. There was some poor guy there who I can only describe as Gil from the Simpsons, scribbling notes like a mad man. The scammers said if anyone wasn't comfortable with this, they could leave. I

10.

Text - -ksguy- · 2d In 2002 I was 18 in my senior year of high school. We were pretty poor and I had basically zero chance of affording college. I had great grades and scored a 31on the ACT so should have gotten scholarships but fucked up all of the applications (missed deadlines and whatnot). Out of the blue one day I got a call about a grant I qualified for, to help pay for college. All they needed was my bank account and routing number and they'd direct deposit the funds. Wow! Lucky me! I was

11.

Text - ThatGuyYouForget · 2d a "friend" wanting to help me build a pc because you get "so much more bang for your buck", me having been friends with him for a decade trusted he knew what he was doing and wanted to help, lots of red flags along the way like telling me he ordered the things before I even asked him to do it, or asking me for the money before I got the pc. But I had no reason not to trust him. Then several weeks later I finally got my "bang for my buck" pc, which was mainly outdated

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Text - Lolwall69 · 2d 3 3 3 Awards I'll keep the money safe... Yeah dad l've not seen most of that money Reply 1.5k ...

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Text - fritz236 · 2d Department store credit cards. Get that dope discount and then never receive a statement or card until it's in collections with fees. I refuse to shop at Macy's because of this. Reply 165 ...

14.

Text - Smile-Fearless • 1d I was a child and playing on runescape, grinding up my character. I had online friends, several quests completed. I was waiting for my friends in a specific area outside the Barbarian village when a guy came up to me, and began making small talk. It got around to asking if I had a membership and I told him no, that my parents thought it was wasteful. Now knowing I was an impressionable child, he told me that he would give me his password and let me play on his account.

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Text - KLGAviation • 1d 1 Award A man in New York City approached me at a parking meter and asked if I had four quarters for a dollar. I handed him four quarters... and then he smiled, and walked away slowly. I was too bewildered to even be upset. Q Reply 1 854 3 ...

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Text - _hate_traveling • 2d "Kids, wake up! It's 8 o'clock, you're late for school!" Narrator: it was was actually 7:15 Reply 657 3 ...

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Text - fist_is_also_a_verb • 1d 1 Award Columbia House CDs. You could buy 12 CDs for 1 penny, then you agreed to purchase a certain number of CDs in the future for full price. I'm not sure what I thought - that they'd call the cops or ruin my credit forever, or what. But I bought all my agreed upon CDs at full price. Iread years later that I could have just not bought a single thing because they can't enforce contracts made by minors. Reply 1 80 3 ...

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Text - mr_sto0pid · 2d Armor trimmers on runescape. Reply 1 78 ...

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Text - kilo_1_1 · 2d I never fell for any... But my dad is an idiot. He carried on conversations thru Facebook with a female Army LT that was coming home from Iraq in a few months. She had discovered a trove of gold in one of Saddam's palaces, and needed a place to hide it from her commander for a few months, and she thought my dad's farm would be perfect... My brother and I found out about 4 months into the whole thing and laughed our asses off. Reply 820 ...

20.

Text - riceislifeu · 2d Santa Claus. My parents asked me to write what I want for Christmas in a piece of paper, and put it inside the sock. I wrote I wanted a bike. Christmas passed, no gifts. Parents told me Santa must've been stuck in an aerial traffic jam somewhere and I believed it. # Q Reply 4 121 ...

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Text - stankeyt · 2d When the US state quarters 1st came out, you could buy the cardboard map with spots in each state to add quarters as they were issued. The map and set of 1st 4 coins were $19.99. Right at the end, I got double- talked out of $118 more by agreeing to also purchase the other 46 quarters as they were minted. Never saw another shipment and after further tracking from my credit card statement, the company went out of business. Reply 81 3 ...

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Text - Kathandrapus • 2d A kid offered me some gum, but it was just an empty wrapper. I had never felt more betrayed. Q Reply 66 3 ...

23.

Text - Bruvguy72 · 2d Obligatory not me but an old roommate of mine. He told me that he was hurting for cash and was looking for jobs on Craigslist and found a posting that seemed simple enough. All he had to do was take a mailed check that was worth $3,000 and send it to a person and they would wire him $300 for his help. According to him, he said that the information they provided on both who was giving the check and the person receiving the check was super legit, he had a business number, pho

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Text - greeneyedwench • 1d I was in high school and on a school trip, with about $10 to my name. I went with a group of other kids to Taco Bell, and while we were eating, a sleazy guy sidled up to the table, put his arm around the back of my seat, and hit on us. We rebuffed the guy somehow, but I realized a little later that he'd stolen my purse in the process. Which is why I don't hang my purse on seats anymore. Reply 50

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$Text - Scary-Royal · 2d A Western Union scam as an retail employee a couple of years ago. was overworked, stressed out of my mind, and did something stupid (processed an order over the phone like an idiot). Caught what I did pretty much immediately after the fact (but before I did another transaction) and reported it. I felt awful for months after this happened and my self-esteem pretty much hit rock bottom. Nearly lost my job for it too but since it was my only infraction my boss managed to kee$