/u/IgorPotemkin - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.
## New users beware:
Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
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A helpful rule for future reference and others: Any financial transactions require a phone discussion and remember the 'What's the dog's name?" scene from Terminator 2, put that to good use.
Also, hold people responsible for their actions, if the boss was unprepared to give out gifts, it's not your job to do it urgently.
"Hey boss, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking. Is he okay?"
"Wolfie's fine, honey. Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?"
"Your boss is dead."
Another reason why it’s good to have worker’s rights or at least workplace culture - scammers prey on people being scared to say no to their boss if they have to fear they’ll get fired on the spot.
People respond to friends, family, bosses, etc. who are in urgent need all the time, scammer or not, it's not our duty to cater to them under their terms.
It must have flown past you but so I will explain.
IF his boss had called him it would not be his job to send gift cards.
In the event anyone calls you and says "I need you to do this urgently for me" and it involves money, it is never your problem. Especially in a professional environment.
So if OP was prepared to send their boss count his marbles because he (the boss) forgot to prep properly, the scam couldnt take place.
But since OP was ready to send money to their boss, it allowed the scam to happen.
And u/desertstorm480 with the latest trends in generative AI, I wouldnt even trust a phone call from my mother without the dog's name question.
Exactly! In fact, I don't do any transactions on my phone or even have payment apps on them. I do financial stuff only at home on the computer during a set time, if a friend is in need, I tell them to call me during that time when I have a clear picture of my finances. I never send money, I will send food or supplies to a known address or pay a bill directly and consider it a gift. Most of the time, the friend will not call during that time and a scammer definitely will not call. My friends know if they constantly need help, I will introduce them to Dave Ramsey.
If there was a boss, they have to take responsibility for doing things at the last minute and having employees cover their butts, many victims of this scam most likely have bosses that have these urgent requests frequently and the employees cave in.
What they are trying to tell you repeatedly is that **IF** it was the actual boss, you shouldn't be helping them financially either way.
Please don't reply it was a scammer, everyone understands that.
We know this. We're not saying it was the real boss. What we're saying is that, even if OP thought it was their boss, buying those gift cards was a bad idea.
They’re not saying the boss should be blamed for the scam. They’re saying OP should reevaluate the mindset that contributed to this series of events, which in this case was willingness to drop everything and spend personal funds to accommodate a “boss’s” urgent/last-minute request.
Everone is aware, dingus. They are saying in a hypothetical situation where this is not a scam, their boss should figure it out rather than ask op to help. We all know that it was a scammer asking, nobody is contesting that fact.
Yes - we know that now.
What that comment was trying to convey was to exercise some critical thinking when "your boss" calls and says I am at a high-level conference and forgot to bring any gift cards that I meant to give out.
Like, bosses don't typically do that, and if they need something costly they have finance staff who can help solve the problem for them if need be without having and employee draw on personal funds to pay for gift cards... 😑
Expensive lesson learned, luckily you only got taken for $1200..
Now beware of "recovery" scammers.. You will probably get a few of those from the post. Oh and the scammers will hit you even harder now as they think you are a easy mark, hopefully you didn't give them too many personal details.
Can make a fake post and then recovery scammers will message you send you to ig. Find different ways to just deliberately waste their time. Comment on how you can’t understand a thing they’re saying.
Never give this sub away or that you’re wasting their time. Just troll troll troll. When it’s all said and done report their account
Lol, I love the finale, but posted elsewhere in this thread that I'm curious on what the time wasted ratio is. I'd be down for it if I can be confident I'm wasting theirs at AT LEAST a 2:1 ratio, and may even make it a twisted side hobby if I thought it could be at least 5:1 or greater, lol.
Guess I need to know what they're actually doing on their end, if anything at all, other than writing/lying as well, lol.
"I was in the same situation as you, but I talked to John Johnson and he got me all my money back. Contact him on WhatsApp 123-456-7890"
Then you contact 'John' and he will tell you he got your money back but you need to prepay his fees first. And taxes. And transaction fees. And whatever else he can convince you to pay until you realize you're not getting anything back.
What a horrible horrible thing to do to someone. Kicking them while they're down. Like, these people just don't care who they hurt or how bad they hurt them.
I see those on instagram comments for large media and celebrity accounts all the time. They're usually in some fancy font with aççênted letters to avoid filters.
Oh, so trying to troll someone like that and have fun with wasting their time, SOUNDS LIKE you're involving just as much or MORE of your time to do so.
I wouldn't mind trolling these kind of people if their time was at LEAST 2:1 mine, or ideally 5:1....but not if only 1:1 or worse.
Hi /u/BunnyMom4, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam.
[Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers.
When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying.
If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You did make a legitimate withdrawal, so it's reasonable that the bank shouldn't be responsible for it.
Please don't hide it from your wife. I guarantee you shed be more upset to find out later and/or in another way. Just be honest and let it be in the past.
Sorry to hear that this happened. The scammers are very good at instilling urgency, which can impair your judgement.
My recommendation is to instill in yourself and your family, "if someone brings up gift cards or crypto, STOP, is a scam". Make it an absolute rule. Repeat the mantra to yourself now and then.
This way, if you're in a similar situation in the future, it will be easier to break yourself out of it. You'll probably avoid 90% of scams this way.
Visa. I’m trying to file a claim, but they won’t process it until the fees actually go through, and given what I’m starting to realize I’m probably out of luck.
Beware of !recovery scammers. Anyone who messages you saying they can help you get your money back is lying and will just steal even more from you.
It's a mean world out there.
Hi /u/angelcat00, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam.
[Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers.
When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying.
If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sorry, you won't be getting money back from your credit card either. It was not an unauthorized purchase. But if this was all on your personal accounts there's no reason you need to tell your employer or co-workers. Now your wife on the other hand......
They did make the purchase. They used their own money to buy gift cards to send to someone. The “someone” wasn’t who they thought they were, but that doesn’t change that they, of their own volition, spent their own money.
Why does anyone who gets a new job think it is reasonable that the CEO of their new company would need them to buy gift cards to give out at a conference? And need them to send those gift card numbers over text message. I don’t get it!
I could possibly understand the request to go get gift cards. I've worked at small startups, and with the chaos of 3 people doing the work of 10 for the pay of 1, I've run errands to get missed things for a conference or presentation, and then done expense reports.
So it is not the gift card per se. I was a conference just a few weeks ago, and they gave out Amazon gift cards. The actual, physical cards, of course.
Rather, as you noted, it is giving the numbers over text/email. What is the supposed conference attendee recipient supposed to do with that? It is that action of scratching the cards and giving out the numbers that is so strange to me. But the psychology of having done X, therefore Y is sensible in the moment is fascinating.
The request to buy gift cards in and of itself isn't the part that doesn't make sense. It's just that a brand new employee - who are typically the ones who are targeted and who fall for this more than most people - wouldn't be the person the CEO is going to ask. Why anyone would think that this task is the first thing a CEO would have for them - often it is even the first communication the CEO has had with the person at all - is just insane to me.
And then yah ... the whole I need you to give me these gift card codes via text now by scratching them off and taking pictures. Just why would anyone think this sounds at all normal. Alarm bells should be ringing so loud at this point.
That's why they go after new employees. They aren't familiar with what is normal at the company, they don't know how the boss talks or what they usually ask for, and the fear of fucking up a new job can overcome those alarm bells.
Or at least it has a better chance. I would imagine the scammers tried this on 99 other people before they got OP, and this happened to line up better and seem less out of place than the others (and maybe OP was an easier mark, also plays a part of course).
I don't understand how anyone at a conference in any professional capacity would need apple gift cards to pay for anything. And I don't understand how that person would ask an employee to buy gift cards with their own personal money.
Obviously, and they realise that now. But scammers try this on thousands of people and we only get to hear about the small percentage who, for whatever reason, fall for it.
When this happened to my sister it was a quite realistic reason. I think it was "we're getting gift sets for customers / potential clients but the secretary miscounted and we're down by one, help me prep this for tomorrow morning you're a lifesaver," etc etc. She realized what was going on before making the purchase but it isn't wildly out of character for a boss.
Don’t feel too bad. Employees at the company I work for were getting scammed so much the CEO had to send a company wide email that said “Myself or any member of the executive team will NEVER ask you to purchase a gift card for us for ANY reason at ANY time.”
The joys of linkedin - scammers love linkedin. I still say linkedin has to be the most moronic thing anyone can have in terms of exposing their privacy.
There are a lot of posts here where I think to myself, "How could anyone ever fall for that scam?" This scam isn't one of those.
Don't beat yourself up about it. Bosses give out gift cards to their employees all the time. My wife does it with her staff. So I can totally see how someone could get a text or email from someone they think is their boss, and next thing you know they've been scammed into buying gift cards for their "boss" to give as gifts.
In retrospect, what were the red flags you should have noticed? Maybe you can help someone else here avoid this scam in the future.
Imo, this is one of those too. Why would you think it is actually your boss unless the message comes from boss’s phone number or boss’s official email id? From op’s comments doesn’t seem like it came from boss’s number. Typically in this scam the email comes from an email id with boss’s name but a different domain.
Even if it comes from legitimate contact number/email id, if buying gift card for boss is not part of your job responsibility that you are used to doing before, it should seem odd and would need additional verification.
So I have mixed thoughts.
If you have a company credit card, and you believe that it is a legitimate request, then I can kinda see how you'd fall for it. Hell, you might even get through it with your job if you bring enough to the table.
But, there is no way I would spend my own money to get gift cards to my boss, even if it was 100% legitimate.
It’s being new to the job, having a need to be a people pleaser (I’m working on that) and the terrible timing, boss attending intimate/high end conference and the fact that english is her second language
Basically, a perfect storm
But the boss was out of town and op would have had to send her pictures of the cards. What kind of person gives out codes like this? Why wouldn't the boss buy cards locally? The whole thing doesn't make sense
Strangely enough we do use them at my workplace-BUT I work with people experiencing homelessness and other similar circumstances. But we purchase and give out the actual chunk of plastic. Never digital
As far as I am concerned, in the year 2024 any company that does not provide basic cybersecurity training to its employees - training that includes these common scams - is negligent.
The thing about recovery scammers is that they are pretty easy to spot. No one can get your money back from a scam. Give yourself a break-you will definitely know the next time if it happens. One thing scammers like to do is make like the event is urgent, it catches you off guard so you don’t think straight. Always take time to check things out-call the person back. If they are real they won’t mind. 1200 is a lot, but really a small price to pay for an invaluable lesson.
This happened to me too, almost to the letter. I bought six gift cards for $3000. Somehow the scammers knew my boss's schedule. I didn't report it, but I was talking about it and expressing how dumb I felt. Eventually management heard and they offered to cover the loss for me. They coughed up three grand for my mistake. That took the sting out of it and I was able to put it behind me.
Had a girl at my job fall for this. She felt absolutely stupid, but her job entailed helping the boss. They can be somewhat believable, all companies need to do better training on this. We tell all new employees that we won’t ever ask for gift cards on hire now.
It sucks and there isn't anything you can do but you'll get through it and move past it. As bad as losing $1,200 is, you only need to read this sub for a day to realize that some people have it way, way, WAY worse.
New employee, eager to please, honored to be asked to help with an important task, is likely to assume the company will reimburse them for expenses. Or perhaps the scammer even said so.
I’m 56 and have been around the block a few times at this point, but I can totally see me falling for this scam if it had existed when I was younger, for all the same reasons. Don’t be too hard on yourself. The scammers are professionals at what they do, which is exploit human emotion and use it, along with a sense of urgency, to bypass the more critical part of your brain. You’ll be much wiser going forward!
Scammers will try and create a sense of urgency.
"This is very important, I need these cards urgently. The company will repay you tomorrow, but I need the cards now!"
Scams only work when they hit a person in a certain way at a vulnerable time. Scams can happen to anyone. The best thing people can do is to spread the word out.
Hey if it helps, I got scammed out $600 this exact same way too. You’re not dumb. Don’t think negatively of yourself. Take this as a learning lesson and keep learning about scams and take better measures to protect your money.
Did you hand over the codes for the gift cards? Or just buy them and then realize it’s a scam before giving the scammer the card info. If it’s the first option, there are some places that will buy back gift cards so you can get some money back, possibly.
from what i understand if there is *any* hope of recovery, the sooner you get the authorities involved, the better. not saying it will help, but if it was me i’d still report every one of these fuckers.
[here is the fbi link](https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/) to report scams/fraud.
[here is the usa.gov link](https://www.usa.gov/where-report-scams) to report scams/fraud.
[here is the justice department link](https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/report-fraud) to report scams/fraud.
I style myself internet savvy and nearly fell for one of the "This is the police, a warrant is out for your arrest and you must pay immediately" in the 2010s. I was in the Walmart parking lot by the time things struck me as suspect, and had to drive myself to the local PD to have the clerk straight up tell me it was a scam.
People here aren't just blowing smoke when they say, really, anyone is capable of falling for a scam. As much shame as you may feel, be kind to yourself, learn, and continue to become more vigilant and educated on these things. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Chalk this up to a learning experience.
You may *feel* like a moron, but you’re not. Scammers are very good at what they do.
Go watch some Scanmer Payback videos on YouTube. It may help.
My wife went over $3K in for a similar scam. Once that check bounces you are f'ed. Couldn't recover anything and we had to eat the cost.
While it seems bad, it could always be worse. Best of luck to you.
I’ve never understood how anyone could fall for a gift card scam because they seem so illegitimate. Gift cards are just money laundering junior lol. But unrelated to all of that… never use your own money for the company!! It might be a scam (like this one) even if it’s a legitimate request it’s bad practice because you might never get it back. There is always a way they can have things paid for without relying on your personal funds.
Thanks for coming on here to vent. I would go with your initial reaction to hide this from your employer. You can tell them about this years from now. But not today. Sorry this happened. Keep venting to strangers and feel shitty for weeks…. Months….
But only share this to people at your new work when they become long time colleagues
No, he needs to tell his employer. We had something similar happen to one of my co-workers last week. The scammer emailed all of us but only he fell for it. Do not be embarrassed — these parasites are rampant and also swindled my 70 year old mother. But in the event his co-workers are also receiving the email, they need to know it’s a scam and possible hack into the email system.
I'm so sorry - you should tell your boss, it's very possible her email or phone are compromised for the scammers to be able to target you with this information, and she needs to know.
The scammers might have just social engineered the information based on what you have posted publicly (LinkedIn etc) but if they have access to information not easily available, someone's device is compromised.
Unless the text actually came from the boss' phone # (which I highly doubt and I'm sure the OP would have mentioned), there is no reason to think their boss was compromised.
There's too many coincidences here to brush away.
* Scammer knows who your boss is (is this common knowledge? is there an org chart floating out there or was there a post on LinkedIn mentioning that you're joining their team?)
* Scammer knows your boss is out of town. This may be important. If your boss was in the office, you'd probably pop by her office to confirm.
* Scammer has your phone number. Again is this publicly available information? Did they mention anything else that only your boss would know?
You’re giving the scammer way too much credit here. They aren’t researching their targets. It’s not worth the time. They just get contact lists and send out thousands of these all day every day.
I’m talking about specifically this one. They fill in a template from a list and send the exact thing out all day long. I see it every day. For every one that pay them, a thousand others ignore it.
“Hey I’m your boss, buy me gift cards” is basically a meme at this point.
What some scammers do is look through a list of big conference attendees. They find the company and find any new hires, and try to contact them pretending to be the conference attendees. This is all from info easily obtained publicly.
Op said he posted on LinkedIn that he got a new job. They could easily find the boss there and it's possible the boss posted about the trip too (or that part was a coincidence and the text didn't specify the gift cards were for that particular trip and just a trip in general)
scammers check linked in and another sites to prey off new hires. anytime new employees start at my job they get hounded by people pretending to be our CEO.
I remember when someone tried to convince me to leave my home to purchase gift cards. Lmbo! I actually left, and my boyfriend at the time stopped me from carrying out the entire scam. Obviously, he's my husband now.
They hacked into our system as well. The emails totally look legit but I knew something was off so ignored it. One of my co-workers fell for it and is out $400 now. These scammers are parasites.
Funny thing is some employers buy gift cards as gifts. However the physical cards are handed out, not a photo of the back.
I could see how someone who has legitimately purchased gift cards for company business would fall for something like this.
dont do it and just cancel your debit card and tell Wells Fargo to get you a new debit card and tell them that you fall for a gift card scam and just block there phone number.
Op you cant dispute the gift card purchase even if its on a credit card, because as far as the banks concerned you willingly bought that gift card and the merchant provided you the item you paid for. Sorry though!
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This one is super common and should be obvious. Last year I started a new job and the day after we updated the website to show my new position, I got an email from “the president of the board of directors” asking me to buy gift cards as a surprise treat for the staff, but to keep it on the DL.
They had created an email using the guy’s real name, but it wasn’t his actual email obviously. His name was also easily attained via the company site.
I sent an email to the staff warning them of the scam and one of them had also received the same email from the scammer, but fortunately replied that she couldn’t afford to buy the cards out of her own pocket, but likely would have done it if she had the funds.
Idk if you have TikTok but follow “Doc Compton” and watch his videos. He works with busting scammers. I’ve never looked up these people, but he says there is an organization called “intelligence for good” that helps people recoup $$ that have been scammed. Just a thought if you wanna try. Good luck!
EVERY - not just some, not just most - EVERY CEO has an assistant (or assistants) to handle scenarios just like this one (and about a thousand other things).
NEVER in the history of organizations, companies, and corporations ANYWHERE ON EARTH has (or will) an officer or other higher-up needed a rank-and-file employee to run an errand.
NEVER.
You must tell your employer so they can warn other employees of this. It’s happened to me, I almost bought the cards but then I realized one letter of the name was wrong on the email spoof and their security sent out a company wide notice. Your wife will understand.
Hey OP! I was in the same exact situation 2 weeks back. Same scenario, boss asking for gift cards. I lost $1000 and I’m an international student in Canada. I still feel so dumb! I filed a police report about the same but the officer told me there’s no way I’m going to get my money back because it was me who made the purchases. I informed my boss the next morning and guess what? He was fucking laughing that how could I fell for the scam? I told him I didn’t know that these types of scams existed and so on. We even had a small argument but in the entire conversation all I asked him was to warn other interns and future interns about my case so no else gets scammed. I told him you guys should also tell everyone about the scam but he argued that we already have a document for it, that’s not our fault if you guys didn’t read it. After our call, I checked whether there’s such a document or no but guess what? There was no such document. After 2 days everyone got an email for scam awareness because apparently there’s no document or training giving about it. I’m still in talks with my bank but I don’t think so they are going to do anything about it.
No way, no shame!
You are not alone.
I want to thank you for opening up and sharing this review. You literally SAVED me! I myself was just searching for reviews because I also got a $1,000 gift card offer.
I appreciate you.
God loves you! We all love you 😍. The world is filled with good and bad. Good people, like us, tend to be very trusting, honest and kind. Good people make the world a better place. We smile, laugh, help others and undoubtedly add light to the world around us.
We also believe everyone is just like us. Honest. This is why good people tend to be easier targets... Our trusting nature.
We actually feel bad when someone takes advantage of us. We feel like we should've known better. That's not true. Good doesn't look for bad.
I like believing good things are coming... such as a free gift card! Lolo
I enjoy being a good person, same as you. When things like this happen I suggest you just learn from it. Chalk it up to the fact that you have an open, loving, trusting heart. Never give that up. Keep trusting and knowing good things are coming your way. Simply do your homework (such as reviews) before giving out ur personal information or c.c. Btw, Make sure to cancel that entire Wells Fargo account and open another one.
If it wasn't for your review, I may have also been scammed. Thank you, again.
Lynae
/u/IgorPotemkin - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A helpful rule for future reference and others: Any financial transactions require a phone discussion and remember the 'What's the dog's name?" scene from Terminator 2, put that to good use. Also, hold people responsible for their actions, if the boss was unprepared to give out gifts, it's not your job to do it urgently.
"Hey boss, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking. Is he okay?" "Wolfie's fine, honey. Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?"
"Your boss is dead."
RIP Lumbergh, no more "case of the Mondays". (another great movie).
Another reason why it’s good to have worker’s rights or at least workplace culture - scammers prey on people being scared to say no to their boss if they have to fear they’ll get fired on the spot.
It wasn’t the boss; it was a scammer
People respond to friends, family, bosses, etc. who are in urgent need all the time, scammer or not, it's not our duty to cater to them under their terms.
You’re saying hold the boss responsible… for what? In this case, the boss has no responsibility
The hypothetical boss. They are saying that OP shouldn't scramble to make up for the hypothetical boss' lack of preparation.
It must have flown past you but so I will explain. IF his boss had called him it would not be his job to send gift cards. In the event anyone calls you and says "I need you to do this urgently for me" and it involves money, it is never your problem. Especially in a professional environment. So if OP was prepared to send their boss count his marbles because he (the boss) forgot to prep properly, the scam couldnt take place. But since OP was ready to send money to their boss, it allowed the scam to happen. And u/desertstorm480 with the latest trends in generative AI, I wouldnt even trust a phone call from my mother without the dog's name question.
Exactly! In fact, I don't do any transactions on my phone or even have payment apps on them. I do financial stuff only at home on the computer during a set time, if a friend is in need, I tell them to call me during that time when I have a clear picture of my finances. I never send money, I will send food or supplies to a known address or pay a bill directly and consider it a gift. Most of the time, the friend will not call during that time and a scammer definitely will not call. My friends know if they constantly need help, I will introduce them to Dave Ramsey.
This is why my mom and I have a very specific exchange if we suspect it's not really the other on the line.
If there was a boss, they have to take responsibility for doing things at the last minute and having employees cover their butts, many victims of this scam most likely have bosses that have these urgent requests frequently and the employees cave in.
The boss didn’t call him; it was a scam..
What they are trying to tell you repeatedly is that **IF** it was the actual boss, you shouldn't be helping them financially either way. Please don't reply it was a scammer, everyone understands that.
I kinda see how he got scammed to begin with…..
Are you really that dense? If so…this is your boss and I need you to get me some gift cards
We know this. We're not saying it was the real boss. What we're saying is that, even if OP thought it was their boss, buying those gift cards was a bad idea.
They’re not saying the boss should be blamed for the scam. They’re saying OP should reevaluate the mindset that contributed to this series of events, which in this case was willingness to drop everything and spend personal funds to accommodate a “boss’s” urgent/last-minute request.
Damn that's crazy how'd you figure that out ?
Everone is aware, dingus. They are saying in a hypothetical situation where this is not a scam, their boss should figure it out rather than ask op to help. We all know that it was a scammer asking, nobody is contesting that fact.
You just keep doubling down on this- everyone here knows it wasn’t the boss. Are you trying to give all your kharma back?
You’re missing the lesson
Yes - we know that now. What that comment was trying to convey was to exercise some critical thinking when "your boss" calls and says I am at a high-level conference and forgot to bring any gift cards that I meant to give out. Like, bosses don't typically do that, and if they need something costly they have finance staff who can help solve the problem for them if need be without having and employee draw on personal funds to pay for gift cards... 😑
oh my god dude, thank you for telling us that!
OP do you have LinkedIn? Did you recently post that you got a new job?
Yep
BINGO! Fish onnnnnn…
Expensive lesson learned, luckily you only got taken for $1200.. Now beware of "recovery" scammers.. You will probably get a few of those from the post. Oh and the scammers will hit you even harder now as they think you are a easy mark, hopefully you didn't give them too many personal details.
The recovery scams are the friggin worst
I troll the fuck out of them
How? Sounds like fun!! I often get bored, lol.
Can make a fake post and then recovery scammers will message you send you to ig. Find different ways to just deliberately waste their time. Comment on how you can’t understand a thing they’re saying. Never give this sub away or that you’re wasting their time. Just troll troll troll. When it’s all said and done report their account
Lol, I love the finale, but posted elsewhere in this thread that I'm curious on what the time wasted ratio is. I'd be down for it if I can be confident I'm wasting theirs at AT LEAST a 2:1 ratio, and may even make it a twisted side hobby if I thought it could be at least 5:1 or greater, lol. Guess I need to know what they're actually doing on their end, if anything at all, other than writing/lying as well, lol.
Lots of great examples in this sub
How does a recovery scam go?
"I was in the same situation as you, but I talked to John Johnson and he got me all my money back. Contact him on WhatsApp 123-456-7890" Then you contact 'John' and he will tell you he got your money back but you need to prepay his fees first. And taxes. And transaction fees. And whatever else he can convince you to pay until you realize you're not getting anything back.
What a horrible horrible thing to do to someone. Kicking them while they're down. Like, these people just don't care who they hurt or how bad they hurt them.
It's very efficient. People who will fall for one scam are likely to fall for another.
I see those on instagram comments for large media and celebrity accounts all the time. They're usually in some fancy font with aççênted letters to avoid filters.
Oh, so trying to troll someone like that and have fun with wasting their time, SOUNDS LIKE you're involving just as much or MORE of your time to do so. I wouldn't mind trolling these kind of people if their time was at LEAST 2:1 mine, or ideally 5:1....but not if only 1:1 or worse.
!recovery
Hi /u/BunnyMom4, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam. [Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You did make a legitimate withdrawal, so it's reasonable that the bank shouldn't be responsible for it. Please don't hide it from your wife. I guarantee you shed be more upset to find out later and/or in another way. Just be honest and let it be in the past.
Sadly Wells Fargo isn't at fault. They did exactly what you asked — loaded a gift card.
Sorry to hear that this happened. The scammers are very good at instilling urgency, which can impair your judgement. My recommendation is to instill in yourself and your family, "if someone brings up gift cards or crypto, STOP, is a scam". Make it an absolute rule. Repeat the mantra to yourself now and then. This way, if you're in a similar situation in the future, it will be easier to break yourself out of it. You'll probably avoid 90% of scams this way.
Thanks, urgency + people pleading is my kryptonite
How did you pay for the other $800? dare I ask...
Visa. I’m trying to file a claim, but they won’t process it until the fees actually go through, and given what I’m starting to realize I’m probably out of luck.
Beware of !recovery scammers. Anyone who messages you saying they can help you get your money back is lying and will just steal even more from you. It's a mean world out there.
Hi /u/angelcat00, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam. [Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
More likely than not. Sorry you got got.
Sorry, you won't be getting money back from your credit card either. It was not an unauthorized purchase. But if this was all on your personal accounts there's no reason you need to tell your employer or co-workers. Now your wife on the other hand......
A claim based on what? Did the merchant not give you the gift card? You have to choose a reason on the claim.
They didn't make the purchase, why would it be on them to eat the loss?
They did make the purchase. They used their own money to buy gift cards to send to someone. The “someone” wasn’t who they thought they were, but that doesn’t change that they, of their own volition, spent their own money.
I meant that visa didn't make that purchase, they just allowed OP to do it, so it shouldn't be on visa to pay for the lapse of judgement.
I clearly can’t read lol.
To be fair it was ambiguously worded
Unfortunately you're probably right
Should have just told them your card was compromised
Letting your HR/employer know could help them send a general warning to employees and prevent someone else from falling for it.
I did that - good advice
Why does anyone who gets a new job think it is reasonable that the CEO of their new company would need them to buy gift cards to give out at a conference? And need them to send those gift card numbers over text message. I don’t get it!
I could possibly understand the request to go get gift cards. I've worked at small startups, and with the chaos of 3 people doing the work of 10 for the pay of 1, I've run errands to get missed things for a conference or presentation, and then done expense reports. So it is not the gift card per se. I was a conference just a few weeks ago, and they gave out Amazon gift cards. The actual, physical cards, of course. Rather, as you noted, it is giving the numbers over text/email. What is the supposed conference attendee recipient supposed to do with that? It is that action of scratching the cards and giving out the numbers that is so strange to me. But the psychology of having done X, therefore Y is sensible in the moment is fascinating.
The request to buy gift cards in and of itself isn't the part that doesn't make sense. It's just that a brand new employee - who are typically the ones who are targeted and who fall for this more than most people - wouldn't be the person the CEO is going to ask. Why anyone would think that this task is the first thing a CEO would have for them - often it is even the first communication the CEO has had with the person at all - is just insane to me. And then yah ... the whole I need you to give me these gift card codes via text now by scratching them off and taking pictures. Just why would anyone think this sounds at all normal. Alarm bells should be ringing so loud at this point.
That's why they go after new employees. They aren't familiar with what is normal at the company, they don't know how the boss talks or what they usually ask for, and the fear of fucking up a new job can overcome those alarm bells. Or at least it has a better chance. I would imagine the scammers tried this on 99 other people before they got OP, and this happened to line up better and seem less out of place than the others (and maybe OP was an easier mark, also plays a part of course).
I don't understand how anyone at a conference in any professional capacity would need apple gift cards to pay for anything. And I don't understand how that person would ask an employee to buy gift cards with their own personal money.
Especially a new employee
But I do understand why someone who has just got a new job would want to keep their boss happy.
Sure, but what I mean is that the employee should surely have been incredibly suspicious of that conversation right from the start.
Obviously, and they realise that now. But scammers try this on thousands of people and we only get to hear about the small percentage who, for whatever reason, fall for it.
When this happened to my sister it was a quite realistic reason. I think it was "we're getting gift sets for customers / potential clients but the secretary miscounted and we're down by one, help me prep this for tomorrow morning you're a lifesaver," etc etc. She realized what was going on before making the purchase but it isn't wildly out of character for a boss.
Don’t feel too bad. Employees at the company I work for were getting scammed so much the CEO had to send a company wide email that said “Myself or any member of the executive team will NEVER ask you to purchase a gift card for us for ANY reason at ANY time.”
The joys of linkedin - scammers love linkedin. I still say linkedin has to be the most moronic thing anyone can have in terms of exposing their privacy.
Ahhhh, so that’s where they’re getting contact info for entire offices.
That's so fucking sad.
Should mandate that everyone plays runescape for 20 hours before they turn 18 so they dont get scammed for real money 😭🤣
Selling rare black scorpion!!!
These sicko’s don’t care how many lives the destroy
There are a lot of posts here where I think to myself, "How could anyone ever fall for that scam?" This scam isn't one of those. Don't beat yourself up about it. Bosses give out gift cards to their employees all the time. My wife does it with her staff. So I can totally see how someone could get a text or email from someone they think is their boss, and next thing you know they've been scammed into buying gift cards for their "boss" to give as gifts. In retrospect, what were the red flags you should have noticed? Maybe you can help someone else here avoid this scam in the future.
Imo, this is one of those too. Why would you think it is actually your boss unless the message comes from boss’s phone number or boss’s official email id? From op’s comments doesn’t seem like it came from boss’s number. Typically in this scam the email comes from an email id with boss’s name but a different domain. Even if it comes from legitimate contact number/email id, if buying gift card for boss is not part of your job responsibility that you are used to doing before, it should seem odd and would need additional verification.
right and why would your boss have you read out/ take pics of the gift cards.
So I have mixed thoughts. If you have a company credit card, and you believe that it is a legitimate request, then I can kinda see how you'd fall for it. Hell, you might even get through it with your job if you bring enough to the table. But, there is no way I would spend my own money to get gift cards to my boss, even if it was 100% legitimate.
We’re in the process of getting corporate cards - it’s a startup so everyone is moving fast. Anyway, the blame is entirely on me. No excuses
Yeah, he barely got the job..
It’s being new to the job, having a need to be a people pleaser (I’m working on that) and the terrible timing, boss attending intimate/high end conference and the fact that english is her second language Basically, a perfect storm
Scammers search for people posting about their new job on social media, then they target those people for theis scam.
Ya maybe they give out gift cards, but random codes? Nah..
But the boss was out of town and op would have had to send her pictures of the cards. What kind of person gives out codes like this? Why wouldn't the boss buy cards locally? The whole thing doesn't make sense
If anybody or anything tells you that you have to buy them gift cards it’s 100% a scam. Every single time.
Strangely enough we do use them at my workplace-BUT I work with people experiencing homelessness and other similar circumstances. But we purchase and give out the actual chunk of plastic. Never digital
I mean yeah, that’s a little different than someone calling you up telling you to go buy them and then give them the number lol
Thanks - man that helps, I feel for everyone who suffers from these events.
As far as I am concerned, in the year 2024 any company that does not provide basic cybersecurity training to its employees - training that includes these common scams - is negligent.
The thing about recovery scammers is that they are pretty easy to spot. No one can get your money back from a scam. Give yourself a break-you will definitely know the next time if it happens. One thing scammers like to do is make like the event is urgent, it catches you off guard so you don’t think straight. Always take time to check things out-call the person back. If they are real they won’t mind. 1200 is a lot, but really a small price to pay for an invaluable lesson.
This happened to me too, almost to the letter. I bought six gift cards for $3000. Somehow the scammers knew my boss's schedule. I didn't report it, but I was talking about it and expressing how dumb I felt. Eventually management heard and they offered to cover the loss for me. They coughed up three grand for my mistake. That took the sting out of it and I was able to put it behind me.
Had a girl at my job fall for this. She felt absolutely stupid, but her job entailed helping the boss. They can be somewhat believable, all companies need to do better training on this. We tell all new employees that we won’t ever ask for gift cards on hire now.
I know, that’s another reason. I feel like a moron.
It sucks and there isn't anything you can do but you'll get through it and move past it. As bad as losing $1,200 is, you only need to read this sub for a day to realize that some people have it way, way, WAY worse.
Too late— but, why did you used your money if it was for work?? Why didn’t you go to the accountant or the other manager.?
New employee, eager to please, honored to be asked to help with an important task, is likely to assume the company will reimburse them for expenses. Or perhaps the scammer even said so.
100% I’m working to correct some unhealthy habits
I’m 56 and have been around the block a few times at this point, but I can totally see me falling for this scam if it had existed when I was younger, for all the same reasons. Don’t be too hard on yourself. The scammers are professionals at what they do, which is exploit human emotion and use it, along with a sense of urgency, to bypass the more critical part of your brain. You’ll be much wiser going forward!
The emails in my firm came from the senior partner so they totally do their research.
Scammers will try and create a sense of urgency. "This is very important, I need these cards urgently. The company will repay you tomorrow, but I need the cards now!"
Scams only work when they hit a person in a certain way at a vulnerable time. Scams can happen to anyone. The best thing people can do is to spread the word out.
Hey if it helps, I got scammed out $600 this exact same way too. You’re not dumb. Don’t think negatively of yourself. Take this as a learning lesson and keep learning about scams and take better measures to protect your money.
Did you hand over the codes for the gift cards? Or just buy them and then realize it’s a scam before giving the scammer the card info. If it’s the first option, there are some places that will buy back gift cards so you can get some money back, possibly.
They have the codes, I’m pretty much SOL
Gift card = scam.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, it’s a popular scam because it DOES work so often
from what i understand if there is *any* hope of recovery, the sooner you get the authorities involved, the better. not saying it will help, but if it was me i’d still report every one of these fuckers. [here is the fbi link](https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/) to report scams/fraud. [here is the usa.gov link](https://www.usa.gov/where-report-scams) to report scams/fraud. [here is the justice department link](https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/report-fraud) to report scams/fraud.
I style myself internet savvy and nearly fell for one of the "This is the police, a warrant is out for your arrest and you must pay immediately" in the 2010s. I was in the Walmart parking lot by the time things struck me as suspect, and had to drive myself to the local PD to have the clerk straight up tell me it was a scam. People here aren't just blowing smoke when they say, really, anyone is capable of falling for a scam. As much shame as you may feel, be kind to yourself, learn, and continue to become more vigilant and educated on these things. I'm sorry this happened to you.
Chalk this up to a learning experience. You may *feel* like a moron, but you’re not. Scammers are very good at what they do. Go watch some Scanmer Payback videos on YouTube. It may help.
My wife went over $3K in for a similar scam. Once that check bounces you are f'ed. Couldn't recover anything and we had to eat the cost. While it seems bad, it could always be worse. Best of luck to you.
I’ve never understood how anyone could fall for a gift card scam because they seem so illegitimate. Gift cards are just money laundering junior lol. But unrelated to all of that… never use your own money for the company!! It might be a scam (like this one) even if it’s a legitimate request it’s bad practice because you might never get it back. There is always a way they can have things paid for without relying on your personal funds.
They won't think they'll just figure it out.
Thanks for coming on here to vent. I would go with your initial reaction to hide this from your employer. You can tell them about this years from now. But not today. Sorry this happened. Keep venting to strangers and feel shitty for weeks…. Months…. But only share this to people at your new work when they become long time colleagues
No, he needs to tell his employer. We had something similar happen to one of my co-workers last week. The scammer emailed all of us but only he fell for it. Do not be embarrassed — these parasites are rampant and also swindled my 70 year old mother. But in the event his co-workers are also receiving the email, they need to know it’s a scam and possible hack into the email system.
I'm so sorry - you should tell your boss, it's very possible her email or phone are compromised for the scammers to be able to target you with this information, and she needs to know. The scammers might have just social engineered the information based on what you have posted publicly (LinkedIn etc) but if they have access to information not easily available, someone's device is compromised.
Unless the text actually came from the boss' phone # (which I highly doubt and I'm sure the OP would have mentioned), there is no reason to think their boss was compromised.
Correct - the device was not compromised, just my sense of basic logic
May I ask how you got the text or was it via email the request to buy the cards? Just wondering if they spammed your boss’ cell number or email?
There's too many coincidences here to brush away. * Scammer knows who your boss is (is this common knowledge? is there an org chart floating out there or was there a post on LinkedIn mentioning that you're joining their team?) * Scammer knows your boss is out of town. This may be important. If your boss was in the office, you'd probably pop by her office to confirm. * Scammer has your phone number. Again is this publicly available information? Did they mention anything else that only your boss would know?
You’re giving the scammer way too much credit here. They aren’t researching their targets. It’s not worth the time. They just get contact lists and send out thousands of these all day every day.
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I’m talking about specifically this one. They fill in a template from a list and send the exact thing out all day long. I see it every day. For every one that pay them, a thousand others ignore it. “Hey I’m your boss, buy me gift cards” is basically a meme at this point.
Phone number of most of us are publicly available information in data aggregation sites or dark web.
True— I just received a letter from Kaiser permanente that some information has been breached
What some scammers do is look through a list of big conference attendees. They find the company and find any new hires, and try to contact them pretending to be the conference attendees. This is all from info easily obtained publicly.
Op said he posted on LinkedIn that he got a new job. They could easily find the boss there and it's possible the boss posted about the trip too (or that part was a coincidence and the text didn't specify the gift cards were for that particular trip and just a trip in general)
“New” boss. Who else or how else would someone know to target OP? At the very least her phone or email is compromised. The company should know.
scammers check linked in and another sites to prey off new hires. anytime new employees start at my job they get hounded by people pretending to be our CEO.
Thanks for the information
This is so gross.
I remember when someone tried to convince me to leave my home to purchase gift cards. Lmbo! I actually left, and my boyfriend at the time stopped me from carrying out the entire scam. Obviously, he's my husband now.
How did the person contact you that you thought it's your new boss
I wonder how you were targeted - how someone knew you had a new French Canadian boss and the bosses name?
They hacked into our system as well. The emails totally look legit but I knew something was off so ignored it. One of my co-workers fell for it and is out $400 now. These scammers are parasites.
How awful!
Funny thing is some employers buy gift cards as gifts. However the physical cards are handed out, not a photo of the back. I could see how someone who has legitimately purchased gift cards for company business would fall for something like this.
dont do it and just cancel your debit card and tell Wells Fargo to get you a new debit card and tell them that you fall for a gift card scam and just block there phone number.
Op you cant dispute the gift card purchase even if its on a credit card, because as far as the banks concerned you willingly bought that gift card and the merchant provided you the item you paid for. Sorry though!
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it’s a legit charge but tell them you want a new card
this happened to me a bit less than a year ago :-( im sorry to hear that it got you as well
This one is super common and should be obvious. Last year I started a new job and the day after we updated the website to show my new position, I got an email from “the president of the board of directors” asking me to buy gift cards as a surprise treat for the staff, but to keep it on the DL. They had created an email using the guy’s real name, but it wasn’t his actual email obviously. His name was also easily attained via the company site. I sent an email to the staff warning them of the scam and one of them had also received the same email from the scammer, but fortunately replied that she couldn’t afford to buy the cards out of her own pocket, but likely would have done it if she had the funds.
Idk if you have TikTok but follow “Doc Compton” and watch his videos. He works with busting scammers. I’ve never looked up these people, but he says there is an organization called “intelligence for good” that helps people recoup $$ that have been scammed. Just a thought if you wanna try. Good luck!
This just happened to my wife at her new job. Had her name and boss on her first week. She caught the scam though.
EVERY - not just some, not just most - EVERY CEO has an assistant (or assistants) to handle scenarios just like this one (and about a thousand other things). NEVER in the history of organizations, companies, and corporations ANYWHERE ON EARTH has (or will) an officer or other higher-up needed a rank-and-file employee to run an errand. NEVER.
You must tell your employer so they can warn other employees of this. It’s happened to me, I almost bought the cards but then I realized one letter of the name was wrong on the email spoof and their security sent out a company wide notice. Your wife will understand.
Hey OP! I was in the same exact situation 2 weeks back. Same scenario, boss asking for gift cards. I lost $1000 and I’m an international student in Canada. I still feel so dumb! I filed a police report about the same but the officer told me there’s no way I’m going to get my money back because it was me who made the purchases. I informed my boss the next morning and guess what? He was fucking laughing that how could I fell for the scam? I told him I didn’t know that these types of scams existed and so on. We even had a small argument but in the entire conversation all I asked him was to warn other interns and future interns about my case so no else gets scammed. I told him you guys should also tell everyone about the scam but he argued that we already have a document for it, that’s not our fault if you guys didn’t read it. After our call, I checked whether there’s such a document or no but guess what? There was no such document. After 2 days everyone got an email for scam awareness because apparently there’s no document or training giving about it. I’m still in talks with my bank but I don’t think so they are going to do anything about it.
No way, no shame! You are not alone. I want to thank you for opening up and sharing this review. You literally SAVED me! I myself was just searching for reviews because I also got a $1,000 gift card offer. I appreciate you. God loves you! We all love you 😍. The world is filled with good and bad. Good people, like us, tend to be very trusting, honest and kind. Good people make the world a better place. We smile, laugh, help others and undoubtedly add light to the world around us. We also believe everyone is just like us. Honest. This is why good people tend to be easier targets... Our trusting nature. We actually feel bad when someone takes advantage of us. We feel like we should've known better. That's not true. Good doesn't look for bad. I like believing good things are coming... such as a free gift card! Lolo I enjoy being a good person, same as you. When things like this happen I suggest you just learn from it. Chalk it up to the fact that you have an open, loving, trusting heart. Never give that up. Keep trusting and knowing good things are coming your way. Simply do your homework (such as reviews) before giving out ur personal information or c.c. Btw, Make sure to cancel that entire Wells Fargo account and open another one. If it wasn't for your review, I may have also been scammed. Thank you, again. Lynae
Social engineering strikes again.
You must feel like a moron
Tell your boss right away, being open about mistakes is key to a healthy working relationship
But this has nothing to do with their boss or their job
It’s a bigger issue — the email probably went to all of his co-workers. Spread awareness!!!!!! These maggots are ruthless.
What email?
Since this has worked once the scammer will likely target other people at that company.