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I lost $450 last Friday trying to help some guy get home. There's a variety of emotions I'm feeling now: first anger, then sadness, and finally acceptance.
I was on my way to go buy something from someone on Kijiji last Friday afternoon. But some guy on the streets, an overweight hispanic male, came up to me and asked me for something. I wasn't sure what he was saying because he was talking really fast. He didn't smell bad so I didn't think he was homeless but he was a bit dirty looking.
I had him slow down a bit and he repeated that someone had stole all his things at the Greyhound including his wallet and phone. So he needed some money to get home. That's fine. He said he didn't have money to get to public transit or take the commuter train system to get home and walking would take too long.
Me, being the kind hearted person gullibe retard that I am, decided I could listen some more. He said he had a paycheck that he just needed to cash on him. (How he had a paycheck if he didn't have his wallet, I'm not sure. I wasn't thinking). I would just cash it for him, and then withdraw the money to give to him.
I walked into the TD he was standing outside of. There were too many people in line. We decided to go to an atm machine. I inserted my card and covered my hands as I inserted my pin. Then, out of nowhere he pushes through and starts pressing buttons on the touchscreen atm really fast and I'm telling him to slow down and stuff. $450 entered. Then it says to insert a cheque and he takes out an envelope out of nowhere, and I'm telling him to stop. "What the fuck are you doing". But he doesn't care and inserts the envelope before I can see the cheque. The only way for me to stop him would have been to use physical force but he's larger than me and that's not something I wanted to resort to.
So then I'm in a pickle. I have potentially $450 of someone else's money and potentially some fraud money on my account. He tells me that my account balance has gone up and uses the machine to show me. I feel like it takes time to verify the cheque so I go to wait in line for the teller.
We talk a bit and I tell him I'm a student. He gives some random ass international number and fake long name. I'm suspicious but don't think a man would enter a bank with security cameras if he wanted to scam someone. To me, banks are a safe haven. Almost like going to scam someone at a police station.
Finally we get to the teller. I tell the teller that we've just deposited a check and then I ask him to withdraw the $450. I ask the teller if the money has been verified. If there was anymore verification that needed to be done. He said there was none. I thought that meant that there was an automatic cheque scanner behind the atm machine. Apparently the teller was wrong. I give the stranger $450 and we part ways.
Later the next day my card gets declined. I think nothing of it because I'm tired and go home. The day after that it's declined again. I go home and I can not access my account online. That's when I knew something was wrong. I go to the bank this morning, skipping several classes. They tell me that the envelope had been empty and that since I entered the pin, they don't consider this shit fraud. Banks and their technicalities.
Then I went to the police station. This was my first time in a police station that I can remember. I filed a report and learned that the Hispanic man had done this several times before to other college students. I had to pick him out from a list of photos. He had been arrested once and jailed immediately let go of afterwards due to a failure in our judiciary system. Then he started doing it again. There's already a warrant out for his arrest.
I'm told that while they may catch the guy, there's a good chance he won't have any money so I'll never get my money back. I had $100 in my checking account this morning.
I don't know what seems to bug me. Probably everything below.
- I got scammed. I feel stupid. Like I'll never amount to anything if I'm taken advantage of so easily. Looking back there were so many other options. I could have gone to a police station, a check cashing place, or held his money and given him a $40 to go home and then returned the $410 at a later date. He was a slob and seemed untrustworthy.
- My money is being used to buy hookers and drugs. Potentially to flee the country. Maybe for rent and groceries.
- I wanted so much to buy a cheaper phone for $160 used instead of a new and really stylish $600 phone. That $450 could have been a new phone for me.
- How do I tell my friends and family? That I was tricked by some lowlife?
- It's hard being on the receiving end of scams. People scam the government for taxes every year, feeling no remorse. There is no one person that suffers for it. But this was targeted. And this was towards me.
Overall, I'll survive. I still have some money in the bank. I can get textbooks and groceries just fine. I changed my pin. Got a new card. I don't need charity. It's just a week's pay.
But this isn't the first time I've been scammed. One time before that, I purchased a security guard training course because we were told we'd get jobs for $250. Bullshit. Maybe one day in the future I'll be scammed again. Whenever this shit happens it's a huge loss in faith in humanity too. Something that takes 10x more good events to build back up. I was feeling good all week until this happened. Now I feel like shit. Why help people at all if they're all selfish pricks?
 
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This scam is so well known, I'm surprised how people still get suckered into it.
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Moral: Don't help people.
Kidding, but never access your private information for a complete stranger. That was silly.
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I'm the type of guy who's willing to go out of my way to help people, but if money's ever involved, especially with a complete stranger, I stay the fuck away.
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The only way you could have come away from this with some dignity is if the overweight hispanic male was really a fit blonde with legs up to here.
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This scam was ridiculous, and not the least bit believable. Just use your head and you won't get scammed again.
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I've been scammed before. Ironically it was by a Hispanic restaurant, haha. You feel like a dipshit but eventually you get over it. I was scammed out of $100, not nearly as much as you, but I'll be honest that it still felt like utter shit. You'll pull through, just be less generous to strangers and more of organizations (even if they aren't perfect) next time.
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On September 10 2013 10:58 Disregard wrote:
This scam is so well known, I'm surprised how people still get suckered into it.
Looking back it seems so obvious. How do you find out about well known scams? Word of mouth? None of my friends have ever talked about it before.
On September 10 2013 11:06 Tatari wrote:
I'm the type of guy who's willing to go out of my way to help people, but if money's ever involved, especially with a complete stranger, I stay the fuck away.
This seems like a good policy. Never again. I think I'm pretty smart, and I can handle scams if they come up, but then something like this happens and I feel like a dipshit.
There's a small chance the teller was in on this. He lied to me and waited for me to get to the head of the line before going out of his way to assist me.
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I had never heard of this scam but I don't lend money to strangers. More importantly, there's no way in hell I would have been willing to deal with someone who just pushed me around at the ATM. I'm at the ATM, you don't touch me while I'm at the ATM.
Anyway these things happen. All you can do is become a shitty person like the rest of us - it's a shame but you can't trust people by default in this world, and the scammers prove that.
When I was a kid, my mother gave $10 or 20 to a homeless guy who said he hadn't eaten for 3 days. I remember that he was on the verge of tears, or so it seemed. A few minutes later we saw him the groceries with a beer. That set me straight: now I coldly watch homeless people when they beg for money in the metro - sorry if you're hungry, some other guy made me a shitty person and now I'll never give money to anybody, even when I feel like I should.
Also I have a buddy who's particularly smart in general, but this one time at the mall, some guy was selling a $500 camera for $200, so my buddy tried it out (the guy had the camera in his hands and a few other boxes). He liked it and bought one - when he got home the box had some garbage in it. This shit happens to the best of us, too.
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No problem with helping people but I get extremely skeptical when it comes to financial matters.
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I got scammed. I feel stupid. Like I'll never amount to anything if I'm taken advantage of so easily. Looking back there were so many other options. I could have gone to a police station, a check cashing place, or held his money and given him a $40 to go home and then returned the $410 at a later date. He was a slob and seemed untrustworthy.
if you take being a non-slob as even the slightest indicator in favor of the possibility you are not being scammed you are gonna be in for another rude awakening a decade down the line, lol.
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United States24497 Posts
Yeah the first point when you should have cut it off was when he wanted you to deposit something into your bank account. I don't put other people's stuff into my bank account. I mean, if my friend of 15 years and I work something out maybe that's one thing, but some random guy? Your shit isn't going into my bank account, end of story.
However, that may not have been a guarantee it was a scam. The second point when you should have cut it off was when he manhandled you at the atm. Excuse me? I'm helping you, and you physically push me away? We are done. He might argue that you just accepted his paycheck and you owe him the money, at which point you can tell him to signal a bank manager who can come settle this dispute, since you don't like the way he shoved you away from the atm. If he tries to threaten you in any way, as you said, you are in a bank, not a dark ally.
Third, what is the bank's response to the fact that they told you the money had cleared, and then it had not? You should be trying to hold that teller and/or the bank responsible for this as well.
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On September 10 2013 11:20 obesechicken13 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 10 2013 10:58 Disregard wrote:
This scam is so well known, I'm surprised how people still get suckered into it. Looking back it seems so obvious. How do you find out about well known scams? Word of mouth? None of my friends have ever talked about it before. Show nested quote +On September 10 2013 11:06 Tatari wrote:
I'm the type of guy who's willing to go out of my way to help people, but if money's ever involved, especially with a complete stranger, I stay the fuck away. This seems like a good policy. Never again. I think I'm pretty smart, and I can handle scams if they come up, but then something like this happens and I feel like a dipshit. There's a small chance the teller was in on this. He lied to me and waited for me to get to the head of the line before going out of his way to assist me.
If your family is Chinese, it gets around word of mouth or just news in general.
edit: I mean I read about elderly scamming good samaritans when they help them.
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That sucks dude, only thing you can really do from this point is live and learn. Doubt this will ever happen again 
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Two things.
1. You should be proud of the fact that you were willing to go out of your way to help a stranger. It means you are a compassionate kind hearted person. Don't let some lowlife take that away from you.
2. Yes you got scammed but you also learnt a valuable lesson which can be applied to other areas of life. It may feel shit now but $450 is a small amount if you take a long term view. Think of the $450 as a tuition fee. You're still the same good person as before, just smarter now.
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On September 10 2013 11:32 micronesia wrote:
Third, what is the bank's response to the fact that they told you the money had cleared, and then it had not? You should be trying to hold that teller and/or the bank responsible for this as well.
Like that'll hold...
If a bank decides to do evil, they can get away with it because you've signed some terms and conditions.
On September 10 2013 11:39 Disregard wrote:Show nested quote +On September 10 2013 11:20 obesechicken13 wrote:On September 10 2013 10:58 Disregard wrote:
This scam is so well known, I'm surprised how people still get suckered into it. Looking back it seems so obvious. How do you find out about well known scams? Word of mouth? None of my friends have ever talked about it before. On September 10 2013 11:06 Tatari wrote:
I'm the type of guy who's willing to go out of my way to help people, but if money's ever involved, especially with a complete stranger, I stay the fuck away. This seems like a good policy. Never again. I think I'm pretty smart, and I can handle scams if they come up, but then something like this happens and I feel like a dipshit. There's a small chance the teller was in on this. He lied to me and waited for me to get to the head of the line before going out of his way to assist me. If your family is Chinese, it gets around word of mouth or just news in general. edit: I mean I read about elderly scamming good samaritans when they help them.
I am Chinese. I do hear about elderly people from reddit. Never this scam though. Looking back, it was obvious.
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United States24497 Posts
On September 10 2013 12:18 obesechicken13 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 10 2013 11:32 micronesia wrote:
Third, what is the bank's response to the fact that they told you the money had cleared, and then it had not? You should be trying to hold that teller and/or the bank responsible for this as well. Like that'll hold... If a bank decides to do evil, they can get away with it because you've signed some terms and conditions.
This defeatist attitude you have makes it less surprising how easily scammed you were.
Banks don't want you to leave for another bank. I'm not promising anything but in general you need to learn to be an advocate for yourself.
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Live and learn. Now you know, you'll be better prepared next time.
I've been gullible before too, I understand the kinda gross feeling you're feeling. You'll be okay. Losing the money sucks, but you've come away with a lesson, and it's the last time it'll happen, so that's something.
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Omg, I had a guy approach me once with almost the exact same shit, and I believe he was also Hispanic and fat.
you in Toronto by any chance?
Good thing I told him I can't help him and just left.
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On September 10 2013 10:46 obesechicken13 wrote:
But this isn't the first time I've been scammed. One time before that, I purchased a security guard training course because we were told we'd get jobs for $250. Bullshit. Maybe one day in the future I'll be scammed again. Whenever this shit happens it's a huge loss in faith in humanity too. Something that takes 10x more good events to build back up. I was feeling good all week until this happened. Now I feel like shit. Why help people at all if they're all selfish pricks?
Why lose faith in humanity? Just use your head. The thing that makes me lose faith in humanity is that people are still dumb enough to fall for this sort of stuff again and again. As soon as he wanted more than a bus fare home and mentioned your bank account you should've walked away. You can help people who genuinely need it or take up offers but at least try to apply some logic first and be very sceptical when it involves large sums of money and strangers.
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EPT
