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We all know how it feels to be duped by another person. And in this day and age of technology, many of us have smartened up to detect a scam from a mile away.

Yet, many fraudsters continue to strike using the internet as their primary tool. Fortunately, there are people online who expose their behavior and how they operate.

We’ve collected some of the best screenshots showing scammers at work. Many of these are blatantly silly, and they may feel like an insult to your intelligence. Nonetheless, they are entertaining enough and worth spending a few moments of your spare time on.

#1 Someone Is Using My Girlfriend’s Recently Deceased Cat’s Pictures To Scam People On Gofundme

What the hell is wrong with people, my girlfriend’s cat passed away due to smoke inhalation from a fire on October 31 2024 and people are using it to scam for donations.

Image credits: No_Web_9121

#2 My Dad Got One Of The Scam Stickers

Image credits: Jaded-Solid-8729

#3 Pizza Scam At My Hotel

Image credits: donnydoesreddit

Even if people are smart enough to recognize a scam, swindlers can still fool even the most cognizant minds. All it takes is the proper messaging from a supposedly credible source.

According to psychologist Dr. Robert Cuyler, these crooks use professional language and mirror the communication styles of trusted authorities, even family and friends.

“Once trust is gained, victims are more likely to comply with instructions without scrutiny,” Dr. Cuyler told Very Well Mind.

#4 Phone Was Dying And I Was In A Hurry, And Didn’t Get The Chance To Read It Properly Until I Got Home

Image credits: hotto_

#5 Scalper Delivering Playstation 5’s To Third Party Scam Store

Image credits: itsnoab

#6 Got A Gift Card For Christmas. When I Opened It The Glue Ripped Off The Last Few Characters, Making It Unusable. What A Waste Of $50

Image credits: Thedarkacademix

Fear is one of the most primal emotions that can make us take action in a heartbeat. According to biopsychologist Dr. Mary Poffenroth, scammers use tactics such as threats of legal action or financial loss to push their victims into their trap.

“Our capacity for critical thinking and logical decision-making suffers under a state of anxiety,” she explained.

#7 This One Made Me Laugh

Image credits: desenagrator44

#8 Do Not Click The Link. If Your iPhone Is Stolen And You Get A New One, This Is A Phishing Scam To Confirm Your Apple ID And Asks You To Log In So They Get Your Password

Image credits: CostiveFlicker

#9 I Finally Started My Own Business And Got It Listed On Google Maps. I Was Thrilled Until This Started Happening Every Single Day

I don’t even want to answer the phone anymore because it’s always a recording asking about “something wrong with my Google account” and I know it’s a scam. But I also want to be able to speak to my customers so I guess I’m just stuck in spam call hell forever now.

Image credits: Cwazy_Wabbit

Many scammers also take stabs in the dark, waiting until someone falls for their schemes. As UNSW Sydney lecturer Dr. KF Cheung stated in an interview with the school publication, they take advantage of the lack of awareness about their scams, which are still prevalent.

“People inadvertently increase their chances of falling victim to scams by staying uninformed,” Dr. Cheung said.

#10 Found This Scam On Facebook

Image credits: tommy_rugrats

#11 Daily Reminder That Hp Is A Scam. Ink Cartridges Come With 75% Empty Space

Image credits: hambone111

#12 Amazon Is Scamming People With AI Now

For $10,000 no less. This should honestly be made illegal.

Image credits: Buunuuhnuhnuhnuhnuh

Dr. Cheung advises keeping a skeptical mindset because people will always find a way to take advantage of someone. This especially applies to unexpected offers that are too good to be true. As he reminds us, there is no harm in questioning the legitimacy of such claims.

#13 Ordered A $1000 Graphics Card From Amazon, Received 4 Cans Of Beef Ravioli

It showed up, in the sealed amazon box, and inside that the graphics card box still had intact security stickers and shrinkwrap. Taking it up with support, but also screaming internally for fear that they’ll think I’m the one scamming and won’t refund or replace.

Image credits: King_Carmine

#14 Miami Restaurant Attempts To Scam Extra Tip

Was at Miami restaurant with 4 adults and a baby. When our “check” came, the waiter reads out loud the itemized list from his wireless POS device, and I said “sounds good.” He hands me the device to pay, and the only thing I see onscreen is $175.33 total and a keypad screen to add tip to this amount. No itemized list, no pricing breakdown. Just $175.33. Naturally I try to tip the 20% and write $35 but the screen calculated that as 25% tip. I thought that was strange so I kept guessing tip amounts until $28 rounded close to 20%. Again I had to guess because there was no price breakdown and the payment screen was the most confusing I’ve ever see on a POS. Finally make the payment and email myself the receipt.

Finally get back to the hotel and the emailed receipt thankfully had the entire pricing breakdown and I see there was already a 20% service charge on the bill that the server never told us about and I guess expected customers to blindly add a secondary tip hoping they wouldn’t read the receipt. I found this extremely unethical and I demanded the second tip back. Just remember to always check your receipts!

Image credits: knsaber

#15 Church Running Scam And Somehow Involving Cancer In It

Image credits: bleachelgrey

It also helps to know the blatant red flags of a scam. The United States Postal Inspection Service listed them in a PDF document, one of which is a payment request, where someone would ask you to send them money in different forms.

These people will also have a questionable sense of urgency, whether they badger you to send the money as soon as possible or force you to collect a prize immediately.

#16 Using The Dutch Prime Minister To Promote Your Scam App

Image credits: Etnoize

#17 Ah Yes, Scamming People Who Are Gullible Business 101

Image credits: TheRealGamerYouTube1

#18 Received A Ring In The Mail – Is This A Scam?

A few weeks ago, I received this ring in the mail. It was addressed to me, but I did not order it. It did not come with any explanation, no enticement to order more. The band is adjustable, and the metal seems cheap – it’s definitely not gold or precious metal.
This is all that came with it – that card, and the envelope it was contained in. When I went to the QR code, it gave a 403 Forbidden.

Image credits: SonoranSonrisa

Another reminder from the US Federal Trade Commission is to resist the urge to act immediately. As the FTC points out, an honest business would give consumers ample time to make a decision.

If an unsettling gut feeling arises during an interaction with a potential scammer, it may be best to step back and listen.

#19 Can’t Use My $200 Printer And $50 Ink Because I Haven’t Subscribed To This This “Optional” Service. Such A Scam

Image credits: Prestigious_Map_254

#20 Two “College Kids” Selling Chocolate Outside Of Target Said They Were Gonna Charge Me $5, Ended Up Trying To Scam Almost A Grand

Luckily im broke as heck and was notified immediately of it declining.
As a recent graduate, I thought I was supporting two kids going through it right now. Ended up calling the police to hopefully have them sent away.

Image credits: reddit.com

#21 “Not Available In Your Country Or Region” Is The Biggest Scam

Image credits: Yaughl

#22 Double Jerk

The ad in this app claims you win real money and shows videos and reviews of people saying it’s not a scam and they earn 100s of dollars a day. Then in the fine print, says it’s all for illustration purposes only. THEN they misspell “no rewards” on purpose to “now rewards”.

Image credits: WholeTop2150

#23 Amazon Package Was Dropped Off Outside At 7am. Someone Opened It And Stole The Contents Then Left This Scam Support Note

Image credits: dabossnumba8

#24 Honey Chrome Extension Is A Scam

Image credits: SomeOneRandomOP

#25 Some Dude Tried To Chat Up/Impress My Friend With His Signed Tiger Woods Driver… Except It’s Not

Image credits: Seeresss

#26 Biggest Scam/Most Ingenious Invention In History. Probably Been Through Over 10 Of These Adaptors Since They Got Rid Of The Headphone Jack

Image credits: AssadShal

#27 This Dating App Only Lets You Send One Message Vip Is 16 Bucks A Month

Image credits: mr_no_one123

#28 Using Pewdiepie To Scam Kids

Image credits: cadenthecool

#29 I Received A Scam Text After Posting For Help To Find My Lost Cat

Image credits: Dalo600

#30 Scamming Gullible Teenagers

Image credits: Stockley_

#31 I’ve Noticed People Sharing Scam Texts Recently. I Decided To Play Along

Image credits: M1A1SteakSauce

#32 Scammed

Bought a speaker on eBay. I was really excited about it. It was quite expensive but was excited still. UPS had two tracking orders, one said it was delivered. I had checked and it wasn’t there. Looked again on eBay and there was a second tracking saying it would come two days later. Thought it was weird but waited patiently. Then when it was supposed to be delivered it wasn’t. Checked my cameras, talked to my neighbors, had them check their cameras. Nothing came from it. Called ups they told me to wait for the next day to have them call me back. Never got the call. Called them, they said it was delivered to the wrong address. The guy told me the address yet he’s not supposed to. I called the place, it was an iPhone repair store. They said there was no package. Called eBay they had me wait 5 days before letting me know that they won’t give me a refund so to it saying delivered. Yet it wasn’t at my address. UPS confirms that it wasn’t at my address, yet they don’t care. They say the seller sent it purposefully to somewhere else. So they delivered it there. So I’m paid for litterally a massive headache. Never buying anything from eBay again. This scam seems to be foolproof.

Image credits: PoonSlime

#33 Big Brain Scammed – Wtf!?

I’m so confused.

Yesterday morning I had 2 of my cards charged for fraud. Separate banks, one of them blocked the charge and the other let it go through.

The charge that went through was a $400 charge on Amazon. I checked my Amazon account to make sure I didn’t make any purchases, and sure enough, nothing.

I contacted my banks immediately and had everything handled. Also changed Amazon password and any other passwords where I believe my card numbers could have been stored.

Today I get a notification that my Amazon package is arriving. A 6th generation iPad mini.

Being extremely confused I went to check my orders again and sure enough, nothing.

I received notifications about the delivery all day until it was complete.

Did I just get a play by play update of my scammer getting their iPad?

Also, how the hell am I getting the notifications when the order isn’t in my account?????

Image credits: domjabs

#34 My Mom Ordered Me Flowers For My Birthday. The Day After My Birthday, She Got This Email. She Didn’t Even Know It Was A Scam

Image credits: dixiechicken695

#35 See Half The Ads. Even With $11 Premium Subscription

Image credits: romansamurai

#36 I Received A Zelle Payment Of $530 By Someone I Don’t Know

I woke up this morning with a pleasing surprise, $530 into my account sent to me by someone I don’t know. I confirm the money is liquid and the notifications are legitimate. Soon, the man contacted me claiming it was an accident and to help him by sending it back.

I am aware of the scams where you send the money back and then they chargeback your account through support. I haven’t sent them anything back. I declined and told them to contact their bank.

What would you do? How long should I keep the money if it isn’t taken from me?

Image credits: Mammoth-Address634

#37 These Fake Scam Ads On Fb That Advertise Sales That Don’t Actually Exist

Image credits: Cadetttt

#38 Scammer Getting Slightly More Creative

Image credits: Tiki985

#39 Anyone Else? I Am Serious How Is This Legal?

Image credits: femmepremed

#40 Please Please Please By Scammer

If they had added one more please, I would have willingly gotten scammed.

Image credits: Minimum-Savings9453

#41 Scam Photo Editing App Stole Someone’s Artwork In An Attempt To Market Their App On TikTok

Image credits: Voose200

#42 Found In A Chillies, They Are Just Trying To Scam Kids Now

Image credits: baffling_soap

#43 Thanks Google, Just Downloaded A Virus Because Of Your Ways Of Allowing Scams Onto Your Search Engine Through Advertisements

Image credits: lolitstrain21

#44 Mainstream News Sites Targeting Elderly With Clickbait Scam

Image credits: zedss_dead_baby_

#45 Scamming Kids In To Spending More

Image credits: Skidz__

#46 This Ad Attempting To Scam Children In The Name Of The Make-A-Wish Foundation

Image credits: BlueDuckYT

#47 This Scam

Image credits: DrPhilSwift69

#48 This Popped Up On My Phone. Should I Be Worried

So basically this (circled in white) popped up on my phone. It’s been doing it for the past few days and usually I ignore it. Well I clicked on it today to cancel it to see if that would stop the notifications and because I swiped up to multitask and hit set up. Whilst it was still activating I went into network settings and erased the e-sim reset my phone and made sure it’s gone, which it is. My question is though should I be worried? Is it possible that because this is someone else’s e-sim and not mine they may now have access to my information, like passwords, phone number ect or am I just being overly worried about nothing. Can someone clone or mirror your device via e-sim. Do I need to set up the sim pin? This is a T-Moblie e-sim for the US and I live in the UK where we don’t have T-Mobile. Baso I’m a mess and it’s currently 4:55 am in the morning so no support teams are open and I’m too scared to sleep in case someone steals all my phone info.

Image credits: chelsea_md__

#49 Random Number Sent Me Apple Cash. This Is Totally A Scam, Right?

I called the Apple Cash support line and they said I’d be fine if I sent it back even if the funding source charged it back, but previous Reddit posts say that’s not true. What should I do? If it was a genuine mistake, I don’t want to keep it, but it seems scammy to send cash to a number you’ve never messaged before and isn’t in your contacts.

Image credits: Lower_Fox2389

#50 Cristiano Ronaldo Needs A Pair Of Boots, Can We Help Him?

Image credits: YamikazeUwUr

#51 This Fake iPhone Scam

Image credits: jacokrin

#52 Someone Telling Me They’d Found My Lost Pet, Then Trying To Extort Me And Revealing It’s A Scam

Image credits: Louielouielouaaaah

#53 UPS Sent Me A Tracking Update, Then This Scam Messages Followed Shortly After

Image credits: BrownAndyeh

#54 Dude Trying To Scam Me In The Most Obvious Way Ever

Image credits: KussaiAlraini

#55 Google Promoting Scam Websites Because Of Their Bad Ad System

Image credits: Varvite_lol

#56 Details Were Stolen From A Selling Page And Used To Book A Car Rental. Email I Received When I Cancelled The Booking

So I got scammed and went through the fraud team at my bank to cancel / reverse transactions. Police involved.

One was for a foreign car company rental who I called and cancelled a booking after explaining.

The cheek of sending me an email in broken English and trying to guilt me about their father!

The hee hee to say was more than mildly infuriating.

Image credits: T33FMEISTER

#57 Started Blocking Scam Numbers And Now They Are Calling More Intensely…

I wanted to share a recent experience I’ve had with dealing with scam calls. Initially, I was getting frustrated by these calls and decided to start blocking the numbers. However, it seems like this approach might have backfired, as the frequency of these scam calls has actually increased. It’s become quite perplexing – ignoring them now seems to yield better results than blocking. Has anyone else encountered a similar situation or have any suggestions on how to handle these calls more effectively? Your insights would be greatly appreciated!

Image credits: ReuseCrap

#58 Even For Scam Games, This Is Ridiculous. What Are People Supposed To Do With One Shoe?

Image credits: infinit9

#59 $180 For A “Text Book” That Came As A Stack Of Paper I Had To Buy A Three Ring Binder For. Economics Lesson One: College Is A Scam

Image credits: Mick0331

#60 Can’t Report, Hide Ad Doesn’t Work, Facebook Fake Crypto Scam Ads, There Are 3other Sponsors Who Spam Same Ads

Image credits: Justux205

#61 Fake Scam Alert To Advertise The Local Seventh Day Adventist Church

Image credits: geekman20

#62 Scam Tesla Giveaway Disguised As A Final Notice

Image credits: Fluidicy

#63 Received This Note Stuck To My Front Door Today From “Department Of Homeland Security United States Secret Service”

Today I heard someone knock on my front door about 2PM, but I couldn’t answer as I was stuck in a meeting. I checked my security camera and saw two gentlemen at the door about 30-50yr old id guess (I figured they were selling some kind of home improvement service like new windows, etc… About two hours after they left I went outside for something and found this note from “United States Secret Service” hanging on my doorknob asking me to call a number to talk to an agent about a twitter account that apparently “posted a threat towards the president back in November”.

This is a scam right?

Image credits: philbrewer

#64 I Fell For A Scam

Phone scam. Apparently I had warrants for missing court. They knew my name, my preferred name, signature, and home addresses.

They told me they were my local sheriff, I had to pay bail and submit to a signature analysis but if I hadn’t paid first I would be cuffed and jailed for 72 hrs before appearing before a judge. They kept me on the phone for literal hours while I drove around trying to get $9300. I had my kid with me. They threatened me with jail and cps. The told me there was a gag order on my case and if I mentioned even that the money was for bail cops would arrest me. They told me there were officers within 3-5 blocks at all times to arrest me if I don’t comply. They tried to get me to cash app them when I wasn’t able to get anymore money out of atms. When that didn’t work they then had me go to a bitcoin ATM ( they called it a state bail machine). Thats when I saw a sign describing my exact situation. I told the cashier I wasn’t sure if this was legit and the scammer got irrate. Screaming threats including, cops, swat, labeling me as armed and dangerous, 1-5 years in jail, life in jail, and CPS taking my kid. I had the cashier call 911 because I was still terrified to hang up the phone. Then the scammers hung up. I sat in my car shaking for the next 10 minutes not sure who was coming cops I called or the swat ready for a fight.

I’m not a dumb person but it all felt so real. Now typing this I’m like ” dude how did you fall for all these red flags”. I was just trying to do the right thing. I’ve already made a police report, notified my banks, signed up for credit monitoring. I just wanted to warn people.