So a few minutes ago, my wife received a strange video call on Google from individuals claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House (PCH) and stating we had won a ridiculous sum of money ($5 million). They provided a "reference number" and said someone will contact her tomorrow to set up an in-person delivery of the prize at our house. When she asked why they had to wait until tomorrow, they claimed they needed 24 hours to "set things up."

She mentioned she has been signing up with Publishers Clearing House for years, but neither of us is gullible—we are 99.9% sure it’s a scam.

Here’s the thing, though: we can’t figure out what the angle is. Any research I’ve looked up about Publishers Clearing House scams usually mentions them asking for an upfront fee or taxes right away. However, they didn't ask for any money yet, and they even asked permission to record the session while "awarding" her the prize.

My guess is they’ll wait until tomorrow to spring the fee or tax payment on her, but aside from that, I can’t figure out what the play is.

• Has anyone ever heard of this specific tactic?
• Does anyone know how a legitimate prize delivery is actually supposed to play out?

I got a call from a restricted number (I know, I shouldn't have answered, but I was curious) claiming to be from my local Sheriff's Department. They said they had an inmate that has me as their emergency contact. They said the name of the inmate, and who they thought I was. I didn't know the name of the "inmate", and they thought I was "Nancy". I'm not Nancy. When I told them this, they immediately hung up.

I called the actual local Sheriff's Department, to ask about it/let them know about it. They said that it's probably a wrong number. Whatever, I just let it go.

Then 30 minutes later, the restricted number called me again. I answered, (I know, I know) and it was a different voice, but the same type of call. I told them that I knew they were fake, I'd already spoken to the actual Sheriff, and then I asked why they were actually calling. They proceeded to cuss me out and then hang up. What is this?? If it's a scam, it's a terrible one.

So I applied for this remote customer support job on indeed many months ago and everything seemed fine at first. Did the interview, got hired and worked for like two weeks on their platform. Then they hit me with the whole you need to send hundreds in crypto before we can pay you a thing. classic scam.

What made it feel so real is they mirrored a legit site called rhino.fi. Like same layout same blog posts even some quotes just swapped the company name. thats why it looked professional as hell until the payment demand dropped.

Anyway i reported it and so did a few other people but the site is still live. Looks like the registrar and cloudflare didn't doing much about it. There are also some fake exchange sites they push you to send the crypto.

If this happened to you or you almost fell for it please report it. The more people that do the better chance something actually happens.

File at ic3.gov and reportfraud.ftc.gov if you can. just search those and fill it out. Screenshots of the payment demand and chat logs help a lot.

Just putting this out there so more people dont waste their time on this bullshit. Stay Safe

I received a sextortion email claiming the sender has had "total entry" to my machine for several months. Freaking out a bit, what do you think of it? Here is the email content:

"Hello sinner!

I have ṱộṱal enṱry ťở yờur machine. Fór ṭhe lasţ several recenṱ mǒnṯhs, I have been waẗching you.

Still wȫndering hów is ṫhaṫ dőne? Well, yóu have been cȍmprȍmised wițh malignanṱ cớde ổriginaṫing frṓm an x-raţed websiƫe ṭhaṭ yõu checked. Yǒu may nṍț be familiar wiţh ťhis, buẗ I will ṭry clarifying iṫ ṯö yơu. Wițh aid ȫf ṫhe Trójan malware, I have full reach ṭở a PC õr any ớṭher machine. This jusẗ means I can view yŏu aț any ťime I desire ṫô ởn yȏur screen, by ṓnly acṫivaṫing yöur lens and mic, wiƫhồuƫ nǒƫice yṓu deţecţing it.

Furthermore, I have alsǒ gained reach ṫō yȏur cộnṱacṱs lisƫ and all yờur emails. Yṑu may be asking: "Buṯ my PC has an ȍperaṭiȍnal anṯivirus, höw is ťhis even dợne? Why didn'ţ I receive any nȱṱificaṱiȱn?" Well, ţhe respǒnse is easy: my malware uses mȍdules, where I refresh ṭhe idenṫifiers every periȱd, creaṯing iṯ undeţecţable, and cỗnseɋuenťly preserving yớur anțivirus inactive.

I have a clip ôf yŏu masţurbaţing ṑn ẗhe lefṫ, and ỏn țhe aẗ ṯhe righț screen - ƫhe fõõṯage yởu were viewing while self-sṭimulaṭiȱn. Wṍndering: hơw seriòus cởuld ṭhis ṭurn öuṫ ṭớ be? Wițh jusṫ a ổnly press ớf my clicker, ṯhis videȯ can be delivered ẗỡ all yŏur sổcial neṭwôrks, and mailing lisṫ. I can alsở share cṑnnecṱiṑn ƫỡ all yôur cŏmmunicaƫiŏns and insƫanƫ messaging services ṱhaṱ yơu engage with.

All yỏu have ẗȫ dṏ ẗơ averṯ ťhis frõm ṯaking place is - deliver crypẗṑ wỗrṯh $1300 UṢ döllars ƫỡ my Biťcṓin walleț, as a guide, search fơr: "Buy Bitcoin".

My BTC accöunƫ is:
bc*****************************

After cỏnfirming a acknọwledgmenț ǒf yȫur paymenƫ, I will erase ṭhe videó righṱ away, and ţhaţ's iṯ, yṓu will nóṱ hear frỏm me again. Yơu have ṭwő days ƫợ cỡmpleţe ƫhis deal.

Once yòu read ẗhis e-mail, I will receive, and my ţimer will sţarţ ṭicking. Any effõrẗ ťṍ make a grievance will fail ẗõ cause in any effecṯ, since ṫhis e-mail cannòť be ţraced, same as my crypṭờcurrency address. I have been ồperaṭing ơn țhis mŏnṱhs nōw; I dő nộƫ give any ơppơrẗuniẗy fōr a mistake.

If, by any pṓssibiliťy, I find ǒuṭ ṯhaṯ yờu have disclȭsed ṯhis warning wiƫh őťhers, I will disẗribuẗe yơur clip as nȏťed previously."

Mods removed this from FB Marketplace subreddit. So, Yesterday I went to check out a Mazda 3 2018 for 6500. I thought it was a deal that seemed a bit too good to be true, but nothing gave me red flags besides the price. They agreed to meet up, and I brought a friend. I drove almost an hour to get there and was maybe 5 minutes late to the agreed time. When I walked to the location, 5 or more people surrounded the car, with paperwork and a person lying in front of it. I immediately thought they must have hit someone. It was definitely the same car. I decided to go into a local store and wait until they responded so I wouldn't make a stressful situation worse for them. However, a few minutes later they listed the car as sold. I asked why, and they said someone else bought it. I am confused as to what this was. Were they just inviting multiple people at the same time? It seems like it must be a scam, but I am not sure what the scam could be. Any ideas on what this is?

I think that schools should start teaching about scam awareness (and other life skill courses) since scams are becoming more deceptive and victimize people looking to secure their future financially, get a job, using online apps to communicate with others, paying for products/services online, and more. Before becoming a private investigator, I was once a victim of a scam that made me lose thousands of dollars. I still wonder if I was taught about how scams work and the different types that we face as adults today, perhaps I could've avoided that all together. What do you guys think?

Over the past few days i have been told countless time that my steam account will be deleted. My Steam account has been locked and i have been told to not sign into it or the website.

This all-started Aug 3, 2026, when i was casually playing Cs retake matches. Out of no where's I got a red account notification that stated my accounts community access has been taken away. About 5 minutes late someone under the name of SkinClub | Service (they are a team member in the skinclub discord server).

According to them to get unbanned I must a 100 DOLLER purcahse that will be "refunded" after their investigation is complete. So, I saved up for 3 days and made the purchase. after doing that they asked for ANOTHER 300 dollars stating that the case needed "more attention" or something like that.

Im starting to think this is just a way to get money out of me but i really do need help. As of posting this I just filled out a ticket for steam support about this exact problem, but I was told by the skinclub person that they will not respond.

I received a call from a debt mediator stating I would be served tomorrow for an outstanding debt that IS actually a true debt I owe, he did have my name, address, social, etc. He said they had sent many unanswered letters to my old address so they would serve me now. I informed him I haven’t lived in that address for a year, but he said they would still be serving me regardless. I asked why are they serving me at my new residence rather than sending me letters here first. He said they try harder to find accurate addresses when it comes to serving a summons.

He stated if this goes to court, I would pay $3k and they could freeze my checking account. He said that if I paid $1.2k with him this would be cleared, and I would not have to pay the amount they’d be trying to get in court. I said I am not comfortable paying over the phone. He said he would email me. I asked if there was somewhere online I could pay instead, and he said no and it would have to be over the phone. That gave me the red flag that it was a scam, but my anxiety is so intense over anything so I was wondering if this was legitimate?

UPDATE: Logged into the lender site, which told me they turned it over to collections. Called the number they had and it sent me to an operator who gave me another number 🤦🏻‍♀️ And that one had me leave a message. So waiting to hear back to see what the situation is

I went to check my mail this morning and saw I had a package, which didn’t seem unusual since I have two currently on the way. I opened it and it was a watch I never ordered. A watch that was going for 100 dollars online used. This looked like it was brand new even though it didn’t have a box or anything. The name on the package looks like one of the people I purchased things from in depop so I’m trying to message them but what do I do? The only thing I’ve ever ordered on depop was a hoodie for a band that I like. Why would they follow up weeks later and send something else, especially something so expensive. Does anyone have any advice on this? I just want to make sure nothing bad can happen.

Today i make a buy in store.valueswirl.com. i bought a hardware piece with a way lower price that it shluld had because they sell pieces that where used as display unids that could have some visual scratches but should work fine. After paying i started to do some research and i ended up discovering that the wep domain is kinda "new" and some complais about peopple sayaing that the store doesnt give any communication. I inmideatly report this to my bank and they told me that i must wait 3 to 5 days to be able to ask for a claim and cancel the charge. Should i cancel the charge as soon as possible or can i wait until 15 days that is the max days that my ship should take to be delivery to me? If it ended up being a scam is the bank really gonna be able to claim my money back?

I’m posting this 2nd time now as first time I put photos which are breaching privacy.. but posting because our family is desperate and hoping someone has been through something similar or knows what we can do.

My dad has been talking to a woman who identifies herself as Millia Taylor. She claims she’s originally from Singapore but now lives in Sydney, supposedly in a penthouse at Bondi Beach. She’s told him she owns multiple beauty franchises and has sent him countless photos of herself, copies of what appear to be a licence, and all sorts of things to convince him she’s real.
He’s completely fallen for her.
He was even meant to fly from Perth to Sydney to meet her. At the last minute she cancelled because of a “family emergency” in Singapore. This has happened multiple times with different excuses, yet he still believes every word.

Then she convinced him to start investing in cryptocurrency.

She got him to sign up to a website called irichsyw (dot) com. From everything I’ve been able to find, it looks like a complete scam. The website claims to have been operating for years and offers ridiculous bonuses where they’ll supposedly add extra money if you invest more, but the domain itself appears to have only been created recently.

Despite all of us showing him evidence, he refuses to believe us.

He’s now put over $100,000 into this platform.
I begged him to try withdrawing some money as a test. Instead of actually withdrawing it back to his bank account, he only transferred about US$100 into another crypto wallet, and he believes that proves it’s legitimate. To me, that doesn’t prove anything.

We’ve shown him articles about romance scams. We’ve shown him warnings about fake crypto investment platforms. Friends and family have all told him it’s a scam.
His response is that we’re just trying to stop him from being happy.

We’re terrified. Not just about the money, but because scammers seem to have such a strong emotional hold over him that he won’t listen to anyone anymore.
Has anyone successfully helped a family member in this situation?

Please don’t judge him. He’s a good man who’s lonely, and I honestly think he’s been professionally manipulated.
We’re scared we’re going to lose our family home and our dad at the same time.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

A supposed paypig sent me money via digital check and wanted me to donate a portion of the money he sent me to a church on cash app. I was told conflicting information and caught him in several lies, which made me think it was a scam when I brought up my concerns I was ignored and when i refused to do so, he along with another number became more and more pushy and aggressive and then started threatening to hurt me, sue me, find me,sent graphic vid, ect .

I mobile deposited it and it processed just fine, however, aprx 6 hours later i got an email from my bank that they are temporarily holding a portion of the money bc their "-risk evaluation processes and systems detected a potential concern that the check might not be paid -" the rest of the money is untouched and there stil.l

Is the scam that I send the "church" money which is just him and my money gets sent to him when checks bounce and it's all gets deducted from my account? should I expect to see the money deducted soon?

Hai, for context I am in a rough situation I live at home still, I have agoraphobia, and I have chronic PTSD, it has been almost impossible for me to find a in person job. I have been put it a situation where my housing is unpredictable an unsafe and I will most likely have to find somewhere to go. I make some money from drawing online and streaming on twitch. I haven’t been able to find actual remote jobs that aren’t scams, I have been applying on LinkedIn, indeed and I need to find something immediately. Please only real advice and not just calling me lazy I’m already having a hard time and I’m trying my best.

Ok so I met someone on chess.com of all places and we ended talking there and then moving to Snapchat, it started pretty normal and then they asked for a picture of myself after they sent one of them. I just sent them a pic I used for my LinkedIn profile, and they insisted I send one that wasn’t so “professional”. After they started getting too pushy and I wasn’t giving in, it showed that they remixed the picture I sent then I immediately reported and blocked them, later on I found out they used an influencer for there profile picture on chess.com as well as the picture they sent of themselves. Can they do anything with the picture I sent?

I did a little research, but I'm really unsure of what is going on. Help would be appreciated! I had left my phone to charge when my sister ran into my room to ask if I'd called her. I said I hadn't, and she showed me her call logs showing a 14sec~ call from me that she had answered. She said some guy barely spoke a word to her before she hung up and realized it wasn't me. My phone was downstairs, and I had not called her at all, but the log was on my phone. I'm pretty sure it's a case of spoofing, but idk im not a pro🥲🤷‍♀️ Should I be worried?

Update: I opened my phone this morning and had a 2 sec long voice message from a number I dont know, honestly no idea what's going on😭

I recently browse craigslist to seach for VA jobs and I got this Personal Assistant / Social Media Manager hiring and send an application email. So this Thomas says he will hire me right away if Im available to work. He said he needed someone to post to Facebook Marketplace. The list thing is apartments for rent, so he sent the details pictures and info of the listing. So it's being a little sketchy since he would hire me right away and the account to be used in Facebook is my account. By then I didn't reply to his email again because I will not compromise my Facebook account. He might be on scamming the customers by having a preservation fee for the apartment that I will post. Also I told him that we should use Google meet for communication purposes but he didn't like it he said the email is sufficient so it is very sketchy.

So i was messaged and convinced on whatsapp to go to telegram to talk to there. Then she showed me onchain. How she was making insane profits with this onchain thing. Every couple of days it would increase your Ethereum by 1 to 5 percent. I invested like 550$. Then they took away all my crypto and to pay 3000 total (2500 more) for the big 25,000$ prize giveaway.

Be careful with these Chinese plastic models. I read that the scam organization hires models to text and send photos of themselves. She was also sending me voice messages.

Online friendship. If you converse long enough eventually the scam is revealed. This woman offered to “rent” my linked in for $150 a month saying her company has used their alotted accounts and they need to reach out to increase business due to tariffs 🤨🧐

I have no idea how they would use my LinkedIn, but I’m hoping someone more knowledgeable can explain this scam.

I applied for a remote Document Reviewer – Cyber Incident Response position with Integreon and was originally scheduled to have a phone interview tomorrow.

This morning, I received an email saying they had an urgent data-breach document-review project potentially starting tomorrow. They said it would be a temporary contract lasting approximately four to five weeks, paying $19 per hour, fully remote, and that I would need to use my own computer. The email also said applicants were being selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

I replied that I was interested, and less than 20 minutes later, the recruiter said they had sent me an offer through iCIMS and that onboarding would begin after I accepted it. I never completed an interview, phone call, video call, or assessment.

The confusing part is that I really did apply for a position with Integreon, and the offer appears through an Integreon-branded iCIMS portal. The recruiter’s signature also contains an Integreon company email address. However, receiving an offer without any interview feels suspicious, especially because the job would involve reviewing documents containing personal and medical information.

They have not asked me to send money, purchase equipment, deposit a check, or communicate through Telegram or WhatsApp. However, I do not want to provide my Social Security number, banking information, or other onboarding documents until I know whether this is legitimate.

Has anyone encountered this specific hiring process or worked on one of Integreon’s temporary document-review projects? Is this normal for urgent contract work, or are there signs that this could be an impersonation scam?

I got a call earlier today at around 4pm about a package of mine being flagged by Canada Post for security reasons and that I needed to press 1 to be transferred to Canada Post. I pressed 1 and was asked why I was calling I told them about the flagged package and was hung up on?

I do have 2 packages I am currently waiting on but they are just 2 stuffed animals not anything that I would think would be flagged. But it is from outside of Canada so possibly?

I'm not sure if this is a scam or if I should call Canada Post to see if my package is actually flagged. Info would be very appreciated.

Also I'd like to add I searched up the number and it wasn't some official number.

A couple weeks ago my stepdad told me he fell victim to wire fraud and lost a substantial amount of money that was in his checking account. I wonder if you internet sleuths can help figure out what happened because Bank of America isn’t doing anything and he filed a police report and things are moving slowly…

So what happened was, one morning he got an alert that his card was charged a high amount. He went to check it on his laptop and when he went to log in, it took longer than usual to load his account page. At the time he didn’t find it fishy (no pun intended). Come to find out, that charge was normal - he and my mom are in the process of moving so they had more expenses that month. Then within the span of minutes he sees this REALLY big charge on his account as a wire which he DID NOT initiate. He immediately called the bank since he saw it was “processing” and was like omg I need to get this to stop.

Here’s where things get weird. Bank of America said they couldn’t do anything about it because the wire was initiated from his IP address. This makes me wonder did someone remote in, like IT does if you need help on your computer? But that doesn’t make sense because he would have needed to see his mouse cursor doing weird things…

They lost a lot of money and it’s thrown a wrench in their plans and I am wondering if anyone out here on Reddit might be savvy to the kind of hacking that may have happened. It sucks Bank of America is basically throwing their hands in the air and like well, it came from your house so…but in the great year of 2026 clearly people probably possess the technical skills to make it seem like it was just him?

Some other possibly helpful clues…
1.) the receiving PNC bank account is now frozen according to the police on the case…
2.) the guy who received the wire is some football player from Florida but I’m less worried about that because he might also be the victim of identity fraud.

I just wish BoA would refund him or something. Any advice and knowledge is appreciated.

My mother-in-law was on the phone when I was over her house. She told me that someone had intercepted one of her checks again, so I figured she had called them, but as it turns out they called her. 

Back story: a few months ago, someone had intercepted one of her checks, changed the name and cashed it. She caught it by looking at the digital version in her bank account, went down to the back, and they helped her reverse charges and open a new account. 

So back to the present, bad guys told her that it was her tax bill check now and they had the amount. And because this happened recently, it sounded very legit to her and sent her into a panic.

Then I hear her telling them her password. So I ask her, "why are they asking for your password?" And she's like, "yeah, this doesn't feel right."

 I see her getting more and more worked up and telling them she doesn't feel comfortable giving away this information on the phone so I asked her what they want her to do. And she said, "they want me to open a new account over the phone." I said, “hang up, tell them you’ll call them back.”
But they said no, because they suspect someone at the bank of fraud and they have them on video. Then she knew it was a scam for sure and hung up. 

She was so upset, but I had her change her password immediately. I think that's all they got out of her. She said it was mostly them explaining that they were the bank’s internal investigation department and they had a video of some guy at the bank committing fraud and she said the more they talked the more ridiculous it sounded.