Do You Know Anyone Who Has Been Catfished?

[JaniceSW]

I have watched many TV programs over the past year on people who have been catfished/scammed by phony people and supposed monetary winnings.  Sometimes people have just wanted to pose other than they are and other times people want to get money out of you in some way.
Warning:  If someone keeps making excuses about meeting in person or keeps telling you that a lot of money is available if you only pay something first to get it, BEWARE!  These are the two most frequent warning signs that you are not interacting with who you think you are and that someone is just trying to get money.
A legitimate contest or lawyer representing an estate will not ask you for money before providing your winnings or your share of an estate! Remember:  If something seems too good to be true, then it is!

[metsrock69]

I hear about it all of the time on the news.People getting scammed on a job for their house or a contest. I don't enter contest and I do my own work on the house

[potluck6]

I've been getting emails daily usually 4- 5saying i won anywhere from 200.00 to 1000.00 i've clicked on just to see what it was and they just ask for info .I'm going to try and get rid of them.I've entered a few contests but not that many to time consuming.

[sbenkoski]

I was scammed by a web developer from Florida, screwed me out of 12,000.00 bucks. Flew up to Minnesota showed me his work and start to build a a site, and vanished !! 

[hkckk5]

I have not been scammed. I did work with  a lady who claimed someone got her credit card information and charged up to 10,000.00. She did not have to pay for these charges as her credit card company deemed that the charges were out of the ordinary for her. She was issued a new card and the credit card company is handling it.

[snuggleycutejc]

Poo thing to do to someone.

[myfreebees316]

This is the thing ive always had about the net easy to look stuff up to see if its legit never take anyones word for a second if you never heard of a company before.  Unless you know the person know the company always look it up you just may get scammed

[lguzman1]

I have watched the show, but never known anyone who has been Catfished.

[sbenkoski]

This is the thing ive always had about the net easy to look stuff up to see if its legit never take anyones word for a second if you never heard of a company before.  Unless you know the person know the company always look it up you just may get scammed

Knowing someone isn't always the answer, I've had better luck with strangers in business than friends in business. I've lost many friends in business deals over money and that's sad. And these so called friends run me into the ground for wanting what i have coming.  One friend had a successful oil and fuel company and I pre-paid for fuel for our business to get a deal.. some deal !!
I got screw out of 5k  and her and her husband skipped town filed Chapter 11 and moved to Vegas on all the pre-paid they had collected for the season. I wasn't the only person there were many ! I used to hang out with them so knowing a person don't matter crooks are crooks !! And if you saw the crap they have about their New company  Oil and fuel in NV.  Makes me sick !

[madeara]

My BFF was catfished.  She sent alot of money to a guy online.  She can't get her money back.

[SherylsShado]

I know a guy that did.  He mentioned to someone I know that he would like to pay her rent for a month because he knew she had been struggling, but he told her not to ask him any questions and it was going to take a few weeks to get the paperwork processed.  She told me about it, and we kind of figured he'd somehow been scammed.   A few weeks went by, he showed up with paperwork in his hands, and said once he had contacted his lawyer to look over the paperwork, he'd be able to pay her.  Since he had paperwork & a lawyer now, it seemed more legit.

A few months later, he told her he had been scammed.  He had gotten a phone call saying he'd been chosen as a sweepstakes winner for a large sum of money and they were sending him the paperwork which he needed to fill out and have overlooked by a lawyer but in the meantime, they wanted him to pre-pay the processing fees and to set him up with installment payments on the taxes to "satisfy the IRS until he got the large sum of money & could then pay the rest of the taxes owed".

He gave them his banking info, etc.  They ripped him off & was gone before the lawyer could tell him he'd been scammed.  The poor guy was devastated, he's retired and lost money that he couldn't afford to lose.  He said he always enters all the contests he sees, so when he got the call saying he won, he really thought he did.

I keep track of the contests I enter now, and the prizes, and their method of contacting the winner and I keep it to no more than 6 a month from reputable businesses/websites.

[dreamyxo]

No not personally.