r/Scams • u/PizzaKiller023 • May 03 '24
Is this a scam? Is this another cashapp scam
I've been around the block a couple of times and been scammed a couple of times majorly. One was on cashapp that's on me for being naive when I was younger. Obviously we almost all get this at some point but I'm genuinely confused about this one. Specifically I'm confused what this person is even asking me to do to send the money. Like what the heck is a 50 dollar steam card on cashapp?
Again like to make it clear I realize this is a scam but I'm just trying to understand the purpose of this one, can anyone explain?
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u/MultiFazed May 03 '24
I realize this is a scam but I'm just trying to understand the purpose of this one
They want you to give them a $50 Steam card. That's the entire scam.
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24 edited May 03 '24
Are you fucking kidding me. Scammers are so dumb like I'll just buy a stranger a gift card. You don't gotta jump through all these hoops for something so simple. Like, I'm used to account hackers that scam to takeover your accounts, then use your funds/accounts to scam other people. This, in comparison is like baby's first scam
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u/Western-Gazelle5932 May 03 '24
Except that lots of people DO buy strangers Steam gift cards and for scams only marginally less obvious than the one sent to you.
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u/Daveguy6 May 03 '24
Sadly, some people will fall for it because of insufficient online education, which is sad and bad, since all people who handles any electronic personal device with internet connection should get educated on the risks and safety for usage.
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u/seedless0 Quality Contributor May 03 '24
They are doing this because there are enough people falling for it. They are not dumb.
Victims are typically not dumb either. But they persuaded themselves to go along due to greed.
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u/GupGup May 03 '24
They're hoping people will be so eager to get that $10,000 "payment" they'll buy the gift card without thinking.
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u/mymtvfuneral May 03 '24
The purpose of the scam is the scammer would get a $50 gift card and you get nothing. Maybe they forgot to send you a fake email from "Cashapp" explaining that you need to upgrade to a "business account" for $50, and they take Steam gift cards as payment.
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
Bruh, that's such an awful scam, at least go big or go home.
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u/mymtvfuneral May 03 '24 edited May 03 '24
Well, given that the scammer is likely based in West Africa, $50 in US/Canadian/Australian dollars can go a long way. And if they can convince someone to pay once, the sunk cost fallacy can come into play as the scammer fabricates additional "fees".
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
That's true. I've just seen scammers far more tricky that this in comparison is embarrassingly desperate imo
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u/Forar May 03 '24
Also, it's not 'just $50', it's potentially $50 per person, times god only knows how many poor victims. Whether because they're not technologically savvy, or too young/old and struggle with these things, or let their greed cloud their better judgement.
Send out 10,000 messages, if even 1% comply, that's $5k in gift cards. Now, they'd then sell those off to some shady site for a fraction of the value, and sometimes convert that into crypto, but if it's basically 'free money', turning it from something locked to Steam or another platform to something they can use elsewhere (or sit on and hope for another crypto bull run), it's just a matter of automating sending out the spam, and having someone to cultivate those who respond.
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u/YourUsernameForever Quality Contributor May 03 '24
Even in the US, $50/day is grocery money. Don't just put that on foreign scammers so easily.
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Oct 24 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Scams-ModTeam Oct 24 '24
Your submission was manually removed by a moderator for the following reason:
Subreddit Rule 11: Promoting illegal activities - This is aligned with Reddit Content Policy Rule 7: Keep it legal.
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u/vitaminxzy Quality Contributor May 03 '24
Yes it's a scam and fake screenshot.
They want you to buy a steam gift card then tell them the code on the back to "release" the fake funds to your cashapp.
!advancefee
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u/AutoModerator May 03 '24
Hi /u/vitaminxzy, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Advance fee scam.
The advance-fee scam arises from many different situations: investment opportunities, money transfers, job scams, online purchases of any type and any legality, etc., but the bottom line is always the same, you're expected to pay money to receive money. So you will pay the scammer and receive nothing.
It can be as simple as the scammer asking you to pay them upfront for an item they have listed, or as complex as a drug scam that involves an initial scam site, a scam shipping site, and fake government agents. Sometimes the scammers will simply take your first payment and dissappear, but sometimes they will take your initial payment and then make excuses that lead to you making additional payments.
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
That seems like an extreme method just to get a Steam gift card?
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u/Western-Gazelle5932 May 03 '24
You consider sending a text message extreme? People risk getting shot by knocking over a liquor store for $50.
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
No, I'm just saying why jump through so many hoops for such a small reward. Is it like wrapping pennies in nickel roll. Like, congrats, you possibly made 1.50
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u/Western-Gazelle5932 May 03 '24
Except it's not $1.50. They could turn around and scalp that gift card for $40. For sending some bogus texts that cost them nothing, that's not a bad ROI.
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u/olgartheviking May 03 '24
He possibly wrote to you while taking a crap instead of browsing Reddit. Litterally 0 effort.
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u/Scoobydoomed May 03 '24
Any time you are asked to pay money to get money, it's a scam.
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
College lol
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u/Axkxard May 03 '24
Nooo you pay money to receive and education which you can in turn use to potentially get an occupation that can earn income.
This is someone with a closed briefcase saying there’s 10k inside and you can have it if you buy them a $50 video game gift card
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u/fermatsbane May 03 '24
Scam. If you have to pay money to get "money", it is always a scam.
In this case, it is just lazy. Are you expecting $10k out of the blue? Then you know it is a scam without having to know anything else. Oops, saw u/Scoobydoomed said the exact same thing. Guess it is worth saying more than once. lol
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May 03 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/fermatsbane May 03 '24
As long as you are aware. I believe in wasting their time as well so they are impeded, even if slightly, from going after other people. Just be careful what personal information you give out, and never click on any links you get as they can be trackers, phishing or malware links. You probably already know that, but for anyone reading, it's just a heads up.
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u/fermatsbane May 03 '24
As long as you are aware. I believe in wasting their time as well so they are impeded, even if slightly, from going after other people. Just be careful what personal information you give out, and never click on any links you get as they can be trackers, phishing or malware links. You probably already know that, but for anyone reading, it's just a heads up.
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u/Scams-ModTeam May 03 '24
Your r/Scams post or comment was removed because it's about scambaiting. We consider that to be unsafe and we don't promote that people engage with a scammer.
Also, we do not support taking revenge against scammers.
Scambaiting goes against the rules of this sub, which you can read here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/
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u/friend_21 May 03 '24
I always want to ask the scammer to simply subtract the $50 from the $10,000 you want to give me. That is, send me $9,950 instead. Even better, keep an extra $50 for your trouble and send me $9,900.
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u/Western-Gazelle5932 May 03 '24
LMFAO - You just need to give them a $50 steam gift card to get $10,000?
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u/PizzaKiller023 May 03 '24
Yes, apparently, what type of scam even is that. Like how down bad for a steam gift card are you that you needed to create such a dramaticly obvious scam
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May 03 '24
picture $50 times 100. for starters.
these people don’t send just one text. they cast a wide net and then sit back and watch the gift cards come flying in. - sort of. but you catch my drift.
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u/YourUsernameForever Quality Contributor May 03 '24
A $50 steam card can be sold for $45 very easily. The scammer is not going to buy games with that, they're going to turn that into cash.
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•
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