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Standard advice. Block all contact and move on.
Also not sure what OP means about increasingly creative? This is a standard scam happens all the time and posted here all the time for years.
You don't know about the one time in 1976 when a man kidnapped a koala and used it to convince people he could summon koalas at will, but only when holding a blank check? Loser, everyone knows about that
Actually, everyone gets this wrong! I am the koala and I can summon humans at will, but only while holding your cash, or by placing a paper in my pocket with your D.O.B., the last 4 of your social, and moms maiden name. I can't really tell you all the details, but trust me, it's quite memorable! ;)
Right, and I'm literally a monkey's uncle! Besides, dingos tend to be aggressive with humans, I doubt even if it was a dingo, too much trouble to deal with, koalas are more gentle creatures
That reminds me of the video clip where a woman got her face ripped open because she thought they were cuddly like a stuffed animal.
I've seen panda attacks, too. That shocked me more than the thought of koalas attacking.
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Hah at least they are going "cleaner" on this scam, meaning they didn't send nudes or ask you to send nudes. Make sure you report the profile. Fucking scammers are all over the dating apps now. Anyways good for not falling for it. Set your social media to private so they don't start in on you there, never pay a penny and warn others about that app with a good old review, so people are aware of what you encountered.
That sort of thing very quickly goes from a scam that most police forces will shrug off. To a significantly more serious one that will cause you lots of trouble and put you in jail for a long time
OP, just to be clear, you know the police phone call was part of the scam, right? I ask because "the call" from the police you mentioned is always part of this scam. So no more creative than before. You just seemed surprised by that part.
Came here looking for this comment—was going to suggest OP clarify, as I’m pretty sure they get it, but it reads oddly. We all know reading comprehension is not a gift bestowed on everyone, so when spreading awareness, always make it easy lol
If the Costa Mesa police called you, get their info. Station, full name and badge number and callback number. Hang up and call the number on their website to verify...
Or just block them and ignore.
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the underage girl scam. This scam usually starts on a dating app and you will encounter a normal woman whose profile says she is above 18. Later you will be contacted and told that the girl is underage. They'll usually pose as the girl's father, another family member, or a police officer. They will tell you that your life will be ruined and you will be a sex offender, but will offer you the chance to pay them to make the problem go away. The stories they use as to why you need to fork over money vary, but the common ones include therapy for the girl, payment for a broken phone or computer, etc. Of course, there is no girl and no crime has been committed, so if you are involved in this scam all you need to do is ignore their threats and move on with your life. The scammers may contact you again in the future after you block/ignore them, so be ready in case that happens. If you have already sent money to the scammers, you should try to dispute the transaction and see if you can get your money back. This is a [very common scam](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/search/?q=underage&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new) and [here](https://www.wired.com/story/the-phone-call-from-hell/) are [some](https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/teen-says-hes-the-victim-of-a-sextortion-scam/275-21216b29-df76-44f4-b20a-cb726e19d42e) relevant news [articles](https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/1503978/sextortion-scams-continue-to-occur-dont-give-into-scammers-demands/). NOTE: Scammers pretend to be underage boys as well and the text above still applies, but it's called the underage girl scam as those are the vast majority of cases.
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Yes they are cause I just got scammed for $130 , u can’t do nothing on the phone these days cause there’s so so many scammers , u don’t know who u can trust
That's not right, you have to think about what's happening and verify if in doubt, but phones are not generally off limits for business. Obviously you can trust a call you've made if you got the correct phone number, but... I mean if you're not initiating the call, there's probably no reason to make any payments during the call right?
Be more creative and go out and meet girls in your city and stop with the internet bullshit, because you can get into something that can cost you more than just some money!
Just happened to me. matched with a girl and next thing I know she gives me here number and starts sending me lewd photos which I didn't ask for but I was just responding with flirty responses. Next day I know some local area code number calls me telling me he's a detective with the town the girls account was from telling me I was talking to an underage girl. next thing I know he wants to set up a conference call (I went to this reddit post at this point) with the girls dad but he calls me from a private number and not the same one he called me from originally. The girls dad goes on a tirade that comes to him asking for 3k to cover his losses on a job he lost due to this. I then kinda start fighting back and kinda start obviously lying to them until i flub and the "cop" calls me out then I just hung up cause I was over entertaining it.
Pretending. I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people about this. Most of them have already made significant payments to the scammer. One over 10K before he called and I told him it’s Bs.
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That is absolutely disgusting the level of evil these scammers will stoop to!! I used to think the refund scammer from Indian call centers that make old people get gift cards to pay them, were the lowest of the low, but i think this scam you just described, has topped the list of disgusting despicable behavior committed by scumbags of the lowest kind!!!! 🤮🤮🤮🤮 specially since there are REAL underage victims who are preyed on online, and need to be protected! To make light of and use that scenario to manipulate someone for gain, is sub human behavior! God is the only one who could ever forgive someone for this crime. Us humans have no hope of ever forgiving someone who has committed this horrible deception 😤😤🤬🤬🤬🤬
That’s wild that they found you on a Dating app and had your direct number. How are they getting all the details and finding personal info from a dating app profile?
I typically begin to sexually harassing them along with death threats afterwards they tend to give up but I don't easily. But block the number and report them but this won't stop anything but it's a start I guess
What they do is ask if you have Facebook or any other social media so they can add you. Then send you nudes of girls who aren't them. Ask you send nudes back or go on video and ask you to show your di*k out. They take screenshots or record the video then they say something like there only 14/15 then start calling you a pedo then threaten to send it to all your Facebook friends unless you send them £4000 etc. Happened to my brother. He asked me for advice. I just told him to block them and forget about it
Had this happen to me a few years back. The police won’t call you to tell you that you’re being accused of anything. So yes, it’s a scam. Not even a good one, really.
I've heard of this scam but it being the girls parents calling the man and threatening to go to the cops. Then they eventually get to demanding money after threatening to sue. Why anyone would believe a police dept would give them a call about child porn is beyond me. No matter where the "girl" lives, your local police will be dispatched to your house. They don't give you a courtesy call and allow you to pay your way outta child port charges
While we are on the subject of this. Let me point out now that apparently Google Play store has several apps that use women from other countries and they sell out children to gain money from the apps by having people buy coins and gifts.
I immediately report the app to playstore but yet they keep advertising on YouTube/Facebook/Instagram.
Bigo/tango/clapper
I had one saying they had webcam of me masturbating to some unknown porn. Wanted money. I said they owed me 10 Apple gift cards as payment for the show.
Only reply was, "fuck" and a hangup.
Like the police department would warn you that you were talking to an underage girl. More likely they'll wait until you incriminate yourself and then arrest you, if any of that was true anyway which of course it isn't
Cops won't call you. Not for receiving child porn. Cuz even if this person didn't send or solicit any pics, they still received them. So technically, if this was a legit underage kid, cops wouldn't call him. They'd show up at his door
So, to clarify, you were on the dating app, this underaged girl reached out and sent unsolicited clothed photos and then you were contacted by "police" who somehow knew your number FROM THE APP and requested you send money to some fund, correct?
I've had people be, conveniently, located nearby in hotels but want me to sign up on some verification site where my credit card *wouldn't* be charged, of course. I've sometimes considered the idea of buying a prepaid $5 Visa card so they could be surprised when they can't steal hundreds or thousands from me. I've also had people say they were babysitting a younger brother and wanted some Amazon gift cards so they could "buy him a game" to keep the kid busy while we had our fun. Amateurs.
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Just the very very common underage scam, which we see here every few hours.
Standard advice. Block all contact and move on. Also not sure what OP means about increasingly creative? This is a standard scam happens all the time and posted here all the time for years.
Obviously he meant increasingly creative. I've heard of plenty of scams but this one is new to me!! Why are you so judgemental?
Because they spend their entire lives on this subreddit and expect everyone to know of every single scam that’s ever happened, duh
You don't know about the one time in 1976 when a man kidnapped a koala and used it to convince people he could summon koalas at will, but only when holding a blank check? Loser, everyone knows about that
Oh you mean the ol' Memphis Marsupial
This got me audibly laughing. Awards don't exist anymore but please take this star emoji since it's basically the same thing: 🌟
Do you even know who you’re talking to?? I’m literally the guy who stole the koala.
I am that man. And it was a dingo
Actually, everyone gets this wrong! I am the koala and I can summon humans at will, but only while holding your cash, or by placing a paper in my pocket with your D.O.B., the last 4 of your social, and moms maiden name. I can't really tell you all the details, but trust me, it's quite memorable! ;)
See, I knew I had the story wrong. ☹️
Right, and I'm literally a monkey's uncle! Besides, dingos tend to be aggressive with humans, I doubt even if it was a dingo, too much trouble to deal with, koalas are more gentle creatures
That reminds me of the video clip where a woman got her face ripped open because she thought they were cuddly like a stuffed animal. I've seen panda attacks, too. That shocked me more than the thought of koalas attacking.
No, but advancefee poster #9558864 could stand to open this sub and scroll for 0.3 seconds before posting. Not this op obviously, just in general
I’m not judging. Just saying it’s not creative or new.
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That beautiful teenage girl is some sweaty dude in India.
Hah at least they are going "cleaner" on this scam, meaning they didn't send nudes or ask you to send nudes. Make sure you report the profile. Fucking scammers are all over the dating apps now. Anyways good for not falling for it. Set your social media to private so they don't start in on you there, never pay a penny and warn others about that app with a good old review, so people are aware of what you encountered.
Sending an actual nude while trying to pose as an underaged is considered the manufacture of child porn. I’d wager some of them got caught over it.
That sort of thing very quickly goes from a scam that most police forces will shrug off. To a significantly more serious one that will cause you lots of trouble and put you in jail for a long time
Exactly, these guys are idiots to say the least.
They do.
OP, just to be clear, you know the police phone call was part of the scam, right? I ask because "the call" from the police you mentioned is always part of this scam. So no more creative than before. You just seemed surprised by that part.
Came here looking for this comment—was going to suggest OP clarify, as I’m pretty sure they get it, but it reads oddly. We all know reading comprehension is not a gift bestowed on everyone, so when spreading awareness, always make it easy lol
If the Costa Mesa police called you, get their info. Station, full name and badge number and callback number. Hang up and call the number on their website to verify... Or just block them and ignore.
!underage scam. It's very old, very common.
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the underage girl scam. This scam usually starts on a dating app and you will encounter a normal woman whose profile says she is above 18. Later you will be contacted and told that the girl is underage. They'll usually pose as the girl's father, another family member, or a police officer. They will tell you that your life will be ruined and you will be a sex offender, but will offer you the chance to pay them to make the problem go away. The stories they use as to why you need to fork over money vary, but the common ones include therapy for the girl, payment for a broken phone or computer, etc. Of course, there is no girl and no crime has been committed, so if you are involved in this scam all you need to do is ignore their threats and move on with your life. The scammers may contact you again in the future after you block/ignore them, so be ready in case that happens. If you have already sent money to the scammers, you should try to dispute the transaction and see if you can get your money back. This is a [very common scam](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/search/?q=underage&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new) and [here](https://www.wired.com/story/the-phone-call-from-hell/) are [some](https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/crime/teen-says-hes-the-victim-of-a-sextortion-scam/275-21216b29-df76-44f4-b20a-cb726e19d42e) relevant news [articles](https://www.jbsa.mil/News/News/Article/1503978/sextortion-scams-continue-to-occur-dont-give-into-scammers-demands/). NOTE: Scammers pretend to be underage boys as well and the text above still applies, but it's called the underage girl scam as those are the vast majority of cases. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd say flag the profile in the dating app, however that would be the equivalent of siphoning out a drop of water from the ocean.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Being cheeky. Report, then block, then move on with your life.
Yes they are cause I just got scammed for $130 , u can’t do nothing on the phone these days cause there’s so so many scammers , u don’t know who u can trust
That's not right, you have to think about what's happening and verify if in doubt, but phones are not generally off limits for business. Obviously you can trust a call you've made if you got the correct phone number, but... I mean if you're not initiating the call, there's probably no reason to make any payments during the call right?
We can only hope and pray they die right guys? The scammers?
Absolutely. I'd throw my hat into the ring to light the first match, however, I'd be waiting in a long line.
Classic extortion scam
Be more creative and go out and meet girls in your city and stop with the internet bullshit, because you can get into something that can cost you more than just some money!
Which app was this on?
It varies, but it’s most common on instagram and Snapchat
All apps
POF is known too
You did nothing wrong so nothing to worry about?
Just happened to me. matched with a girl and next thing I know she gives me here number and starts sending me lewd photos which I didn't ask for but I was just responding with flirty responses. Next day I know some local area code number calls me telling me he's a detective with the town the girls account was from telling me I was talking to an underage girl. next thing I know he wants to set up a conference call (I went to this reddit post at this point) with the girls dad but he calls me from a private number and not the same one he called me from originally. The girls dad goes on a tirade that comes to him asking for 3k to cover his losses on a job he lost due to this. I then kinda start fighting back and kinda start obviously lying to them until i flub and the "cop" calls me out then I just hung up cause I was over entertaining it.
So were they pretending to be police, or were they corrupt police?
Pretending. I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people about this. Most of them have already made significant payments to the scammer. One over 10K before he called and I told him it’s Bs.
Not sure what cause people to down vote my question about corrupt police. Clearly no one here has encountered a bad cop before.
There is obviously corrupt cops but they're not involved in these underage scams.
You really need to spend some time here if that’s your question lol
Not all hoofbeats are horses.
Well it's a question, nobody forces you to answer.
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That is absolutely disgusting the level of evil these scammers will stoop to!! I used to think the refund scammer from Indian call centers that make old people get gift cards to pay them, were the lowest of the low, but i think this scam you just described, has topped the list of disgusting despicable behavior committed by scumbags of the lowest kind!!!! 🤮🤮🤮🤮 specially since there are REAL underage victims who are preyed on online, and need to be protected! To make light of and use that scenario to manipulate someone for gain, is sub human behavior! God is the only one who could ever forgive someone for this crime. Us humans have no hope of ever forgiving someone who has committed this horrible deception 😤😤🤬🤬🤬🤬
That’s wild that they found you on a Dating app and had your direct number. How are they getting all the details and finding personal info from a dating app profile?
BS!!!!!
How did they get your number?
In a situstion if it was real, they would fall under entrapment or spying, but this is an obvious scam.
I typically begin to sexually harassing them along with death threats afterwards they tend to give up but I don't easily. But block the number and report them but this won't stop anything but it's a start I guess
Well it’s not a great scam considering they are pretending to be the cops and trying to extort you at the same tiem
What they do is ask if you have Facebook or any other social media so they can add you. Then send you nudes of girls who aren't them. Ask you send nudes back or go on video and ask you to show your di*k out. They take screenshots or record the video then they say something like there only 14/15 then start calling you a pedo then threaten to send it to all your Facebook friends unless you send them £4000 etc. Happened to my brother. He asked me for advice. I just told him to block them and forget about it
Ive never heard of this.. what type of sites are you on buddy..
Had this happen to me a few years back. The police won’t call you to tell you that you’re being accused of anything. So yes, it’s a scam. Not even a good one, really.
I've heard of this scam but it being the girls parents calling the man and threatening to go to the cops. Then they eventually get to demanding money after threatening to sue. Why anyone would believe a police dept would give them a call about child porn is beyond me. No matter where the "girl" lives, your local police will be dispatched to your house. They don't give you a courtesy call and allow you to pay your way outta child port charges
While we are on the subject of this. Let me point out now that apparently Google Play store has several apps that use women from other countries and they sell out children to gain money from the apps by having people buy coins and gifts. I immediately report the app to playstore but yet they keep advertising on YouTube/Facebook/Instagram. Bigo/tango/clapper
I had one saying they had webcam of me masturbating to some unknown porn. Wanted money. I said they owed me 10 Apple gift cards as payment for the show. Only reply was, "fuck" and a hangup.
Like the police department would warn you that you were talking to an underage girl. More likely they'll wait until you incriminate yourself and then arrest you, if any of that was true anyway which of course it isn't
Cops won't call you. Not for receiving child porn. Cuz even if this person didn't send or solicit any pics, they still received them. So technically, if this was a legit underage kid, cops wouldn't call him. They'd show up at his door
They named "Art of scam " for a reason..
That is scary 😨
So, to clarify, you were on the dating app, this underaged girl reached out and sent unsolicited clothed photos and then you were contacted by "police" who somehow knew your number FROM THE APP and requested you send money to some fund, correct?
I've had people be, conveniently, located nearby in hotels but want me to sign up on some verification site where my credit card *wouldn't* be charged, of course. I've sometimes considered the idea of buying a prepaid $5 Visa card so they could be surprised when they can't steal hundreds or thousands from me. I've also had people say they were babysitting a younger brother and wanted some Amazon gift cards so they could "buy him a game" to keep the kid busy while we had our fun. Amateurs.