I feel like this is a scam, but I don’t know exactly how it works or what could happen. My friend was recently in the Czech Republic and met this guy in a hotel who said he could earn up to £1000 a month. The guy runs a small agency, supposedly for chat lines. He asked for my friend’s passport and name, saying he needed it to verify he’s a real person. My friend gave it to him and showed me the account he set up. My friend doesn’t have to do anything and is supposed to start making money next Thursday. It sounds fishy to me. Can anyone explain how this scam works? My friend says it’s just lonely ladies calling and paying, and that bots handle the calls. I’m really worried for him. Any advice?
Hey, welcome to this forum. Just a heads-up, because you posted here, you might start getting private messages from scammers offering to help you get your money back, but they’ll charge you a small fee. Don’t trust them! These are called ‘recovery scammers.’ Never take advice in private; make sure it’s always out in the open in the comments so the community can watch out for you. Remember, we can’t help if you go private.
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Sounds like identity theft to me.
Ivy said:
Sounds like identity theft to me.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Thanks for confirming.
The scammer could use your friend’s details to commit serious crimes in his name and get him into huge trouble.
SafeInvestmentTalk said:
The scammer could use your friend’s details to commit serious crimes in his name and get him into huge trouble.
Exactly my fear! Especially since the guy has his passport and all that info. You wouldn’t need any of that just for chat lines, right? I’m so anxious, but my friend really trusts this guy because he sees easy money. Thanks for the reply.
What account are you talking about?
Frauddetector said:
What account are you talking about?
It’s the chat account with his name and some money listed to be paid into it. All of this info came from the guy, not an actual bank.
@StellarSage
The scammer can make the website show any amount of fake money. Your friend hasn’t made anything until it’s actually in his bank account.
Frauddetector said:
@StellarSage
The scammer can make the website show any amount of fake money. Your friend hasn’t made anything until it’s actually in his bank account.
Thanks, this really helps! I knew something was off. You can’t get something for nothing, right?
This whole situation is bad news. No matter how it’s explained, it’s not going to end well.
kaylee said:
This whole situation is bad news. No matter how it’s explained, it’s not going to end well.
Yeah, deep down I know that too. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Stick around on this forum and you’ll see how often people say, ‘I have the scammer’s real name, they even sent me their passport!’ Guess where those passports came from…