What would you do if you were scammed by an online 'friend'?
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85146)
Shingle Springs, California
April 15, 2008 4:57pm CST
Yesterday I was very saddened to find out that an online friend of mine had deleted her Yuwie account because she had been scammed out of some money by somebody she met there who she thought was her friend.
While I respect her decision to delete her account, I would not have done that. In my opinion, that would have been like letting the scammer 'win'. I would have changed my password. Heck I would have changed all of my passwords. But, after I had deleted and blocked the scammer, I would have kept right on doing what I had been doing over there.
Opinions?
7 people like this
19 responses
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
15 Apr 08
Wow. How was she scammed? That's pretty bad for a 'friend' to do that, but do any of us really know who is sitting in front of the other monitor?
Depending on the situation, I may or may not have deleted my account. If it was embarrassing or something, maybe she doesn't need the reminder?
Either way, I'm sorry this happened.
2 people like this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
15 Apr 08
Yikes.
I sure hope it's been reported to PayPal and Yuwie both, as well as whatever authorities might deal with this sort of thing.
Is the 'hacker' anyone I might know?
2 people like this
@kilani123 (864)
• United Arab Emirates
16 Apr 08
she should not trusted him or her in the first place
i guess its her fault to trust online friends
i guess the only way to trust an online friend is to see him or her personally
thats what i think
dont u think so ????
2 people like this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
Trust to a point but not where money is concerned. That's what I think.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
I posted a couple of notices but you're right, if Admin hasn't been notified, they need to be!
@deeeky (3667)
• Edinburgh, Scotland
16 Apr 08
A nice discussion that you have posted and it shows us all to be carefull when giving out our info to friends.
The members have shown us how they would have done it differently, so being forewarned is forearmed so to speak.
@frostbitten (92)
• United States
15 Apr 08
Ugh, that's too bad that happened. If it was me I wouldn't have deleted the account, but I can understand why she might have, it might just make the site have bad associations for her. I've never been scammed out of money, but I've had a couple accounts hacked into years ago, and I didn't delete them because like you said, it feels like letting them "win" somehow. I just kept on using them, like "no, I'm not letting you take this from me".
@athinapie (1150)
• Philippines
16 Apr 08
i'm sorry to hear what happened to your friend. if only she didn't allow herself to get scammed. but on the other hand, trust played a big part in this situation. sometimes it's easy to trust people because they sound kind and stuff... even if you haven't met them personally yet. but still, it's still good to keep an open mind and be alert about suspicious activities.
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
5 May 08
That's too bad that she was scammed. It's important to check out these pay programs because some of them aren't any good and are scams. It's always good to ask about that on here or from other people to see what they have to say about the program.
Pablo
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
20 May 08
I don't think it was directly Yuwie that was the problem.
@prettygirl_80650 (306)
• United States
16 Apr 08
awww thats just sad not only did she get what was put in by yuwie taken from her if she does what i do my fund just sit in paypal and i get interest from it, so she is also out money from that. Im not quite sure why she deleted her yuwie account when it seems like a problem with paypal and she might be able to contact paypal and get that money back.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
Paypal and her bank are looking into it. She deleted her Yuwie because she believes that the thief is somebody she had gotten close to and her feelings were really hurt.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
I would let the authorities deal with it but I would also make sure my passwords were all changed and the person was blocked and so on.
@Chey1970 (1186)
• United States
16 Apr 08
*shakes my head* That is messed up in so many ways. I don't think I would have deleted my account. I would have blocked and deleted the person, changed all my info, and of course reported them to all the proper channels. Along with maybe making a blog warning others of what happened. giving advice not to actually donate money unless it's to a highly known organization to start with.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
I agree but when people are hurt and upset they don't always thing things through.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
Yeah and out the person all over the internet. But there are pretty serious liability problems with doing that!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 May 08
Well I was able e-mail her and she is still talking to people from Yuwie, but yes she was definitely upset...
@carolluvyou (460)
• United States
7 May 08
i hope that everything works out for her but i do agree she should not have had to delete her account cause of some scammer
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
7 May 08
I hear tell that her husband wanted her to do that... :-(
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
16 Apr 08
I have limitations in terms of friendly relationships online, especially when it's all about money. I wouldn't trust others that easily, since everything can happen online and that's the easiest way to scam or commit crime against other innocent internet members.
And if in-case that happens to me, I wouldn't consider that person as a friend but a bunch of vultures waiting for a weak prey they could easily attack at..
1 person likes this
@terri0824 (4991)
• United States
16 Apr 08
Sorry your friend was scammed. Since I don't know the details of how they were scammed, I don't know what I really would have done. Did the scammer have access to her password at Yuwie? But I have to agree with you from what little I do know, I would have kept on doing what I was doing.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
They may have had, I'm not sure. May have been a popup thing that was happening on Yuwie for a while asking for user id and password. If she fell for it, it could have captured what she typed in. But I don't really know.
@bluemars (952)
• Australia
16 Apr 08
I try to be very positive when an opportunity arises but I am still very careful in every situation because there is no way sometimes of knowing. One does need to keep their eyes open and really concentrate on the things that are already working for them. I know it can be hard for many who are looking but there is nothing worse then feeling that disappointment, so you must see things first and find out what they all about before doing anything with them to begin with.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
16 Apr 08
I believe that I would follow the same course as you have outlined and not let the scammer get away with chasing her out.It is soeasy to change passwords and block and delete the scammer then you would not feel as though the scammer had outbested you.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Apr 08
Best for you and me bud sadly not for my friend. :-(
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
23 Apr 08
as long as it's somebody you really know, I guess...
