This man says he needs a texting buddy: someone he could give attention, talk and share things with and he will pay 600 dollars.
He says he is 41 from Omaha, Nebraska, and he is really doing this because college students need financial support from people who have it for rent and paying bills.
I said OK. Then he says he wants to go ahead and get my first allowance and wanted to know what institution I bank with. He is going to send me a check and then I'm supposed to deposit it
Good for you for asking the question!
DO NOT provide this person ANY more personal information than you have already provided. DO NOT give them a physical address, if you haven't already. ESPECIALLY DO NOT give them any information about your financial accounts. Not even the name. Nothing.
The potential for scamming and stalking is legitimate. Every bit of additional information you provide increases your risk. ESPECIALLY DO not assume that just because you don't see the scam that there is no potential for it.
Based on what you've provided, it is EXTREMELY likely he is scamming you.
You ask, "how is he trying to scam me". Impossible to say exactly how this particular person could be trying to scam you, we don't have all the facts, but scammers will gather little bits of personal information and use it together to exploit their victims. It takes very little for a persistent scammer to exploit. As an example, a scammer can give you a check, you deposit it, the scammer asks for a little of the money back for some reason, and then the check turns out to be no good. OR, a scammer gets enough of your bank information, seizes control of your account and cleans it out, and then disappears. There are many many other scenarios and it depends on exactly and specifically all of the information you have provided to the scammer.
Stalkers get cell phones and addresses and once the relationship does not go how they wish, the harassing begins. Up to and including physical danger.
Seriously, disengage. Don't explain, just disengage. Even better, change your number.
No scammer will send you $600 going from their pocket into yours. So you can bet the money comes from a hacked bank account, or a scamming victim etc. Most likely your bank will eventually figure this out and remove th $600 from your account.
One possible scam is overpaying you “by mistake”, say putting $6,000 into your account instead of $600 and asking you to return the difference. So you pay $5,400 to the scammer, and three weeks from now your bank takes the $6,000 back and your account is at minus $5,400.
Or it’s just used for identity theft, or money laundering, but I think trying to take your money is the most common situation.
This is what is called a "sugar daddy" scam. If there's no sex involved, then most likely the goal is to steal your identity one way or another, or use you for money laundering by sending money to you from one (forged/fraudulent/stolen/otherwise illegally obtained source) and receiving money from you to another (clean/legitimate) destination, leaving you holding the bag as the end-point of the string of fraudulent transactions.
As others have said, the more information you share the easier it is to steal your identity, and once money starts changing hands - that's when the money laundering phase starts.
There are a lot of good answers here, but I wanted to give my thoughts as well. First and foremost, as others have suggested, you should immediately dissengage with this person. Whatever the plan, no normal person pays a random stranger $600 to be a txting buddy.
As for your question about how exactly you're being scammed. A couple of thoughts.
Some scammers may engage in a "long con", taking weeks or months or even longer to gain the trust of their intended victim.
All scams ultimately are financial in nature, but the way they get to that varies.
You mentioned that this is an "allowance" but haven't mentioned how frequent these $600 payments will be made.
Even if these payments are monthly, the scammer will be expecting quite a lot of "sharing" for that amount of money.
A common scam involves the scammer convincing a female (usually) victim to send personal, and then intimate photos. The ruse of trust may last just long enough for the scammer to get enough leverage that they can start demanding ever more explicit photos and videos, with threats that the photos they already have will be forwarded to the victims family, or co-workers, or school.
Yes, this looks like a scam. Here's how the scam might work:
Fake Check: The scammer sends you a fake check. You deposit it, and the bank credits the money to your account. But after a few days, the bank finds out the check is fake and takes the money back. If you've already spent or sent the money, you'll have to pay it back to the bank.
Personal Information: The scammer might be trying to get your personal information, like your bank details, to steal from you or access your account.
Money Laundering: Sometimes, scammers use people to move stolen money. They might ask you to send part of the money to someone else, which could get you in trouble with the law.
You can start playing along with him, ask for a photo or personal information, but be careful, don’t fall for any tricks! I love messing with scammers and wasting their time!
