WARNING: Stranded Friend Begging Message Scam

Unfortunately, I fell victim to a money scam. It was one of those scams that claim that a friend has lost all important passport documents and other forms of identification while traveling overseas and wants you to help him get out of the country.

In this case, the message was supposed to have come from a very good friend of mine and said that he was stranded in Berlin, Germany. This was a friend who I trusted not to lie to me so I sent him some money.

But the thing I found strange was that there was no way to send him the money other than via credit card. And then about a month later I found large bills on my credit card statement. I only sent about 100 Euro to help him, but my statement said that I had sent more than 5000 Euro.

Then I found out my friend had not sent the message at all. Coincidentally, my friend had happened to be out of country when the scam took place, although he was in France, not Germany.

I then realized what had happened and canceled my credit card but not before the scammers had made a further transaction of 8000 euro.

Note from the editor:
Regrettably, William’s experience is all too common. People all around the world fall victim to this type of scam everyday. You can read more information about such scam at the link below.