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A family member of mine (female, not sure if that's relevant) was contacted via a listing on Facebook for an item of clothing by a someone (male) who then sent through their credit card details.

The messenger encouraged my family member to use the card, saying that he liked to perform random acts of kindness this way. That was the only reason he provided.

My family member took him up on it and made a reasonably expensive purchase (approximately $200).

This whole situation reeks of scam and potentially fraud. Is this something that anyone has seen before?

The obvious risk that comes to mind is that the credit card details might not even belong to the messenger (although their Facebook name matched the card & the profile was created in 2009).

Is there any other major risk in doing what my family member did?

Extra details after initial question

I figured I should add some extra details that transpired after I made the initial post.

The "gifter" continued to try to converse with my family member via Facebook Messenger.

The "gifter" asked my family member to get her friends and people she knows to log into their (the gifter's) Facebook account. The reason he provided was that he "liked the idea of her controlling his stuff", and offered more money.

I suspect this is the gifter's attempt to establish a false narrative that his Facebook account was attacked & compromised. Once he has plausible deniability of being in control of his Facebook account he will notify his bank of bulk credit card fraud, and some of the transactions involved would likely be legitimate transactions he initiated but cannot pay back.

To be clear on my role in this situation, I have no influence or control over this family member's behaviour. I am just a fly on the wall that knows of the events as they are transpiring.

Update from late 2023 (18 months later)

Wow this question kind of blew up, over 10k views at the time of editing.

It appears the messenger (who I suspected of being a scammer) really did just want to be financial controlled. Nothing happened to my family member, it seems like this was a bizarre case where both sides got something they wanted out of it and then moved on with their lives.

Perhaps the messenger used this transaction for some other purpose, but there was no blowback on my family member (that she is aware of).

Cold Fish
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5 Answers5

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Is there any other major risk in doing what my family member did?

Of course. The real owner of the card will dispute the charges as fraudulent, and the police will probably not believe this story and will hold your family member accountable for the theft.

The person may even be real and the credit card may even belong to them, it doesn't matter. They would, for example, use this way to create many fraudulent transactions and then dispute them all and some non-fraudulent as well, hoping the bank will refund the transactions in bulk. That way the scammer uses your family member as a scapegoat for their own theft.

littleadv
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A stranger messaged someone I know via an online listing and gave them their credit card details and encouraged them to use it. Is there a scam here?

There is no free lunch, period.

A family member of mine (female, not sure if that's relevant) was contacted via a listing on Facebook for an item of clothing by a someone (male) who then sent through their credit card details.

Yikes, creepy.

The messenger encouraged my family member to use the card, saying that he liked to perform random acts of kindness this way. That was the only reason he provided.

Do you really think there's no ulterior motive?

  • Blackmail: I'll expose you to your family for needing money from strangers
  • Guilt: I was being such a "nice guy" and you won't even meet me for coffee?
  • Threats: I'll report you to the police for fraudulently using my card unless you do "things" which may or may not include sex, money laundering, drug trafficking, or worse
  • Extortion: You've just incriminated yourself by making an illegal purchase, send me $5,000 and I won't report you
  • Future sex request
  • Pimp/sugar daddy relation

My family member took him up on it and made a reasonably expensive purchase (approximately $200).

Yeah, go ahead and return that merchandise.

This whole situation reeks of scam and potentially fraud. Is this something that anyone has seen before?

Something is fishy, when is the last time you wrote a blank check to a stranger out of the goodness of your heart?

The obvious risk that comes to mind is that the credit card details might not even belong to the messenger (although their Facebook name matched the card & the profile was created in 2009).

Umm, it's fairly trivial to change your name on Facebook after creating your profile.

The FB could be hacked (or original with name change to match stolen credit card) and the credit card was stolen from the same person or any number of people with the same name.

Is there any other major risk in doing what my family member did?

There's a small chance that the person could figure out where your family member lives based on shipping details or purchase location and begin stalking her.

Also, refer to "ulterior motives" from above.

So, what is really going on you ask?

We don't know and we'll probably never know unless your relative continues to engage in the situation.

Safety is rooted in knowing when to disengage in a situation.

You don't have to incur a stab wound just so that you can reflect on the situation and say to yourself "I probably should have moved away from that guy with a calm demeanor on the subway who was casually holding a knife".

MonkeyZeus
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While this is almost certainly a scam of some kind (even if you can't figure out WHAT scam it is, it strongly smells of one) there is a tiny chance that it could be legitimate as the messages you mentioned point to someone who has a kink of the "control me" kind, which can include financial control.

This is a rare thing and even more rare to involve strangers online, but it wouldn't be entirely unheard of. Even in this case, however, I would advise staying away as there is a good probability the person is not entirely mentally stable.

Tom
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I have not used Facebook in years and even when I had an account I used it quite rarely. I do know however that Facebook as well as Google and many other online servi allow you to download 'all the data' that they hold on you. From memory this contains a terrifying amount of information, including all your contacts with their names, their appropriate linked Facebook accounts on any phone on which you login into that account, and location history.

My guess from the information given is that this assumed man is probably going to get your family members to login so he can then retrieve the user data picked up off of those phones - again including location history and will simply make a claim to have as much money returned as may be possible.

SirHall
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Let's imagine the credit card is stolen - there is a scam where people use stole credit cards and pick the packages in front of the door as they arrive.

Let's say your family member orders and signs for the first order and in future the other persons checks the box online for "leave in the following place", orders something expensive, steals it - much more likely that the police would see your family member as the culprit.

Sascha
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