Scam Scenarios

You have been chatting online with a girl from Pakistan for a week now. You met on a forum and became friends. Quickly enough, the conversation moved on to private messages, by her own initiative. Even though you do not know this girl in the real world, you found her to be an interesting personality and someone you can trust and share your thoughts and concerns with.  One day the girl, obviously upset, tells you that her mom had given her 200 euros to keep it safe, but she lost it. She asks you politely to transfer that money into her bank account, so she does not get in trouble with her mom and promises to pay you back next week. What will you do?

Often when you play your favorite online game, you chat with your teammates or opponents. You do not see anything wrong with it… You make new “friends”, they share with you secrets to pass to the next level more easily… You enjoy the conversations with them, you spend your time pleasantly and you do not see any danger there… Suddenly during your gaming session, you receive a message in the chat from a teammate who says the following: “Good evening, I heard that you are interested in going abroad. Come and find me at 21:00 at 3 Bosporus Street so I can explain the process to you.” What do you do?

You are looking for a way to help your parents, who have been trying for a long time to get passports for you all to go to Germany together. You have heard them say that the process is time consuming, and you must be patient, but your patience has run out. You discussed it with a friend whose parents recently had been through the same procedure, and he suggested you should join a forum and ask for advice. You find his idea amazing, and you do not waste any time. You visit the forum and type: “Is there a way to get a passport quickly?” It does not take long, and you get a reply “Good evening, my name is Christina Georgiou and I work at the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum. If you want your request for a passport to be processed immediately, you must first pay the fee of 80 euros. Here you can make your deposit: GR00 8888 2323 4956 4567 7397 353”. What do you do?

Enzo is a 16-year-old girl who came from Persia with her 20-year-old brother. From the first moment you saw her at school you liked her and have been spending all your free time with her ever since. Your favorite topic of conversation is fashion since you like to dress fashionably. Your favorite thing to do is to post comments on Instagram about celebrities’ clothing and imagine how great those outfits would look on you! Suddenly there is a pop-up ad in your feed that says your favorite designer sneakers are on sale at a huge discount. From 120 euros, now you can get them for only 15 euros! Enzo excitedly pushes you to make the purchase immediately. What will you do?

Over the past two months, Afet, who has come from Syria, has been talking with John, an American military doctor who is serving in her home country. He messaged her asking her to get to know each other better. She accepted it and they started chatting. John tells her stories about her country, informs her about how things are, and this is something that Afet really needs since she feels very homesick. As time went by, a strong emotional bond developed between them. John told her that he was in love with her and very soon he would come to meet her in person and meet her parents. Afet is excited about this prospect. She talks about it all the time and dreams of the day she will see him in person. One day John texts her and says “Things are really bad! I must leave here immediately and come to meet you at last. But all this came unexpectedly, and I was not prepared. Could you send me 1,000 euros for the tickets so that I can make our dream come true? I have a lot of money back in the U.S.A and as soon as I come there, I will return it to you immediately!” What should Afet do?