Popular chat room scams and how to avoid them.

There are times when I am on some chat sites where I think there are no real people in this place. It’s just full of scams and criminals. By far the king of chat site scams are chat sites chatiw and chatib, followed closely by sites like Chat Avenue, It feels like Chatiw is creaking under the pressure of all the fraudsters if they were removed there would be no people left, let me show you an example image

So I thought I would write a post about some of the latest scams that are still around from 2023 onwards. I had hoped that they would slowly disappear, as most scams nowadays seem to be in the dating niche or on their sites, often initiated by a deceptive message on a dating site or scams on social media. Many of these scams can be classified as a form of grift, using deception to extract money or personal information from their targets.

There are still chat room scams. The traditional romance scams still happen, but usually on websites that have dating profiles rather than live chat. I would like to point out that most of the scams I’ve found are on the websites Chatiw and Chatib website, which is a cesspit of cheating hustlers and criminals, but also the chat avenue.

Let me say that if you do fall for this kind of scam, do not be too hard on yourself. These fraudsters are very good at deception, they use language and some clever stories to manipulate you, they are basically setting a trap for some unsuspecting person to walk into, they are usually after your hard-earned cash, but not always.

Sometimes they are looking for ways to steal your identity. By finding your full name, address and phone number, this data can be useful to them, especially if they are trying to get access to your bank accounts or try to get you to click a link on a website to perform a phishing scam and install some malware onto your computer to get access to it, which can allow them to access your important files and even take control of your computer.

Sometimes these scams go on for months, not just in one conversation. They try to slowly build your trust and build up a relationship, they may tell you they love you and also try to isolate you from your friends and family, which makes you rely on them more and easier to manipulate you.

In this way, you may well slowly let your guard down, or slowly, over time, give them enough information over time to scam you, as they take note and sometimes even record your messages, as often there is more than one person involved.

it may help you to know more about chat sites and the psychology involved read more here.

The snap chat (premium Snapchat) scam

These scams usually involve guys speaking to girls in chat rooms and adding them to Snapchat, sometimes for the promise of some kind of content. Sometimes you just innocently add them for someone to talk to.

The person will always be hot, and have a picture of a pretty girl or guy, so it starts with them catfishing the user. Usually, the scammers are pretty savvy with photos now and don’t send model pics. They tend to send real-looking girls now.

The scammer will, if they claim not to be selling anything, talk to you for a little while before suggesting they can video chat with you, but only for a fee, even though they said they did not want payment and playing innocently before you added them. Then the following happens: they scam you for money or just leave.

If you speak to them about a fee for some kind of show or content, either videos or pictures, they will do 1 of 2 things. They will take your payment and then instantly block you, after they have your money and disappear forever, or they will stream a video to you claiming it is them, usually with some fake audio over the top.

This is fraud by deception and is illegal, but the chances people will report this kind of crime is low as it usually involves small payment fees.

Do not give money to any of these scammers, no matter how lonely and tempted you feel. Most of the people doing these types of scams, such as swindling or romance scams, are guys, and they are involved in other crimes. You are not speaking to a woman, or the hot girl they sent you photos of, but rather a romance scammer who is trying to deceive you.

Be careful using Snapchat. Don’t add random people and, if you do, be extra weary about their intentions as they might be a romance scammer. Don’t give strangers your home address, whatever you do, as these people are making notes about you, and also taking your personal information. If you are stupid enough to make a bank transfer of money, they will now have your banking details and your bank account number and sort code. If you give them your home address, you are opening yourself up to being manipulated or blackmailed for cash.

The I am in debt or I need food to eat scam

The UK is having a cost of living crisis, so it is not surprising that people are struggling. It’s not unusual to see users in chatrooms just begging for money. Usually, they say it is for food or for heating. Sadly, these are chat room begging scams, where people pretend to have issues, even just asking for £5 in some cases, where you think, oh well, it is only £5, but if the person committing this crime does this scam 10 times that £50, i have even seen this scam play out on Reddit a few times.

Sometimes you meet people asking for £1000s of pounds just chancing their arm to see if anyone in the room has their credit card handy, and are caught off guard enough to send money to them.

This is quite a famous con artist trick that you usually see in the street. I remember my friend being stopped by an attractive lady, saying she had been mugged and had all her money stolen, and the police couldn’t help her. He did not give her any money, which was lucky as it was a lie. This is the same scam as the online scam but in the real world,

The pay for my videos or pictures scam

There are many apps and websites where you can legitimately buy content, but you will still see people selling this kind of thing on chat sites, mainly because some men or women are stupid enough to pay for it, so this scam is pretty basic. They will ask for payment for videos or photos, which they will say they will send to your email address or even, WhatsApp. Either one of 2 things will happen.

They just block you once they have payment, or they will send you some random personal videos or images they downloaded from the many 1000s of websites that are out there for free.

They will basically be doing an impersonation of this person to try to convince you with long conversations to buy beforehand and make you think you have just bought their photos, when in fact they are someone else’s photographs and the whole scheme is a fraud, for pictures someone has downloaded for free and sold you the unsuspecting victim.

I’m from the same city. Let’s meet up scam

So often, people will go onto chat sites in the hope of finding romance or maybe even hooking up with someone. It is quite rare for people to meet on chat sites these days. Most singles use dating sites or dating apps.

This romance scam starts by them saying they are in the same city as you, as often it’s common to say what city you are from in an introduction about yourself, the scammer will just say they are from the same city to get your interest, the scammer then just googles your city and tells you an area in the city where they pretend to be from, the scam starts from there.

Usually, you are taken off-site to Snapchat or Kik Messenger, which can be a red flag for potential identity theft. There are a few ways this scam goes. It depends on where the conversation leads, but normally they will ask you to come to their house. I found out about this scam by once letting it play out and going along with it. I pretended to drive to their house, which I said was close by, and then pretended I was outside beeping my horn, the whole thing was very funny as I teased them saying where are you I can’t see you ?

The person then said, “Well you can come in but, I need something to keep my kids busy while we have fun”. If you send me money for a Google Play gift card, then you can come in. I was saying, but I am outside and I’ll give you the money when I walk in. She said no send me the money now. It’s a really weird scam, where the whole long story plays out just for them to try to get money out of you. The scam does change from time to time but this is generally how it goes.

I am sure if you fall for this scam they will find it really funny that victims travel to meet them when they are sitting at a laptop in Nigeria.

This scam does go a few ways. Sometimes they will ask you to pay for their taxi to come to your house, or bus fares, or sometimes train fares someone even asked me to pay £1000 for their flight to come see me, anything to try to get some cash out of you, trying to take advantage of you thinking you are talking to someone close by. I hacked this person’s phone using an application and they were from Nigeria anyhow, so defo not in the city in the UK I am in, I told them they were not even slightly bothered and are still on the site even to this day.

The hotel pass scam

This is another bizarre scam where someone who says they are local to you, maybe in the same city or even the same country, they will tell you they are in a hotel nearby and invite you to join them. But to get access to the hotel, you will need a hotel pass, which I was told would cost me £19.99, of course. The person is just bait for the scam. Hotels do not have this kind of service, but this is just one of the many clever schemes that fraudsters have devised.

This scam does work on a larger scale too. It’s not unheard of that fraudsters will try to convince people to pay for someone’s flights to come to see them. This is a common thread in some romance scams. It could also be train fares.

The Investment scam

These are usually part of the many dating scams out there, where people form relationships with you and, while talking to you, drop seeds that they are making money from cryptocurrency.

They will get you to invest some money in a website that seems legitimate, but in reality, it’s a website they own, so when you invest money in it, your investment will soar as they edit the graphs on the site.

To reflect this, they will convince you to invest more and more, as the prices go higher and higher.

However the scam is already over as they have your money, as part of the site you have to apply to withdraw your investment but this part of the site doesn’t even work, or sometimes they will ask for a fee to withdraw, where if you pay they just take more money, you will never get any money back as the whole scheme and website is faked.

How to avoid chat scams?

Never EVER EVER send money to anyone you meet in a chat room, no matter how convincing they are, even if they tell you they are dying from cancer, it is going to be a scam, and you are not talking to the hot girl or guy in the picture you think you are taking to, you are talking to a crimanal who prays on people.

Also, be careful who you video chat with, because there are many stories of extortion where people have had their video chats recorded, and been extorted for money or they will release the video on Facebook to family and friends.

Please don’t fall for any of the hangout scams or Google chat invites that look like they are from pretty women, be vigilant out there.

What should I do if I get scammed on a chat site?

I appreciate that this can be a little embarrassing, but we need people to report these crimes, you can email the police about this just Googling your local police force and email address, or additionally Crimestoppers.

If you have had money stolen from you then you need to call 101, it’s a crime but not urgent, you can also speak to citizens’ advice about this kind of thing, you can keep things confidential and don’t have to share details if you do not wish to.

If people do not report this, these crimes continue and go unpunished, so please report the crime even if you don’t really want to press charges or take it further, just say in your email you wish to report this has happened and you want to try to prevent it happening to someone else.

Please stay safe online and check out my guide to safety.

Other frequently asked questions

How do chat room scams work?

Chat room scams work by targeting unsuspecting users in online chat rooms, forums, and other online platforms. The scammer will typically create a false identity and use it to gain the trust of the victim. They will then use this trust to convince the victim to send money or provide personal information. Scammers can use a variety of tactics to trick victims. In some cases, they may pretend to be someone they are not, such as a potential romantic partner or a business opportunity.

How do scammers find victims in chatrooms?

Scammers often target victims in chat rooms by using a variety of tactics. They may use fake profiles to lure victims in, or they may join chat rooms and start conversations with people who appear vulnerable. They may also use automated bots to send out messages to a large number of people in the chat room. They may also use social engineering techniques to gain the trust of victims.

How do they lure people into sending them money?

There are a variety of tactics used by scammers to lure people into sending them money. One of the most common is to create a sense of urgency or fear in the victim. For example, they may claim that if the victim does not send money immediately, they will face legal consequences or be in danger. They may also threaten to reveal embarrassing information about the victim or their family if they do not comply.

How do they convince people to trust them?

Trust is an essential part of any successful relationship, whether it be between two people or between an organization and its customers. In order to convince people to trust them, organizations must demonstrate that they are reliable, honest, and transparent. One way to build trust is to provide consistent, high-quality products and services. Customers are more likely to trust an organization if they can rely on it to provide the same quality of products and services every time.

Who is behind chatroom scams?

Chat room scams are typically perpetrated by individuals or groups of individuals who are looking to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. These scammers often use a variety of tactics to try to con people out of their money or personal information. The most common type of chat room Hustle is phishing, which involves sending messages that appear to be from a legitimate source, such as a bank or other financial institution, in an attempt to get the recipient to provide personal information or money.

These scammers may be located in any country around the world, but they tend to be concentrated in certain areas, such as Eastern Europe, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. They use a variety of tactics to target victims in chat rooms, including creating fake profiles, sending out spam messages, and using automated bots to send out messages.

Is it possible to fake like Snap chat photos and videos?

Yes, even if someone seems to have sent you a live picture or a live video, this can be faked by using apps like Snapshare, which is a 3rd party application you can use. There are lots of these applications, which I am sure you will find annoying that romance scammers can pretend to be someone else so easily with this kind of app, potentially leading to identity theft.