Am I being scammed?

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

For the hell of it, I decided to reply and he agreed to transfer the required funds to me via crypto. He and I have been in contact and I have transferred 2 amounts to him.

Am sorry you've just been scammed, this is the worst thing to ever do to someone you never know, they promise you money but first collected yours, what a pity you never has the experience of such been detestable to how scammers operates, infact this is one or their old means.

Fortunately not overly high. I have received this latest communication from him and wanted to know if this was a genuine thing and I am ok to proceed or I should stop now, block his thieving and lying self and move on with my life.

Are you still asking for what decision to take after you've been duped already? you must be a newbie indeed, block him and learn your lesson.

[BIT-BENDER]

First I would say you have been scammed off your initial payment, I would be surprised if that is not the case and also did they provide any form where they swore to the United state council or what ever the scammers calls it?

First I see greed from you because you wanted to get the money they offered you fast (from your post the scammers made it an urgent contest) giving you less time to ask questions about the possibilities of it being a scam, they got you there and now are definitely trying to get you again.

[Rruchi man]

You have a maximum limit of seven(7) working days to make this payment.“

This statement is meant to mount pressure on you, the kind of pressure that forces you to take action without calculating and analyzing the situation properly. It is a scam that is taking advantage of your need for money. If someone wants to assist you really to clear your debt, They would do so without demanding for any deposit from you. Someone that wants to help you will not stress you bottom-line.

[kawetsriyanto]

I have been dealing with an apparent nice guy on Insta. He initially posted ona mutual picture that if anyone responded to him in a particular way he would clear their debt for them. I agree, too good to believe.

For the hell of it, I decided to reply and he agreed to transfer the required funds to me via crypto.

The first rule:  don't trust anyone who contacts you through any social media, especially when it comes to money. This could be the start of scams and other scams!
The second rule: Never believe something too good to be true that can be gained or shown easily.
The next rules: Do more readings, learning, and research before doing something.

Addendum to original post: he has shown me an ETH view only wallet with the money in it that he has promised and that because it is coming as a trustee or something from a business wallet account to a personal one as the reason why these fees are needed.

He could have used his scammed wallet to deceive victims including you. And it's possible to use someone's wallet and show it to you, moreover, it's view only. do not easily believe their various boasts. There is no such good person in cyberspace.

[CryptoPanda]

I agree, too good to believe.

There’s your answer, if it sounds too good to be true there is a high chance that it’s is a scam. But that wouldn’t stop you now, would it? The kind of scam you’re sinking in is called advanced fee fraud. You have conveniently ignored all the red flags that show this guy isn’t genuine and is up to no good. There are hardly any good Samaritans on the internet, be skeptical of strangers who bring up conversations about money and investments. I hope you learn from this experience.

[KingsDen]

“We are contacting you based on your pending  request of your total sum of $18000.
Your payment of $300 has been confirmed. We have to bring to your notice a policy that is of utmost priority should a withdrawal request be ensued.

Please, I need to be clarified that the above statement indicates that you already sent $300 to the scammer?
If it is so that means you are so rich to throw away $300 .
I wonder which part of the world you are, maybe I will have to relocate to where you live. Do people cleared up debt for random persos online ? Debt as high as 18,000 dollars ?
Do people give people business that will earn them 18000 dollars without knowing them in person or having any mutual agreement?
Are we still in the generation where manners fell from above? From where is the $18000 coming from. Will Elon the richest man in the world just throw out $18000 to any random someone, have you heard of such ?
It is nice you clarified yourself here before you would have continued but if you actually sent out $300. I have you to be blamed because the scam strategy is cheap to be rewarded with $300

[erep]

There’s your answer, if it sounds too good to be true there is a high chance that it’s is a scam. But that wouldn’t stop you now, would it? The kind of scam you’re sinking in is called advanced fee fraud. You have conveniently ignored all the red flags that show this guy isn’t genuine and is up to no good. There are hardly any good Samaritans on the internet, be skeptical of strangers who bring up conversations about money and investments. I hope you learn from this experience.

We shouldn't easily trust someone else because we are very vulnerable to scams, but I'm surprised he doesn't protect himself to protect himself from scams and it's so easy to transfer funds to strangers, I hope this case can be turned into a bitter experience without vigilance protecting yourself from crime and scam in the online world.

[lalabotax]

Incidents like this have often happened, there are even some people who have been warned to be careful of this scam case. But they do not believe and are more tempted by the promised profits or money. And finally? Instead, they lose their money because they have been scammed, get angry and blame the crypto. This is the cycle that goes on, people really want lots of money, but don't want to think too hard about the risk of scams and believe the promises more.

Here, I personally will immediately ignore anyone who tries to contact or tell me that I can get money fast with certain conditions. Especially if they ask us to send some money, then it's better to skip. There's no such kind person who will give us money quite easily, especially in this digital world where cyber crimes are numerous.

[Fiatless]

You have been scammed brother. They will entice you with huge some of money and encourage you to pay a very small sum to claim your payment. They would keep asking for more money and you would be motivated to pay so that you can recover what you have lost but you would never get your money back. My best advise is that you stop interacting with the person and bear the loss you have incurred.

Currently, there is no cheap or free money anywhere. You must work to earn you money. If you are seeking for easy funds, you would always be a victim of fraudsters. You would be amazed that the person that is promising to give you that huge some is living in abject poverty in one of the worst developing nation somewhere. Don't be moved by profits or cheap gains because it is a sign of greed.

[rozak]

To be honest I enjoy a good debate / argument and I was curious as to what tactics he would try to “ensnare” me and persuade me to still do this. (Note: I have absolutely no intention of proceeding here).

I even gave him a way that would work for no loss on either side and he still wouldn’t take me up on it lol.

I have just lived the expression, “ Fool me one shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”  

Thanks all on here for stopping me from making a stupid mistake

if you just deposited a little, it means your luck. if you have experienced it, believe me, they will come to you in another mode. and I hope you can get valuable experience in dealing with scammers like that. trust me they marked you for another opportunity in the future. they will come to you again. Never trust anyone on social media that you don't know. especially if it is related to money.

[tech30338]

first why would you even care to deal or have any transaction of person over the internet, even friends scam their friends, this has been an issue since 2017 or earlier, where someone out of nowhere were they would give money for the first 10 or 100 person, if you would imagine, is a person who you did not even know or meet, would give a money to a person? that's absolutely a no right?
My suggestion to OP is this:

• Cut Any Communication to that person
• Forget the money you have given , just imagine its charity and move on
• Never again entertain a person over the internet whom you did not know
• Try to read news of people who gets scam so that you have knowledge regarding this

There are lots of going on over the internet, never transact its 100% scam, block them immediately no questions ask.

[lovesmayfamilis]

It’s very interesting to me: are there people among those present here who have ever received any amount from strangers just like that? It's quite simple like that. The stranger asked for some small service and, in return, promised a large profit. For some reason, even with such numerous answers, it seems to me that free money is not available to anyone. Or rather, money always has a price, but the one who expects to get it very easily pays for it out of his own pocket and gets a very unpleasant experience.
So why do people go for it? OP, what's wrong with you? Were you at the time of the transfer of money in some kind of disorder, drunk, on drugs, or under hypnosis? Where was your mind at that moment?

[2stout]

Wow!  This is of the oldest type of scams and it's unfortunate you fell for it, if you really did.  If you did, better cut your losses before they get deeper or if you are really gully, you might be able to scam the scammer to get yours back.

[Yamifoud]

I don’t doubt that.

Addendum to original post: he has shown me an ETH view only wallet with the money in it that he has promised and that because it is coming as a trustee or something from a business wallet account to a personal one as the reason why these fees are needed.

Even as I write this I can see how ridiculous it sounds but just wanted ti get someone’s opinion here

We can easily use other wallets and see inside and then make use of it to show to others, to the person that they wanted to scam to think that they have money. But above all, it was a lie, and perhaps, it was a common tactic that usually these scammers do. And the moment that they will get your trust and almost succeed in their plan, they start to make some drama that sometimes they gain sympathy from you but not knowing it was another tactic to divert your attention.
- It was been so many times that every member here is suggesting not to trust people online especially when it talks about money.

[JayJuanGee]

It’s very interesting to me: are there people among those present here who have ever received any amount from strangers just like that? It's quite simple like that. The stranger asked for some small service and, in return, promised a large profit. For some reason, even with such numerous answers, it seems to me that free money is not available to anyone. Or rather, money always has a price, but the one who expects to get it very easily pays for it out of his own pocket and gets a very unpleasant experience.
So why do people go for it? OP, what's wrong with you? Were you at the time of the transfer of money in some kind of disorder, drunk, on drugs, or under hypnosis? Where was your mind at that moment?

It can be crazy how gullible people can be, and part of the issue is that several folks engage with obvious scams because they have a kind of belief that they are capable of outsmarting the scammer (so they engage); however, they are so much driven by the "possibility" that it could be true.  Really what are the odds that something like this could be true?  It's likely not even 1%, but instead perhaps 1/10k.. however, the gullible person places higher odds.. that it could be true.. maybe they know it is not very likely but they place odds of 20% or 30% or some other outrageously high amount.. maybe it is true?  Or maybe they start to convince themselves that it could be 50/50.. I don't think that it is true, but it could be.  So they get trapped into a small amount.. such as $300.. and then they start to get motivated to get their $300 back.. and the whole thing seems ridiculous to any of us who have either thought through the scenario or seen others who have been tricked by such scenarios. 

I will concede that it is not necessarily obvious that the situation is a scam, because the scammers play on the fact that people are usually honest.  When you meet people on the street and they give you some kind of advice or tell you about some thing that is going on in the world, the vast majority of times, they are not lying to you.. so then when we meet "nice people" on the interwebs, we start to consider that they are like people whom we have met in the real world.. generally nice people.. blah blah blah..

And really, it is eye rolling because sometimes relatively smart people can be tricked into believing the stories that they are told, and then perhaps a bit of their desperation and/or greed and/or willingness to gamble kicks in.. .. anyhow, it is crazy. but at the same time, we do see people who are trapped into these kinds of situations, and even with OP, any of us can see in the way that he frames the matter, he wants to be scammed.. He wants to believe.. that's part of the reason that he wrote the OP in the first place.. I mean if we can take him at his word that this really happened to him, and I don't really have any reason to believe that he made it up.. it sounds like something that people do.. especially if they have not been presented with similar scenarios.. whether the Nigerian Prince situation or some other variation of that kind of story to suck in the gullible to send money or to make a small deposit and it goes on and escalates more and more and more, and sometimes people loose hundreds of thousands of dollars because they are trying to get back their investment, so even if they might get some payoffs from time to time, the scammer keeps increasing the amount required and sometimes might send somethings back or even some things that appear to be valuable.. oh and another thing is that they might give the contact information of the gullible one to their friend.. so that such gullible one can be scammed by others too.. .

you might be able to scam the scammer to get yours back.

Yeah some of the gullible people do think that they can scam the scammer.. but most of the time, they cannot... hahahaha a kind of false sense of competence... You notice OP said that he was just trying to see what the scammer was going to say, and that he really did not believe the scammer, but at the same time he got scammed already and seems like a very good target to continue to be scammed because he wants to believe and he is either greedy or desperate... thinks that he can get freebies.. or that maybe he might get lucky..

right. 

[8rch7]

Have been classic scam method used by many people for making some one interested, I got every time with this kinds offering they have about 0.4 btc in their fund website, all data for accessing given by Scammer and make us interested after checking there are has fund about 0,4 BTC, but for possibility withdrawing need to make deposit 0.1 BTC based on their promise. I don't care with this way because this method use by scammed after you make deposit the website have been closed and you loss your money.

I think OP have being scammed and using cryptocurrency deposit can't get back your fund, but if you used PayPal for transaction or sending assets you can make dispute and possibility your money refund later before 180 days from first day sending.

[mich]

As a person like me who had been victim of scams yes I think this is scam attempt.  If a person from social media like Instagram can make you a promise to clear your debt that is a immediate red flag and you need to stop right there.

There are businesses that have to have licenses and insurance to be able to do what this man is promising you to do.  The part he says maximum limit of seven(7) working days to make this payment is a good sign of a scam attempt. Do not do business with this man.

[Car22]

Same facing this kind of scam ...

[Nicestake]

Most time in every year scammer have a new pattern

[Hydee06]

Yes, because I wanted a fast money.