conversation: User (Reviador): " Just made a  account to write this, i haven't been feeling well these past few days, i'm trying to be a bit vague about what happened because i haven't told anyone else yet (aside from the cops).\n\n I'm usually doing all my online payments throw Paypal, i don't know what the fuck was wrong with me this time and pushed me to do it through banking transfer (at my bank) .\n\n How it happened : a few weeks ago i make a online post on a website about looking for a place to rent   , a few days after i get a phone message from a person saying that he has a place for a xxx$ price (the price was kinda low and was the first signal that i ignored, though i've seen similar priced apartments online but very few) and gives me a mail address for more info about the apartment . I mail him that and by the evening he sends me the info and a few  photos, all looks great and i'm excited, he also says that he only rents through AirBnB, and i'm like sure (i've never used it before , so i go and make a account). Then he sends me the "airbnb" link using bitly , i've seen people using it online to shorten links before and don't think much about it, i see airbnb in the link the page looks legit, especially since i've never used airbnb before. \n\n I go to the payment options and since i didn't have enough on my credit card i use the banking transfer option (it was to a different country: Ireland) , get 4 pages everything looks alright (have to stress again that i never used airbnb before) , didn't even notice that it was ARNB ATS instead of AIR BNB above Iban, and next day i make the payment, the i send a scanned copy of the payment to the fake airbnb mail address, after getting the "confirmation" the owner of the place says that he will come friday with the keys.\n\nThursday i get a mail with the time when we should meet, then friday comes and i get a mail that he can't come and if i can wait until monday if not i can ask for my money back (his excuse was another Red flag that i ignored and chose to believe). I reply that i can wait until monday, monday comes and he tells me that he can't come and i should ask for a refund. I mail again to the fake air bnb support account and they say i'll get my money back in 24-48 h, as the days pass and i'm not seeing my money back i'm starting to do research in to scams regarding airbnb, then i go to my bank and they tell me they can't do anything and if the money are not back soon after the 48h i should go to the police.\n\n By this point i should be drowning in red flags, i downloaded the airbnb app and there were no payments, i logged in the account and there were no payments made, but i still chose to believe that everything will be fine. Even after going to the police and being told that i got fucked, i still believed until today when i saw the fake airbnb page disappeared.\n\n The police told me that they are gonna try, but since the payment was done to a bank in another country , their hands are tied and won't be able to do much, i'm 99.9% sure that i won't get my money back.\n\n The past few days have been really awful : couldn't sleep properly , couldn't eat ... i just don't know how to deal with this anymore, i haven't told anyone yet and i'm to afraid to do so, i just feel everything is gonna break in to pieces when it gets out...\n \ntl;dr: got scammed with a fake airbnb page, made a banking transfer to another country, went to the police and they told me i'm fucked.\n \n Edit 10/03 : thanks for support, you don't know how much this means to me , i don't have many friends, so i don't really have anyone to talk with . I saw many suggestions and will try to do everything possible to help me get my money back (i'm just trying to not raise my hopes up) , when i said i spoke with police i meant with the unit specialized in fraud cases, i will go again monday to them and to the bank, i will also try to contact the bank in ireland and the anti fraud unit there.\n \n On the anxiety/stress part, after getting some sleep it got better, sleep is really the best medicine in cases like this."
  Self: "That’s brutal man. I’m going through a rough breakup and got pretty drunk this Sunday after the oscars. When I was leaving the bar my Uber pulled up. A few minutes later it pulled up to a bank and the guy pulled a gun on me. Turns out it wasn’t my Uber at all the guy was just pulled up at the bar and said yes when I asked him if he was waiting for me. He had another guy in the car walk me up to the ATM where he made me max out my credit card that I had on me. I took out 4500 in cash advances. Then they made me disable the lost iPhone portion of my phone. I was stranded 20 miles from my apartment without a phone with vomit on my pants (partly from being that drunk, partly from fear).\n\nPeople suck. Life is shitty sometimes. But we both survived. We both are now stronger and better prepared. I also am now over my ex because there honestly is much more important shit in the world lol."
  kussariku (kussariku): "This. Make sure you check the license plate number of the uber/lyft before you get in. The app gives it to you when you get a driver assigned. And don't give them your name, let them ask you. "
  AnonymousGuy767 (AnonymousGuy767): "We’re told as drivers to not tell you the name.  You have to tell us so someone else doesn’t steal your ride.  “Are you tom?”  “Yeah sure”.   So instead we just ask what your name is.  I always then start the trip and confirm the destination.  \n\n\nJust check the license plate.  Or even the model and color of the car.   Oh and there should never be anyone but the driver in the car.  It’s in the rules for drivers.  "
  MuchoPorno (MuchoPorno): "Uber does not tell riders the color of the car. "
  AnonymousGuy767 (AnonymousGuy767): "The color of the car icon(above the plate number) is (supposed to be) the car color.  It’s not as reliable though as the plate number. I had to have Uber support change mine from what it was by default. "
  MuchoPorno (MuchoPorno): "I did not know that, and neither did the people that I have asked about it. Thank you. \n\nStill, a word describing the color would be very helpful. I sometimes call Uber for a older relative, and she will ask, what color is it? it would be great to be able to say, black, or white, or something. Also, some people are colorblind."
  Just-A-Story (Just-A-Story): "If someone is colorblind, isn’t it better for them to be able to visually match whatever color they see in the app with whatever color they see for the real car?  The car isn’t going to show up with a tag labeled “red.”"
  