Hi everyone, we wanted to make an announcement warning all users of r/assistance and Reddit in general of a few scammers that are extremely active recently.

• u/plovatkasp will message you offering to help you with a Strike referral. You use their code (their strike username is tjohnson25) to sign up which gives you both money, and they promise to send you their money as well — and then they ghost you or ask you to send them the $10 to activate the referral which means you get nothing. Do not engage with this user under any circumstances. Report their message to Reddit as spam and block.
• u/MilisaScmitz will message you about a new job that has a dress code and they need money to buy new clothes. Do not engage with this user under any circumstances. Report their message to Reddit as spam and block.
• u/florida4567 (current alt of u/emilyray9) will message you explaining that they need $96 for the hotel they’re in. They have been running this scam for months and still need that $96 apparently. Do not engage with this user under any circumstances. Report their message to Reddit as spam and block. This user also has multiple suspended alts: basic-finance696, doordashdanny, itchy_ad_3730, maleficent_ask3294.

GENERAL SAFETY ADVICE:

• if anyone messages you, CHECK THE USL (Universal Scammer List) first! Bookmark this so you always have it handy.
  • If they show up as BANNED, block them and ignore. They are already banned.
  • If they show up as NOT BANNED please take a screenshot and upload it to imgur (they have an app as well if you’re on mobile). Send the mods a message with the screenshot link so we can ban them and add them to the USL.
• never take the conversation off of Reddit. If they make you download Google Voice, Snapchat, Kik, any other app to talk — send us a screenshot as per the above. They want it off of Reddit so that Reddit can’t penalize them.
• never send any personal information such as your name, address, phone number, SSN/SIN, bank account information, etc.
• never accept a photo of a cheque! This is a classic mobile/remote deposit scam and the cheque will be charged back to you!
• if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Desperate people will do anything in their desperation which includes preying on people who are vulnerable and in need. There’s only so much we r/assistance mods can do to keep you safe — banning someone doesn’t prevent them from reading your post or messaging you. That’s why we ask you to use your own due diligence and common sense to help protect yourself too.

If you ever have any concerns or suspicions about a user that is not on the USL or on the announcement above, please always send us a modmail before you engage with them in any way. We are happy to help.

Stay safe!