How to avoid becoming a scam victim: Svetlana's story.

Svetlana shared her story about an attempt to buy fish, where she almost fell victim to a scam.

“The Telegram channel of the scammers was called ‘Fish Shop.’ Their advertisement appeared on my Instagram and led me to their channel. They offered fish products,” the girl recounts.

By the way, this Telegram channel is still active and has over 16,000 subscribers.

“I thought it would be a great idea to order caviar and red fish for New Year’s gifts for friends and family. I monitored their channel for a month,” the heroine noted.

Ten days before New Year, Svetlana decided to place a pre-order for delivery on December 29. She contacted the manager whose contact details were listed on the channel. He introduced himself as Oleg.

“He responded very quickly; we discussed the order, packaging, and he calculated the cost. He sent me the card number. I suggested paying 50% on the day of the order and the remainder upon receipt. However, he insisted that the payment be made immediately.

At that moment, Svetlana recalled a story from a friend about a scam involving a Christmas tree purchase. The friend had transferred money for a tree through a Telegram channel, but on the delivery day, the conversation was deleted, and there were no contacts left.

“I asked the manager to provide me with the contact information for the warehouse that was supposed to send the products. The manager didn’t reply immediately (he had been quick before), but he eventually sent me a phone number. He said that the guys might not respond right away, but he was always available. I decided to call the provided number. Fortunately, someone picked up,” she shared.

The number belonged to the manager of a fish store in Tashkent. He was quite surprised and stated that he had no connection to the ‘Fish Shop’ channel. He also warned that there are channels with prices below the market rate and constant promotions, but among them, there are scammers. Svetlana wrote about what the manager told her, after which the conversation was deleted and the ‘Fish Shop’ manager blocked her.

The Anhor.uz editorial team conducted an experiment. You can read more about it on the website.

Author: Fotimakhon Musadzhanova