First Scam Experience: $20K+ in Losses

Summary

Kris scammed me out of over $20K of my own money for false pretenses. In one scam, he claimed to have had a Databricks employee who could've given me pre-IPO databrick stock which never came true. The other time he scammed me for $1.8K for a MacBook that he claimed he could've gotten a discount for me, but never did. 

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Kris and I, “Friends” Since 2017

Kris and I met on November 7th, 2017, in Boston. I was traveling there as part of my studies with some friends. Kris and I connected through craigslist since he sold the latest iPhone X to my friends and me. Since then, we have become good friends - or at least this is was I thought. We regularly discussed over the phone/Whatsapp, like friends do, about the stock market, new tech companies, travel, etc.

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Kris scammed me by offering Databricks’ pre-IPO discounted shares.

On January 27, 2021, he explained that he had access to Databricks’ pre-IPO through one of his friends working at Databricks. His friend was able to buy shares at a discounted price. I looked at Kris as a good friend. I trusted him, and his proposition sounded fair. So I accepted and transferred him money three times: $10,000 on January 28, 2021, $586 on February 11, 2021, and $7,963 on February 26, 2021.

The total was $18,549.00.

I asked him many times what was the current situation with Databricks and if he could send me some documents, when the IPO was due, etc., but I never received an answer.

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In November 2021, I asked him to send me the money back. On the 6th of January, he said I would receive the money on January 16th, 2022.

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Unfortunately, as you can see in our conversation below, I never received the money. I tried to contact Kris for one year, but our discussion was going nowhere, as you can see from our Whatsapp conversation:

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Kris also scammed me for a MacBook

At some point, he planned to travel to Bali, Indonesia, where I was living. He told me that one of his friends was working at Apple and he could get me a MacBook 15% cheaper. I bank transferred him $1800 on May 13, 2021. I don’t even know if Kris purchased this MacBook, and unfortunately, I’ve never seen it since he never came to Bali. So on July 7th, 2021, he told me he would refund me, but I never received my money back either. This is why Kris owes me a total of US$20,349.00.

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How do I feel?

I feel betrayed. I feel like an idiot and also a little bit ashamed. I feel bad. I feel scammed. It’s not easy to accept that I got scammed. And I don’t understand why he would do that.

What I tried to bring Kris to his senses

The first time I asked Kris to send my money back was in October 2021, more than a year ago. Since then, I have tried contacting Kris hundreds of times by email, WhatsApp messages/calls, phone calls, Telegram, etc. He responded a few times that he would send the money, but he never did. In June 2022, I told him I was traveling to the US in August. I threatened to report this situation as a scam and file a complaint. On July 31st, 2022, he responded by saying he would call me. I decided not to file a complaint. But he never called me. In December 2022, I shared this website with him. He finally responded to me, in less than 20 minutes after he received my message. He promised several times to refund the money.

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Situation Updates

December 2022 to May 2022: He said that he would refund me. The money never arrived in my bank account. Kris was never able to show any type of bank transfer proof.

June 2022 - July 2022: After contacting dozens of his Instagram connections, it appears that several of them were also scammed by Kris. The stories are all different, and the scammed amounts vary between $300 to thousands of dollars.

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