So I wanted to start on Fiverr. I created my profile, set everything up, and after spending hours on it, I finally published my first gig.
Right after publishing, I started getting messages from different people. They all sent me links, saying they had a task or order for my gig. The links had completely different names, which felt a bit off, but I thought maybe it was some kind of ticket or follow-up system.
I clicked one of the links.
It opened a website that looked almost identical to Fiverr. It said the customer had already paid for the service and that I just needed to verify myself by entering my bank card details. One thing I noticed in hindsight was that the service price shown was €19, even though all my gig prices were round numbers — but at the time, I didn’t question it.
Without thinking too much, I filled everything in. And wherever I clicked — going back to my profile, checking messages, or navigating around — it all worked perfectly. It really felt like the real website, which made it even more convincing.
Then another pop-up appeared asking me to enter my account balance. That’s when things started to feel strange. I entered a fake number, and a 5-minute countdown appeared.
While waiting, I thought: “Wait… why would they need my account balance?”
There was a live support chat, so I asked them. I got a generic, AI-like response saying it was for verification, which made me even more suspicious.
At the same time, I received around 20 more identical messages. That’s when it hit me — I had just fallen for a phishing scam.
Looking back, there were so many red flags I didn’t properly think through. Why would I receive the money in advance? Why would they ask for my bank card instead of PayPal? Why this, why that… I questioned things, but I still wanted to believe it was real — until it was too late.
I immediately blocked my bank card and called my bank to report it. Now I’m waiting for a new card and hoping I was fast enough and nothing went through.
Honestly, I feel pretty ashamed. I never thought something like this could happen to me. I always considered myself careful with these kinds of things — but it still got me.
Just posting this so others don’t make the same mistake.