What it is
An advance payment scam asks you to send money before receiving what was promised: a product, a rental, a vehicle, a loan, a job placement or a foreign-employment visa. After you pay, the item never arrives, or a new payment is demanded ("customs", "processing fee", "insurance", "refundable deposit").
Red flags
- The seller refuses cash on delivery or an in-person meeting.
- An urgent deadline or a "last one in stock" claim.
- Payment requested to a personal account for a business, or to a different account than before.
- A second or third fee appears after your first payment.
- For loans and jobs: you are asked to pay a fee before anything is approved.
What to do instead
- Search the identifiers they gave you: phone, bank account, wallet.
- Insist on meeting in person, cash on delivery, or a documented, protected arrangement.
- If you have already paid, follow these steps without delay, and do not send further money to "release" the first payment.