May 5, 2026 at 12:35 pm

“I’m 5 Minutes Away”: The Bracing Moment a Scammer Realized He’d Been Chasing a Ghost for Three Hours

by Jayne Elliott

woman holding up an air pod

Shutterstock

Imagine thinking you got a great deal on a high end product by buying it on a site where people can resell products. What would you do if you realized you got scammed and the product was actually a fake?

That’s what happened to the person in this story, and he decided to have some fun messing with the scammer.

Let’s read all about it.

Scam me? I’ll waste your time and gas money.

So I bought a pair of airpods on OfferUp, which is an app that lets you list items for sale.

They were sealed, I verified the serial number, and looked very real.

Noise canceling worked as well and I was too naive to see the red flags around the transaction.

Then, he found out they weren’t real.

A few days later, I noticed that my warranty expired all of a sudden and a Apple rep told me that these were replicas. A darn good one too.

So I asked the guy to meet me again because I wanted to buy *another* pair.

Once he got to the Starbucks, I blocked him.

But, he didn’t just get revenge once.

I repeated this multiple times with different accounts.

He has probably wasted around the same amount of money in gas and around 10 hours trying to repeat his scam over and over again.

Wrong me, and I will wrong you; scum.

Is there a way to report this scammer to OfferUp? Instead of just messing with him, it would be great if he weren’t able to scam anyone else.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

The scammer broke the law.

2026 04 02 at 6.03.14 PM I’m 5 Minutes Away: The Bracing Moment a Scammer Realized He’d Been Chasing a Ghost for Three Hours

Here’s a vote for calling the police.

2026 04 02 at 6.03.25 PM I’m 5 Minutes Away: The Bracing Moment a Scammer Realized He’d Been Chasing a Ghost for Three Hours

But this person would be okay with a knockoff if the quality is decent.

2026 04 02 at 6.03.42 PM I’m 5 Minutes Away: The Bracing Moment a Scammer Realized He’d Been Chasing a Ghost for Three Hours

This is a good point.

2026 04 02 at 6.03.52 PM I’m 5 Minutes Away: The Bracing Moment a Scammer Realized He’d Been Chasing a Ghost for Three Hours

I don’t think he was effective at stopping the scammer at all.

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Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

Follow Jayne's adventures and connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.