Hey Pandas, If You Were Ever Scammed On The Internet Or In Real Life, How Did It Go Down?

I've always been very wary of things. But I got got once. I was a single mom at the time and me and the kids needed to get away. I worked a crap ton of over time and saved up money to rent a house on the beach for a few days. Price wasn't "too good to be true" and I remember to always voice verify. I spoke to dude on the phone and he sent me a lease agreement. All normal. He asked for a deposit, all normal. Until two days before our trip I emailed him to confirm time to meet to get keys and was ghosted. After some sleuthing and a LOT of crying found out that property was owned / rented by someone else and booked for like a year. Funny thing is I think they were in on the scam because when I contacted the actual owner, she didn't even sound sorry or anything. I was out like 800 bucks. I reported him to FBI, LE etc. Told him straight up he was scum for scamming a single mother and he was going to rot in hell. He promised to pay me back after knowing I reported him. Still waiting all these years later, but I believe in Karma and she'll get hers for sure.