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a man contacted me on instagram for a sort of sugar baby arrangement, and wants my bank username and password to deposit money into my account. he says he needs this information so he can structure the payments as a paycheck, the way he does for his employees. if i create another bank account (checking only, with none of my own money in it), and then wait at least a month before spending any of what he deposits to make sure the money is legitimate, is there any way he could get me in legal or financial trouble? i know better than to send the money to another person, or “back” to him, but i am fairly desperate for money and i couldn’t find any downsides to trying this method (if i get the money, great, and if he was just trying to scam me he’ll fail). any advice is welcome!

edit- i know that it is likely a scam, but on the off chance that it’s not my real question is whether i have anything to lose by trying this

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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Alanna J
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    The sugar baby world is apparently so much simpler with cash. – quid Mar 19 '19 at 19:55
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    See also This question – GOATNine Mar 19 '19 at 20:01
  • And this one too: https://money.stackexchange.com/q/105857/17718 – TTT Mar 19 '19 at 20:05
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    Alanna - Sorry to close your question, but it's been asked and answered before. Please read the linked question. Please visit to ask questions regarding personal finance, or to read many Q&A and learn from questions here. – JTP - Apologise to Monica Mar 19 '19 at 20:08
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    Regarding your edit- it's not "likely" a scam; it is 100% a scam. There is no real word scenario where someone wanting to give you money would need your username and password. – TTT Mar 19 '19 at 20:09
  • Thank you for your answers, and I won’t give him my information. Out of sheer curiousity though, does anyone know if this idea would work? – Alanna J Mar 19 '19 at 20:14
  • I expect he wouldn't be able to get any money out of you directly, but he could certainly incur fees the bank would go after you for. – Kevin Mar 19 '19 at 20:35
  • @AlannaJ Even if it does "work out" the way you hope it would, a) you might get in trouble with the bank if they find out you're voluntarily sharing account details that are supposed to be kept private. b) the scammer now knows you will play along with scams, potentially leading to you being targeted by more and more elaborate scams until you finally get caught by one, and c) even if the money sticks around long enough for you to consider it "legit", it may be dirty money, part of a money laundering scheme, which leaves you on the hook when the cops catch up to the money trail. – Steve-O Mar 19 '19 at 20:55
  • No bank is going to let you open a checking account with no money in it (they will demand a small amount ($25? less?) because they are going to incur costs just in opening the account (the bank officer's time, cost of book of 10 starter checks, bookkeeping in setting up the account etc). So unless you can vamp the bank officer into skipping the initial deposit (tell him/her that you expect Sugar Daddy to deposit money into it as soon as you give him the account number and login credentials!), your idea of opening an account with no money in it is not going to work. – Dilip Sarwate Mar 19 '19 at 21:19
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    The scammer could probably get the account overdrawn somehow, but as far as the bank is concerned, it'd be you that owed the money. (There are other scams involving a fraudulent payment into the account, withdrawing those funds, but then when the fraud is discovered and the original payment in cancelled, the account becomes overdrawn). – timday Mar 20 '19 at 14:32

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