Hi All,
I wanted to bring this to your attention as I'm not even sure how far deep this goes however from what a few other fellow Redditors and myself found. These were the following subreddits involved in this online donation scam: r/orangecounty, r/Oceanside, r/sandiego, r/MontereyBay, r/Scottsdale, r/SantaMonica. 5/3/2026 r/Riverside thank you to u/greenagemutantninja.
The common factor between these posts is that they are carefully deleted from the poster as well as the comments however this does not completely delete the history of everyone else who commented on the post. What the poster or posters do is that they create a sympathy post mentioning they are homeless and post a picture of being outside trying to garner attention. Coincidentally someone will respond asking if the poster has Venmo or Paypal which the poster is eager to respond with. They will meet with people to receive item donations as well.
How was I able to link this person or person(s) together? Simple they made a mistake posting the same venmo handle and paypal email address on alt reddit accounts in different subreddits. I will be posting screenshots which will most likely have been deleted already by the scammer as that is their M.O. Please look at this history of events with some reddit links attached and see for yourself, it really speaks for itself.
EDIT: If you have been affected by this scammer and met with them in person, please DM me, I will share a picture of you to confirm, I am requesting for you to please comment on the main thread mentioning which reddit handle you interacted with. I have spoken with three users who confirmed the photo is the same person who has met with them. Two from San Diego, and one from Oceanside.
Let's start 12/26/2025 - https://www.reddit.com/r/sandiego/comments/1pwieat/comment/nw4565k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button : OP posted under the username Cattrainer007 asking for food. Nothing harmful with this except they slipped in both their venmo handle as lihaa08 and paypal email address as mktg.a.liang@gmail.com. This was in r/SanDiego.
3/31/2026 - https://www.reddit.com/r/Oceanside/comments/1s8vg2g/need_some_help_please/?sort=new : OP posted under the username Subject-Draw7573. They posted their venmo as lihaa08. They have since deleted their post which as stated is their M.O. however the comments appear to remain as of 4/18/2026. This was posted in r/Oceanside
Subject-Draw7573 posting venmo handle as lihaa08.
4/14/2026 - https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaMonica/comments/1slcwrl/comment/ogdfhdt/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button : OP posted under the username Beautiful-Long-6471 thanking a redditor for helping them. They did post their Paypal which, surprise is mktg.a.liang@gmail.com. The thing is they edited their comment to try to be slick I guess since they are most likely aware people are trying to screencap them, thankfully I was able to and here is the unedited comment. This was in r/SantaMonica.
Beautiful-Long-6471 posting paypal email address as mktg.a.liang@gmail.com.
4/15/2026 - https://www.reddit.com/r/MontereyBay/comments/1slu4tr/removed_by_moderator/?share_id=pnavdPe0fgo7D8fUIox2P&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 : I do not know the username they posted under HOWEVER, another user called them out stating if they recently were in Santa Monica which is the above post. They mentioned that the post is very similar and has the same venmo account. This was posted in r/MontereyBay
Redditor pointing out the post is very similar to the Santa Monica one with the same venmo handle.
4/17/2026 - https://www.reddit.com/r/Scottsdale/comments/1so4tn3/tomorrow_will_be_a_better_day/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button : OP posted under the username Last_Sympathy_9614, unfortunately they deleted the post fast as I sent a message to the mods and people on the thread warning them. How was I able to link this to cattrainer? Easy, they have the same black suitcase and sleeping bag. Not to mention similar photos. How is it that another homeless person in another state happens to have the same sleeping bag and black suitcase? This was posted in r/Scottsdale.
Same sleeping bag and suitcase as Cattrainer007's.
11/28/2025 - Going backwards this predates when I discovered this scammer. https://www.reddit.com/r/orangecounty/comments/1p8jik8/deleted_by_user/?share_id=Qzw9c2LBDIhQqz4pxF0d2&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1 The post has since been deleted however this scammer made a mistake of posting the actual reddit link as a comment to someone who donated to them as if people wouldn't see the public transaction. I don't know the username associated with this interaction however it is clear they received money under the venmo handle lihaa08 and here is the screenshot proof. This was in r/orangecounty
Venmo linking to Orangecounty deleted post.
It's also important to note there was someone who Donated to this person however at the time they stated their name was Tony, however in the Oceanside subreddit they stated their name was Kimmy as per the comment below. This links Subject-Draw7573 to Cattrainer007 since they actually responded to this person saying it was them and that they remember however they are still "fighting to get better" https://www.reddit.com/r/Oceanside/comments/1sfxnlz/comment/of3a7aa/?context=3
Subject-Draw7573 confirming they are Cattrainer007.
Edit: 4/19/2026 - The scammer actually responded to me. This confirms they are the same person that posted in r/SanDiego oh and they are also going by the name Anthony and using the Venmo handle Superhao now as per https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaMonica/comments/1sp0y3t/thank_you_sm_i_got_it/ . Thank you to u/Colombianonico for tagging me on this post.
Scammer is now going by the name Antony.
They made a new venmo or changed the venmo handle name? It's Superhao now.
So what do we know about this person? They have a pattern of creating multiple reddit accounts which I will list: Cattrainer007, Subject-Draw7573, Last_Sympathy_9614, Beautiful-Long-6471. and Capital-Wrangler-780. These are the only one's myself and the other Redditors have discovered. They go by Tony, or Kimmy, and Antony. Their Venmo states their name is Haowei Liang but even that could be fake. They post their venmo/paypal for donations, also this doesn't include that they have received actual physical goods from people which is mysterious, how are they able to get these items at far distances? The Answer?
I'm in talks with two people, one actually took a photo of Cattrainer007 and the other mentioned when they saw the photo of them they were not the same person however the posts were very similar. This leads me to believe this appears to be an online homeless donation scam ring with several people involved. What they do with the donated physical items beats me but they are receiving money from unsuspecting people who just want to help a person in need not knowing they are getting scammed.
If this thread gets deleted so be it. I feel this needs to explode so that Reddit can actually take accountability to prevent this from happening as this scammer or group of scammers can stop solicitating donations from people under false pretense. Please don't believe what you read on the internet, it's a scammer's paradise. If you want to donate, donate to your local charity instead. I'm also asking if anyone had experienced this scam to please post a comment in the main thread to share your experience and name the handle involved, not the one crossposted so everything can be consolidated. I had to crosspost in order to share it more openly with everyone to be aware. Thank you for your time.
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Edit: 4/20/2026 - So I have actually DM'd this scammer and we've gone back and fourth. I'll only provide a screenshot of what I think is very important. This is a DM with u/Beautiful-Long-6471. They claimed to use Reddit for 6 months but I responded with that their Cattrainer007 indicates it's only been 4 months old. So this confirms my suspicions once again, this scammer is literally outing themselves lol. It's hilarious at this point.
Cattrainer007 account with only 4 months of account age.
I also decided to post some images of what they have received from multiple users which you should be able to still find in the scammer's comment history if you look into it like I did. This is a small sample and doesn't include everything.
I believe this is a combination of donation 1 and 2, but it also includes a white bag as well.
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Edit: 5/3/2026 They are now in r/Riverside under the handle Capital-Wrangler-780. Thank you very much for reaching out to me on this u/greenagemutantninja! It's the same person because they blocked me and I can't even access this thread/comment without viewing it in incognito. It's the same M.O https://www.reddit.com/r/Riverside/comments/1t21eol/mentally_burnout/
