Present-Day Scam Tactics That Are Dominating The Internet |How Not To Fall Victim.
The one unforgivable disadvantage that the internet brought into the world is the coming of internet scammers. One would say that the internet redefined the job description of scammers. Previously, con-men, like Frank Abagnale, targeted the government, major corporations, wealthy people, and people who they think deserve it. But now, fraudsters use the internet and social engineering to target everyone from the rich to the poor.?
An Avast survey revealed that 75% of Americans have been targeted by scammers. It also shows that although their strategies change constantly, scammers work for the ultimate goal of collecting their victim's personal information, money, and access to their systems or networks.?
In this article, we’ll discuss the newest scam strategies that are predominant on the internet and how to prevent falling victim.?
Types of scams and how not to fall for them
Romance Scams
The romance scam is the most popular scam and one that never gets old. This confidence trick is centered on making someone fall in love, gaining their trust, and swindling money from them. A survey from the Federal Trade Commission revealed that a total of $547 million was lost to romance scams in 2021, with women being the ones that fell most for this scam.
Here’s how this works:?
A scammer steals someone’s identity and creates fake profiles on social media and dating sites. Then, they target people looking for romantic or platonic relationships.?
This type of scam usually works because constant chats, voice, and video calls make victims trust the scammers. And with time, they share their personal information and even send money to scammers.????????
A not-so-fool-proof way to not fall for a romance scam is to make sure not to send money to anyone that you “fall in love with” online. However, the Netflix documentary: The Tinder Swindler has shown that romance scammers can go as far as meeting and establishing a real-life rapport with their victims before asking for money.?
In general, ANYBODY can fall for a romance scam. It doesn’t matter how careful you are or how content and self-satisfied you think you are. Simon Leviev has taught that anyone courageous enough to deeply fall in love -both in real life and online, can be a victim of romance fraud.?
Now, comes the big question: how can you avoid falling victim to a romance scam?
Don’t send money to anyone you just met online. However, if you must send money to assist someone you love, limit the amount of money you can send. In that way, if it turns out to be a romance scam, you won't have many financial regrets.?
Also, NEVER borrow money to assist someone’s financial situation. Above all, we advise you to never give out money that you’ve saved up, no matter how much you want to help your lover.???????????????????????????????????????????????
Sextortion scams
The term sextortion -a combination of the words sex and extortion were coined in 1950, to explain a situation where evidence of one’s sexual activity is used to extort money or sexual favors from the said person.?
Sextortion can be in two forms: revenge porn and sextortion emails.?
In revenge porn, just like in Netflix's docuseries, The Most Hated Man On The Internet, a hacker or a vengeful ex provides intimate pictures of the victim. These pictures are uploaded on the internet, along with the victim’s details. The victim is then tagged on all social media channels and then asked to pay a large sum of money to take the photos down.?
On the other hand, in sextortion emails, the potential victims receive an email telling them that the scammers possess their intimate pictures. The scammers then go ahead to ask the victims to pay a large sum of money to prevent them from sending the said pictures to their loved ones or online.?
Here’s the thing about sextortion emails, most of the time these scammers don’t have any intimate pictures of the victims. They’re just hoping to scare you into paying just because they know that most people have intimate pictures of themselves.?
Now, unless that scammer shows you the said intimate picture, just ignore them, they have nothing on you. However, if like revenge porn, a sextortion email contains a copy of the said intimate picture, then don’t hesitate to report it to a police station since most states have laws against sextortion.?
Phone-Related Scams
Phone-related scams are the third most popular scams, following investment scams. In this type of scam, the victims are contacted via phone calls or text messages.?
Scammers can use bots to call victims (using natural-sounding voices) offering warranties, vacations, lottery wins, and other irresistible offers. They aim to make their victims release their personal information.?
Sometimes these calls come as hidden phone numbers, unknown phone numbers, or even as the phone number of someone you know.?
If a scammer calls you with a phone number that shows up with the caller ID of someone you know, (a type of scam called spoofing), they usually make up stories claiming that the owner of the caller ID is sick, in prison, or any other excuse that would prompt them to ask you to send money to their account. Don’t fall for this!
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On the other hand, smishing messages that are sent via text messages are more dangerous because some of the links that they attach to those messages when clicked could download spyware or malware into the victim’s phone.?
You can hang up on these suspicious calls, and above all, don’t be pressured into sending money, your details, or taking any immediate action without verifying the authenticity of the claim.?
Investment Scams:?
This is the second most popular scam in the world. And this is so because everyone wants to make wise financial decisions, especially ones that are very risky. This type of scam may include the cryptocurrency scam, pyramid, and Ponzi schemes.?
Unlike what most people think, investment scammers are not into love or romance. Instead, they invent less emotional ways to get people to trust them.?
First of all, they create fake profiles of rich-but-unpopular people on more than one social media platform (to seem authentic). Then because the word "cryptocurrency'' is concurrent with the word "investment", they start uploading false posts about their investment prowess.?
Usually, they don’t show their portfolio or explain their “investment” process, instead, they bank on man’s desire for material things and upload images of their luxury lifestyle, funded by the said investment. Sometimes, to seem legit, they generate fake testimonials or steal from industry experts and further entice their audience to join the league.?
Now, a foolproof way to avoid being a victim of this scam is by learning how the crypto market works. If the enticing investment opportunity that you’re being offered is not crypto, then we advise you to dig deeper, verify such investment and if possible ask “friends and family” that know more about the industry.?
Whatever you do, don’t invest your money in a business that you don’t understand how it makes its profit.?
Handyman Scams
This type of scam focuses on the elderly and those living in low-income neighborhoods. They usually occur after severe weather.?
These types of scammers, usually roofers or gardners, walk from doorstep to doorstep asking homeowners if they have any damages caused by bad weather. If the victims allow them in, they usually make up non-existent damages to incur costs. All in a bid to pressure the victim into allowing them to take care of the repairs.?
Sometimes, they charge an exorbitant amount, the other times, they charge a fee that is too good to be true. In the case of the latter, the victim may be convinced to allow them to make those repairs thinking that this would save him/her some bucks.?
Now, the bad thing about these types of scammers is that they are usually unskilled for the tasks that they offer to do. Instead, they carry out a hazy and temporary repair which may cause more damage.?
To avoid falling victim to this type of scam, we advise you to never be pressured to take action. And to call a certified company to take care of any house repairs caused by bad weather.?
Online Purchase Scams
This type of scam became prevalent during and after the pandemic. Because most purchases were made virtually, fraudulent sellers post (real or stolen) images of products, and when unsuspecting buyers place an order, they block the victim without delivering the goods. Note that this type of online purchase scam happens on social media channels.?
Another type of online purchase scam is triangulation fraud. In this scenario, a buyer places an order for an item at an insanely cheap price (from a verified online marketplace, say, eBay). Usually, the fraudulent (middle-man) seller doesn’t have this ordered item, so he/she places an order for this item on a more established e-commerce site -usually the real manufacturers of the said item. Now, instead of placing this order with the money paid by the unsuspecting buyer, the fraudster uses a stolen credit card and inputs the returning address of the unsuspecting buyer.?
This situation might seem like a win-win case, where the unsuspecting buyer gets a better version of what he/she orders -at a cheap price and the fraudulent seller pockets the buyer’s money. However, the defrauded person is the third party whose credit card was used to make such a purchase.?
Research by Liz Morton has shown that the victims of triangulation fraud are usually the elderly who have no idea how to stop their money from being stolen by unknown people. If perchance the defrauded party complains and a chargeback is demanded. The merchant that shipped the item becomes the defrauded party, with no way to trace the fraudulent seller.?
Here’s how to avoid being a victim of triangulation fraud, do not give out any personal information that might give fraudsters access to your credit card.?
As for social media purchase scams, make sure to check for reviews and verify a seller before placing an order. A major red flag that points out a social media fraudulent seller is having a more significant number of followers that doesn’t complement the account’s engagement and review count.?
General do’s and don’ts to protect yourself from scams
From the aforementioned list, you’ll notice that different types of scams have different kinds of tactics. Some are easy to detect and elude while some are not. However, there are general cybersecurity hygiene rules that if religiously followed will reduce your chances of falling a victim to any type of fraud. Some of these rules include:?