Common Online Scams And How To Avoid Them – Forbes Advisor #nigeria | #nigeriascams | #lovescams


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Mary was lonely. The recently divorced mom of three was ready to dip her toe back into the Orlando, Florida, dating scene and decided to try her luck with a matchmaking app. She soon met Todd.

Their relationship grew via online exchanges and phone calls. They never met. When Todd asked Mary for money after a couple of months, she gladly sent it. And she kept on paying, to the tune of $450,000 over the next four years.

But Todd wasn’t the committed boyfriend Mary thought he was. In fact, he didn’t even exist.

This is a real-world example of a romance or confidence scam. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports this type of fraud driven by “social engineering”—manipulating people to take advantage of them—cost victims $956 million in 2021.

But that figure is surely a vast understatement. Why? Because it can be embarrassing to admit you’ve been duped.

I’ve seen many highly successful and creative scams as the senior fellow for threat research at Agari by HelpSystems. Here’s a look at common cons to watch for, and my advice on how you can protect yourself.

Personal Scams

Deception. Manipulation. Fear. Trust. Love. Humiliation. Online scammers know their psychology and how to use it to get victims to pay.

Scams evolve over time, and no segment of the population is immune. Of note, the FBI’s Elder Fraud Report for 2021 found scams targeting Americans over 60 affected more than 92,000 people last year, with losses up 74% from 2020.

Every fraudster starts with a basic ploy, then makes it their own. They leverage publicly available information from social media sites, public records and even the trash. Take a look at six categories of ways they do their dirty work to steal from consumers.

1. Vacation rentals

Scammers post fraudulent rental properties on trusted sites but ask renters to pay using a different app.

One family from the U.K. got all the way to California, only to discover their beautiful home-away-from-home was a con, and their money was gone.

2. Real estate

Criminals can infiltrate a real estate agent’s email and ask homebuyers to wire money to a bank account ahead of their property’s closing. The buyers never see that cash again.

In other real estate rip-offs, victims find themselves on the losing end of real estate investments that are, in a word, unreal.

3. Extortion

Consumers are often squeezed into handing over money through intimidation and threats.

For example, victims may get an email saying their computer has been hacked. They’re told they can regain access only by paying in Bitcoin.

4. Pharmaceuticals

These scams come in two flavors. In one, an online pharmacy sends an email advertising attractive prices for drugs from another country, such as Canada. Behind the scenes, the con artists are selling placebos or unregulated medications formulated with no oversight.

An alternative scheme occurs when someone purchases what turn out to be counterfeit medications through a shady website. Then, the victim gets a call supposedly from U.S. Customs saying they’re going to jail if they don’t pay a fine.

5. Craigslist/eBay

A potential buyer will contact a seller to say they’ll send a (bogus) check to cover the purchase and shipping. The “payment” is often substantial (a huge red flag), and the buyer asks the seller to send the item and write a check to return the overage.

Scammers may also say they’ll use an eBay/Craigslist “escrow service” for a safe transaction, and direct victims to a fake site the scammer controls.

Yet another online marketplace scam involves buyers sending fake emails, making it appear they’ve paid for goods. They hope you’ll ship an item you’re selling without checking your PayPal balance first.

6. Charitable donations

After disasters such as hurricanes, shootings and tornadoes, scammers always ramp up their outreach to prey on kindhearted people’s willingness to help others.

Lately, we’ve seen widespread email scams to support displaced Ukrainians.

Workplace Scams

Nefarious ploys also can happen in a work environment. Schemes involving payroll diversion and fraudulent wire payments often occur through a growing type of scam called “business email compromise.” In 2021, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received close to 20,000 complaints about these cons, with adjusted losses at nearly $2.4 billion.

One type of business email compromise involves gift card scams, which victimized nearly 40,000 people in the first nine months of 2021. The criminal will send a worker an email or text that looks like it’s from an executive or human resources rep. The message will ask the employee to buy gift cards for the company and send the ID numbers and PINs.

These are devastating campaigns because the individual can’t expense the purchase and takes the financial loss, not the business.

5 Ways to Protect Yourself From Online Scams

Scammers are clever, bold and persistent. New scams emerge daily. But you can heighten your awareness and learn how to respond—which often means not responding at all.

Follow these five steps if you receive a text, email or other electronic communication instructing or tempting you to hand over some money.

  1. Pause for a gut check. Criminals often imply authority and urgency to instill fear and prompt quick action. Ask yourself if an “authority” that’s allegedly contacting you—maybe it’s the IRS or U.S. Customs—would really need something done so quickly. Rely on your intuition.
  2. Do a quick Google search. Type a short description of the situation plus the word “scam.” If you see 40 entries with similar stories, you’ve just saved yourself a lot of hassle.
  3. Use a second avenue of verification. If you get an email from what looks like a trusted organization or contact, verify that it’s real by phone. Just don’t use the number shown in the footer of the email, as fraudsters may have switched out the actual number with their own. If you receive a phone call that’s supposedly from your bank, hang up and dial the number on the back of your card.
  4. Don’t leave a trusted app to pay. If you’re using a tried-and-true app that handles credit card payments, don’t move to another app or site to send funds. You might wind up throwing your money into a black hole.
  5. Report the incident. Criminals count on victims to be too embarrassed or hesitant to report scams. But it’s important to file a police report or notify the Federal Trade Commission or your state attorney general about the fraud.

Remember: Everything can be faked and made to look legitimate, including websites, emails and caller IDs.

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