5 Ways People Fall Prey To Internet Scams

5 Ways People Fall Prey To Internet Scams

According to Aaron Holmes, ” A new study conducted by the Better Business Bureau, FINRA, and the Stanford Center for Longevity sheds light on the channels through which scammers are raking in the most money, based on interviews with 1,408 consumers who submitted tips to the BBB between 2015 and 2018. The median losses reported by respondents was $600. The study shows that about half of people who were contacted by scammers did not engage, detecting the fraud immediately. Meanwhile, 30% of respondents engaged and did not lose money, while 23% engaged and lost money to a scammer. While scammers most frequently contacted potential victims using phone and email, relatively few people lost money from phone and email scams compared to scams on other platforms. By contrast, 91% of targets who were contacted by scammers over social media engaged, and 53% lost money. Similarly, 81% of respondents who encountered fraud via a website engaged, and 50% lost money.”

Below are some of the ways people fall of scam.

1. Job offer scam: this is one of the most common ways people fall into scam. Taking a country like Nigeria into consideration, where the rate of unemployment is so high and even the employed are being careful not to lose their jobs. People often fall into job and employment scams. You might receive a call or an email someday from an acclaimed employer telling you he has a job for you( mostly freelance). You do the job and he credits you more than your pay. He texts back later to inform you he made a mistake while crediting you that you should please send the difference back to him and you also do that just to realize later that the credit you thought you received from him was fake and your money too is all gone. It could also be that you receive a call that you should come for an interview at a particular location and you have to pay beforehand for the interview.
2. Online dating scam: those who prefer to find love online fall mostly for this scam. Somebody hits you up for a chat and it feels very well, you could even be tripping for him already, but you don’t know what is happening at the other end. After a few minutes of chatting, he could tell you he needs money either for himself or a sick relative or even to travel down to meet with you, it is a scam, don’t fall for it. Some scammers might do the reverse, they will hit you up and tell you ” hi, I am a sugar daddy in need of a sugar baby and I am ready to pay you up to $200 a week….”, They will ask for your account details once you give it to them, I bet the next alert you will receive will be a debit alert. So in order to avoid stories that touch, always be careful while on dating sites, and stay suspicious of people that are always eager to deviate from the site into a private chat. Also be mindful of people that use a lot of sweet words with you on dating sites.
   

   5 Ways People Fall Prey To Internet Scams

3. Charity frauds: fraudsters get easily to victims through this method by playing on intelligence and emotions. They know humans are naturally emotional and might not be able to stand it seeing others suffer so they’ll cook up a sympathetic story and set up a charity donation. Fraudster use periods of pandemic and disasters to pull off this scam. They might include an anonymous person is in need of a particular sum of money and they are sourcing fund for him because they are a charity organization. They will add their account details and people might fall prey. Eventually, when you look up the so called charity organization on Google, you might not be able to find them. To avoid falling prey to scammers or making donations to the wrong party, make sure you are careful and do a thorough scrutiny of the so-called charity organization and verify their legitimacy to be sure whether you have to genuinely donate or you have to flee a scam.

 

Read Also: How to Start a POS Business in Nigeria

 

4. Repairs: not everyone who uses a PC or a smartphone is a tech guru. Scammers build on this and exploit people, especially those who aren’t tech gurus. You could receive a phone call or an email from anyone telling you they are from Microsoft or any tech company and that they could help with your computers’ internet or any computer related issues. Once you accept, they will send you an email which contains malware and break into your system through the malware, giving them access to your computer and the files on it. To avoid this, ensure you don’t give remote access to your computer to someone you don’t know. If you are doubtful about any email, don’t respond to it, and if you are not sure of any call don’t respond or better still, tell the caller you’ll get back to them. This is to avoid being scammed.

Kaspersky says ” Never accept any unsolicited repair advice, and do not purchase any repair services unless you are absolutely sure who you are speaking with. Do not allow anyone remote access to your computer. If someone calls, ask for identifying information. The odds are that if you ask enough questions, the scammer will realize you can’t be duped.”

5. Bank frauds: this happens almost to everyone with a bank account. You might receive a call from someone claiming he is from your bank and tells you you have to complete some processes as regards your bank or else your account will be closed. They could verbally ask for your bank details or send you a link which will take you to a page where you will have to provide your bank details, if you do, you are on your way to running into a huge debt.

In order to avoid stories that touch, seek for help from trusted people when you receive suspicious offers, calls, messages or E-mail.

 

 

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