Online Scams – the Psychology of a Fraudster

Fraudsters and cunning thieves have been around for ages. No wonder that in this day and age when you have a world at your fingertips they stepped up their game and improved their tactics. It still works and why you wonder? Are they getting smarter or are we getting more naive?

Let’s face it – if you think you can bank 5 cool mils overnight with a single mouse click, you kinda have it coming to you, buddy. Now, in all seriousness and all joke aside, a worrying statistic paints a grim picture. The average age of a person who’s been scammed via email is around 74 years and our elders seem to be the favourite kind of victim, should we choose to count fraud and cyber-crime.

Top 10 Most Common Scams Type of Scam Amount Lost Most Common in 1. Online Dating Scams Over $22.5 million Canada, US, UK 2. Spearphishing Scams Over $20 million US, Canada 3. Online Shopping Scams Over $14 million Canada, US, Australia, UK 4. Investment Scams Over $11 million Australia, Canada 5. Tax Scams Over $8 million Canada, US, UK 6. Employment Scams Over $6 million US, Canada, UK 7. Loan Scams Over $4 million US, Canada, UK 8. Tech Support Scams Over $2 million US, UK 9. Lottery Prize Scams Over $1.5 million US, UK, Australia 10. Cryptocurrency Scams Over $1 million US, Canada, UK

Preying on the weak and elderly – not on my watch! Let’s dig deeper into this wretched hive of scum and villainy. From the classical Nigerian Royal family to fake investment pitches and even fake charities, a scam can come in any shape and size and can use all sort of tricks to rob you. Up until August 2018, a huge amount of money was lost, with tens of thousands of people being robbed out of their pensions or hard-earned cash.

Online shopping scams, Insurance and telecom scams seem to be rising, rather than banking fraud or credit card scams. However, ID theft is still on the rise and we’ll give this one special attention. Fraudsters nowadays would do anything to access your private and financial data. We must thank all the people out there who are so good at scambaiting and keep us informed.

How to Identify a Scammer or a Scam

Have you all heard the good old saying: “If something is too good to be true, then it probably isn’t”. When it comes to the modus operandi of these con artists, the tell signs can be spotted a mile away. An emotional letter, a text or message via a social channel, trying to get you to submit personal information on a certain online page, the fear of having your PC infected with a virus, a false sense of urgency meant to trick you into doing something fast are all signs of a scam.

Before we move on, let’s take a look at the 5 most common internet scams and see how can they be avoided:

Phishing email scams – Criminals use them to trick their victims into providing them valuable data. The email usually imitates correspondence from official institutions in an attempt to deceive the recipient into providing financial or personal information. The easiest way to avoid this type of scam is by calling the official institution and asking if they have indeed sent the email. Phishing is one of the most popular frauds, so you should always be extra careful with your correspondence.

– Criminals use them to trick their victims into providing them valuable data. The email usually imitates correspondence from official institutions in an attempt to deceive the recipient into providing financial or personal information. The easiest way to avoid this type of scam is by calling the official institution and asking if they have indeed sent the email. Phishing is one of the most popular frauds, so you should always be extra careful with your correspondence. The Nigerian Prince scam – We have already talked about this type of fraud. If you ever receive an email or any kind of correspondence asking you to help retrieve a large sum of money from your bank account, or to receive an impressive amount of funds in exchange for a lucrative commission, beware! Internet scammers have gotten creative and would usually use a heartbreaking story to trick you. If you want to keep your credit card balance intact, never respond to similar pleads. Remember, rich royalties would never contact or give their fourtune to strangers.

– We have already talked about this type of fraud. If you ever receive an email or any kind of correspondence asking you to help retrieve a large sum of money from your bank account, or to receive an impressive amount of funds in exchange for a lucrative commission, beware! Internet scammers have gotten creative and would usually use a heartbreaking story to trick you. If you want to keep your credit card balance intact, never respond to similar pleads. Remember, rich royalties would never contact or give their fourtune to strangers. Greeting card scams – You would usually receive those around holidays such as Christmas or Easter. Once you open the card, a malicious software would usually be installed to your computer. Your financial and private information may then become available to online criminals. In the worst case, they can even access your bank account! You can protect yourself from this type of scams by using a good antivirus software. Alternatively, it is always good advice to avoid opening cards that were not sent to you by friends or relatives. Remember, your security comes first!

– You would usually receive those around holidays such as Christmas or Easter. Once you open the card, a malicious software would usually be installed to your computer. Your financial and private information may then become available to online criminals. In the worst case, they can even access your bank account! You can protect yourself from this type of scams by using a good antivirus software. Alternatively, it is always good advice to avoid opening cards that were not sent to you by friends or relatives. Remember, your security comes first! Lottery scam – It usually comes as an email message, informing you that you have won a huge amount of money. To claim your prize, you would usually be asked to click on a certain link or pay a few small fees. Once you do that, you would either end up with malicious software installed to your PC or you will be redirected to a website, where you will be tricked into paying a significant amount of money to the scammers. Most lotteries will not notify winners by email and if you have actually purchased a ticket in the past, you can always check whether you have won on the corresponding lottery’s official website.

– It usually comes as an email message, informing you that you have won a huge amount of money. To claim your prize, you would usually be asked to click on a certain link or pay a few small fees. Once you do that, you would either end up with malicious software installed to your PC or you will be redirected to a website, where you will be tricked into paying a significant amount of money to the scammers. Most lotteries will not notify winners by email and if you have actually purchased a ticket in the past, you can always check whether you have won on the corresponding lottery’s official website. Bank Loan Scam – If you ever receive an email, advising you that you have been preapproved for a loan that is too good to be true, beware! As we have already mentioned, scammers have gotten surprisingly creative and their stories usually seem authentic. To avoid becoming a victim of such frauds, ask yourself if a bank would really offer such good loan conditions without having investigated your credit history? The answer is no. To avoid paying “mandatory” fees to scammers, simply contact the bank in question and talk to them in person. Never share your bank account or credit card information via email.

To help you protect yourself from internet frauds, we have a few more tips for you. When you receive a call out of nowhere, establish if it’s a genuine marketing campaign and if so, the caller’s identity can be easily verified. Were you asked to share private data? You’re going to be a victim of a phishing scam if you disclose your personal information with strangers, for whatever reason. Always be extra careful and don’t let fraudsters access your private or banking information. Remember, most institutions won’t offer their important services to strangers, especially via phone or an impersonal email.

If it has very little contact details or a premium rate phone number and grammatical or spelling mistakes, again, you are dealing with a scam. Winning something out of nowhere or receiving a random refund from a company you don’t know when you’re not expecting money means that someone is out to get you.

If you get a call from a company you know, for example, your bank or your doctor’s office and someone asks you to confirm your identity – you are marked for phishing. Your bank and your doctor know everything there is to know about you and would never ask you to share any personal information via phone or email. If you still have any doubts, contact the company in question and asked them if they’ve recently called to offer their services.

Online Casino Scams – Players Beware

Even the world of online gambling has its fair share of fraud. Online casino scams happen on a daily basis and can take many forms. Players can be lured into a false sense of security and deposit a sum of money because of an attractive offer they have seen, only to realise their money are forever lost. Do not make any transactions or disclove any credit card information until you’re certain your chosen operator is safe. Some scammers have made a whole business out of online casino frauds.

If there is a certified gambling authority keeping watch for such ghost operators, report as many of them as possible. An operator that does not offer any kind of customer service should be a warning flag. An example of an online casino scam is not paying the winning players or stating that withdrawals take more time than usual, for whatever reason. Be careful of such conditions, and do not become another of the preys of the internet scammers.

Of course, you could always end up being the victim of fraudulent software, meaning that the games can be tempered with and the software behind them can be compromised. You end up gambling more and more only to realise there’s nothing to gain out of playing said game. The thing to do is to look for reputable casinos, the ones who are licensed and regulated.

Some more advanced forms of online casino scam copy a certified casino’s terms and conditions and while things are looking great from the outside, once a player deposits his money is stolen and he gets locked out of his own account while the casino invokes legal reasons for doing so. Players beware – plenty of safe online casinos to choose from, so choose wisely!

Fraud Categories

We are going to cover the most popular scam attempts and the newest types. We have already mentioned the famous Nigerian scam because that poor prince has been trying to share his wealth for about 20 years now. It comes in a form of a spam with a tempting subject and a tragic story while asking for financial help to recover a large sum of money. I only know this because I’ve done some scambaiting on my own. Remember – not everything on the internet is safe and authentic!

Shopping online is fast and so easy to do, but keep an eye out for fake e-shops. Looking for that new leather jacket? Don’t be fooled by how cheap it is on that site you just found, because you might just send your money in all the wrong pockets and make tricky scammers a bit richer. Don’t rush into making any payments, as you might be giving scammers all data they need to access your account.

One scam that claims a lot of victims weekly is the job offer scam. Someone with a brand new LinkedIn profile will message you and will pose as the HR Rep for a well-known company or established business, looking to hire you on a work from home opportunity. In doing so, of course, they need some form of identification – a copy of your ID – to send you the work contract and your bank details, to send you the paychecks.

Usually, they offer a huge salary, which is way too much for the market value – that should be your giveaway. If you can’t find any info on the company looking to hire you, or the recruiter does not use an official email, it’s a phishing scam. Your private data should be none of such strangers’ business, so, avoid sending your personal information to ghost companies.

Protect Yourself from Scammers

Social media is a part of our daily lives and we love it. However, looking over your privacy settings every once in a while is a good idea. Scammers look for victims on all the popular social media channels and sites and often prey on careless internet users.

Don’t respond to names or companies that you do not personally know and always take your time. I can’t stress this enough: do not click on bogus links and do not install the software you know nothing about. Don’t let scammers disturb your peace at home and don’t trust ghost companies, offering their services to you.

Don’t accept a phone call from an unknown number claiming it’s from Microsoft and your brand new Mac is infected. Microsoft does not do courtesy calls – as much as we wanted them to. Website clones is now a thing and if your browser marks the page as not being secure, chances are you’re on the wrong site. Apple or Microsoft would not contact over the internet, especially advising you about issues that you haven’t previously made them aware of.

Furthermore never ever disclose your credit card, bank details or other personal information online, unless you know and have used the service or platform before. You fell in love with that gorgeous woman or man that you barely know and he/she is asking for money? Don’t wanna break your heart, but it’s a scam. Stay safe out there and know that you can always bookmark this site. Keep it handy in case that new job offer looks too good to be true!