How To Avoid Being Scammed Online?

Getting scammed online is common nowadays, and as per statistics, one out of every five Americans has been victimized by one scam or another. What is more shocking is that these numbers keep increasing. As per the reports, US citizens lost $10 billion in 2023, compared to $9 billion in 2022. And these are just those who have filed a complaint with the higher authorities.

These numbers are bound to be higher as many avoid reporting to the higher authorities as they feel they would be shamed and ridiculed by society.

Even though online scams are common, if you are alert, you can spot them before you fall victim to them. The internet has many articles and blogs regarding online scams that are prevalent in society. However, if you wish to understand how these scams work and what tricks these scammers pull to entice their potential victims, then you can consider following us. Our experts regularly update and analyze the latest scams that are perpetrated online.

Scammers target seniors, as they have a lot of money with them. Most seniors are alone and lonely; to pass the time, they spend much of their time online. They become a perfect target for scammers. Thus, it is important to educate them to prevent being scammed.

How to Avoid Being Scammed Online?

You must be careful with what you share with someone you have met online. Scammers are known to track their potential victims before striking them. It is equally advisable that you do not share all your details and life achievements online. Always scrutinize anyone you meet online and ensure that you do not fall prey to their nefarious tactics.

What are the common ways scammers strike their victims?

Although technology allows us to connect with anyone around the globe by simply sitting back at home, scammers do the same to swindle their potential victims. Most of your friends are made online through social media platforms, and those on dating apps are the ones you rarely meet face-to-face. Thus, the chances of falling for an online scam are high.

Profitable Enterprise

Scammers want to launder their money and are on the lookout for someone to act as a mule to launder it for them. To carry out their fraudulent activities, they are actively looking for someone and are willing to pay a fee for each transaction.

If a drug lord or anyone with a criminal background contacts you and is willing to pay a huge amount of money, you must immediately decline the offer. What they want is your bank account number, where they will park their money, and they will direct you to send the money to another account.

Although the prospects are lucrative, it is a federal crime and can land you in prison, a hefty fine, or both.

Dating Scam

Dating apps offer unlimited access to potential dates who are willing to involve themselves in a romantic relationship. However, scammers make fake accounts with attractive fake profiles to arouse interest in their potential victims. There are numerous ways that this can end in disaster if entangled with a scammer. They also ensure that they are a flight or two away from their potential victim.

Blackmail

After winning over the trust and confidence of their potential victim, scammers will make a video call that is erotic. They urge everyone who might become their victim to follow likewise. The call will continue until the potential victim is in a compromising position. After the act, the scammers send a video where the victim is in a compromised position. Scammers demand a ransom, or they will make the video viral. The ransom can be in normal or fiat currency, or even in cryptos.

Pig Butchering

Scammers will inflate the egos of their potential victims with fake compliments and win over their hearts. As the name suggests, the pig-potential victim is bloated with fake compliments and is provided with a fake investment opportunity. These bogus investment schemes would either be regarding investment and trading in traditional financial markets or the crypto market.

Regardless of the bogus investment scheme promoted by the scammers, they will first provide a good return on investment. Such actions encourage their victims to invest more and more. These charlatans would also advise their victims to take money from their emergency funds and retirement funds with a false sense of security that they would be making more money from this scheme. They may even encourage their victims to take out personal loans for investment purposes.

Due to a fake promise to upgrade their lifestyles, these victims do as they are told to do so. When they want to withdraw their money, scammers run away with it, pushing these poor victims into financial hardship. They not only lose their hearts but also feel miserable about being cheated of their wealth.

Perpetual Need for Money

Since they are staying far away from their potential victims, scammers may mimic military personnel, a health specialist working in a third-world country for humanitarian reasons, an oil rig specialist, or someone else working hard for the human race and never finding time for a romantic encounter.

They will win over the trust and confidence of their potential victims and will ask for money that they promise to return to them once they get back to them. They will give fake excuses that their bank cannot be accessed or some other excuse asking for money, one way or another.

They will continuously ask for money until the victim realizes that it’s a scam or when someone close to them says so.

Ransome and Accident

Sometimes these scammers play a dirty game by instilling fear into their potential victims’ minds. They will claim that they are either being abducted by a gang or a warlord and require money for their release. As panic sets in the minds of these potential victims, they will send in the money. They will either ask to send in physical money through the mail, ask for wire transfers, or even ask for payments in cryptos.

Sometimes these scammers will contact their potential victim and say that they have met with a life-threatening accident and require money for treatment. They will make fake medical bills and want their potential victims to pay them.

Unfortunately, this is not a one-time affair; for one reason or another, they will demand money. Victims end up sending a lot of money for the safety of their fake soulmate. These scammers have such a hold over their victims that they are ready to push themselves into financial hardship.

Financial Advisor

Scammers will impersonate a seasoned financial advisor with a good track record. They will create a bogus portfolio to fool their victims into believing that they are experts at trading. They will frequently use financial jargon with the intent of making themselves experts in the field of finance. Be it traditional financial markets or crypto markets, they want their victims to know that they know everything.

Managed Account

Not everyone is good at trading; many trust their broker or brokerage firm to manage their trading account. You must remember that a genuine broker will charge a commission on your trade, and such practices are common among brokers and brokerage firms. It is also applicable to cryptocurrency. They safeguard and preserve their clients’ financial interests.

A bogus broker will indiscriminately trade. Thus, they do not care if their client makes a profit or a loss.

Trading Bots

It is true that trading bots are a reality. These are software programs that analyze and project the optimal profit margin based on historical data. They are remarkable bots and have a higher win ratio. Since a huge amount of money is spent on the research and development of these trading bots, they are expensive.

Scammers also create bogus trading bots at a competitive price. Using these trading bots from a fake broker will only end in disaster.

Fake Taxes

Scammers are known to levy hidden charges under the name of various taxes. Such charges ensure that scammers keep the lion’s share of the profits made by their victims.

Ponzi and Pyramid Schemes

The famous saying robbing Robet to pay Peter is true in these schemes. Scammers will project how much money they will make instead of revealing how the business model will work. They will incentivize their potential victims by encouraging them to recruit as many as possible. These schemes operate as long as there is a steady flow of recruits. Once there are no more recruits, the entire scheme collapses.

Rug Pull and Pump-and-Dump Schemes

Scammers are known to inflate the price of underlying assets by promoting them. Scammers will buy the underlying asset when the price is low. They will then promote them to their target audience. Once they start to buy them, their price is artificially inflated due to supply-and-demand laws. After appreciating, these scammers sell off these assets at a predetermined price. Scammers make a profit; victims are at a loss.

There are several other types of scams that are popular with these charlatans; follow us to understand how scammers pull off such scams.

Final Thoughts

One of the best ways to avoid online scams is to have knowledge and awareness about them. There are several online scams. What you think are the new ones are old scams that have been modified and adapted to this digital world. Additionally, you should refrain from disclosing private information to strangers you meet online. Avoid sharing details that you would not share with your close ones.