Have you ever offered some food to your friend, expecting them to give you some in return(which is called a trade), but they just licked their food, and now you can’t eat it? And worse, they’ve already eaten what you’ve given them! Evil friend you’ve got there! Then, you probably said out loud in an angry tone, “What a scam!” Well, while that is technically a scam, there are many more scams present in the world. What I’m talking about is financial and digital scams. A member of your family has likely fallen for a digital scam, which can take lots of money from them already. In fact, approximately 20 scams occur every second. Today, we will discuss the various types of scams that occur daily.
First, we have the normal and common link and phishing scam. A random website will send you a link, which most people dubiously click on and give their passwords and other private information. The people who receive this information will exploit the data that you have so graciously given them to do their evil misdeeds, like sending your private information to people whom you don’t know. They could steal all your money and data. To avoid this type of scam, you need to be careful about clicking on random links. Be careful who you lend your data to!
The next scam is something we’ve all experienced at this point: people who pose as tech support and call us, asking for our financial information and details. You would think people wouldn’t fall for it, but about 1 scam in this field happens every 16 minutes. A random person from a random country first somehow grabs hold of your phone number. Then, he calls you, saying he is from, let’s say, Birtoch Tech Support. They claim that your credit card balance is due, and if you don’t cough up the money, you will be sent to jail. Fortunately, the guy will do it for you if you provide him with your credit card number and other necessary details. You would think people wouldn’t fall for it, but about 1 scam in this field happens every 16 minutes.
Malware is our next point. Many people blindly download stuff online, thinking it will benefit them in some way, and download things that actually cause problems to their devices or even their bank accounts. For example, Wannacry was a very popular malware that would lock up all the apps and files in a computer and ask for a ransom in exchange for the files, only for them to be scammed out of their money once again. This is a type of malware called ‘Ransomware’, and it usually demands money in the form of cryptocurrency. Lots of people fall for this scam as well!
Another type of scam is when a company gives ridiculously too good to be true offers or discounts, but there was really no offer to begin with. For example, a company called Eurostar, a ticket booking company, once gave summer fares at a low price of €39, but only a few of them were available, so most interested customers were unable to get them. The UK’s advertising watchdog saw this as misleading. These scams happen online as well. People can put up an image of a computer and put the price of a normal computer, but then just ship the box to the customer. They usually plead their case by saying they put the information that the product is a box in the description, but customers don’t really read that kind of stuff, so they just get scammed at the end of the day.
Next is the investment and loan scam. There are many banks in the world, and there are also many fake ones. These fake banks usually send fake loan offers that have unreasonably low interest rates. What would you do if a bank came up to you and said that the rates are below 4%? Unless you are trying to keep a loan for generations to come, this probably won’t happen(Remember that muslim-based banks usually consider charging interest as a sin, so they usually don’t ask for interest). So stay away from these banks. If you really think the interest rates are real, first do your research about the bank and check every detail. If something is suspicious, it’s better not to go there. Instead, just report the scammy bank!
The next scam is when fake receipts are sent to you through email or any other way. These receipts usually show that you have bought some kind of software, most likely an anti-virus, and they do this in the hope that you either contact them back for them to do some kind of scam, or in the hope that you click on the software, which is usually malware that, like the previous scam can lock up files on your computer and steal your information. If a fake receipt is sent to you, be careful, as it could be very bad for your computer and could potentially damage it!
Now that we know all this, how do we stop ourselves from getting scammed? Simple. Don’t click on random links provided by strangers on the internet. Don’t trust random people and banks when they give you random offers, discounts, or interest rates on loans. Don’t download random applications and software. Be careful when buying stuff online.
Well, that’s it! Thanks!
By: Pradyun Reddy Chintala
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