The history of scams goes beyond the internet. What began with ancient con artists has ushered a new era of technologically inclined digital scammers. While the tactics and strategies used have changed greatly over time, the concept of deceiving vulnerable people and luring them by fake promises remains the same.
Naturally, the internet has become a safe haven for scammer since it provides the most cost-effective way to communicate and take money from unsuspecting victims under false pretences. Also, the two main reasons most internet users fall prey to such scams has to do with their unawareness of how the internet works and the false belief that none can easily become millionaires online.
Playing on the psychology, scam artists design schemes to attract people and con them of their hard earned money. Their usual target are either home-based mothers trying to generate and additional income stream for their family, jobless people desperate for success, and lastly, the elderly or the sizable who find it difficult to get a traditional job.
The internet’s most famous scams
For the sake of awareness, this article focuses on some of the most famous online scams. The list is not exhaustive by any means and new scammers try to modify and reuse any successful scam. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that their methods are solely meant to earn money at the expense of others.
Envelop stuffing.
The scam company promises to pay a certain amount, such as dollar for each envelop stuffed with letters and other documents. They ask for upfront amount and then, instead of envelopes, the send out thousands of flyers (of the same money making scheme) and ask the victims to stick around or send them to other people.
Chain Letter/e-mails.
The scammers send and e-mail with a list and ask the recipients are promised that when they do so, they canone day add their names to this list and eventually become rich. This is a classic pyramid scheme, and most of the times, the names in the chain e-mails are manipulated to ensure only the people at the top of the list (who, in reality, are the original scammers), receive all the money.
Multi-level-marketing (MLM) schemes.
In MLM marketing, the company recruits agents, who then, in turn recruit more agents to sell products and/or services. The higher someone is in the chain, the more opportunities they have to earn. The problem with souch schemes is that more often than not, the focus is on recruiting agents rather then selling the actual product. The product in all cases is usually a worthless one.
Earn a living by typing at home.
This scam, usually targets home-based mothers and vulnerable students. To start off, the recipients are asked to pay an upfront amount as a registration fee. In return, recipients usually receive a list of companies and are later asked to contact these companies by themselves to solicit work. The companies on the list are usually not even aware of the existence of such a list and have no work whatsoever to outsource to a home-based typist.
Call a 1-900 or 0900 number for more information.
The scammers involved make an offer, usually through e-mail, and ask recipients to call a 0900 number for further information, since 0900 numbers are pay-per-minute services, scammers ensure that victims make long duration calls. (In Pakistan
Advance fee scams
Recipients are asked pay and advance free in order to obtain a credit card, student loan, scholarship, business loan, and etcetera. In return, they either receive nothing or end up obtaining some useless information and documents.
You’ve won a prize.
Website visitors or e-mail recipients are notified that they have won a prize. When they click on this particular advertisement, they are asked to pay a certain fee for the handling and delivery or the prize package. Once the recipients pay the fee, they never hear back from the company again. Moreover, their personal information is used for further credit card fraud.
Fake jobs
This particular scam is not very old and is quite a tricky one. Job seekers are offered a job and asked to provide all their personal information against a lucrative job. Package. Their personal information is then mostly used to acquire credit cards or personal loans. This is a form of classic identity theft and the repercussions can result in serious financial and legal damage to the victim.
Get rich quick.
Usually the recipients receive an e-mail and, in some cases, a letter forms an individual who wants to transfer millions of dollars from an offshore bank account. They have a nice story to tell and ask for personal information, after which they either use the information for basic identity theft, or ask the recipient to pay shipment charge to a courier company to receive the money, kept secretly in a box.
Fake charities
This scam revolves around the creation of a fake website asking for a rage of donation. The only way to stay away from these scams is to verify the charity with their respective government authorities. Usually a Google search will reveal some useful information.
Too good to be true products.
Sometimes, internet users will land on a page convincing them that software or an e-book product can help them make millions of dollars overnight. These long one-page websites contain testimonials, even bank statements from the writer, and how they made their fortune using this product, and now simply wish to share their secrets in return for a few dollars.
Scam symptoms.
The company is asking for an advance payment.
The company has no physical address or phone number.
The offer is time restricted and requires making a quick decision.
The offer is too good to be true.
Tips to avoid scams.
When providing credit card information online, buyers should always check for the “https” prefix in front of the Web address they are one. (The ‘s’ indicates that when accessing that particular website, all Web traffic between your Web browser and the website uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) – in other words it is encrypted. If anyone manages to intercept the message, all they all they will see gibberish.)
Website without an actual physical office location should usually be avoided.
Any business done with online company should be verified by third –party agencies such Better Business Bureaus (BBB) in the US
Using a popular search engine, input the company name along with keywords such as ‘review’, ‘scam” and so on. This will usually reveal a lot of useful information and prove to be quite insightful.
A company name or scheme name search on popular blogs such as Technorati or Board reader may also unveil information about the company. If the company or their methods are a scam, chances are people might have already talked about it.
Where to report scams.
There are various online and offline places to report scams. Since the scammer usually don not leave footprints, it’s not easy to get back the money, so the best practice is to stay away from them. Nevertheless, in order to report a scam, the links provided in the sites are worth checking out.
Online fraud reporting website
Fraud.org
