How to Avoid Online Scams

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Internet has made life easy for people. By providing all facilities and amenities ate finger-tips, the internet has revolutionized the way people live and work.

With the benefits of the internet also come the disadvantages of it. These are typically in terms of how technology is used for criminal purposes. Cyber-crimes have in fact increased in number over the last few years.

Cyber-thieves and cyber-criminals make use of the internet and its underlying technology to undertake a wide range of crimes. These crimes range from compromising financial information to the use of malware with social media messages etc.

Of all these cyber-crimes, the topmost in the list is internet scam. Internet scams are used by the cyber-criminals to rip of unsuspecting victims. These scams are of various types.

An online scam or an internet scam is basically the use of internet to defraud or take advantage of victims. The aim of internet scams is to help fraudsters make money.

The fraudsters contact their victims via emails or social media platforms. They then get access to confidential information of the victims. And this information is used for financial gains. In other words, the victims lose money.

The most common internet scams include:

# Romance Scam

Online dating sites are very popular among people. These are also popular among fraudsters.

Cyber-criminals are also using these online dating sites for online scams. Usually the fraudsters enter into a conversation with the one who is using the site. Once the trust of the victim has been gained, the fraudster asks for money from the victim.

This in turn makes the victim lose a lot of money.

# Overpayment Scam

This scam may sound legitimate at first. What happens is that the buyer convinces the seller of paying more than the selling price of the item.

The buyer then asks the seller to transfer the difference before the amount of the purchase can be transferred to the bank account.

Now what happens is that the seller does not get the cash for the goods sold. The seller also loses on the cash that has been transferred to the seller.

# Quick Money Promise

This scam promises to pay a lot of cash. In this scam, the victims are lured into scams that offer lots of cash for almost no work.

The fraudsters then ask for personal information and social security number of the victims. This information is then used to access the financial accounts. Therefore, the victims tend to lose a lot of money.

# Facebook Impersonation

In this scam, a Facebook user’s information and account is duplicated. The fraudster uses this duplicate account to send friend requests to the original account owner.

The fraudster then gets access to personal information of these users. This information is used to compromise the financial accounts of the users. The fraudster is thereby able to steal cash and make money.

# Fake Shopping Websites

Online shopping has become a craze off late. However, you need to be cautious of these shopping websites.

There are cyber-thieves who create and publish fake retailer websites. These bogus sites may offer great deals that may be too tempting.

So, if you end up buying from these bogus sites, you either receive a product that is fake. Or you do not receive the product at all.

# Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are the most common ones. In these, a fraudster sends an email to the victim. This message looks from a legitimate source like a bank or online store. So, in the message, the victim’s personal information is asked for.

This information may be passwords, credit cards numbers and other financial information. These emails are usually written in an urgent tone.

# Unexpected Prize Scam

This is another phishing scam. These email messages claim that you have won some cash prize or some trip to a destination. In turn, you need to pay some fees to claim the prize.

There are also a lot of other expenses and the victims end up paying a lot of money.

# Nigerian Letter Scam

This is the longest running internet scam that has resulted in many people in losing a lot of money. Here, you get an emotional email from someone asking for help to retrieve money from an overseas bank.

In return, the person says you will get some money. However, once the personal and financial information is obtained, you end up losing money not getting it.

# Malware Scams

There are many scams that involve fake antivirus software installation messages. Clicking on these messages can trigger installation of malware.

This malware can further access the personal and financial information of the one who has installed it. This malware can also destroy the system as well as lock out all the devices of the victim.

The fraudster then asks the victim for money to release the system or locked devices. However, once the money is received, this may not happen at all and the victim ends up losing a lot.

# Tech Support Scams

The fraudsters use urgent fake pop-up messages. When you contact them, they mostly say there is a problem with your system. They also offer tech support for money.

However, they may install some malware or software on your system using which financial information can be accessed by them. This leads to the victim losing money.

Now that you know that the next email message that you get may be a scam, you need to avoid it. It is essential for you to be careful and cautious of every message that you get in the email. This is one of the best ways of avoiding an online scam.

When opening a message to read, verify that the message is from a legitimate sender. Try and avoid any email that look suspicious because it may be a scam.

Following are a few ways in which online scams can be avoided:

# Check the URL

When you get an email or a communication from someone, check the URL. Fraudsters make use of online payment processors, IT administrators and popular social websites to target the victims.

You must always check the web address. Phishing web addresses look very close to authentic ones. It is therefore essential to click on these web addresses with care. Look for the .com; if there it is probably the right web address.

However, if you feel that the web address does not look genuine, avoid clicking on it. This is the best way to avoid online scam.

# Stay Alert

Always be alert when you receive an email from people. Never open an email that comes from a contact you do not know.

Try and open emails only from trustworthy resources to avoid online scams.

# Set Up Multi-layered Security Features

If possible set up multi-layered security features. Here, two-face authentication works the best.

When you log into an account, more than two credentials are required to authenticate. So, if a fraudster does get hold of your account, the multi-layer security features can prevent any type of fraud or scam.

# File a Complaint

You can also file a complaint against an online scam. This can be done by lodging a complaint against the crime centres now established all across the globe to tackle cyber-crime.

When a complaint is filed, the centre works on it and forwards it to concerned authorities. This may prevent future online scams from taking place.

# Do Not Respond to Scam Messages

One of the best ways to avoid online scams is not to respond to them. A scam message may require you to click on a button or install software or fill in a form.

If you get any message like this but feel that it is a scam, do not respond to the message.

Also never provide your personal information and financial credentials to anyone if asked.

# Install Anti-virus Software

When you install anti-virus software on your system, there are fewer chances that malware gets installed on the computer.

With anti-virus software installed, any malicious code will not be installed on the system. This in turn would keep the system safe. This in turn would ensure the security of any information present on the system.

# Never Trust Unsolicited Emails

This is a great way of avoiding online scams. If you get an email from someone who claims to be a tech expert and asks for your information, never give any information.

You must always ask for identity or proof before providing any such information.

To get into more specific details about how to avoid specific types of scam…read on…

# Avoid Job Offer Scams

With the rise of career networking sites, job scams have become very common. If you get such an offer, never transfer any funds to the company.

Typical job scams would involve you asking for money to sign-up or invest a specific amount before you can start working.

Avoid such job offers.

# Prevention Against Lottery Scams

You can avoid lottery scams by keeping the following tell-tale points about such scams:

• The email comes from a person not a company.
• You are not the only recipient. Check the email details for the same.
• You may not have heard of such lottery.

If you receive any email related to lottery, check on Google. This will help you to check the legitimacy of the lottery.

Also never send any information back to such emails.

# Avoid Charity Fraud Scams

If an email comes from a person asking to donate for a charitable cause….never do so. Do not get sympathetic reading the emotional messages in these emails. These are fraud.

These fraudsters have set up fake donation accounts. Remember a real charity would have a robust website and would also have a mission statement verifying the need of donation.

# Avoiding Repair Scams

Many emails may offer repair advice. These many ask you to install software or may want you to call a specific number.

If such an email comes to you, avoid answering it. If you end up installing software suggested in the email, malware will get installed on your system. This means all your personal information would be compromised and you don’t want that.

So, never accept an unsolicited repair advice.

Now you know how to avoid online scams, you also need to know how to spot them. Here are a few tips that let you spot an internet scam:

*Any offer that comes out of the blue is a scam.

*Any email requesting you to share banks details or PIN is a scam.

*Prizes that ask you to send money to claim them are internet scams.

*Companies with vague contact details are fraud ones.

*Any company that calls you and asks you to stay online for long hours will involve an internet scam.

*Any confidential offer that you are not supposed to share with family or friends is again a scam.

Scammers are clever and will find one way or the other to get your personal details. So always remember the golden rule of avoiding an online fraud….Never Share Your Personal and Financial Information with Anyone.