A British Broadcasting
Corporation film series enlightening viewers on the antics of con artists or
fraudsters intermittently had the lead character tell his co-con artists; “You
can never con an honest man.” ADVERTISING This invariably means that if you are
honest you shouldn’t fall for a scam, well sadly, it doesn’t work that way as
con artists often play other vulnerabilities of an honest man, like fear and
vanity. Where a person is either vain, lonely, desperate and most
importantly, greedy, he or she is most likely to fall for a scam.
The chances of falling for a scam has
quadrupled with the coming of the internet. This means that you can sit in the
comfort of your home and be conned, worst still you will proceed to make
payments from the comfort of your home, thanks to online banking. Here, we have
compiled likely instances of online scams and even if not an outright scam,
avenues that can let viruses into your device; phones, tablets, laptops or
desktops. If you receive a message or visit a site that says you are in danger
unless you download a certain application, that’s a red flag for a scam. The
message is playing on your fear. Always view these messages with skepticism and
caution.
Research the application before you
download and install it. Social networking sites While on social
networking sites you may receive a message containing a link that says
something like, “You won’t believe how great you look in this video!” This
appeals to the vain side of humans. Most of us would be tempted to follow the
link and watch the video, particularly if we were worried it might be
embarrassing. Scam artists know this and capitalize on it to direct you to
links that will give them access to your computer and all your personal
details. Using the details, a scheme can be used to rope you into a scam.
Worst still your passwords can be copied when these viruses gains access to
your computer. It does not stop there, the scam artist can go ahead to use your
details to transact and leave you broke. The most popular inlet is the email.
Sometimes a mail could come into your
inbox that looks like it is from your bank telling you that an amount of money
has been deducted from your account for a monthly magazine. Then they tell you
to click unsubscribe if you are not interested in the magazine, clicking this
link is the beginning of a hack and a scam. It is advisable to delete this
mail. Nonetheless, if you actually subscribed for an e-magazine, open other
mails from your bank and compare it with the deduction mail. Delete and block
the mailer if a slight difference is detected. Another form of mail scam
involves cooking up stories to solicit for funds. First, don’t transfer money
to a complete stranger with hope that it will be doubled, tripled or refunded.
Second, no matter how single or lonely you are, do not fall for stories from
complete strangers about being in love with you, these are designed to take
advantage of your lonely side. Summarily, when dealing on the internet double
check everything.
There are sites and search engines
where mails sent can be verified. You can copy an email addresses, mail content
and links and paste them on these sites or search engines to verify them. Phone
numbers in text messages should also be double checked. Suffice to say, don’t
believe everything you read and always think before you click.
0 Comments