By Eden Haynes
The idea of losing your money or experiencing a robbery is chilling enough to concern you, but now in a modern day of technology comes great risk of everyday social media. These people, who commit fraud or participate in these dishonest schemes, taking their victim’s money are known as scammers. Alone in 2020 these criminals have taken $3.3 billion from the U.S, while in the year 2021, about 2.2 million have reported scammers. It is time to put a stop to this crime and say, “Scram scam!”. But before then, it is best to know if you are dealing with the official company, a friend, or family, or if it is a scam.
There are many ways to know if a scammer is calling you and knowing if you are dealing with one, this a big step to preventing this from happening to yourself, so here is what to do, to identify a scammer. First, check if who is calling you has an odd looking phone number, usually, popular scam area codes are 473.
If the person calling does not respond and is delayed, this could be because the scammer is using an automatic dialer.
The caller cannot communicate, if they are not able to speak English or struggles, do not trust them. This is because if they claim to be from a large American company, they should be able to understand English decently.
If the caller says there is an issue with your credit product or utility provider that is from a company you do not have an account in, you should be concerned.
If the tone of the conversation becomes heated or they make threats, hang up and report the incident.
If the caller uses a generic greeting such as, “Hello Citizen,” then you have every right to be suspicious.
If you have to act fast to take advantage of an offer, it is probably not worth it, because it might be a scammer.
Then finally, if the responses are canned, listen carefully for any sort of patterns in the caller’s sentences, if they are in a precise pattern it could be a recording or deepfake. An easy way to know is if you say something completely random.
If you ever do have to deal with a scammer, here are some things on what to do. The most important thing is to never give personal information, this is what scammers need to get your cash and take advantage of you. Another is to hang up – this is the best thing to do is to just hang up, and block the number. Call the organization if somebody is claiming to be from a company and you are suspicious, call that company directly; find the number yourself as well never ask the caller.
You should never let yourself be rushed, they want that to happen so they can spring fake offers that you accept without hesitation.
Scammers have many tricks up their sleeve, so it is best to know some of the common ways scammers can fool you. One of their nasty tricks are bank scams, scammers may call and claim there is a problem with your account or card, they will try and convince you your card has been cloned or your money is at risk. They may ask for your account and card details or send a courier to collect your card. They may even suggest transferring your money to a safe account to protect it. Banks would never ask you to do this so be careful.
It is known that the elderly are exposed to scams due to the amount of money they have or from dementia. But actually study has shown that young adults from ages 18-24 are more likely to be scammed. Alone in 2020 56.6% of young adults that are exposed to scamming, end up losing their money. This is because they order something online and pay for the item but never get what they ordered. So for safety of your money, order what you wish from a well known website, like Amazon.
Computer repair scams are when a scammer claims to be from the helpdesk of a popular IT firm such as Microsoft, they will tell you there is a virus on your computer before asking you to get anti-virus software, possibly at a cost. This is actually spyware so scammers can get hold of your personal information, IT companies do not contact their customers this way.
Compensation calls are when scammers act like they are from a company and ask about a car accident you supposedly had, saying you’re entitled to compensation. If you ever have a car accident, call your own insurance company on the phone number provided on your policy.
HMRC scams claim there is an issue with your tax refund or an unpaid tax bill. They might leave a message and ask you to call back, but do not, the actual HMRC would never contact you this way or ever ask you to give personal financial information.
Number spoofing is when scammers have mimicked an official number so it comes on your caller ID display. If you have doubts, hang up and call the company directly as stated before. If possible, call from another phone because scammers can keep the line open. If not possible, wait for at least ten minutes before you call.
When a scammer calls about an offer that cannot be missed or offers you an opportunity to access your pension cash earlier, it is known as the Pensions and Investment Scams.
Anti-Scam scams are when scammers claim to support victims or from a company that sells anti-scam tech. Even someone demanding money to renew your telephone preference service registration; which is actually free.
The final and cruelest tricks are romance scams, where scammers take a fake identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. Using the illusion of romantic or close relationships to manipulate and/or steal from the victim; leaving many victims heartbroken in the end. There are many ways to prevent this cold hearted scheme as well, such as being careful of what you post or make on social media and research the person’s profile and name to see if these two things with other details have been used elsewhere. A big tip is to take it slowly and ask lots of questions. If they ask for money and you have never seen them in person, decline their request, especially if they make an excuse every time the day to meet comes up. Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online. Some things to beware of are if they seem too perfect or quickly ask you to leave a dating service or social media site to communicate. Beware if they attempt to isolate you from friends and family or request inappropriate photos or financial information, practically anything that could be used to extort you.
There are so many people who get scammed yearly, losing their money all because of these cruel crimes. If you have ever thought of attempting this crime you can deal with a misdemeanor conviction which is up to a year in your local jail. But a felony conviction can lead to ten or more years in federal prison, so think before you act. But if you or someone you know have fallen victim to a scam, report it to www.ftc.gov or call 1-877-382-4357.
