How to spot money scams?

With digital fraud skyrocketing, Spotting the scammer is a life skill. Online scams from online shopping, Instagram or Facebook product page shopping, Crypto fraud, and bank fraud are rising. Most scammer’s and fraudsters’ schemes continue to get sophisticated and hard to track. They increasingly rely on social engineering.

They play on the noble individual nature of fear and turn it into believing it a reality.

For example, if your credit card bill is pending, you may receive fraud messages addressing the urgency to pay the bills or you cannot use the cards. It is not true but every statement may seem like an urgent appeal. They play off on human error. The build-up story wins the game.  

Thus, it is important to know about the red flags and spot them early to prevent fraud. The blog lists some signs to watch out for and halt scammers from fulfilling their intentions.

7 Signs to watch for money scams

Spotting a scam is challenging. It is the very reason why scammers get successful in their approach. And most of the time, they convince you to part with your money. Here are some signs to watch out for to spot a money scam:

1)      Claim ASAP transaction

It is one of the common signs of a money scam one should never overlook. Under this, the scamming company lures you into creating a panic-like situation.

If you encounter a text or a mail stating you to pay or complete the transaction immediately; avoid it.

 Do not act on it out of impulse or you may lose all your account balance. No genuine company force you to complete a transaction if you do not want to buy. Be it a credit card company or any other genuine firm

• Asks you to pay through a Specific Channel

While shopping, you may encounter different companies asking you to conduct an online payment through channels.

They would atleast provide one more alternative.

But scammers don’t.

They instead provide you with only one way to conduct transactions. Some companies may even send you a fake check stating their company name.

You cannot easily spot whether it is legal or not. 

Once you provide details and pay through check, they may hack your account. Avoid engaging in any such stuff.

3)      Asks for personal information like OTP and PIN

Legal organisations would never call or text you to provide personal details like account number, PIN, OTP, etc.

 Be it the bank or any other organisation that you do business with. Never provide such details to anyone.

For example, if you share an urgent requirement for Loans for bad credit with no guarantor and want cash without any third-party interference, the lender never asks you beyond the phone number, account number, and amount needed. If you spot a lender asking for the account PIN and other details that should be secret to you, flag that.

Never tap any link that the suspected company forwards you. Safeguarding your financials depends on how conscious you are to spot things. If you want the loan, contact the lender first and discuss the details after filling -p the online form. A legal one will help you throughout the process.

4)      Phishing failed delivery mail

If you spot a mail stating your transaction has failed or the product delivery has failed due to an incomplete transaction, Beware. The company may ask you to update details again, which is a clear sign of a fake company. Always check the sender’s name.

Whether the sender’s name reveals a person or a company, always contact the seller to confirm the same.

And if you never ordered anything and get such mail, your account may be at risk. Never act to such messages but do not ignore them as well. Check the grammatical signs and spellings to confirm whether it is genuine or fake.

5)      Identify the pattern of SMS and emails

Once you receive a message stating a link or an urgent action. 

Wait before acting on it. Count the times you receive a similar message. Try to analyse a pattern.

• Whether you receive messages from the same number?
• Is the context of the text or mail almost the same?
• Do they always share a link that does not seem genuine?

Fake companies create a landing page or a webpage that resembles your bank.  

Do not get distracted.

Report it immediately. Apart from that, avoid falling for the lucrative deals any messages provide you with.

Scammers can spoof the phone numbers to make them seem real, they are not. Similarly, they can create false numbers or profiles. Beware of these things to safeguard your money

6)      Greed never pays off

One can find it hard to deny but at times, humans fell prey to inexpensive things beyond expectations. And this is where scammers win. If anything appears too good to be true,  it is a clear sign that you should stay away.

You must have witnessed something like that while exploring Facebook or Instagram. The ongoing ads may seem genuine, but most of them are not. Thus, if you want to buy anything, check the actual price of the product. If you find a vast difference, then ditch the option. If you want to buy, you must check authentic options like Amazon or eBay to purchase things.

Most individuals fall for low prices as they lack time and do not want to wait until they have the cash flexibility..

 But you know what- you can prevent fraud by bridging those extras needed with loans without a guarantor and count on a happy and safe purchase deal.  These loans are the best when you need something urgent and cannot skip it for another moment or perhaps buy later.

You should always factor in aspects that you should undertake while shopping online. It would help you maintain a healthy shopping habit and help you keep your hard-earned money from fraudsters reach.

Bottom line

These are some ways to spot and prevent money scams. Avoid providing personal details and set strong passwords to upkeep your online accounts. There could be multiple distractions that may provoke you to be the prey. But by taking these actions and acting smart you can avoid fraud.