Top Six Online Scams
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 01/07/2016 10:25 AM
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According to the FBI, victims of online scams in the United States lost $672,080,232 in 2014, and registered almost 270,000 complaints.
1) Job Offer Scams: You accept a job out of your area of expertise, for say, a mystery shopper. You are sent a pay check that is more than what you expected. You’re contacted to return the difference. You send in the money and later find out the original check was a fake. You’re out the money.
2) Lottery Scams: You are notified that you won a little known lottery with a big payout. You are asked to send a small money order to "process" the payout as well as personal info. You never hear from them again, you are out your money and your identity has been stolen.
3) Beneficiary Scams: You're asked to help someone to move a large amount of money, for which you will be receiving a small percentage of the money. Again you are asked to send some money to facilitate the move. You never hear from them again.
4) Online Dating Scams: You meet someone on a dating site or chat room. The relationship quickly evolves and you are asked to send money for some dire hardship. Send it and you are out of the money. The relationship quickly dissolves.
5) Charity Fraud Scams: After a large-scale natural disaster or other high-profile public tragedies, you want to help any way you can, and scammers know to capitalize on this.
6) Repair Scams: In a scam that starts in the real world and quickly moves into the online one, you receive a phone call from someone who claims to work for "Microsoft" or another large software company claiming they can fix PC issues like slow Internet speeds and loading times. It sounds legit, but it is really a scam to get you to pay for the "repairs."
Do not allow anyone remote access to your computer.
Now that you know what to expect from cyber scammers, make sure to keep an eye out for these worms to avoid getting phished.
Source: Kaspersky
1) Job Offer Scams: You accept a job out of your area of expertise, for say, a mystery shopper. You are sent a pay check that is more than what you expected. You’re contacted to return the difference. You send in the money and later find out the original check was a fake. You’re out the money.
2) Lottery Scams: You are notified that you won a little known lottery with a big payout. You are asked to send a small money order to "process" the payout as well as personal info. You never hear from them again, you are out your money and your identity has been stolen.
3) Beneficiary Scams: You're asked to help someone to move a large amount of money, for which you will be receiving a small percentage of the money. Again you are asked to send some money to facilitate the move. You never hear from them again.
4) Online Dating Scams: You meet someone on a dating site or chat room. The relationship quickly evolves and you are asked to send money for some dire hardship. Send it and you are out of the money. The relationship quickly dissolves.
5) Charity Fraud Scams: After a large-scale natural disaster or other high-profile public tragedies, you want to help any way you can, and scammers know to capitalize on this.
6) Repair Scams: In a scam that starts in the real world and quickly moves into the online one, you receive a phone call from someone who claims to work for "Microsoft" or another large software company claiming they can fix PC issues like slow Internet speeds and loading times. It sounds legit, but it is really a scam to get you to pay for the "repairs."
Do not allow anyone remote access to your computer.
Now that you know what to expect from cyber scammers, make sure to keep an eye out for these worms to avoid getting phished.
Source: Kaspersky
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