Category: News

Romance Scams

Romance scams happen when a criminal creates a false online persona in an effort to win the victim’s love and trust. The scammer then manipulates the victim and/or steals from them under the pretense of a loving or close relationship.

How to recognize a Romance Scam

Romance scammers are skilled at what they do and will appear sincere, compassionate, and believable. The majority of social networking and dating websites host con artists.

The goal of the con artist is to become friendly with the victim as soon as possible, win their favor, and acquire their trust. Scammers may make preparations to meet in person and propose marriage, but those things will never take place. They’ll eventually ask for cash.

What you should notice:

• Romance scammers swiftly declare their love for you before ever meeting you.
• Scammers that prey on lovers often say they need money for trips, medical expenses, or other urgent needs.
• The goal of online dating scammers is to get you to leave the dating site.
• Romance scammers always have plans to visit but then postpone them due to a “emergency.”

How to protect yourself

Be cautious with what you publish online and make public. Scammers can better understand and target you by using information published on social media and dating websites.

How you can protect yourself:

• Use online searches to look for the person’s picture and profile to determine whether the image, name, or other information has already been used elsewhere else.
• Take your time and ask a lot of questions.
• Watch out if the person looks too flawless or politely requests that you quit a dating service or social media site so that you can speak with them directly.
• Be on the lookout if the person makes an effort to isolate you from friends and family or if they ask you to provide indecent images or financial information that could be used to extort you later.

It’s crucial to take swift action and seek assistance if you think you may have been a victim of a Romance Scam in order to ensure that the harm is as minimal as possible.

Trading Scams

Watch out for investment scams that guarantee easy money. Scammers are skilled at making you believe that the investment is legitimate, the profits are significant, and the risks are minimal. There’s always a catch.

Here are some typical strategies employed in trading scams, however scammers frequently modify their techniques to stay on top of the most recent news or trends.

How to recognize a trading scam

Online and social media platforms are frequently used to advertise investment scams that use online trading platforms. To get individuals to invest in their fake platforms, scammers frequently make high-return promises and utilize phony celebrity endorsements and pictures of expensive goods.

What to notice:

• Cold calls/unexpected contact
• No licensing and regulation
• Offer of unrealistic returns
• You can’t withdraw your funds

How to protect yourself

Make sure the trading platform you’re using is authorized to operate in your country by conducting your due diligence before engaging in any online trading.

What you should look for:

• Licensing and regulation
• Make sure they are not a clone—a classic scam involves pretending to be a legitimate, approved company (referred to as a “clone firm”).
• Be cautious of online and social media advertisements that promise investors a high rate of return.

It’s critical for you to act quickly if you think you’ve been the victim of a trading scam. Many people mistakenly feel that once they give money to a scammer, their money is lost forever, but that isn’t always the case.

Phishing Scams

To deceive you into providing them with your personal and financial information, scammers will send you emails or texts. However, there are a number of measures to safeguard yourself.

Here are some typical strategies employed in phishing emails or texts, however scammers frequently modify their techniques to stay on top of the most recent news or trends.

How to recognize Phishing Scams

Phishing emails and texts frequently use a plot to get you to click a link or open an attachment. An unexpected email or text message that appears to be from a business you know and trust, such as a bank, credit card company, or utility provider, may arrive in your inbox. Or perhaps it comes from a website or app for online payments.

What you need to notice:

• The email is sent from a public email domain.
• The domain name is misspelt.
• The email is poorly written.
• The message includes suspicious attachments or links.

How to protect yourself

Your email spam filter should keep most of the phishing spam emails out of your inbox. However, scammers find many ways to outsmart spam filters so it’s always good to add extra layers of protection.

Layers of protection you can add:

• Downloading a security software and consistently updating it to make sure it’s always up to date on the newest trends scammers may use.
• Protect your data by backing it up.
• Protect your accounts by using multi-factor authentication.

It’s crucial to take swift action and seek assistance if you think you may have been a victim of a phishing scam in order to ensure that the harm is as minimal as possible.