Shield yourself from online tricks with our guide to the 10 most usual scams on the internet. We’ll teach you how to recognize and steer clear of them, ensuring that your money stays secure in our tech-savvy world.
The Context
I get a ton of scam emails. But instead of deleting them, I decided to hit reply — James Veitch
In India, where there is a high rate of online penetration and around 50% of the population is online, internet scams appear to be ruling the charts these days as opposed to traditional street hustles.
Physical scams often target a small number of unknowing victims whereas internet scams seem to have an edge in exploiting volumes of scale. Given that the average IQ in our country is only 88 points (source: world data), many consumers experienced a significant increase in online fraud in 2021. The frequent news stories about this widespread threat provide substantial proof of the crisis.
You’d probably answer yes if we asked you whether you’ve ever had close calls with cons while engaging in online activities. It’s a cat-and-mouse game that always keeps honest investors on their toes. Internet scams are different types of fraud that are facilitated by cyber-criminals on the Internet. This usually entails defrauding or exploiting unsuspecting victims by using digital services or software with internet access.
Internet Scams can take many forms, including phishing emails, social media, SMS messages on your mobile phone, phony tech support phone calls, scare-ware, etc. The main goal of these scams can range from credit card theft to capturing user login & password credentials and even identity theft, which eventually leads to the loss of hard-earned money or reputation.
For a brief moment, it appears that keeping the money safe is taking precedence over making more of it.
Today’s list is important for financial awareness.
We are highlighting the top ten internet scams that every prudent investor should be aware of
Let’s peek into this chaos —
1. Part-Time Job Scam
Number one on our mischievous list of the top ten internet scams is the pure abuse of good intentions. This is a common scam that is going around these days. In this scam, the scammers usually contact the victim by pretending to be a human resources manager (HR manager) from some crappy firm that has shortlisted your profile for a part-time job.
Typically, the message mentions a bait-sized daily compensation of Rs. 2,000 for working only 30 minutes per day. To make the offer more appealing, the message also includes a cash incentive for simply applying for the job. If the provided link is activated, malware is usually installed on the user’s device, allowing access to sensitive data or jeopardizing the security of your financial applications.
A more convincing strategy in this scam contains a phone number to call, which leads to a social engineering scam. Here cyber-criminals use human-to-human interaction to convince the user to reveal sensitive information. Because social engineering is based on human behavior and emotional responses, attackers will engage and try to trick you online and sometimes offline.
When you need to make more money, look for a real job. It is simply impossible to do it effortlessly.
2. Telegram Channel Scams
Since the fallout from COVID, Telegram has gained a certain kind of notoriety in our country.
According to backlinko.com, the Telegram app has been downloaded 220 million times in India since August 2021, accounting for 22% of all Telegram downloads worldwide. Scammers flock to this app like Bees to Honey because of its widespread popularity and ease of use.
The scams range from simple phishing schemes to sophisticated bot attacks masquerading as legitimate customer service representatives. Thousands of intricate schemes are now being carefully laid out to attract unsuspecting users and many investors.
These scams often take the form of copycat scams, phony telegram channels and groups, stock tips and fake analysis, get-rich-quick schemes, and pump-and-dump schemes. For starters, a pump-and-dump scheme typically entails penny stock manipulation in which the price is artificially inflated by rumors.
The stock is then sold at a higher price, leaving hungry investors out in the cold.
Unrealistic profits with no effort are devilish deals that demand your money and peace of mind.
3. Whats App Link Scam
Given the prevalence of WhatsApp in our daily lives, this is a common scam these days. In this one, scammers send a link to WhatsApp users, claiming that by completing a simple survey, users can win a prize.
After answering the questions, the user is redirected to a website where they are asked to enter sensitive information such as their name, age, address, bank information, and other personal details. Another recent WhatsApp scam involves victims receiving messages from cyber-criminals saying “Sorry, I did not recognize you” or “May I know who this is?”
The scammer strikes up a conversation with them and even offers compliments to make users feel good and gain their trust, after which the scammer manipulates them into disclosing their personal information.
Do not engage in gullible conversations or respond to calls from unknown numbers.
4. Insurance Claim Scams
This type of scam usually targets people who are in the process of filing insurance claims.
The leads are usually distributed in scam circles by company insiders and individuals involved in processing the actual requests. The insured is then typically contacted by phone and duped into revealing transactional and banking OTPs generated on their behalf to gain access to bank accounts.
When dealing with financial settlements, don’t pay attention to unexpected help or goodwill.
5. Chinese Loan App Scam
COVID-related disruptions have financially impacted a large portion of our population.
Because India is a conservative country, many people have been forced to seek financial assistance from untrustworthy sources. The first mentions of this scam date back to 2019, and circumstances resulting from a full-blown pandemic confirmed its success.
Every day, unsuspecting Indians fall victim to the small loans offered by these Chinese-operated fake loan apps available on the Play Store and the scam has now defrauded lakhs of Indians out of millions of rupees.
Our hearts go out to those who have also taken their own lives to preserve their self-respect and dignity. These high-tech Chinese cyber criminals have devised a new method of duping people and are now defrauding Indians through bogus loan applications. These apps offer to lend money instantly to anyone who downloads these apps for a few days.
When the app is downloaded, it asks users for permission to capture a contact list, photo gallery, and other personal data from the loan seeker’s phone. If the loan is not paid within the specified time frame, the interest and penalties combined bring the repayment to double the loan amount.
Furthermore, call centers based in neighboring countries such as Nepal threaten victims with leaking their data and making abusive comments to their phone book contacts. This is because downloading the application accesses all of the victim’s contacts, photos, and other data on their mobile phones.
When you’re in financial trouble, remember to seek lawful assistance.
6. Excise Clearance Scam
Unlike its Chinese counterpart, which preys on duress, this scam preys on greed. The scam begins when a person receives an e-mail, phone call, or physical letter purporting to be from the Excise department. The communication content instructs the recipient to deposit funds in a bank account, stating that the customs officer has halted the clearance of gift parcels from abroad.
This deposit amount is portrayed as a part of duties or penalties. The unwary party believes that a small payment will get them an expensive gift, but the fact that there is no gift gracefully concludes this fraud.
Keep in mind that there are no free lunches.
7. Naked Call Scam
This one is number six on our naughty list of the top ten online scams. The naked call scam has indeed enticed many people and has literally stripped them of their hard-earned money. It appears that citizens of our country have never felt so desperate and alone since lockdowns, and thus the birth of this bunco. Contact with the victim is typically established via social media chats or dating apps.
On WhatsApp, the scammer asks the victim if they are alone at the moment and if they would like to engage in a video chat. When answering the phone, the scammer usually presents himself/herself in a birthday suit. The entire conversation is then recorded along with the victim’s video. The scam then takes the form of typical Bollywood-style blackmail, with the victim being asked to pay money to have the viral-worthy video deleted.
Remember what mama used to say— don’t talk to strangers!
8. Crypto Token Scam
Did you know that the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is just under $1,200 billion?
On the contrary, the total market cap of the world’s stock markets is around $90 trillion. We are frequently perplexed as to why the cryptocurrency spotlight consumes so much of the time, attention, and brainpower of so many potential investors.
In terms of attracting attention, this scam begins by creating bogus cryptocurrency trading platforms. Scammers also sometimes create fake versions of official crypto wallets to dupe unsuspecting victims. These decoy websites usually have domain names that are similar but slightly different from the sites they are attempting to imitate. They appear as legitimate sites, making differentiation difficult.
To attract the attention of potential targets, a more sophisticated version claims endorsements from celebrities, business people, or influencers. These websites are glossy, with brochures that appear to show celebrity endorsements from household names like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.
This can include selling phantom cryptocurrencies to inexperienced investors. Other variations of this scam use deceptive methods to entice victims, such as free giveaways (airdrops), cloud mining opportunities, and phony initial token offerings.
Always verify the legitimacy of tokens and never give out your wallet credentials to anyone.
9. OLX Buyer Online Scam
With the increasing popularity of apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and others, UPI, online payments have emerged as one of the most effective methods of money transfer. It is quick, easy, and convenient. However, fraudsters are taking advantage of consumers’ lack of technical proficiency to defraud them.
This scam begins with your genuine listing on OLX or any other online platform that allows you to sell used items. When the fraudsters target the victim, they either send a QR code or a request to accept payment under the guise of purchasing the item.
In some cases, they exhibit excessive urgency and are willing to pay even without inspecting the item, claiming that they don’t want to miss the deal. Because of a lack of knowledge or urgency to sell the product, the victims frequently forget that receiving payment requires no action on their part and fall for the scam. The amount is deducted from their account as soon as they scan the QR code or accept the request. The fraudster then simply vanishes from the scene.
Always maintain your cool when performing sale-purchase transactions on e-commerce platforms.
10. Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are likely the oldest type of online forgery and thus rank ninth on our list of the top ten most common internet scams. In this scam, Internet criminals prey on unsuspecting users by sending out attractive emails.
A cyber-criminal attempts to trick you into thinking you are logging into a legitimate website with which you do business in these emails. The user interface, color scheme, and other elements of these fake portals are identical to the original one.
This could be a bank, a social media account, an online shopping website, a shipping company, a cloud storage business, or anything else. The sophistication of such scams can sometimes extend to manipulating Google SEO search results by raking themselves at the top of the search when you seek the website of concern.
Always double-check the URL of a website before entering usernames and passwords. It’s also a good idea to bookmark URLs that you frequently visit.
11. Tech Support Scam (Bonus)
As our nation becomes more technologically savvy, many people are struggling to keep up with their learning curve. This forces our citizens to seek help from complete strangers. A technical support scam, also known as a tech support scam, is a type of fraud in which the scammer claims to provide legitimate technical support. To pull this one off, scammers engage their victims in a variety of ways, including fake pop-ups that look like error messages or fake “help lines” advertised on their websites.
In the guise of trust, scammers frequently extract as much personal information from the victim as possible. This can range from names and birth dates to credit card numbers and account information for payment processing.
Always obtain legitimate tech and customer support phone numbers from official product websites and save them in your phone book for emergencies.
Conclusion
Our conclusion on this subject can never do justice to the atrocities that most investors are subjected to these days. Gone are the days of Nigerian Prince or 419 scams, where phishing e-mails were easily identified by a slew of ignorant spelling and formatting errors.
It’s difficult to tell a trap from a simple tango when scammers are also enlightened and highly trained professionals. While our government and some responsible organizations are conducting noble crackdowns, scams are constantly evolving to beat their odds.
That brings us to the end of our assortment. We urge you to help fellow investors by spreading the word about this article. Hope you enjoyed reading this short but valuable post.
Stay alert, stay safe, and hang around on our website for more edifying write-ups.
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