Have you ever been scammed?
Like real scam— they type you put money in and the whole thing just blows up.
Or have you ever done an ‘investment’ and you got neither the promised rewards nor the initial money back?
Don’t be shy. You’re not the only one that has lost money online. It’s time to learn from your mistakes and move on.
How exactly do you recognise when you’re being scammed?
1. ONLINE LOTTERIES
You know those lotteries where they tell you you’ve won a fantastic prize such as a laptop, an iPhone 13, a huge sum of money or a surprise visa (for a competition you never even entered!).
You’ll notice these messages come by mail, phone text or even in your Instagram/Twitter DM. And their names usually look legit with popular brand names (for the smart ones) or they can just be suspicious with a lot of spelling and grammar errors.
To proceed and claim your prize, you will then need to pay some sort of fee or they will ask you to put in your personal and bank details.
This way, they either steal all the money in your account or misuse your identity to continue scamming other people.
Remedy 1
Don’t send money or give your bank card details to anyone you do not know and trust.
You can always verify online lotteries by doing a simple search on Google or straight up avoid any payment requests from random callers.
Block and report any suspicious accounts and don’t entertain random DMs on social media.
2. CONFIRM THIS BANK CODE
This method seems quite obvious but most people just overlook it.
I mean, how can someone ask you to call out the verification code that was just sent to your number and you do so without suspecting anything?
Or they ask you to call out your bank card number & CVC and you don’t even ask any questions.
If these people have enough information about you— which is usually the case, be sure they can easily access all your accounts or even pretend to be you and create new ones in your name.
Remedy 2
Make sure you secure your accounts by using strong passwords especially when you register on new websites. Avoid repeating passwords or using generic answers for security questions.
Even if someone claims to be from one of your banks, avoid giving information off a phone call or text message. Always go to the bank to confirm if you’re in doubt.
3. PONZI SCHEMES (MLM and Co)
Pyramid schemes have cost many people a lot of time and money that they may never be able to recover.
Yes, some people might make some money in the beginning and in fact use that as a leverage to recruit others with speeches about how their life radically changed in one month.
But sooner or later, the pyramid scheme will come crashing down and there will be nothing to show for your ‘investment’.
This is because you don’t get time to think and research properly after the promoters have made extravagant promises— ‘get-rich-quick’ narrative.
The trick is to play on your emotions, pressuring you to act immediately before you get a chance to back out.
Multi-Level Marketing Schemes (especially pyramid schemes) are rarely a worthy investment, no matter how enticing the offer is.
There are several other less obvious scam tricks going around these days.
There are employment scams asking you to fill in all sorts of compromising personal information usually including bank details in order to get a job.
Some will even go as far as claiming to have kidnapped someone close to you and demand a huge sum of money as ransom. And it’s almost never true- hopefully.
Yes, some of these scams may seem so obvious you wonder how people still fall for them. But a lot of tricks and mind games go into these processes so you need to be extremely careful when dealing with them.
Final tips to become scam-proof:
- Check and double check everything. No need to rush.
- Calm down, do your research and ask questions.
- Don’t transfer any money to anybody yet— gift cards, wire or bank transfers. Just chill.
- Report suspicious activity and warn those around you when you notice anything off.
Do you have a significant scam experience? Share with us in the comment section.
