Online Scams that Are Hard to Spot

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Thanks to the advanced technology and the fast development of the Internet, most of the products and services that we need in our everyday lives are available online. Regardless if you are looking for entertainment, shopping, reading the news, and even lending money – you name it, the online world can offer it to you.

Even though the Internet brought the world much closer and enabled us to live much better, there are some cons to it. The most popular backlash that people are facing is the online scams. In the last few years, scams have been happening very often and governments are having a rough time controlling them.

Protecting yourself against these scams can sometimes be very difficult. That’s why we wanted to share the most common online scams and raise your awareness level when it comes to this problem. Let’s check them out.

Personal Loans

Online lenders have become very popular in the last few years. Many people started favouring them over the banks because their approval rates are significantly higher, the approval time is smaller, and they are easy to deal with. Unfortunately, scammers have used their momentum to rob people of their money.

Since this is sort of a financial institution, you would think that you are safe, which is not the case on some occasions. Luckily, there are some ways to spot if the lender is fake or not. If they request upfront payments, or they don’t do a certain credit check, then they are most likely scammers. So, it’s very important to pay attention to the details and be aware of personal loan scam companies.

Although they may seem easy to spot, online lending scams have a success rate on people that don’t know how to use the Internet. Make sure you do good research and abandon all contact if the company seems a bit suspicious. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Online Shopping

The second-most common type of online scams is shopping sites. In all fairness, this is the easiest and most accepted scam because the process of manipulating the clients is much easier. Scammers set up shopping sites where people can browse for their favourite products. After they order certain stuff online and wait for it to arrive at their address, they find out that it’s a scam after the products don’t arrive.

If the offers are too good to be true, then the site is probably fake. Make sure you check the domain name, browse their site, read some reviews, and most importantly, check their return policy. These steps will give you a clue if scammers are trying to get to you.

Now, we must note that there are sites like Groupon – they offer tremendous discounts and are trustworthy. In the end, it all falls to you; you must research the site’s credibility before making any decisions.

Phishing             

Finally, we have phishing. This type of scam is usually done via email spoofing where the potential victim is required to leave personal information like credit card details and passwords to fake websites that are alike the legitimate sites. For example, scammers recreate sites like eBay or Amazon so that you think like you are contacted by a reputable site. Phishing is very hard to control which is why you must pay attention to the details and do not trust anyone with your personal information.

Make no mistake, online scams are a real deal. Recently, 80 people were charged in the US in the country’s biggest scam of that type. Be very careful of the details you leave at certain websites.