Scams happen all around the world and defraud millions of people each year. They trick you to spend money or sell your phone or take out your personal information.
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Here are the common tricks that are followed by swindlers and help you to avoid online scams:
1) Know Your Seller Or Buyer
When you are buying online, try to find seller’s physical address and phone number. Ask a few questions about their business and get to know them a little bit. If you are the seller, make buyers comfortable and try out to find a bit about them. If you are the buyer, you can Google for company’s name and website and look for reviews about it.
2) Don’t send money to unknown persons
Scams tend to show up in the exact same form, so you need to be cautious when tempting to a great deal. The best thing is to get to know the seller for trustworthiness. To avoid online scams, it is best to do business with sites you know and are trustworthy. Never pay fees now for the big pay-off offer later.
3) Don’t Reply To Messages Asking Personal Details
There are many scammers that send email, phone calls or text messages announcing that you won a big lottery prize. Don’t call on such numbers or reply to such messages. These crooks trick you into revealing sensitive financial information.
4) Beware Of Fake Wi-Fi Hotspots
Fake Wi-Fi hotspots are cropping up everywhere and it can be difficult to find the legitimate ones. Criminals duplicate the webpage of a Wi-Fi provider and try to mine your computer for banking, credit card and other personal information. To avoid online scams, make sure that you are not automatically connected to non-preferred networks. Do not do any banking or internet shopping from public hotspots.
5) Avoid Charity Scams
You get an email with the image of a malnourished orphan and the email recommends you send a wire transfer and detailed personal information. Thus emails are scams designed to harvest your banking information. You should not reply to such emails and donate only to real charities on their own websites. Genuine organization won’t ask for wire transfer, bank account details or social security numbers.
6) Be Extra Safe When Shopping By Phone
When you are using mobile for shopping, make sure that you make payments via big retailers’ apps/. As mobiles often lack protections like anti-virus, mobile transactions need to be carried out with extra security.
7) Don’t Friend Strangers
There are many dating sites, chat rooms and other sites where you exchange pictures, talk on the phone and soon become their friends. Dating and social networking sites are a great medium to meet new friends, even from other countries, but if someone asks for money and financial favors, it is advisable to keep away from such friends.
8) Report Scams
If you think you have been scammed, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and for those; not living in US can file complaint at www.econsumer.gov. You should also report scams to your State Attorney General.
If you want to suggest some more ways to avoid online scams, please share your opinion in the comments section below!
