10 months into the world’s longest lockdown, more and more people have lost their jobs
while everything continues to become expensive. Along with these events, there is a
rise in the number of criminals who are looking to trick you into giving them your
hard-earned money. There are many kinds of scams, and it seems like a new one is
born each week or month. We’ll discuss each one in the coming weeks, but for now,
here are some of the main types of scams and how you can identify them.
“Too Good to be True”
Many kinds of scams offer you something that seems too good to be true so you will let
go some of that cash you’ve worked hard to make. These could be supposed
investments that promise to pay you back regularly with ridiculously high amounts. Or a
text informing you that you’ve won a huge cash prize, even if you can’t remember
joining a contest or sweepstakes. Or an online store that offers high-value products
(such as electronics or luxury bags) at really low prices.
As the saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it is. Trust your instinct. Don’t fall for
it.
Identity Theft
Some scammers are after something more valuable than a few thousand pesos:
personal information such as your email password, bank account and credit card
details, even things that you think aren’t of any use to other people like your birthday
and address.
These scams use even more sophisticated methods. Many use a website which will
steal all of that information once you visit it. Since many of us would never go there
willingly, they disguise the website in a variety of ways. Some of the more popular ones
include really convincing emails that use a real company’s logo and comes from an
email address that’s very similar to the real thing.
Come back here next week as we start to break down all of these scams, one by one.
rafael antonio dulce 