Beware Internet Scams!

Recently a friend excitedly told me of how she had received an email that informed her of a job offer in the United States.

She was told she could earn thousands of dollars by simply clicking a link they had sent.

I listened intently then asked her if she had been asked to send any money in order to start the job offered in the email.

She claimed it was only a small amount of money and if it meant she would earn much more it seemed worth the risk.
Unfortunately, she had already sent the money before our conversation and months have passed with no sign of the promised job offer.

She realized she had been the victim of an Internet scam.

The scams on the Internet are many and often the persons who are targeted are usually cautious in their everyday life but they are lured by the promise of easy money.
If a stranger offered you money would you take it or would you at least question the source of their money?

Yet on the Internet, many unsubstantiated claims are made and unrealistic promises made that tempt even the most responsible of persons.

How can you be sure it’s a scam?

Since there are legitimate ways of earning money on the Internet how can you be sure it’s a scam?

Be wary of sites that request sensitive personal information that will be required of you in order to ‘collect’ your prize or start the job.

Any email that asks you to click on a link and provide sensitive personal information such as banking details, should be viewed with suspicion.

The link could lead to a bogus website set up by scammers to imitate a real website of a company.

Information submitted on these bogus websites is harvested by the scammers and may then be used to steal funds from the user’s accounts and/or steal the victim’s identity.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Emails can also seem to originate from a legitimate company that you have done business with recently.
It may inform you that some paperwork went missing and you have to submit sensitive information.

Companies do not usually ask customers to submit personal information via email.
The best course of action is to call the company to confirm that the email came from them before you send any information.

Scams are designed to appeal to everyone but it is vital that you investigate or you will regret it!!

What are your thoughts on Internet scams?
Let me hear from you!!

Tags: scams