Have you ever been the victim of a scam?
With the number of consumers and businesses that are targeted by scammers on the rise, falling for such insidious traps has become a national problem. Most people think they can spot shady individuals from miles off, and some claim that they’d never fall victim to any internet or phone shams, but the statistics speak volumes.
There seems to be a myth going around too, one that claims seniors are far more likely to fall for these traps. Perhaps this is the reason why 43% of people ages 20 to 29 have reported being victims of such fraud a couple of years ago?
The bottom line is that nobody’s safe from them. The Federal Trade Commission, also known as the TFC, reported that 1.4 million frauds were signaled in 2018, with a total amount of $1.5 billion was lost throughout the United States- and these are just known reports. Millions of people might have been duped without alerting the authorities.
In order to keep your money safe, we’ve compiled a list of scams you should be on the lookout for. Recognizing that something shady is at play is the first step of steering clear of these scammers, so take note and the next time any of these things happen to you, step away.
2 Responses
About 2 years ago, I had someone call me from “Dell computer” to tell me that they randomly monitored some of their computers and, while checking on my computer, they found that some scammer had accessed my computer and had installed some spyware. I wasn’t sure if they were on the “up and up” so I asked some questions. I asked him what model computer I owned and he told me correctly. I asked him the service tag number and he got that right too. I then told him to tell me what I needed to do and he said that if I would just give him permission, he would take over my machine and check it and remove the spyware for me. I was duly suspicious, but let him go. After a few seconds I saw my mouse pointer start moving on screen. Then, it dawned on me that there was no way that Dell could monitor every computer their company makes, it would run into many millions. I then reached over to my battery backup that I use and pushed the power button off and told him that I would contact Dell for myself with the REAL 1-800 number. Of course, he argued and I just hung up on him. I then called the Dell Customer Service line and told them what had happened. They told me that there was no way they could monitor any computer of theirs and I had done the right thing. Since then, I have gotten several other scam calls with the same line. If I don’t have much to do, I will play along with their scam just to have some fun. If they say they were monitoring my “Dell computer”, I would say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a Dell (I really do), I have an HP.” That will befuddle him some. He would go on and on about “your Dell, not HP” and I’ll insist I don’t have a Dell just smiling from ear to ear. After a few minutes I would say, “You obviously have the wrong number” and hang up. I did this one time and just a few minutes later, a person with the same foreign accent (they always have a foreign accent) and said he was from HP and had been monitoring my HP computer! It was the same person, to be sure. I then turned it around and told him that I didn’t own an HP, but a Dell. He was very frustrated and cursed at me and hung up!!
This is a great tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate info… Many thanks for sharing this one.
A must read post!