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How o Protect Yourself From Scammers

Be Ready With Tips From Semalt

How o Protect Yourself From Scammers

Friday April 06, 2018,

3 min Read

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Scammers are constantly changing tact as they seek to get hold of your personal data or money. To keep ahead of these shadowy characters, you need to protect yourself by understanding their mode of operation and using the tips stipulated in this article.

Scammers target everyone

If you think you are not likely to get scammed, think again. Scammers do not discriminate, and they do not necessarily target naive people. Rather, they target people from all income, education levels, races, and ages. So, before you think that you are too smart to fall victim to fraudster tactics, just remember that everyone is vulnerable to scammers.

Why are scammers so successful? Simple. These shadowy characters have mastered the art of exploiting people's generosity, needs, compassion or respect to their advantage.

Protecting yourself from scammers

Now that you know anyone can fall for a scam, the best way to protect yourself from falling victim is by treating strangers as suspects. Anytime you are transacting with strangers whether in person, over the phone or on a social site, keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior.

Most people realize too late that they would not have fallen victim to a scam if they had done due diligence when dealing with a stranger. A simple way to sniff out a fraudster is by performing a Google search on photos or information about people who have dealt with your prospect before attempting to engage with him or her.

Document

While fake documents are not always easy to identify, there are always some warning signs that can tell you that you are dealing with a scammer. Tell-tale signs of a fake document include:

1. Poor grammar or spelling

2. Use of too much official language

3. Generic greetings rather than customized salutations

4. Names of businesses or companies that do not exist

Email

Fraudsters can easily put together an official-looking email by using a logo of a real and reputable company. Fraudsters know that you are likely to let your guard down when you receive an email with a logo of a well-known company. To avoid getting scammed, always ask yourself whether you had contacted the company or you were expecting an email from such a business before opening any attachments.

Fake profile

If you are on a dating site, there are things that can serve as red flags when looking at a dating profile. These are interests, fake photos found online and language skills.

Follow up scams

Fraudsters rarely get enough. In their greed, they keep coming back for more. Here is how you can identify a follow-up scam:

Physician calling to inform you that the fraudster requires urgent assistance since their lives are in danger.
Call or correspondence from law enforcement officers claiming that they want to help you to investigate your scam. Here, fraudsters are likely to promise that they can get your money back for a fee. Always keep in mind that law enforcers do not charge any fee to offer their services.
A woman calling you to rescue her from the scammer but she needs money to make her escape.

The above are some of the tactics that fraudsters use in an attempt to extort money from you. To help you avoid falling for a scam, you need to keep abreast with new techniques and tricks fraudsters use to get money from people. In addition, you need to trust your instincts especially when the deal is too good.