Fraud and Scams
In this article, I want to take you through some of the scams and frauds that are currently taking place across the UK. This article is paired with the video which walks through the different types of frauds and how to protect yourself and your loved ones. Today I’ll take you through five different types and Wednesdays article will cover the remaining five common examples.
What types of frauds occur:
Romance, Holiday scams, Ticket, Email (Phishing, vishing and smishing) and investment.
Romance Fraud:
Romance fraud takes on the persona of a man or woman trying to groom the victim who genuinely believes the person on the other side of the account is interested in pursuing a relationship. The fraud comes from them impersonating often a real person using real content stolen from another individual’s social media accounts. These scammers then aim to make money from unsuspecting individuals for various needs of these fake personas. Now, this particular fraud has cost over fifty million and like other frauds is on the increase. How to protect yourself DATES: ensure you Don’t enter into an online relationship without getting to know the person behind the profile and the scammer will try to get you to know to influence you into sending them money by getting to know them this should be a two-way system. You can do this by Analysing their profile does their name come up in social media profiles or any particular red flags that appear such as they repeatedly use common themes. Talk think about whether what they are saying is true or whether they are too good to be true we all have our flaws and this is something that should be evidenced in conversations. Evade scams you should never be pressured to send your money or bank details regardless of whether it is for gifts or to help the individuals out. Stay on the different dating platforms this is more prevalent on social media whether the dating websites securities to identify the individual have not been done. Once you are ready meet them in person. This is also not just a problem that faces men sixty-three percent of Women suffer under romance scams as well.
Holiday Scams:
Holiday scams may increasingly become more of a problem as we look to reopen following lockdowns. So how can you be mindful that you do not get scammed and remember this can be both national and international scams. In terms of holidays whether you are purchasing a holiday home, a holiday or an overnight stay make sure that the prices are not significantly different from competitors this is not to deter you from bargains simply making you are aware to do your due diligence in areas which are significantly cheaper. Using recognised providers this includes new entrants who are competitors in the market provide you with safeguards against disingenuous fraudsters to give you more peace of mind. Whether this is tour operators such as British Airways, or brokers such as Air BnB. Warning signs would be poor spelling and shoddy grammar, incorrect addresses, no security on the website such as privacy policies.
Ticket Scams:
Now Ticket Scams can be broadly similar except they are often advertising for a particular event rather than a trip. This has two areas which are important to avoid supporting ticket touts or scalpers who buy tickets in bulk and stop this type of business which is very often not transferable to other patrons and therefore lines their profit leads events down on audience members and hits attendees hard. The scams can also be fake tickets either for a fake event or fake ticket been resold the best way to prevent this is to buy from the correct providers and ensure that you use more secure payments such as credit cards for an extra safeguard.
Phishing, Vishing and Smishing:
Although this is largely covered by the video to give you a summary of what you are looking for they are largely trying to pass themselves off as official organisations who would normally be in contact with you. Whilst they may well try to use contact you more personally unless your name is out in the media it is unlikely mass scams will try to do this. This is easier to spot when the address contains random letters and numbers in it and again do not click the links go through the traditional webpages available through search engines. Now Vishing when combined with phone number spoofing allows scammers to pretend to be legitimate organisations to either defraud you out of money or access your financial information. This is something that they can do through both in a more threatening manner using the police or prosecution as a threat or whether it be unlocking an account. Now Smishing is broadly similar but uses text messages instead where they will have spoofed your number and are chancing on opportunistically getting you to follow instructions and provide them with your bank details. The best thing to remember here is that banks will want you to call them rather than to put you at greater risk, these organisations will not ask for your personal details over text or send you links remember this and screenshot the message, then delete it and contact your bank or relevant organisation.
Investment Scam:
Now, these groups will have collected your information from lists of shareholders and will be trying to tie you to a deal there and then presenting you with an opportunity that you do not want to miss. Any firm should want you to do your due diligence even if the deal is good and they should have your interest at heart. The contact should not be unsolicited by the organisation it should not be a cold call, they should give you the opportunity to get back in contact with them. The investment is too good to be true.
This will be continued in a subsequent article hopefully this will help someone.
https://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2019/10/31/dating-and-romance-fraud-in-the-uk-the-latest-statistics/
https://www.sussex.police.uk/romance-fraud
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/02/scam-alert-romance-fraud-victims-lose-50m/
https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/advice/general-advice/holiday-scams/
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/holiday.html
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jan/04/holiday-scams-travel-dangers-how-to-avoid-them
