How to Identify a Scammer Online.
I am willing to wager that you would barely be able to spend an hour online without running into a potential scam.
The internet is absolutely rife with them. Whilst the number is not as high as it was in the past in the early days of mass internet pretty, much everything was a scam
There are still a number of devious people out there
People who want to do nothing more than get their grubby hands on your hard-earned cash.
Thankfully most scammers are not smart
Most are pretty dumb actually. Using the right techniques you should be able to weasel out some of the biggest scammers online with ease.
This is not a complete guide to identifying a scammer online that would take many pages.
What I want to do however is share a couple of tips which should hopefully stand you in good stead.
Perhaps one of the biggest scams out there will be landing in your inbox.
Email Scams
Many scammers will send ‘fake’ emails out which include attachments or a link.
Emails appear as if they came from a reputable source (for example; PayPal).
Software
A keylogger installed on your computer, a piece of software recording all keystrokes
Or to get you to head to a website where you type in your personal information which they can then steal.
Thankfully these online scams should be easy to spot
• Very few companies will send attachments via email unless you are expecting something.
If you are not expecting an email with an attachment you should never open it.
It should give you great cause of concern.
You should be able to spot those pretty quickly.
• Highlight the link before clicking it
Highlighting it, you will see the real domain name.
It is most likely going to be nothing related to the site that you should be heading to.
Another popular scam is trying to get money out of you in exchange for tips on how to make more money online.
These scams should be pretty easy to spot
• Asked to give money up-front for a ‘get rich quick’ scheme, you can sure you will lose your cash
• There are some ‘scams’ out there which claim to give you knowledge for free.
People don’t do this, humans are not that kind, for the most part at least.
How to Identify a Scammer Online
As I said at the start, this is a very brief guide how to identifying scammers online.
It is your duty to be safe on the internet. If something looks a little bit sketchy then you absolutely must avoid it.
Report a scam here actionfraud.police.uk