Don’t get scammed: How to recognize and avoid online fraud
Kitboga is the pseudonym of a software programmer with a strange career detour. In 2017 his grandmother became a target of online scammers, leaving Kit disgusted and angry and ready to strike back. Since the incident, his mission became targeting scammers using scambaiting. Today, he and a few others like him manage to bring entertainment value into a deadly serious question: online scams.
Unfortunately, many young IT professionals starving for a quick buck choose to become part of a scam operation rather than earn less in a regular job.
Anti-scammers manage to extract critical information about the criminal organization and its operations. Some of them hack the scammers’ computers and use them to confront scammer agents. Occasionally, newly recruited agents will crumble under all the moral pressure and reveal details about the internal structure of the company they work for. This ongoing battle is somewhat under the radar, but it won’t ever cease, and we must give it a closer look.
Some online samaritans reach out to targeted people and manage to prevent cybercriminals from claiming their money. Scammers prefer cash, crypto, or gift cards – any currency or method that helps them quickly vanish after the robbery.
Those who follow our blog series know that cyber security is the ultimate digital padlock. We firmly established that one of the most significant flaws of any security is the human factor, the weakest link between man and machine. Online scammers abuse this relationship and get to the vulnerable through the vast-reaching hand of the Internet. Most scammed victims happen to be senior citizens, but as we shall see – nobody is insured, and everyone is someone’s target.
This article is not about where the Nigerian prince hid the counterfeit money. His method caused work until its notoriety crippled the effect. Every scam method has a lifetime, but some linger far longer than expected. Would you believe it if I told you the ‘the prince’ —although it already reached a meme status — still does fantastic damage each year. You may not fall for it, but someone will, and that could be your relative, friend, or business partner.
Even if you run a strictly non-digital business, some inevitable part of your data is embedded online. We must often refresh our knowledge on new technological advances. Every new gadget is a potentially powerful weapon in the hands of the wicked.
The evolution of online scamming
Online scamming is a type of fraud, and as such, it spreads across layers of styles depending on scope and complexity. Some criminals specialize in compromising corporations, like business email breaches. Others focus on the individual – the weak, the defenseless, the tech illiterate, or the naive. If you think you have a strong character and perceptive mind, think again. It only takes one invulnerability to unleash an avalanche of bad events and add your number to statistics.
The damage from online dating scams in the USA alone reached a ten-figure. The dating scam example shows that senior citizens are by far not the most common victim of scammers. There are quite a few lonely people desperate enough to dare reach out into the unknown in hopes of connection. There are quite a few examples indicating that pandemic restrictions exacerbate the problem.
Isolated or not, the demographics of online scamming are disturbingly vast. Depending on the scammer’s quality and resources, we all fall under some category or other as potential victims. The sooner we learn what makes us vulnerable to fraud, the better we are as individuals and professionals.
What are some of the trending types of online scams?
Some of the tactics described below seem absurd; others rival good old nuggets like the ‘Nigerian prince letter.’ Let’s keep in mind that perpetrators concentrate on abusing vulnerabilities, and practice shows that where there is one, there’s another. Senior citizens who possibly suffer from health conditions are examples of an ideal target. However, online scams cater to all human flaws. Unfortunately, our drives and desires become vital factors in orchestrated scammer traps. Great companies rely on personas to get a better read on their customers; scammers use the same strategy to single out victims.
Let’s have a peek into the jungle of online fraud. Mosquito nets and malaria pills are obligatory.
Crypto-Related Fraud
With the value and interest in “digital gold” surging after the virus hit, criminals ride a rising tide and manage to lure more unsuspecting small-game investors (or people who simply fell in love) and rob them. Cryptocurrency adds another layer of anonymity that the Internet, by default, provides. Therefore, crypto scams victims are having a callous time finding the thieves. Thanks to the supreme privacy rules of cryptocurrencies—a byproduct of blockchain technology—criminals get away with such frauds and disappear without a trace.
Crypto fraudsters use dating apps to leverage their digital coin schemes. Cybercriminals can combine crypto frauds with online dating scams. Thanks to more people feeling lonely amidst the pandemic and the buzzing fuss around cryptocurrencies. The result? An exquisite combination that already caused material and psychological damage to tens of thousands of victims for 2021 alone.
CRYPTO FAUCET SCAMS
The best scams are those that require little investment (or risk) for the perpetrators, and crypto scams culminate into what are now ominous applications promising a slow but steady income.
One such example is the crypto faucet scams. The term ‘faucet’ aims to describe the rate of payment. Leave your kitchen tap water to drip overnight, and it would have filled a bowl in the morning. Cypro faucet apps promise their users will gain tiny amounts of cryptocurrency by completing simple tasks.
It is worth mentioning that there are legitimate crypto faucet apps, but this type of business also creates immense opportunities for criminals to “open up shop.” There is a time bomb hiding within the simplicity of the facet app scams. It seems you have everything to gain and close to nothing to lose by trusting them. A brief reminder about the stark similarity between faucet apps and “make thousands from home” scams: they both seem to offer extremely lucrative deals. Faucet app users are convinced that the risk should be low since they put less effort into this. How very wrong.
Scammers use crypto faucet apps to funnel users’ private data. As in most similar scams, offering your name and date of birth is just the tip of the iceberg. The perpetrators aim high. They then gain more assets by leading users to contribute to their demise. For example, some tasks from the faucet app seem innocent: watching ads or completing a captcha; others entice users to click on a dubious link. I cannot emphasize how disturbing the growing number of people who install such apps, link their wallets, and further stake their time and money.
The most popular crypto faucet scams — and one of the most devastating— involve digital wallets. Users spend days, sometimes weeks, gathering drips of the promised digital coin, only to find out at the end they cannot withdraw it. Not only did victims lose their money, but they also put the effort in doing something for a long time on behalf of someone they don’t even know. This insane version of modern slavery would make even the builders of the ancient pyramids raise an eyebrow. In ancient times, terrorizing people took a lot more resources. Today, anyone can use digital technologies to reach millions of people effortlessly and, thanks to automation, damage them without putting too much effort into it.
Conclusion
Online scammers are modern-era kings of the online jungle. It takes an immense effort to dethrone them. The reasons pile up: the potential targets grow constantly and are far into the hundreds of millions; the sophisticated methods to lure victims and cover-up tracks are improving. Online fraud is the harmful bacteria we must learn to live with, and if there is one general rule that will help you avoid the majority of scams, it should be this: don’t wire money to anyone you haven’t met yet.
One of the worst effects of online fraud goes far beyond material damage. Victims often walk off with a permanent psychological scar that won’t heal for years, if ever. Imagine the devastating rush of feelings that a mother experiences when a convincing male voice tells her over the phone that her son suffered a life-threatening car crash.
What is the best way to kill a trending scam scheme? Bring awareness. Mention the threat of online scams the next time you speak to your parents or grandparents, and you might save a life.
