Although scams are constantly present in life, scammers do not stop trying to confuse a person, swindle money or valuables from them. But they, almost all, act according to the same scheme, which is known to everyone, yet the number of victims is always huge.
Signs of Financial Fraud
There are several signs of financial fraud that can be recognized from the first minutes of a conversation with a fraudster:
- a call from an unknown number,
- fast, barely understandable speech with threats or financial bait,
- offers of loans on favorable terms.
It is also necessary to understand and recognize the signs of phone fraud aimed at extracting information about the victim's financial status, their banking details, cards, and secret PIN codes.
The main goal of the fraudster is enrichment at someone else's expense without investing a penny. Their main actions are aimed at obtaining confidential information and learning as much personal information as possible about the victim. To psychologically influence them, using pressure to extract finances, after which the victim becomes of no interest to the scammer.
How to Recognize a Scammer
Sometimes it is not immediately possible to recognize fraudsters, and a person loses their funds or savings. Sometimes, a scammer can only be recognized after they have already obtained what they wanted. They immediately break off contact, do not answer calls or messages. Also, when communication was conducted through a site created to deceive, the page may also disappear from the internet. If the victim has no information about the criminal, it will be very difficult to recover what was lost. It should be remembered that the scammer will always find the victim first. Depending on their goals, they may attract with:
- enticing advertisements,
- SMS messages,
- robotic calls where you need to confirm information.
Characteristics of Fraudsters
Fraudsters are powerful psychologists; they resort to almost the same scheme of deception. They possess almost identical characteristics:
- contact the potential victim first;
- engage in conversation;
- offer very favorable financial deals;
- extract information about finances;
- demand immediate response to advantageous financial offers;
- ask to share banking details;
- make a lucrative offer, requiring immediate investment, otherwise the deadline expires and the financial transaction will fail;
- may ask for money as a loan for investments and promise to return it in the shortest terms with high interest.
Scam Schemes
Imagination allows scammers to operate in various areas of life and find victims for deception.
Several main schemes stand out by which scammers work:
- profitable work with minimal investment;
- unexpected lottery winnings;
- money transfers;
- online dating sites;
- charity offers;
- calls from hospitals or police;
- posing as bank employees;
- cryptocurrency traders on online exchanges;
- sales in online stores.
All areas of human activity are at risk of encountering a scammer. To get rich, criminals are now coming up with different schemes, trying to involve all service sectors.
How to Distinguish a Scam from a Real Deal
When making a deal, for example, with a microfinance organization, you should check the legitimacy of the resource. To do this, you should have conversations with the manager, who should provide information about documents, registration in the state register. This company, which provides credit, must be legal, have a financial organization license - this is easy to check on relevant sites. If such an organization does not have supporting documents, then it is most likely scammers.
Also, promises of quick high returns with small capital investments raise doubts about the legitimacy of this organization. The main rule for distinguishing scammers from a legitimate organization is the presence of appropriate documents confirming the company's operation, its payment of taxes, the presence of appropriate statuses and reviews, information about the founders and contact details. Knowing these simple points will allow you to determine who to deal with.
Signs of Deception
The main signs of deception are aimed at personal savings and extracting finances. Scammers are only interested in money, their main task is to exert psychological pressure on a person with quick and immediate decisions, to persuade them to make payments or investments from their own savings into dubious organizations. Also, to confirm any transactions, scammers ask to deposit a small amount to make a transfer, thus obtaining either the money or information about it.