Unfortunately, scammers have become part of our society. It is so popular that if you were lucky enough to never be a victim of a scam, then you know at least one person who was.
While some scams are well thought out and planned, others are ridiculous and should be spotted a mile away, yet people continue to fall in love with them. Luckily, the online community has shared these ridiculous scams that people still fall for so you can avoid them.
1. Gift cards for the IRS
Someone mentioned paying “an overdue utility bill with Apple Gift Cards.” This raised discussion about IRS and gift card fraud. Fraud involves the victim being lied to by an “IRS agent” that they may be using gift cards to pay for past due bills, tax arrears, or non-existent legal fees.
The first question is why would the IRS initiate a call when they could send a letter to convey a message. The second must be why gift cards? But, ridiculous scam, right? People are still in love with it.
2. Children behind bars
One person shared a story:As the cashier’s manager, I’ve had several older people who really believed their grandchildren were in jail and needed to withdraw 20,000 cash from their accounts to bail them out. Literally, tell them they got scammed and call your grandchildren in front of me. Of course, the child then responds.
The scammer makes the grandparents believe that their grandchildren are in prison and that they need to bail them out with cash. Isn’t it cruel to play on the intellect of the elders?
3. Get rich quick
This is the funniest of all. Most of the time, if not always, when something sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is. I want to know what drives people to become victims so far; greed or desperation? Any “get rich quick” opportunity that appears to be risk-free should be used with caution or avoided altogether. I’m looking at you MLM.
4. Online weight experts
How great would it be to lose weight by clicking a link and using a pill, patch or cream? But think about it for a moment. The truth is that addictive weight loss advertisements that promise to lose weight in a few days only if you use their products are false promises from companies that want to take your hard-earned money.
5. Computer virus scam
Have you heard of computer virus scams? They write: “Hello, this is John White. I’m calling from Windows Technical Support. We received a notification that your computer has a lot of errors and that it may have a virus.”
Fraud can be a pop-up warning that a virus has infected your computer or phone. Please don’t fall for it. If you click on the link, it may ask you to pay to purchase the software.
6. Free holidays
Have you been offered a free vacation yet? In this scam, scammers call or text victims saying they have won a free vacation and they need to call a number to either claim a prize or get more details.
A “claim” may be related to a service charge or travel club membership. In addition, scammers can also steal the victim’s personal information if they register.
7. Dating apps
Literally, the number of people who get scammed daily on dating sites is alarming. You meet a beautiful girl, she has everything you ever dreamed of, but she is broke and she needs money to buy a plane ticket to get to you. In addition, her mother is sick and needs money to complete her treatment. Listen: you’ve probably been lied to, and not your true love.
8 Romantic Scam
This is a more personal type of scam and unlike dating apps it can take place anywhere and the scammers usually play the long game. The participant shares the experience of his colleague:
“My colleague, who was widowed three years ago, met a man online and has been talking to him for over a year. He says that he has an apartment in a prestigious area of a nearby city. They haven’t met in person because he’s building a bridge in Dubai. He was going to come home for Christmas, but the tickets were very expensive.
I’m 95% sure it’s a romantic scam.” It has people trusting strangers online. Strangers they’ve never met in person. Unfortunately, many older people get sucked into these romantic scams and lose their $401K and savings to a scammer pretending to love them.
9. Multilevel marketing scam
The scam here makes you recruit more people to be scammed. The scammers promise great wealth, but you must attract referrals to earn. MLM never sells goods. It’s always about getting more people to follow you.
Every time you’re approached with a “small business opportunity”, Google and more Google. And always ask Google: “Is this company an MLM?” If yes, RUN!
10. Lottery
Let’s talk about this stupid scam. Millions are playing the lottery hoping to become “the next big millionaire.” The funny thing is that people think that the chances of winning the lottery in another country are high. A lottery they never entered. They get a call and are announced as the winners, but of course they have to pay bank fees for a fake check.
Please! Be extra careful with how you use the internet, always ask questions and do your research before investing in anything.
This a thread inspired this post.
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