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Using common sense - Your best defense!
People send you a money order to cash for them. This can be ANY reason. They can be responding to an add on craigslist, buying anything or maybe even sending you rent money for the first month, etc. Often they act like they are out of the country or in a remote location, and simply send you a money order. They may even act like they are your friend and want you to cash their money order and simply wire the money back to them. The bottom line is, no matter what the reason, they want you to cash it. You think there is no harm because its just a money order, and it's not like you are spending your money. Sometimes they accidently "overpay", for example the rent was $700 and they sent $1500, and want you to wire them the amount they "accidently" overpaid. What happens is the money order is fake in ALL these situations, and you cash it and wire them the money. The bank comes back to you a week later and demands the money, because now you are LIABLE for it. The person you wired the money to is long gone and now you OWE the money to the bank. The bottom line is ... don't wire money to anyone, and don't cash money orders or checks for anyone. Be aware, as you are responsible for fake checks and money orders!
Yes it happens, more often then you think. There are many dating sites or meeting places on the internet. People will actually spend a month or two chatting with you, either becoming friends or possibly making you believe they want to date you and become partners. Once they gain your trust, they have some excuse like they are working overseas and cannot cash a money order, and want you to do it for them. You figure it's someone you may be dating, so what harm can be done. See scam #1 above, this is how they then try to scam you out of money after gaining your trust. Another think they may try is to act like they are running a business and want you to mail them products which they send to your door, because they can't get products delivered overseas and need you to simply send them the products. This should never be done. They are having stolen products delivered to your door, and these were bought using stolen credit cards. This is called "drop shipping" and you are helping them by mailing them the products. Don't get caught up in any of these types of dating scams, trust no one you meet on the internet this way. If they are asking you to cash anything for them or help their business out in any way, even if you have been talking to them for a month or more .... be aware. Don't ever wire money because of a cashed money order, and don't send products to someone you have only met over the internet.
This scam has so many stupid varieties, it's hard to believe people fall for it. This is the scam where they say they are a prince, or some person who has come across a large sum of money for whatever the stupid reason may be. There could be a 100 different reasons. The bottom line is they only need you to help recover or help cash in the money, and you are usually notified via email. You only need to spend a small sum of money to gain a large amount of money. They may tell you that you need to spend $5000 to help with the transaction, and then you get millions in return. This is obviously a scam and people have fallen for it. They send random emails and hope someone replies if they send enough of them. Use common sense, you aren't getting anything in return and you they will have you send as much money as you can, whether small increments or large, and will keep leading you on. Delete the emails and don't bother replying to this stupid scam attempt.
This scam is one where they have the email account of a friend or family member. You get a random email that someone you know is in trouble, they just need you to wire some money to bail them out of the situation. They may say they were traveling or are overseas, and got into trouble and just need some money quickly. Don't fall for it, its a scam. Again note that they want money "wired". Wiring money means you should be on scam ALERT. Again there are many varieties of this scam.
This scam is one where they have the email account of a friend or family member. You get a random email that someone you know is in trouble, they just need you to wire some money to bail them out of the situation. They may say they were traveling or are overseas, and got into trouble and just need some money quickly. Don't fall for it, its a scam. Again note that they want money "wired". Wiring money means you should be on scam ALERT.
This scam is just like #5 above. They are sending messages to Facebook or Myspace friends and they say they are in trouble. They need you to wire some money to them quickly. Just the same as the previous scam, don't fall for it. Again note that they want money "wired" to them. Wiring money means you should be on scam ALERT.
Everyone should know this by now. This is when you get the email from your bank, brokerage, credit card, or any other account that looks 100% legitimate. They are telling you that you must confirm your password, signon to your account, or your account will be CLOSED. There can be many variations of this, the bottom line is they want you to click a link in an email and signon to your account, because there is some problem with your account. They are trying to get you to panic. Don't fall for it, the link in the email will not take you to your bank but instead take you to a fake site that looks exactly like your bank website. They then capture your password or social security number or any other information they ask you to enter. NO BANK or any other type of business will ever send you these types of "must signon" emails. If you are concerned in any way, simply open your browser and go to you website bookmark instead, just never click the email link. Following the simple rule of "NEVER CLICK AN EMAIL LINK" in any email like this would save people from these phishing attempts. The rule is simple, so follow that rule. You can always signon to your bank website by going to your bookmarks instead, which is how you should always access online password related sites. If you are really concerned just pick up the phone and call your bank, and they will tell you the same thing I told you here, that its a scam and don't click the link in the email.
This always occurs around tax time. They want to make you think there is a problem with your taxes. Obviously the IRS would never contact people via email this way. Don't ever click the email link and entery your social security number or any other information they want you to perform. Follow the same rule already stated earlier about not clicking email links and do not ever panic because of these types of emails. Real businesses, IRS, etc., does not ever send these types of emails.
This scam is one where they send you an email confirmation saying "Thank you for buying the item" or that money was transferred from your paypal account, etc. The bottom line is they want you to panic and believe something was incorrectly charged to you, or money was taken from you. They want you to sign on and enter your password or other information. Again, do not click the email link as this is simply another scam attempt. Go to your bookmarks and sign on separately from email if you really want to signon to the site, and you will see there is no such transaction as the fake email was trying to make you believe.
This is scam where you must open the attachment to see what is being said. The attachment could be anything, do not EVER open randomly received attachments like this. Just delete the email, as the attachments can contain viruses or backdoor trojans. The bottom line is simple. You can avoid almost all these types of scams by using common sense and not panicing just because you received an email.
Just follow 3 simple rules and you can avoid most scam attempts online:
The bottom line is these rules are so simple yet people don't follow these rules. Do not panic, they rely on panic to get you to do these things. Remember that things that are to good to be true usually are, like getting millions of dollars based on an email you received. If you are really concerned, simply post it on the messageboard here before you do anything, as I review these posts and will answer questions for you. Just make sure your post is detailed and has all the information, otherwise I won't waste my time responding to lazy posts. |
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