With the holidays and the New Year coming up, scams will once again be at an all-time high. It does seem that fraudsters have a passion for being the Grinch during around the holidays as compared to some other season of the year. What to do then? Brush up on your sleuthing skills and make sure to keep an eye out for these types of fraud and how they operate:
900 Numbers
You will be contacted by the fraudster via mail or email and then convince you to call a 1-900 number to claim your non-existent prize.
Advance Payment Scam
You will be asked to send an upfront payment for goods, services, or anything nice but of course the scammer won?t hold their end of the bargain.
Card Crimes
Basically this works by getting your data skimmed by fraudsters and then they use that data to make fake cards that they use to spend your money and rack up your credit bill.
Counterfeit Cheques
Still more popular than ever, scammers still use fraudulent cheques to get you to send them goods or money but they do it so well that you won?t know until after the deed has been done.
Directory and Supply Scams
Very cunning companies will contact you to avail of their very special bargain prices but it will only be effective if you make a purchase within the next 10 minutes. Later on you find out that the quoted price is far from being a bargain one and is even marked up. Worse, there could be no goods at all.
Emergency Scams
One of the oldest in the book but still works like a charm, the fraudster will contact you to inform you that a loved one has had some sort of accident or needs some money as soon as possible. Always call your loved one directly should you receive a call like this.
Extortion Scam
The scammer will blackmail you about something to get money, goods, property, or services. This type of scam is particularly virulent because oftentimes, the scammer won?t stop until there?s nothing more to give.
Fake Charities
Fraudsters will make use of the names of established charities to get you to give them ?help?. Sometimes, they would even use facebook and ask you to donate via Paypal.
Identity Fraud and Identity Theft
The fraudster will collect your personal information either to extort money from you or to use your information to commit various frauds.
Investment Scam
You will be convinced by investing your hard earned cash or properties in non-existent businesses or worthless things.
Being Used as a Money Mule
Often associated with money laundering, the scammer may ask for your help to use your bank account to transfer money from one account to another. This can also happen without you being aware of it.
Overpayment Scam
Closely associated with the fake cheque scam, a fraudster will deliberately send you a fake cheque with a much higher value than the cost of goods or services that you are offering. They?d ask you to either give the change in cash or deposit it in their account, thereby making money off of you.
Phising Scam
Internet scammers fish for your personal data such as usernames and passwords by luring you to a fake log-in page.
Romance Scams
A very attractive male or female lures you by pretending to be romantically interested in you and then end up using you like an ATM after gaining your trust and affection.
Tax Scams
Tax season comes with a whole hoarde of scammers who will not waste time to find any opportunity to scam you out of your hard-earned money. When something is amiss and you have no idea what it is when you?re dealing with money matters, then your brain might be telling you that you are being scammed.
Need extra help protecting yourself from holiday scams? Think you may have been a victim of fraud? Then you may need some private investigator action! Contact us for an obligation-free initial consultation today!
