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I recently had 47 scam emails in my junk folder so I decided to look at them and think about just how scammers try to scam us and what to look out for.
Who do scammers target?
Everyone any anyone, but like all predators they will focus on certain groups of people such as the weak and the elderly. By weak I mean those people in society who are poor, uneducated or looking for love.
Phishing is a term for scamming the general public, whaling refers to scamming senior execs and other high profile figures. A recent phishing scam involved fake letters form the Inland Revenue.
The Psychological tactics
- Threat
Playing on fear. In some cases frightening people with threats can make them act impulsively without thinking clearly.
‘If you don’t do X the Y will happen to you.’
Example: Scammers send you fake emails warning you that your account will be shut if you do not disclose your password and login details.
No company will ever ask for you to give out passwords and confidential information. The emails are usually poorly written using unprofessional language, poor spelling and grammar. They usually have an unconvincing signature block with a fake sounding name job description.
- Sympathy
Love is blind…
Scammers use the sympathy vote to get money out of the days. I like to think that gone are the days when anybody would send money into a Thai bank account for their foreign ‘girlfriend’. Unfortunately I did meet somebody a few years ago who was paying a substantial amount of money to support a woman he barely knew.
Not only was there a likelihood that he was being ripped off, but the funds were set up by direct debit meaning that if the money was used for any illegal activity then he would be implicated.
Some of the junk emails I received were from Nigerians asking for money to support their families. While the money may go to a good cause to feed a family, it is far more likely that the sender is part of an organised phishing scam to get money for them! Then there is the question of misuse of email addresses.
- Intrigue
‘You have 10 new messages!’
‘You have won a Cannon printer!’
A colleague at work once accidentally clicked on one of these messages and all hell broke loose. Down came a torrent of advertising windows with everything from shopping to dating. She was unable to close the windows and the computer eventually crashed.
I don’t think anybody deliberately opens these messages nowadays but be careful not to click on them by mistake. It’s easily done.
Sorry we missed you…
Recently across the UK there have been fake courier companies leaving cards through people’s letter boxes. When the resident calls the number to rearrange redelivery guess what? No parcel, £300 premium rate phone call!
I haven’t ordered anything?
You may be wondering why I have included this scam. While it’s easy for the individual to keep a track on their Amazon deliveries, it’s not so easy for self-employed people such as merchants who receive large quantities of goods on a regular basis.
Courier vans will call again if they missed you, if however you have been away for a holiday and find one of these cards on the doorstep the best thing to do if you are in any doubt is ring up the supplier. They will be able to tell you when the parcel was dispatched.
Another possibility for sussing out if the company is legitimate is to call from a pay-as-you-go phone. That way they won’t be able to get £300 out of you the way they can if you are on contract.
We are testing the network.
Some scammers ring you up pretending to be phone technicians. They target contract mobiles and landlines. If the caller says they are ‘testing cell phone circuits’ be suspicious. If they ask you to press #90 or #09 your suspicions are confirmed! Somebody is attempting to scam you and pressing these numbers means that they can make a long distance call at your expense. Usually in the region of £20. When you are at work never transfer anyone to an outside line.
- Seduction
‘What will you do with your first wage?’
‘Just think of paying off all those bills....’
Just as advertisers use seduction tactics to make you want to buy their products, scammers use the same technique to make you want to work for their (fake) company.
The thing to watch out for with online companies is the language they use. Scam company operators manipulate language to their advantage. Look carefully at what they are actually saying.
The Ukrainian Dating Scam
She’s a man eater…
I was intrigued that anybody would fall for this scam. The women who presumably work for a central organization invite men to their country. They are not interested in getting money paid into their bank accounts which is probably why men are less suspicious. They operate in different ways. When the man arrives in the country to meet his ‘true love’ she takes him to the most expensive restaurants, shops and so on, she asks for a translator (who works on commission) and she gives him numbers billed at premium rates. Then when he asks where she is going she says ‘to work,’ and off she goes to meet another man.
While it is naïve to think that any of us is infallible to scammers, there are things we can do to minimise the risk. As they become more proficient in their trade, we have to become more diligent, more suspicious. It’s sad really!
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