Imagine this. In 2020 alone, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received nearly 792,000 complaints about suspected online crimes. That’s a huge jump from just under 300,000 complaints in 2016, five years ago.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2020 shows that the skyrocketing numbers also resulted in a record $4.2 billion in losses through various online scams.
Now this picture.
IC3’s report shows cases spiked rapidly from 2019 to 2020, adding 325,000 claims and $700 million.
These internet fraud statistics point to an exponential increase in the number of online scams involving increasing amounts of money.
With internet scams becoming more and more common, how do you protect your financial life from being ruined?
Here are five ways to avoid online scams based on new statistics.
1. Avoid sending money to people you just met
Romance scams have become the most common and expensive of the past three years.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also found that the average amount people lost in online romance scams amounted to $2,500 in 2019.
People trying to find love on social channels and online dating apps/sites lost more than $300 million in 2019 alone.
Victims told federal scammers who asked for financial assistance appealed to their compassion and promised to refund but never did.
Scammers also avoid face-to-face meetings, taking advantage of the pandemic’s social distancing recommendations to avoid revealing their true intentions.
So you’ll want to avoid sending money to new friends and acquaintances in the hope that they’ll pay or like you back.
2. Meet in an open, friendly area
How does an open, friendly area look like in real life?
- Choose a public meeting point.
- Avoid carrying cash if you are expecting a purchase delivery. Instead, prioritize paying with your phone — not even with a credit card.
- The goal is to avoid showing you any signs of cash, so you won’t encourage criminals to commit fraud with your details.
- Also, invite a friend to come along, especially if you’re meeting someone for the first time.
- Reject any invitation to pay in advance in the name of a reservation in a restaurant or other location. Do that by hovering over a link in a message. See if the link that pops up matches the submitted link.
- If they are different, leave it as is. It could be a phishing link.
Use reverse lookup sites to find out who they are
- You can look up someone’s number using reverse lookup sites. You can query the identity of unknown callers with reverse phone number search.
- Or you can do a quick or more detailed background check on someone to make sure they are true to what they say.
- Top reverse lookup services can provide additional details with a specific phone number, email or physical address.
- However, legitimate reverse lookup sites use publicly available information under the rules outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
- After all, you don’t want to be involved in illegal searches, tracking, or be tempted to invade other people’s privacy with the information you’ll collect.
Some of that information includes:
- Find out if there’s a phone scam associated with that number
- Arrest and criminal record
- Name and address of number holder
- Alternative phone number
- Marriage or divorce records
- Property records
That is powerful information.
4. Reverse image lookup
In 2020, many scammers have found refuge behind screens and avoided physical contact.
Others search images online to create fake social media accounts.
They will then use fake accounts to trick unsuspecting victims until they get some money.
One way to avoid falling into such a trap is to reverse engineer lookup images online to uncover more details like where they come from, linked social media accounts, and other online presences.
How do you do reverse image search?
It’s a seamless step when using a laptop or desktop computer. Go online to search for an image on Google.
- Enter images.google.com in the URL space
- Click or tap the camera icon
- Drag the image from another window if you open it in a separate browser window. Or click Upload Image to get the image from your computer’s storage.
- Alternatively, copy the person’s online image URL and paste it under Paste Image URL.
- Click Search by Image
Results: Search results will show images related to the one you’ve uploaded or searched for. Or you can find similar photos.
That’s what you want.
Now compare the different images to see if there are any inconsistencies.
Please note that if you can’t find more similar photos that show a real person’s online presence, you don’t want to continue that relationship. Similarly, you can also reverse phone number lookup.
5. Keep all your cards near your chest
You don’t want to divulge personal information, not to your friends, and certainly not to your colleagues at work or the amazing circle you’ve wanted to be a part of for so long.
The top online scams of 2020 all involve stolen personal information:
- Phishing scam targeting growing number of people working from home
- No-delivery scams have fallen victim to online shoppers who prefer to shop safely at their homes
- Outright extortion involves threats of disclosure of acquired personal information
You know better than showing your social security number, credit card details, and consumer credit information.
But did you know that providing your full name, personal phone number, and email address can expose you to internet scams?
If you use dating apps and websites, be aware. The report shows that you are the most likely to divulge those details when you are building a relationship with a potential lover.
So take it slow. Keep your financial life out of the romantic picture until you know more about the other person and have met in person.
For example, you might mention that you have a job or business. But keep the money you earn, debt repayments, assets, and deep financial plans to yourself.
Pack (again)
Internet crime reports have tripled in the past few years.
They hit an all-time high in 2020 as COVID-19 related scams are rampant, including fake online jobs, no-delivery/paying scams, etc.
However, you can avoid online scams when you know what to do and be proactive about it.
Start by not sending money to people you don’t know well. Then use the top reverse lookup sites to verify phone numbers, addresses, emails, and even shared pictures.
Also, keep any information that identifies you private.
Categories: How to
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
