This year’s top ten scams looks at not only those scams that affected us in 2010, but what to watch out for in 2011.
One of the biggest trends is in scam artists taking advantage of the public’s eagerness to embrace new technologies and services, like social media and online commerce, which allows them to cast a net over countless victims from a safe distance.
“Many people view their online personas as separate from their real life ones, and don’t take the same precautions to protect their identities, their computers, or their money” says Lynda Pasacreta, Better Business Bureau (BBB) president and CEO. “They differentiate their online experience from their non-virtual environment, and as a result are particularly vulnerable to scams. Scam artists are savvy to consumers who click first and ask questions later.”
While some scammers have gone online to search for victims, many others are relying on some tried-and-true low tech methods to take advantage of vulnerable people, like senior citizens and the unemployed.
The following Top Ten Scams list is developed jointly by BBB, Consumer Protection B.C. and Competition Bureau of Canada.
In no specific order, here are the Top 10 scams to be on the lookout for in 2011:
Door-to-door scams
Every new season seems to attract a new door-to-door scammer offering unbelievable deals.
Not-so-free trial offers
Online ads may tempt you to try out a diet
product, acne cream, or teeth whitener, but be careful about signing up for so-called ‘free’ trial offers.
Anti-social network
Fraudulent work-at-home job offers are sent through Tweets and Facebook messages, deceptive free trials are advertised, and click jacking on Facebook convinces users to post malicious links on their status updates.
Advance Fee Loans
Consumers have reported losing substantial sums of money responding to advertisements that guarantee loans to people, often online.
Phishing, vishing, and smishing
Phishing scams send emails that look legitimate, requesting that your account information needs to be updated.
Vishing attacks come via telephone, usually through a recorded message that tells users to call a toll-free number.
Smishing scams target mobile device users, sending text messages that might ask a recipient to register for a service that downloads a virus or warn that the consumer will be charged unless he cancels his supposed order by going to a website that then extracts such credit card numbers and other private data.
Relative Scam
This phone scam targets grandparents who think they are aiding their grandchildren by sending money for an emergency situation, but are in fact giving thousands of dollars to con artists. The victim receives a distressed phone call from someone he believes is his grandchild, who typically explains that he has been arrested or involved in an auto accident and need the grandparent to wire money to post bail or pay for damages, usually amounting to a few thousand dollars.
Job Scams
Online job-hunters are told they will be paid to work from home once payment is sent for a start-up kit that never arrives.
Mystery shoppers are hired to secret shop a wire-transfer service; they’re sent a cheque, told to deposit it, keep a small percentage of the money as their wage, wire the rest and then complete the survey on the service you encounter.
Business Opportunities
You may have heard about a new investment opportunity presentation in your neighbourhood.
Business Directory Scams
Small business owners are often targets of scammers. Unauthorized invoices, unordered packages, and phony business directories are all common tactics used to bilk businesses out of money. Many businesses have received look alike, or phony, invoices for advertising space in the familiar, locally distributed yellow page directories.
Overpayment Scams
Online buyers and sellers, particularly those that use websites like Craigslist and Kijiji, are potential targets for overpayment scams.
A person selling merchandise is contacted by someone claiming to be interested in buying the product. The purchaser arranges to make the payment by cheque and even offers more than the value of the product, asking for the extra money to be sent back to them by cheque or wired to an account. The cheque turns out to be fraudulent, leaving the shipper out of both funds and product.