- How many times have you won a lottery you don’t remember entering in?
- How about people finding you online, wanting to give you huge sums of money that once belonged to a now dead oil tycoon or political big shot?
- What about those characters wanting to start a business with you and invest millions in the venture?
- Or banks sending you notices about changing your login details, except, you don’t have an account with them?
- Received an email from Facebook, asking you to update your account?
- Or Hotmail or Yahoo asking you to change your password to protect you better?
Well, you get the idea. Scammers out there will do anything to fool you and steal your money or information, sometimes both. Identity theft has ruined countless lives and the advent of doing everything online, has just caused it to spread like wildfire! But, you don’t have to fall for it. Unless you are greedy and the prospect of making a quick million (or more), blinds you!
I’d like to take this opportunity and point out some of the most common attempts made by these unscrupulous individuals, how you can spot the flaws and avoid being “taken for a ride”. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I will do my best.