Fraud Prevention:  How scams work

Why do scams succeed?

 

Scams target people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels across the World. There is no one group of people who are more likely to become a victim of a scam. If you think you are 'too clever' to fall for a scam, you may take risks that scammers can take advantage of.

Scams succeed because of two things

-  Firstly, a scam looks like the real thing. It appears to meet your need or desire. To find out that it is in fact a scam, you must first make the effort to check it properly. You need to ask questions and think carefully before you decide what to do. Being aware of the dangerous myths below will help you with this. Depending on the issue, you can decide if something is a scam on the spot, or you might need help—and that could take several days.

-  Secondly, scammers manipulate you by ‘pushing your buttons’ to produce the automatic response they want. It’s nothing to do with you personally, it’s to do with the way individuals in society are wired up emotionally and socially. It’s because the response is automatic that people fall for the scam. To stop scammers manipulating you into their traps, it can be useful to know how to prevent the automatic response they expect.

Dangerous myths

Some people hold beliefs that leave them even more vulnerable to scams.
One of them is the belief that all companies, businesses and organisations are legitimate and okay because they are all vetted and approved by the government or some other authority. That is not so. Consumer protection agencies can only do so much. While they are constantly on the look-out for dodgy operators, some scams only come to their attention when people report them.

A similar dangerous myth is that internet websites are all legitimate, or that it is difficult to set up a website. It is quite easy and cheap to set up a professional-looking website that is run from outside your country. A scam website could be used to sell a dodgy product, or it could be easily made to resemble a genuine website, like a bank or credit union website.

These websites are often only 'live' for a few days— but that is enough time to trick people into giving up their credit card details or other personal information.

Another belief that makes people vulnerable to scams is the idea that there are short cuts to wealth that only a few people know. Ask yourself the question: if someone knew a secret to instant wealth why would they be spending their time telling everyone, or need to charge people money for it? Believing these myths can place you at risk.

Psychological tricks used in scams

As well as exploiting the dangerous myths above, scammers often use psychological triggers to get an automatic response from you without you realising it. Watch out for them next time you're approached, or even next time someone asks you for a favour.

Scams and identity theft—your personal details are valuable!

Scammers are not just after your money. Scams can also be designed to steal your personal details. The types of personal information that scammers might ask for include credit card and bank account details, passport details and name and address details.

This is known as ‘identity theft’. Many scams, such as card skimming, phishing, lottery scams, money transfer scams and work from home scams could not only cost you money, but could also result in the misuse of your details to commit ‘identity fraud’.

Identity fraud generally refers to the use of a stolen or assumed identity to gain goods, services, money and other benefits, or to avoid obligations. By using your personal details, scammers can sometimes take out loans, claim welfare benefits or run up debts in your name. These activities can damage your credit rating, making it difficult for you to borrow money or get a credit card.

Of course, identity fraud can also cost you money directly (if scammers use a stolen password to take money from your bank account for example). At the very least, setting the record straight after a scammer has misused your identity can be an annoying and time-consuming task.

Apart from scams, identity theft can happen in many ways. Commonly, it may happen if your wallet or purse has been stolen and the thief has used the details on your cards. Or it could happen if someone ‘dumpster dives’ in your rubbish bin, taking your personal details from your discarded mail.

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