Most scams are generated from email spam and yet people fall for these scams every day. This is why scammers keep re-purposing content, creative’s and promoting new web sites from different domains. Why do people keep falling for these scams? Like my dad said “there’s a sucker born every day”. So be it, but you’d think with all the information at our disposal and the warning signs that come with it, people would have better sense. Wake up! What were you thinking? I mean do you really think you won an online lottery, prize or some sweepstakes?
Your security programs can’t prevent you from falling for a scam. However, using proactive link checkers like Web of Trust (WOT) or Site Advisor by McAfee will provide you with a reputation score next to each link inside an email. If it is red, stay away. You can learn more about these link checkers by visiting the links provided. Both services are free.
Now that I got that off my chest, I’d like to sell you a piece of a bridge, kidding, but before the internet, this was one of the most popular scams.
Here are the top 10 consumer complaints, according to the FTC:
- Identity theft
- Debt collection
- Prizes, sweepstakes, lotteries
- Shop-at-home, catalog sales
- Banks and lenders
- Internet services
- Auto-related complaints
- Impostor scams
- Telephone and mobile services
- Advance-fee loans and credit protection/repair
Resource: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-10-consumer-complaints-184200344.html
As you can see, most of these, if not all are generated from email spam. What the FTC forgets to tell you is the spam promoting these scams, also comes with other dangers such as malware, viruses and other malicious intent.
If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
I have personally received a lot of scam emails. The link checkers you have provided will certainly help a lot of people from falling into scams. As they say prevention is always better than cure. So every net users must be proactive enough to check the reputation scores.
Fantastic article, everybody who works on internet should be aware of these items. Really a wonderful experience to read this unique article.
HI frank, thank you for the information is is very helpful information. There’s too much fraud on the virtual world..Thanks for the share
This has been a problem for a couple of years, and I think it would definitely take about a century to improve and be secured when it comes with WWW. Thank you for sharing.
Jenny