What is scam: the main scenarios of scammers

[Tomcat]

Phishing sites, lotteries, phantom insurance... and 7 more schemes.
The term scam has been heard especially often in social networks, in the media, bloggers and other sources over the past few months. Fraud, fraud, scam, gray scheme - all these words can be used to describe the term scam. Anyone can become its victim, but, as they say, “forewarned is forearmed.”

Signs of a scam​

It's important to be aware of common tactics used by scammers and take the time to research any supposedly lucrative offer before sharing your details or paying.
Here are the brightest scam markers:

• Inconsistencies. Pay attention to any inconsistencies - not only in the product description on the website, but also in a conversation with a company employee, for example. If his story changes or he provides conflicting information, he may be lying.
• Ambiguity. Be wary of vague or evasive answers/descriptions. Someone who lies may avoid specific details or answer direct questions. Fraudsters are reluctant to provide clear information about their product, for example. There are also schemes where the victim is even asked to sign a contract without being given the opportunity to read it carefully.
• Excessive detail. A person who provides too much detail or is overly detailed may also be lying.
• Pressure to act quickly. Be suspicious of a seller/buyer who forces you to make a decision or act quickly without giving you time to think. Scammers often use time pressure tactics to trick the victim into making a quick/wrong decision (and parting with money afterwards).
• They ask for an advance payment. A common scammer tactic is to ask for advance payment.
• Unrealistic promises. Be skeptical of any promises that seem unrealistic or too good to be true.

Types of scam​

Discussing different types of scams can take tens of hours and hundreds of pages. Therefore, below we will talk about the most common fraudulent schemes.

Investment scams​

Investment scams are special types of fraud aimed at specific financial products (funds, stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies). Such scammers lure investors into their schemes in various ways, such as forcing them to invest or trade through phishing platforms. As a result, the victim investor loses his vigilance and his money.

Phishing or spoofing​

An email is sent to the victim's mailbox, allegedly from a verified contact: a store, a large company, a celebrity, a police officer, or even a government agency employee. The victim is asked to urgently provide personal information. You may be redirected to a web page. The user goes to this page and specifies a login and password. As a result, the site steals the username and password, thus gaining access to the victim’s account on the desired site.

Scam with debit/credit cards​

Typically, these scammers steal the victim's debit or credit card information using social engineering techniques - posing as bank employees and forcing the person to reveal their payment information. Afterwards, they use the stolen card data for online purchases or other payment purposes.

Malware​

Hackers use sophisticated techniques to penetrate secure systems. These can be computers of ordinary users or office machines used by a business. Starting with one computer, the hacker then takes the entire system hostage. The scammer then demands a ransom from the business owner, for example, to send money in exchange for data. If the money is not received, the hacker sells the information on the dark web. Often the scammer receives the money and still leaks the data.

Lottery scams​

The most common scams are fake lottery promotions or tickets. The victim buys lottery tickets at a bargain price and usually loses money.

Identity theft​

In this scheme, the fraudster can use the victim’s personal information to create an account or open an account, through which they can then withdraw money or blackmail the person. It is very difficult to identify the fraudster in this scheme, due to which he most often goes unpunished.
As for personal data, most often this is: date of birth, first and last name, bank card number, passport details, personal photographs.

Phantom insurance / brokerage scam​

The practice of selling non-existent insurance policies. Many victims do not realize that their insurance is invalid until it is too late, such as after an accident has occurred.

Theft of data for processing loans​

Obtaining the victim’s personal data (credit card numbers, phone numbers, passport and other data) in order to impersonate another person - to open bank accounts, apply for a loan, purchase goods, place fake advertisements, publish fake reviews.

Combined/package rates​

The scheme involves the use of several accounts on sites that provide betting services. The scammer makes a Back bet (support for a certain outcome). He then creates another account to place a Lay bet (opposite outcome). This cancels out the loss but allows you to profit from the free bet offer. Goal: increasing betting odds and making a profit.

Multi-account​

The scammer creates multiple accounts on one site/platform. For example, for matched bets, abuse of bonuses or creating fake reviews.
To protect yourself from scams, it's important to be wary of offers that seem too good to be true. You need to study the trust and authenticity of the entire site in advance. It is also important to be wary of emails asking you to provide any personal information - in most cases these are scam emails.
Now let’s tell you more about investment scam schemes.

Scam with cryptocurrencies​

The boom of cryptocurrencies in the last few years has led to the fact that scammers have begun to pay attention to this area.
If you also decide to invest in cryptocurrency (we do not encourage you to do this under any circumstances), then before using any cryptocurrency exchange, try to get as many reviews about it as possible. It is best to contact a professional who has been involved in cryptocurrencies for several years. The easiest way to find such a specialist is through Telegram channels and specialized communities on social networks.

Crypto exchange clone sites​

Fraudsters take the website of an existing crypto exchange and copy it, hoping that victim traders will not be able to notice the differences before entering their personal information. One way to avoid this type of scam is to pay close attention to the site's URL. If at least one character is different, then you have detected a phishing site.
Even Google is unable to cope with the growing number of sites that are clones of real crypto sites (exchanges, exchanges, trading).
Back in 2017, the South Korean government warned investors about the emergence of fake cryptocurrency and bitcoin exchanges. The fake exchange "BitKRX" was similar to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the largest financial trading platform in South Korea, which was created by KOSDAQ, the South Korea Futures Exchange and the South Korea Stock Exchange.
Clever branding made the fake exchange look like the largest trading platform in the country, but it was as real as a Louis Vuitton bag in a Chinese market.
Scammers were incredibly inspired by the above success, and by 2023 the number of phishing exchanges had grown significantly.

Support staff​

“Hello, I am the administrator of the FakeCoin exchange and we need to check some details of your account and also reset your password to improve security. For your convenience, we can do this via email within a few minutes.”
Every investor receives letters with similar contents – if you haven’t encountered them yet, it’s only a matter of time.
Any confidential information stored by financial companies (including fintech or cryptocurrency platforms) is never verified by support staff or other employees (especially via email).
Fraudsters will try to make the email look official by borrowing logos, creating an email address that appears almost identical to a familiar crypto exchange.
To avoid falling victim to this type of scam, beware of aggressive invitations to use the exchange, especially those with promises of high returns or guaranteed profits. No investment can offer this, especially in unstable cryptocurrency markets. Scam exchanges also tend to charge high upfront fees.
When in doubt, always communicate directly with the exchange. And check all messages to ensure the safety of your confidential information.

How to protect yourself from scam​

1. Do not give any information at all to people who call you on the phone. Answer the call only with the word “Hello”.
2. The Federal Tax Service does not contact taxpayers by telephone or email. Any calls regarding delinquent taxes are a scam. The same goes for threats to arrest you for missing a trial, for example.
3. The police do not find out anything over the phone. And they certainly don’t warn you that there was an attempt to take out a loan using your passport data. These are scammers.
3. Never buy an item with payment via Western Union, Green Dot, MoneyGram, Postal Money Order.
4. Do not open emails in the spam folder, except in exceptional cases. Don't click on links or images in unfamiliar emails. If you receive a message from your bank about a problem with your account, ignore it.
5. Most of the mail that comes into your inbox isn't worth reading.
6. Enter the name of a suspicious person / company name / email / phone number into the Google search bar and add the word “scammer”. For example, "8XXX90292X scammer."
7. Beware of calls from bots. This is a new type of telephone scam. The neural network generates a voice you know and asks you for personal information. The voice is so good that at first you may not understand that you are not talking to a person. Any specific question will help you identify a bot, for example, “What date is today?”
8. Never communicate with people who appear on your doorstep without warning to sell you a product or offer a service (cleaning a sewer or installing a meter, for example).
9. Shred all confidential information - cut the paper with scissors or tear it with your hands.
11. Many appeals for charitable donations are fraudulent or only give a small percentage to the organization. Check their reputation on Google.

Summary​

The variety of scam methods today is incredibly wide. But they all have one thing in common - the success of the scammer depends on the degree of gullibility and carelessness of the user.
To avoid swallowing the scammer's bait, you must follow a few simple rules:

• Do not trust unknown messages asking for personal information.
• Ignore spam.
• Do not open suspicious messages.
• Never provide personal information to anyone whose intentions you are not sure of. This also applies to telephone conversations.
• Be careful when shopping online. Choose sites that ensure the security of payment transactions and the confidentiality of personal data.

Try to use all means to protect your confidential information. Follow all the recommendations in this article and never let your guard down.

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