Top 20 Latest Scamming Formats 2024 – How not to get Scammed in 2024

Advertisment

It’s no longer news that scammers have taken their strategies up a notch this season. You probably clicked on this post because you don’t want to be scammed, or perhaps if you or someone close to you has been scammed, you don’t want a second occurrence. If this is your intention, you clicked on the right post.

In this article, you will discover how people get scammed, the age bracket susceptible to scams, the strategies scammers will use to scam people in 2023, the top 20 latest scam formats in 2023, and lots more.

Advertisment

Nobody, absolutely nobody, wants to get scammed. So if you want to be equipped with the right information to avoid scamming in 2023, let’s started.

You might want to see this: Top 19 Most Work from Home Online Jobs in Nigeria

Advertisment
Latest Scamming Format

What do Scammers Aim at??

You may be wondering why someone would choose to scam you; the answer is not far-fetched; scammers want YOUR MONEY. Scammers scam and engage in fraudulent activities to deceive people, and the aim of their final target is always money.

The sad truth is that there is nothing they won’t do to accomplish their mission. Until they get a hold of your money, they won’t stop.

So, if you want to know how they successfully scam people, keep reading!!!

Advertisement

How do I Know I’m About to be Scammed?

You receive a call out of the blue asking you to ‘help’ someone from another country transfer money out of their country. More often, this is a number that hasn’t contacted you, though sometimes it might be through someone you know.

Sometimes the request includes a long and often sad story about why the owner cannot transfer the money. This typically involves conflict or inheritance, and they may want to move the money straight into your account.

You are offered a financial reward, such as a share of the amount, for helping them access their “trapped” funds. The amount of money to be transferred and the payment that the scammer promises you if you help is usually very large.

They will claim that a bank, lawyer, government agency, or other organization requires some fees to be paid before the money can be moved. The scammer will often ask you to pay the fee via a money transfer service.

You might be interested in this: How to Find Work-From-Home Jobs that are Hiring Now| Start Your Career at Home

Read Also

Get access to over 1000 free online courses

They will claim they’re a customer care agent from a bank telling you how your bank account is under threat and how you need to send them a particular detail (BVN, ATM PIN, AND SERIAL NUMBER) or access as soon as possible a site where you must insert your credentials to confirm your identity or your account.

If either of these techniques is used, an alarm should go off in your head, screaming, “Scam Alert!” these should be warning signs indicating that you’re about to be scammed.

For their success rate to grow, scammers create a sense of urgency. The sense of urgency is meant to set you on your feet and get you to do what they want. Who safeguards an account by releasing the pin or security details???

Top 20 Scamming Formats in 2023

Below you will discover the top 20 scamming formats in 2023.

#1 Phishing

This is a scam done via email. It’s a scam in which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information that the scammer can use illicitly.

Phishing, when successful, tricks the user into handing over their passwords to the scammer, often through professional-looking emails purporting to be from trustworthy businesses. The endgame is generally the acquisition of personal information, like credit cards and social security numbers.

#2 Familiarity Scam

This is an online scamming tactic; scammers tend to imitate friends’ pictures and handles. They usually use the look-alike to defraud the impersonator’s friends.

#3 Smishing

This is the use of SMS to scam people, similar to phishing, but malicious hackers send text messages to their potential victims here. How does this happen?

You receive an urgent text message on your smartphone with a link saying that it’s from your bank and you need to access it to update your bank information or other online banking information. You already know what that is; IT IS A SCAM.

#4 Nigerian Prince Scam

Though old, this scam still works. The premise is simple: You get an email, and within the message, a Nigerian prince (or investor or government official) offers you an opportunity for lucrative financial gain. And here is the catch, Pay a small portion of the amount upfront or hand over bank account information and other identifying information so that the transfer can be made. Of course, you lose that seed money, never receiving a dime in return.

#5 Ticket Scam

Talking about ticket scams, consumers are tricked into buying fake tickets for sporting events, concerts, and other events.

Scammers usually target high-profile events that will be happening, and the tickets are likely to sell out so they can take advantage of increased demand. Often, the tickets they send customers have forged bar codes or are duplicate copies of legitimate tickets. Other times, consumers won’t receive any tickets after they pay up.

#6 Identity Theft

Here, a scam is successfully carried out using the identity of a popular public figure. The scammer’s real endgame is identity theft through a classic online phishing scheme for financial gain.

#7 Ransomware Scam

In a ransomware attack, hackers install malware onto a computer or computer system that restricts the victim from accessing their files. Scammers and hackers typically demand a large sum of money before undoing their work. At their worst, ransomware scams exploit the victim’s sense of security and privacy.

#8 GoFundMe Scam

Most people strategically make up stories, usually tragic ones, on the internet to get the public to donate money to help them. Though this works for most people, if the GoFundMe proprietors find out, they send the money back to the donors.

#9 Greeting Card Scam

Scammers use greeting card scams to inject malware and harvest users’ most valuable data. Once you open such an email and click on the card, you unknowingly download and install the malware. If this happens, your computer will send private data and financial information to a fraudulent server controlled by IT criminals.

#10 Free Bank Loan Scam

People can be easily scammed by “too good to be true” bank offers that might guarantee large amounts of money and have already been pre-approved by the bank. If such an incredible pre-approval loan is offered, ask yourself, “How can a bank offer you such a large sum of money without even checking and analyzing your financial situation?”

#11 Hitman Scam

Here, scammers will send you an email threatening to extort money from you through kidnapping or assault; either way, they ask for money within a given deadline. To create the appearance of real danger, the message is filled with details from the victim’s life, collected from an online account, a personal blog, or a social network account.

#12 Fake AntiVirus Software Scam

Most people get an email saying, “You have been infected!” “Download antivirus X right now to protect your computer!” Many of these pop-ups were very well created to look like legitimate messages that you might get from Windows or any other security product. Still, once you click on them, your system is infected with malware. BEWARE!!!

#13 Economic Scam

This is also known as “easy money; scammers will lure you into believing you can make money easily and fast on the internet. They’ll promise you non-existent jobs, including plans and methods of getting rich quickly. It is quite a simple and effective approach because it addresses a basic need for money, especially when someone is in a difficult financial situation. Once you’ve invested, your money is gone.

#14 Overpayment Online Scam

We strongly recommend you watch out for the overpayment scam when using an online payment platform. A typical online overpayment scam like this works by getting the potential victim “to refund” the scammer an extra amount because he/she sends too much money. The offer will often be quite generous and bigger than the agreed price. The overpayment (extra money) covers the shipping costs or certain customs fees.

#15 Travel Scam

Here’s how it happens: you receive an email containing a fantastic offer for an exceptional and hard-to-refuse destination (usually an exotic place) that expires in a short period that you can’t miss. If it sounds too good to be true, it might look like a travel scam, so don’t fall for it! You should verify first.

#16 Fake News Scam

Scammers often spread fake news on the Internet and, in return, cause much unrest. The intention is to get people agitated and lure them into doing what they have suggested, and more often than not, your money is involved.

#17 Fake Shopping Websites

Everybody loves shopping, and it’s easier and more convenient to do it on the Internet with a few clicks. But for your online safety, be cautious about the sites you visit. Thousands of websites provide false information and might redirect you to malicious links, giving hackers access to your most valuable data. In addition, you might just be paying for a non-existent product.

#18 Job Offer Scam

This is the most rampant and freakishly heartbreaking. There you go looking for a job, and you’re scammed. Most scammers do this by posing as recruiters or employers; they use fake and “attractive” job opportunities to trick people. It starts with a phone call (or a direct message on LinkedIn) from someone claiming to be a recruiter from a well-known company who saw your CV and said they are interested in hiring you. If you didn’t apply, don’t venture into it.

#19 Tech Support Scam

Scammers who present themselves, In this case, as tech experts, use various social engineering techniques to trick potential victims into giving us sensitive information. Even worse, they try to convince potential victims to pay for unnecessary technical support services. These tech “experts” pretend to know everything about your computer, how it got hacked, and many other details that help them gain your trust and convince victims to fall prey to their scams.

We believe that with this information, you should be able to protect yourself from scams. Be quick to identify them; do not give out your security information to any number, regardless of who they said they were; don’t act under pressure or in urgency attuned with their request; and whatever it may look like, you might want to instruct yourself: don’t pick any number you don’t know and before you click on any link, VERIFY.

We hope this will be a guide to safeguard your finances.

Editor’s Recommendation Post

You can check out some of our recommended posts alongside this post.

If you liked this article, then subscribe to our weekly scholarship update. There, you will be able to receive scholarships you can apply for in 2023 and 2024.

Thanks for reading, Please share this content with your families and friends.

Advertisment
1 comment

Comments are closed.