5 Major Scams to Watch Out For

Scams have been around since the dawn of time. So long as we have been intermingling with people, others have been finding ways to sabotage and dupe us! That is, unfortunately, the way of the world.

Have you been contacted out of the blue? Does it seem too good to be true? Are you being asked for personal details or money upfront? Chances are, you are being scammed. With new and nastier scams being fashioned for every possible scenario, especially ones that are Covid-19 related, the most useful thing we can do is to arm ourselves with information that will make us better able to protect ourselves.

Below are five major scams to watch out for, starting with one that is very recent and potentially life-threatening:

1. Coronavirus Vaccine Scam

It has been reported in the UK news recently that fraudsters are going door to door and claiming to work for the NHS (National Health Service). Recently, a man said to be in his early thirties, knocked on the door of a 92-year-old woman in south-west London.

The victim allowed him into her home after he told her that he was there to administer the Coronavirus vaccine. He then jabbed her with a foreign object. He informed the woman that he would be charging her £160 for the “injection” that would then supposedly be refunded to her by the NHS. After the initial visit, he was later spotted at the same house asking for another £100.

Not only did this man dupe the victim out of money at a time where everyone is counting the pennies, but he could also have caused a host of subsequent illnesses or bad reactions within the woman when he jabbed her with a potentially unsterilised sharp object.

How to spot it:

The advice on the NHS official site is to wait to be contacted about the vaccine. If you are in line to get it, you will first receive an official letter prompting you to book a COVID-19 Vaccination through their official site. The site will always have a padlock to the left of the URL that can be clicked on to show valid certification that it is secure, and your information will remain private.

British national sites such as NHS or GOV webpages will never read that the connection is not secure. If in doubt, put the search through Google, the official NHS site will be the first on the list of results.

The NHS are currently only doing things this way. They will not knock on your door and they will never ask you for any money upfront.

Currently, in England, people are only being vaccinated at local GP practices or pharmacies, hospital hubs, and official mass vaccination sites across the country (the list of these can also be found on the NHS official site).

When booking, you will be asked for your NHS number; a 10-digit number that you should be able to find on any letter that the NHS has sent you in the past. Your appointment, once booked, should take around 30 – 45 minutes. The only information you should need is the booking reference number that you will have been given by them and answers to a few questions about your medical history.

You must be registered with a GP surgery in England to receive a letter.

2. Phishing Scams

This can be done via. email, text, instant messaging, or over the phone. It is one of the most well-known and commonly used scams that still seem to be scarily effective!

What will usually happen is a fraudulent individual or organisation, will attempt to impersonate a trusted entity (usually a bank, insurance helpline, friend or family member). They will construct a time-pressured issue that would need to be resolved by you; generally, by opening an attachment, clicking a link or asking for bank details over the phone without you ever having previously contacted them.

This is an attempt to gain access to your private personal and financial information, either by installing a virus onto one of your devices, convincing you to voluntarily give over said information, or coaxing you into sending them money. Scams like this are not just targeting towards individual members of the public but can also be a big problem for companies and governmental organisations, causing a breach in security.

How to spot it:

The first and most vital thing to do when finding yourself in a situation like this is to TAKE YOUR TIME. More often than not, the scammer in question will be attempting to create a pressurised atmosphere which will put you under enough stress that you make choices without thinking about them. They are also taking advantage of the engrained notion that compels us to comply with the requests of authority figures. If an organisation wants you to get in touch and they are giving you a very tight deadline to do so, it should be treated with extreme caution. For example, if banks want to get in touch, they typically don’t set a deadline for this.

Most email platforms, text and instant messaging services no longer allow scripting, making it safe for us to at least open and review these messages without getting a virus. This gives us the chance to spot things such as bad spelling or grammar. You can also see if an email address or a link has been falsified by hovering your cursor (without clicking) over either of them. This is one of the easiest ways to unmask a scammer. The other things you can do include, looking for inconsistencies in logos, googling the site they have asked you to go to and logging in that way to see if anything is amiss rather than clicking their link, reading up on information given on official sites about how they will contact you (what they will & won’t do), and calling/texting that friend/family member to see if the message is really from them.

If you are cold-called by a bank, an insurance company or the like, request to hang up and call them back on an official number (not one that they give you). If they are averse to this, then it is likely that you are dealing with a scam.

It is important to note that most, if not all organisations that require the giving over of personal and/or financial information will not ask for this over the phone. They would also never address you as Dear Customer instead of your actual name, ask you for your pin, extra security details, or to click on (typically shortened) links to confirm your identity over an email/messaging service or the phone.

3. Fake Websites and Formjacking

The above scams can be implemented in two different ways. By creating a fake website, designed to look identical to the official site that it is emulating, or by hacking into an official site and embedding malicious JavaScript code onto a payment page, for example, that syphons your information. Both ultimately have the same outcome. It can put your personal and financial information at risk of being used for the scammer’s immediate financial gain or being passed around on the dark web.

How to spot it:

The first and easiest way to verify that the site you are on is real is to check the domain name. Many scammers will try to imitate big brand companies. But, as they won’t be able to copy the URL completely, you will often find typos, spelling errors, or numbers where letters should be. This is done in the hope that you won’t take the time to read what is in the address bar.

It’s also a good idea to take a look around to website too. Read the descriptions of their company and/or products. Are there phrases that have been put in the wrong context or don’t read right? Can you see poor spelling and grammar? It’s probably not a real site.

Check that there are valid ways of contacting the company (if not an entire Contact Us page). Any organisation that involves buying and selling should at least list a place of business and a phone number or email address to contact them on.

Another thing to look out for, as mentioned previously, is the little padlock to the left of the address bar which can be clicked on and will indicate whether or not you are on a secure site. Though a site being marked as not secure, doesn’t always mean that the webpage is malicious, you should never put through a payment on a non-secure page. Any reputable company will offer secure checkouts with options limited to debit/credit cards or other secure methods such as PayPal.

Steer clear from any sites that have offers which seem too good to be true, are asking you to send money via. bank transfers, place non-refundable deposits, or use other unsecured methods of payment. Always make sure to check online reviews, Trustpilot, the returns policy, and that there is a paper/digital trail of your purchase/any contact you have with the seller which you have access to.

In the case of formjacking, which involves the scammer hacking into an official website and installing malicious code onto the pages, it is largely up to the owner of the company/site to ensure that they are regularly testing and updating their defence mechanisms to guarantee safe usage. However, there have been cases in which hackers have slipped through the net. Though this is more likely to happen with small businesses who may not have protection that is as advanced, bigger companies have also fallen prey to the threat.

It goes without saying to always make sure that the page you are making a payment on is secure (as mentioned above). It also goes without saying that it’s good practice to have an anti-virus program or app installed onto your devices.

If you think that you have been formjacked then it is important to contact your bank immediately. Other things to do afterwards would be to keep an eye on your bank statements for unknown withdrawals or purchases, and to keep watch of your credit score. Keeping watch of your credit score could indicate whether your personal information has been used to, for example, take out a loan or apply for a credit card in your name.

All financial institutions should either have their own department or be partnered with an organisation who work to prevent fraudulent activity. If you notify your bank immediately about the problem, most will not hold you responsible for the charges and will do everything they can to establish how the fraud occurred and what they can do to resolve the issue as painlessly as possible for you.

4. Job Scams and Pyramid Schemes

There are a variety of different forms that this scam can take… Job scams and pyramid schemes will lure you in with big promises, such as offering you a new job/training program in which you can make up your own hours and typically earn more in a day than you would make in a week if you were at a regular job (with the potential to earn more if you recruit others). They will then ask for your personal details and may ask for upfront fees to cover made up costs.

How to spot it:

When looked at carefully, these scams are too good to be true. Whilst it would be great if it were really possible to make money that quickly, the likelihood of schemes like this existing and being widely shared is a very small one.

Things to look out for in terms of job scams would be any adverts that tell you that you have to pay a fee upfront to essentially work for them, or that say that you don’t need any skills or experience to start. Other things to take note of are companies who tell you that you can set your own hours, don’t show you a contract/terms & conditions, or don’t offer you anywhere where you can input the necessary details which would allow them to pay you.

Things like pyramid schemes, stay in operation by asking for a fee (sometimes a hidden fee that hasn’t even been discussed beforehand) in order to join the team or deliver products to you. They’ll typically have a points-based system in order for you to earn any money, rather than them paying you for your work through official channels. This incentivises you to work harder, part with more of your money if products are involved and recruit more people who will end up trapped in the same sad cycle. The majority of pyramid schemes rely upon new recruits. Meaning, when people start to realise that it is a scam and stop joining, the whole organisation collapses, causing those a part of it, to lose everything.

Be wary of any organisation that asks you to part with your money in order to work for them. You are doing a job and bringing business to them, not the other way around. You should not be paying them for that pleasure. If you have shared bank details with a scam operation, it is important to contact your bank right away. It is also important to keep evidence of any information that you have given the scam organisation, including any private messages, names, email addresses and/or numbers that you have contacted them on. Be sure to report them to Action Fraud.

5. Investment Scams

Investment scammers may pose as the representative of a trusted investment group. They may also create a completely fictitous investment offer that does not exist. In both cases, they will offer you high returns for investing in an opportunity or entity before simply taking the money themselves. In some cases, scammers have been known to hook you in with smaller returns at the beginning in order to encourage you to part with larger sums of cash.

How to spot it:

As with the previous scam, the first thing to look at is whether the offer seems too good to be true. Usually, this will mean that any risks involved will be downplayed, whilst a lot of attention will be directed towards the potentially high returns. Reputable investment groups and brokerages will make it their mission to inform you that your capital is at risk and that your investment could end badly at every step of the way so that you enter into an agreement with all of the information you would need to make the right decision for you.

Other red flags involve companies contacting you out of nowhere. Unless you’re a well-known millionaire, there aren’t likely many reasons that a company would be contacting you asking you to invest in them. Alarm bells should also start ringing if the scammer asks you to keep the opportunity quiet, should they repeatedly contact you using increasingly pressurising language, or they try to push you into making a rushed decision by telling you that there is a deadline or incentivising you with a larger cash pay-out if you invest sooner. Many investment scammers will try to lure people in with bogus reviews and pictures of luxury items.

If in any doubt say that you need some time to think about the offer and then do your research! No credible organisation will refuse your right to do this or attempt to find ways to convince you that taking your time is the wrong thing to do. If you miss the deadline to an offer there will always be more (maybe even better) offers out there. Take the time check their credentials and see if they’re registered with the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). This will not only let you know whether or not the organisation you are dealing with is legitimate but will also confirm that they are not known scammers when you check the FCA warning list.

Making large sums of money quickly would be a dream come true to a lot of us but don’t let scammers take what money you do have when they sell you that dream. More often than not, it’s simply too good to be true.