This isn’t the 1940’s anymore. Gone is the street-style con-man who relies on his charm and his wolf’s smile to get the few bills you have in your wallet. Con-men nowadays use the computer to drain whole bank accounts from victims and essentially ruin their lives. If you’re not up on the technology, you are the perfect prey for the modern con-man. Here are some 21st century cons you should watch out for.
1.) Fake Antivirus Software: If you get a ‘Warning!’ notification like this and it doesn’t have the logo of the anti-virus software you downloaded on you computer (McAfee or Symentec, for example) then this is a scam. It will eventually ask for your identity information. Just ‘x’ it out. (That closes the ad.)
2.) Governmental Computer Block: This message or something similar will pop on your screen claiming to be from Homeland Security (or FBI, or CIA) that says the security agency has detected something illegal on your computer. The government is powerful, but it doesn’t control your computer (Facebook does).
3.) Car Wrap Advertising: A ‘company’ will offer to pay you $300 per week to have the logo of one of their ‘clients’ stickered to your car. If you agree they’ll send you a check and ask you to keep some as payment, but the rest you wire to another ‘company’ that will wrap your vehicle. Turns out the check is fake and now your bank is really mad at you.
4.) Ebay Sellers Not Shipping: This one’s pretty simple. You order a razor scooter (because its a portable and fun way to get around the city) but it never ships to you. You wait and wait, but it never comes. Its raining and your walking slowly down the sidewalk like a mope because you forgot to check this Ebay seller’s rating.
5.) Work at Home: You see an ad like this and you go, “Well, I like home!” Don’t click on it. The ‘company’ will say they are “very excited” to have you on board and then charge you an annoying amount of money for a ‘starter kit’ for the job and never talk to you again.
6.) Phishing: You’ll get an email from someone claiming to be your bank asking for your account information to verify the account for no real reason. It is not your bank, do not give them your account information. Your bank will only ask for this if a transaction was made.
7.) Premium Resume Services: Sometimes job search sites will ask you to join there ‘premium resume service’ for some cash. You’re not going to get anything more out of this service except less money for Ramen.
8.) U.S Grant Department: Someone will call you claiming to be from the Federal Grant Department (which is not a department that exists) and say you have been chosen for a $8,000 grant from the government. All you have to do is wire some money as a processing fee. They will tell you to wire it to somewhere Bombay India (because that’s totally where our government is!) and you will receive your grant shortly. Yeah, not real. Hang up immediately.
My brother got hit with the “Homeland Security: Cyper Division” scam a year ago. I very seriously had to stop him running off to Mexico. If you know someone that could use the advice, give this a share on Facebook.
