We all get spam emails designed to raise our curiosity and make us ponder about the things that we could improve about ourselves. Whether they claim to let you in on a secret way to make money quick, or a way to increase the proportions of your body, they all have one thing in common – they’re scams.
The main reason why these scams are so popular is that some people actually fall for them. Hopeful and optimistic, they lunge head first into the possibility of making their lives better, with no regard to personal safety or the well-being of their personal finances. Without further ado, here are the ten biggest scams on the internet nowadays.
Nigerian Prince / Hidden Wealth Scam
It has to be said from the start that variations of this scam have been around since before there were computers and email technology. In the old days, the scammers would send the ‘bait’ letter through the mail to a large number of people and wait for them to fall on their trap. The scam goes like this: a wealthy Nigerian prince has to get money out of the country but cannot do that because of whatever restrictions.
They offer you a possibility to make an awful lot of money if you just pay for the ‘legal fees’ that have to be paid in order to access his vast reserves. As you may have imagined, there is no rich prince and there are no money…well, except the money ignorant people are sending to the scammers.
Fraud Recovery Scam
Let’s say that you fell for the Nigerian prince scam and you are now looking into the possibility or recovering the money you just lost. No worries, there are Fraud Recovery experts and recovery software you can use to get your money back, for a small fee of course. As soon as you pay the fee, however, you find out that either the expert or the software you just paid for, are nothing but scams as well.
Yes, there really are people as vial and opportunistic as these, and they’re doing quite well financially because of the poor folks who fall into their trap every day.
Funeral Service Scam
Claiming to be legitimate funeral homes, these scammers send invitation notices to a relative’s memorial service, except the invitation also contains some sort of malware. This dangerous file is usually masked as a link that was supposed to take you to the funeral home’s website or to provide additional information regarding the farewell ceremony. It is best not to download any files that you receive with these sort of emails and people are beginning to understand this.
Chain Email Pyramid Scheme
This is how the ‘make money fast’ pyramid scheme works. You receive a list of names, and you are supposed to send a small amount of money to the person sitting atop of the list. Afterwards, you are supposed to add your own name to the bottom before forwarding the list to a number of people. According to this system, when your name reaches the top of the list, if you have a lot of supporters, you will most likely make millions with no real effort.
Needless to say, the person who’s name is first on the list makes all the money, and it’s not you. Still, a surprisingly large number of people fall for this scam.
Pre-Approved Credit Card With Fees Paid Up-Front
We should start off by saying that none of the ‘pre-approved’ loans you see advertised online are actually real, no bank would ever give you the money you need without a thorough background check. There are, however, people desperate enough to pay the up-front fee thinking that they’ll get a pre-approved credit card this way, and they’re the reason why these scammers ‘stay in business’ so to speak.
Support ‘Fix’ Scam
Here is how the scam works, scammers send phony emails to Netflix or Microsoft users pretending to represent the companies. Through these emails, they trick people into believing that their accounts have been suspended for whatever reason, and that they must call a toll-free number to fix the problem as soon as possible, making them pay hefty sums of money in the process.. Needless to say, the genuine Netflix and Microsoft representatives will never, under any circumstances, contact customers this way, yet most people don’t know that.
Disaster Relief Scams
These scammers take advantage of people’s good nature by asking them to donate money for a worthy cause, but keeping all the money for themselves. In order to establish some credibility, these scammers set up fake charities and websites to give the impression that they’re committed to whatever cause they claim to represent. In order to avoid this type of scam, make sure to contact the organization before making any sort of donation.
Bank Information For Great Deals Scam
Every year during the holiday seasons, scammers will send out emails pretending to be reputable banks or financial institutions demanding people’s personal information for discounts on fictive deals. Most people realize that these emails are scams, seeing how the websites they were sent from are different from the real ones. One in every five thousand people however, against their better judgment, respond to these emails with their personal information thinking they’ll get discounts and gifts, losing their credit cards in the process.
Re-Shipping Goods Scam
The people who fall for this scam have to re-package and re-ship goods on their own expense, with the promise that once the goods reach their intended destination, they will be compensated and then some. The scammers claim to be unable to send the goods themselves because of ‘US-International Shipping laws’ which is why they need other people’s help. Most of the time, these goods are stolen and / or illegal to ship internationally, which is why the people who fall for the scam can be held accountable in a court of law.
Make Money Quick Scam
The most popular online scam nowadays is the ‘make money quick’ scheme which is supposed to teach you how to make a lot of money online with little to no effort. In order to qualify for their ‘lessons’, the scammers usually demand an upfront payment of $10-30 before teaching you how to handle yourself. Some of the methods they teach you about will indeed help you money, but nowhere near the $30 you paid upfront, which is why the process isn’t worth anyone’s time to begin with.
They will also give you a software that is supposed to generate ad revenue every time you click one of the pop-ups. Needless to say, some people do indeed make money every time you click the ads, but you won’t see any of it.
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