How to avoid scammers
Scammers are always on alert, trying to find an opportunity to take people’s hard-earned money. Make sure you know the tell-tale signs.
What are the most common types of scams?
The single biggest indicator of a scam is that you feel pressured into signing up to whatever deal they are offering without giving you the full information and by avoiding and ignoring your questions.
It’s very important to be inquisitive. Don’t feel shy. Ask them where they work, what their accreditations are, a badge, a license number – any form of identity.
Check if they are registered on Companies House and look up their details.
Pension Scams
Pension scams occur when someone is tricked into investing some or all of their pension in exchange for a promise of high return.
It’s usually a (false) promise of a perceived high return for an apparent low investment. If it is too good to be true, the chances it is.
Signs of a pension scam
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An offer of a free pension review.
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An offer to access your pension before the age of 55.
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Long term plans (which means you don’t realise something is wrong for years).
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The apparent unbelievable ‘offer’ has a short time span, pressuring you into agreeing.
Investment Scams
The model of an investment scam is similar to that of a pension scam, namely, convincing you to part ways with your cash for a lucrative investment.
Types of investment scams
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Someone pretends to be from a company that does not exist.
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Someone falsely claims to be from a legitimate investment company.
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The company is real and so is the person representing them, however, once they get your cash they have no intentions of using it as promised.
Signs of an investment scams
Apart from the common signs already mentioned, some signs specific to investment scams are the following.
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They ask you not to tell anyone else about the investment.
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Contact is out of the blue.
Bank-related scams
What are the common types of scams related to your bank
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Smishing.
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Safe account scams.
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Vishing.
Someone will text you pretending to be your bank to get you to reveal your bank account details.
Someone will ring you pretending to be your bank and ask you to transfer all your money to a safe bank account, which is usually the account of the fraudster.
Similar to smishing but someone will ring, as opposed to text, pretending to be from your bank to get you to reveal your bank account details.
How can I avoid bank account related scams?
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Your bank will never ask you to reveal your bank account information. If someone is telling you to do that, it’s a scam.
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If ever in doubt, hang up.
Phishing
When someone emails you pretending to be from a popular company like Samsung or Amazon and says something is wrong with your account and asks you to click on a link to correct it. The link takes you to a fake version of their website, where hackers steal your personal information.
How to avoid a phishing scam
It is very easy to be tricked by a phishing scam because the email will genuinely look like it’s from the company. However, if you have a finer look at the email, there are a few tell-tale signs.
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If the hacker is pretending to be Amazon, they can in no circumstances use Amazon’s real email domain i.e. firstname@amazon.com. Hackers will try and duplicate it as much as they can but it’s impossible to replicate so look out for random digits in the email address or a spelling error.
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If you’re registered for the newsletter of a company, they know your name, so every email that is actually from the company will start with ‘dear’ and then your name. If an email from a supposed company has an anonymous greeting such as ‘dear sir’, it is likely a scam.
Loan Fee Fraud
If a fraudster knows you’re looking for a loan, they may contact you and pretend to be from a loans company.
You will be asked to pay an upfront fee for the loan. Once you pay that, you will never hear from them again.
I have been a victim of a fraud or scam, what shall I do?
Your chances of recovering the money back are dependent on the method you used to unknowingly pay a fraudster.
Your bank may recompense you with the money, especially if you did not authorise the payment. Ring your bank and tell them what happened.
Credit cards have greater protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. If you paid for something that never existed / was not available or the seller ran away, you can get the money back, provided it costs between £100 and £30,000
Tell your bank as soon as possible and they may be able to recover the funds.
PayPal Buyer Protection would usually cover you for this, provided you tell them as soon as possible, as there are time limits. You will not be protected by PayPal if the scammer setup a website that made it look like you were paying via PayPal.
These have the lowest level of protection. Always report it to the police and any other regulatory body but realistically this money is lost.