Where there is money involved, there are usually scammers and fraudsters trying to take advantage of unsuspecting people. Bad people keep finding new and creative ways to scam people of their money. In recent times, different types of scam activities have led to people losing millions of dollars. Sadly, the same story keeps repeating everywhere in the world.
That is why it is so important to know about the common and ongoing scams in your area. Where there is technology involved, you should also learn about the technology. Most scammers use technology because not many people are aware of the latest happenings. In recent examples, bitcoin ATM machines have been popular for scammers.
There are four very common and still ongoing scams that you must be aware of. This will prevent you from losing your precious money and having to go through legal proceedings. The four common scams are as follows:
1. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)/Police Scam
The Canada Revenue Agency is responsible for the collection of taxes in Canada. So, it is quite natural for people to feel a little anxious when they think they have received a call from the agency. The scammers use this human nature to scam people.
On the phone, they pretend to be from the CRA. With a stern voice, they tell the victims that they have unpaid taxes or fines. They are also told that if they do not make the payment immediately, they will be put in jail. Hearing this the victims get scared and agree to make the payment. They are then instructed to go to the nearest bitcoin ATM and make the payment.
It is important to remember that the CRA will never tell you to settle your unpaid taxes or fines by making a payment in bitcoin. There is an official procedure that needs to take place. For more information check the Canada’s government informational website, Protection from frauds and scams – Canada.ca
2. Bank Scam
Bank scams are very common and very easy to fall for. Usually, scammers call the victims pretending to be employees of their banks. Anybody would naturally pay attention to what they have to say. The scammers then ask for the victim’s help to solve an internal fraud. This motivates the victim to give out personal information which they should never do.
The scammers may also say that the victim has a problem with their bank account. They then offer to “help” solve that problem. For this, they are asked to wire some money to “test” if the account is working again. Or they could also be asked to make the payment as charges. Many gullible people have been defrauded this way.
3. Emergency Scam
It is in emergency situations that people often tend to make bad decisions. This is human psychology. Scammers know about this and use it to defraud people. They call a victim and provide an urgent context of an emergency. For instance, they may pretend to be a lawyer of a relative of the victim. They may say that their relative has been in an accident and is in jail now. Then they tell them to make a payment as bail money.
In a lot of cases, scammers ask the victim to visit the nearest bitcoin atm to make the payment. Most of these people ask how a bitcoin atm works. To this, the scammers send complete instructions about how to use bitcoin atm. The victim thinks they are in a real situation and make the payment through the bitcoin atm.
4. Rental Accommodation Scam
This is quite a simple scam that has been going on for a long time. In fact, scammers all over the world continuously use this method to defraud people. Many people visit online sites to seek rental places. Mostly there are genuine ads. However, scammers pretend to be “landlords” on these sites.
The fake landlords request a deposit from the prospective renters to “hold” the property. Since this appears to be genuine in most cases, the renters pay the amount. They are asked to send money via direct transfer or even using bitcoin atm machines. They later find out that the property they paid for doesn’t even exist.
5. Company Invoice Scam
This is a really nifty and creative way of scamming entire companies. Scammers target businesses and send them fake invoices that look real. Since a business or a company deals with so many invoices a day, it can be difficult to tell immediately if there are fakes. The scammers make sure that the invoices appear to come from a known customer.
They use very similarly looking email addresses and include a different bank account. The company or business sends the payment in this new account. In some cases, really large sums have been paid. The scammers immediately withdraw the money in fear of their account being frozen.
6. Employment Scam
People who look for employment often use some online services to find work. To scam them, scammers pretend to be employers. To make it look genuine, they even send the victim a “fake” cheque in the mail. They are then instructed to deposit it into their account. Then they are asked to deposit or send money through a bitcoin ATM machine.
Once the bitcoin is sent, the transaction is irreversible. The final outcome is that the victim is left hanging with the fraudulent cheque. Many people have been conned this way. This is sad because most of the time the victims are in need of money. That is why they are looking for a job in the first place. But scammers do not care about all this. They just want to con you out of your money.
We hope you found this article helpful, be sure to also check out:
Avoiding Bitcoin scams
Bitcoin ATM in Canada
Benefit of a Bitcoin ATM