Normally at this time of the year, when scammers have an entire season to try their best to steal some of your money. And most of these scammers often target the elderly. What do scammers want? Well, they'll most likely try to solicit money for charity. Should get an email which purportedly comes for a charity organization you've never heard of, delete it. If you see any offers that seem to be too good to be true, don't click on the links provided. Any more tips to help everyone avoid being scammed this summer?
I agree, we should always be vigilant and not just click any links all year round and not just this summer. Over here, lots of people say that they need money for this and that as a "donation", but they are just lying and they just want to get money off of you in person.
Donations for charity are also prevalent here that's why charitable institutions are issuing a warning against solicitors. it is outrageous for a scammer to ask a bank for donations purportedly for the coffers of our new president, Rody Duterte, who held a thanksgiving party last night. He is to assume the presidency of the Philippines on the afternoon of June 30. The scammer called up the bank and asked for 300k pesos, that's about $7,000. The caller was the spokesman of the incoming president, supposedly. But the bank was alert and checked with the camp of Mr. Duterte and the scam was uncovered. The culprits were arrested in an entrapment.
I have seen some e-mails targeting students that claim there are unmet requirements during the federal aid application process, and ask for a social security number among other personal information. Pretty easy to spot though unless one is actually completing a FAFSA.
There is the usual message that someone has won a vast sum of money. The scammer asks for the intended victim's personal information, telephone number, and other information. The scammer then calls the targeted person and informs them that they have won the money and they should send money to cover charges for them to collect the winnings. Many people fall for this trick and send the money and only to lose out on their hard earned cash. The problem for me here is how people believe that they would just get money without participating in anything and why would one want to pay money to collect money? factors like these should raise the red flag.
I don't know if this is an actual trick or not, but I always examine the email address. Many scammers are beginning to use part of the official sights email address but you will notice it has some difference like an extra ".ie." in it. Its sort of like how you can examine a bottle of perfume and figure out if it is a knock off or the real thing. At first glance it looks like the real thing, but there will be some sort of typing error or mark that makes it not the same.
One scam that's prevalent here is 'contractors' who go around offering to cut homeowners a deal on fixing their roofs, paving their driveways, and other such chores. We just started Hurricane Season, and that's another time that these types of people are on the move, often claiming they have leftover supplies from another job, so they can give a lower quote than others, making the homeowners feel rushed so they can save some money. The rush aspect is important, because it often means the homeowner doesn't do his/her due diligence in checking into the person/company, to ensure it's a legitimate one.
