Fraud alert: How to avoid common online scams

By zoeysky // 2023-08-01

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Many preppers and survivalists focus on getting ready for different disaster scenarios. While there's nothing wrong with that, as a prepper you should also plan for small-scale disasters. These include financial disasters, which can be difficult if you don't have money saved for emergencies. (h/t to Survivopedia.com) Many Americans deal with financial difficulty, with some living from payday to payday and without emergency funds. With limited resources, it can be difficult to save money and invest it in preps. Unfortunately, some people may also take advantage of already difficult situations by running scams to steal your hard-earned money. Scammers are now using the internet to their advantage. With an internet connection, scammers can now reach more people and access more information about the people they wish to scam. According to figures from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scamming has increased by at least 30 percent over the last year, with an estimated $8.8 billion lost to fraud. Out of that amount, the single biggest segment is investment scams, a long-time favorite of many fraudsters. In the past, before the heyday of the internet and gadgets, scammers often targeted the elderly to try and convince them to invest their life savings in various investment scams. But that doesn't mean you don't have resources. Your stockpile is an investment, and it can help protect your family when SHTF. Your stockpile can also be considered part of your investment for retirement. When disaster strikes, you can live off the food in your stockpile and reduce your overall monthly cost of living. (Related: Cyber security threats: 10 Tips for safe internet browsing.)

Common online scams to avoid

Familiarize yourself with different kinds of scams. As a prepper, you might fall for product or sales scams. These can take several forms, such as:

Offers for products that don't do what scammers claim they do
Offers for products that don't look like advertising photos
Offers for books that contain little to no information, and that are easily accessible
Products offered on "clearance sales" of different types will not be shipped
Offers for other items which may be hard to find but will not be shipped

Check websites before buying anything online because there are many small websites with people selling products of one variety or another. There are many trustworthy prepping websites, but there are also many that will try to scam you. Most of these were created to make them look like legitimate ones, making it hard to tell the difference between the two. Here are some things that might indicate a fake website that will try to take your money:

Websites that sell several different products that are unrelated, like clothing and hand tools.
Websites that have not been around for a long time.
Websites without legitimate contact information.
A website without a detailed "About Us" page.
A website asking for payment through a new account.

Most of the time, you'll find out about these false websites through an e-mail, a group that you are part of, or even advertisements on social media. Social media ads have become one of the easiest ways for scammers to find potential victims, especially since advertising on social media is inexpensive and widespread. Because the process is often handled by computers at the social media headquarters, there is no human operator to flag any suspicious activity. And by the time the company finds out that it is a scam, fraudsters may have already stolen money from many victims.

Be wary of some online prepping groups

If you don't have time for personal meet-ups, you might spend more time online with your prepping groups. But you must be vigilant because not all groups are safe. Scammers know that being a member of a group gives them an appearance of legitimacy to the rest of that group. Once they join a group with many members, they can now offer to sell low-cost items cheap, which they have no intention of shipping to you. By the time anyone figures out what they're doing, they’re gone with money from their victims. If you prefer online prepping groups, always check the URL of a website in your browser’s address bar to confirm that you were directed to the right address. Many fake websites try to copy legitimate ones by mimicking their "look." This scam includes trying to use the URL of the original website in the fake site, like putting the name of the legitimate company at the beginning of the URL, followed by a symbol like a dot, then their registered name, with a ".com." Checking carefully will help you spot this small but crucial difference. When checking the address bar, look for the security "lock" which indicates that the URL is a secure site. Click on the lock to access a website’s TLS certificate, which shows that they are a real company. You can easily check how long a website has been online by checking its URL in the Whois.com database. This will also tell you who owns the website, along with other public information. Knowing that a website URL was only registered one or two months ago should make you think twice. Avoid doing business with them, or research them further, such as with the Better Business Bureau. If an online offer seems too good to be true, think twice about buying from a suspicious website. Avoid scams by not doing business with anyone you don’t know or don’t know is well-established. Choose trusted businesses with physical stores so if you don't like a product, you can take it back to them for a replacement or a refund.

What to do if you fall for a scam

If you are a victim of a scam, keep in mind that scammers tend to keep going back to the same victim. Scammers will often come up with a fake reason why your original payment was not enough or they may tell you that they need more money or that you need to pay them more before you can receive the item. If they ask you for more money, end all communications before it gets out of hand. This won't bring back the money you already lost, but it can help you avoid losing more money. Always report scammers to the police and to the online platform they used to scam you. This won't always help you get your money back, but the information you provide can help give law enforcement officers the clue they need to bust a regular scam operation. Scammers are abusing technology and the internet to steal more money from their victims. But this doesn't mean you can't take measures to protect yourself and avoid falling for common scams. Be wary of new members in your online prepping group and learn how to spot fake scammer websites from legitimate sites. Watch the video below for more information about the student loan "scam" and how to avoid them. This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

CITIZENS NEWS

Common online scams to avoid

Be wary of some online prepping groups

What to do if you fall for a scam

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