Web Scams

More and more these days we have to be careful to protect ourselves, our belongings and our money from scams. With the internet came a wide range of possibilities for making life more comfortable and convenient, but with it has come a whole new world of scams and fraudsters. Even our most favorite websites are vulnerable to scams, as you will see below in our list of the top scams to beware for 2016 and 2017.

AirBnB Scams

As a rule AirBnB is legit, and you are totally safe so long as you pay through the website and make sure that you have not been directed off the site to a fraudulent page. Also, if you make payments outside of the site, paying the owner directly, you put yourself at risk of a scam.

Timeshare Fraud

The main scams to be found in the timeshare market are involved with resales and cancellations. A timeshare resale scam might mean that you’re purchasing an invalid membership, or one with huge debt attached. A cancellation scam involves someone claiming to be able to cancel your membership falsely.

Facebook Scams and Phishing

There are also plenty of false advertisements on places like Facebook which you should be wary of. For example, it might seem that a company is selling luxury brand sunglasses cheap, or that a reputable airline is offering free or heavily discounted flights. While plenty of real discounts and bargains can be found on Facebook this is one to watch for. They’re counting on your clicking the link so that they can get access to your computer’s details and information; if it looks too good to be true then it probably is. Stay off these sites.

Ebay Scams

The large majority of sellers on Ebay are legitimate, but you should be aware that there are scammers out there. Unusually, however, there are some buyers you should also be wary of too; the refund scam is a good example of a bad scam. A buyer bids on your item and pays, and you send it off in the condition described, but they already have a broken version of the item and say that yours arrived in bad condition. You are then forced to refund the item. Always make note of any serial numbers or distinguishing features of your product before sending the item to avoid this kind of eBay scam.

Catfishing Scams on Tinder

Catfishing is very common on Tinder, and is when spammers or fraudsters create a false profile in order to find false matches on dating apps such as Tinder. When these people find a match, which is highly probable as they deliberately choose an attractive fake profile picture, they will start communicating with their “catch”. Sometimes a robot will even send you links to a phishing scams, but you could also be targeted by a human scammer who will try to get you chatting on skype or by email. Generally they pretend to be in love with you and, after a time, begin asking for money. Obviously, this kind of scam is not limited to Tinder and should be taken into consideration on any of the dating or social networks.