Certainly, the internet has changed our lives completely and provides us with the liberty to manage our crucial tasks with ease. Similarly, using the internet to communicate with friends and loved ones has increased importance massively and made it a critical part of our lives.
The advent of social media platforms has also played a crucial part in increasing the internet population. People love using their favourite social media and other online platforms to entertain themselves and make new friends.
However, this blessing is taken for granted by many scammers who use online platforms to trap innocent people. The easy access to online platforms and the availability of modern gadgets enable them to reach people and lure them for fraudulent purposes. This makes it essential for us to take every possible step to avoid any scams.
The question that arises over here is how we can find out if someone is scamming us. Well, we are going to share a few suggestions in this blog post that will help you identify scammers and save yourself from any undesired situations.
Signs that It’s an Online Scam and the Solutions
Online scams are one of the biggest concerns for many of us in recent times. The instances of scamming on the internet have been increasing badly in recent times. This makes it inevitable for us to take precautions to avoid such fraud and prevent unwanted circumstances.
Below are a few common signs of online scamming.
*Tries to Build Trust Quickly
A common technique that online scams usually adopt is presenting themselves as an authority from a reputed organization just to gain your trust in any possible way. So, whenever you get any such statement from someone online through message or email, verify the identity before giving any response. Searching the organization or company on Google can be a useful way to find out if the person is real. Similarly, performing a reverse image search on the image of that person will surely help you verify the claims. It will help you find similar images on the web with their sources. You can easily identify which one is real or fake.
*Asks for Confidential Information
If a person you met online and have communicated with only a few times, and all of a sudden, the person asks you for any sensitive or confidential information like email, phone number, or any banking account detail; it’s time to verify that person’s identity.
Examining their profile and running an image search on the picture of that profile may help you validate the authenticity of the person. This practice will help you find images on the web, and If the same photo is posted on different online platforms, then it’s a scam, and you must block that person from all platforms.
*Contacts You Out of Nowhere
Online scammers usually contact you at unexpected hours. You may get their call on such hours, simply ignore it, or hang it straight away without thinking for a second. Later, contact the company or organization they claimed to be a part of to check for their legitimacy.
Similarly, if you make a new online friend, and he/she contacts you at an unexpected time, like 2 ‘o’clock at night, because of the busy day-time routine, etc.
There is a strong possibility that the person is living two lives at the same time. One in the real world, and the second where they get active in trapping innocent people. So, block such individuals right away to save yourself from being the victim.
*Never Available for in-Person Meeting
Online scammers mostly make fake profiles on social media platforms or dating applications to entice people with the fake promise of love. Once they succeed in it, their next step is asking for some gifts or cash. Dating scam is increasing all over the world. If you are facing any such situation, ask your friend to meet you in person.
The unwillingness to appear for the personal meeting will help you find out the person was a scam. Doing a reverse image search on their profile photos is another useful approach that will support you in the quest to ensure the genuineness of that person.
Conclusion
In the last analysis, the innovation in technology and uninterrupted access to social media platforms is causing serious cases of online scamming. Fraudsters generally use online platforms to reach people and trap them for stealing confidential data or money. The cases of online fraud are increasing with every single passing day. Therefore, it’s inevitable for us to take appropriate measures to save ourselves from online scams.
The suggestions stated in this post will be of great use in identifying online scams. Also, the tips we shared above will help you avoid scams easily. The use of a reverse image search tool is a practical approach that will help you find out scammers on the web swiftly.
