Scam artists are brilliant at defrauding millions of people worldwide. They are masters at catching unsuspecting people off-guard through a variety of scams. While it is difficult and nearly impossible for the police to track down and capture every professional scammer around the globe, you can still protect yourself from becoming a victim of a scam. Protect yourself by learning more about the top scams to avoid.
1. Structured Settlements
This type of scam promises to give you a lump sum of cash in exchange for your structured settlement. Usually victims of this scam are those who are in a personal financial crisis and can’t wait any longer for the next structures settlement payment to arrive. The scammers cheat you out of well deserved money only to hoard it for themselves.
2. Expired Car Warranty
Scammers contact their victims by telephone discussing an expired car warranty. They do a good job at convincing the victim to renew the warranty. They generally ask for personal details such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and other confidential information.
3. Get Out of Debt
Financial debt affects most of the population sometime during their lifetime. Scammers make it attractive to consolidate debt and take the burden off of your shoulders. Beware of scammers that offer an opportunity that sounds too good to be true. Often times they are posing as financial heroes, only to get your private details such as your bank account number, social security number and other important details they can use against you.
4. Pay Day Loans
While there are reputable pay day loan companies, there are also scammers trying to take advantage of the less fortunate. Scammers will contact their victims over the telephone and claim to be an attorney that offers pay day loans. They ask for personal details such as your social security number, date of birth, bank account number and much more. Once they have the details they end the phone call and you never receive the money. They use the personal details you provided to steal from your bank account by setting up an automatic transfer from your bank to their own. Also having to pay high interest rates of up to 36%, does not really make financial sense.
5. Prize Scams
Everyone likes to win a prize every now and then. But clever scammers are causing a world of problems for victims. Prize scams will ask you to either deposit a check into your bank account or wire money to a bank account. They convince victims that in order for them to receive the prize they have to confirm the account or receiving method is active and legitimate. In return, they never send you the prize money, but they do acquire your banking information, or they keep the funds that you wired to them.
Avoid scams by being alert and asking questions to those who contact you claiming you won a prize, offering pay day loans, warranty renewals and structured settlement opportunities. Never give your information out over the phone unless you are absolutely sure you are speaking to a representative of a confirmed licensed company. Also beware of calls that you receive that are blocked or unknown. Guard your personal details and stay alert of popular scams.
