Beware of phone and Internet scams
May 9, 2019
Criminals want to steal your money. You are more vulnerable than you think. Recently I have had several attempts by telephone and over the Internet in what I consider to be an attempt to steal from me. That is the motivation for writing this article and encouraging everyone to always be on guard and protect themselves.
Unfortunately, people steal. That has been going on since the beginning of time.
Stealing can be profitable. Despicable, but nonetheless can transfer some of your wealth to them.
Some criminals are very sophisticated, meaning even if you are on guard to protect yourself they might outsmart you.
The best example I can give from several recent attempts to steal from me was a phone call. I thought I was connected to my bank when I was asked to complete a brief three question survey.
If I completed three questions there was a chance of winning a free trip. Because I thought I was connected to my bank I answered the first question.
It asked a very general question about the age of people who lived at my residence. Sounds innocent enough, so I answered that question.
The next question was extremely credible about the usefulness of a potential future bank service. Although the question was innocent enough I decided to not answer it.
Then I was instantly transferred to a less than professional sounding man who wanted to proceed with me winning a free trip. Now it suddenly got interesting.
The original offer was to complete three questions in order to potentially qualify for a free trip. After answering just one question I was being offered something for nothing.
There is no such thing has something for nothing. Out of curiosity, I continued the conversation to learn more about what the person on the other end of the phone was trying to achieve.
In order to confirm my free trip, I had to provide a nominal amount which could easily be done by giving my credit card information.
That was their objective, to get my credit card information.
I hung up.