We've all heard about online scams and it's true that these can be dangerous. Here are some common scams to be aware of, and some ways you can keep yourself safe.
Be wary if you get a call from someone claiming to be from your bank, credit card provider, or a general 'tech support' company. They might claim they're calling because there have been suspicious transactions on your card or bank account or that your computer has been hacked or infected with a virus or malware.
They'll try and get you to disclose personal information such as your login details or password. They might also try to convince you to install software that allows them remote access to your computer. Don't tell them anything and don't give them access to your computer.
Online dating scammers may approach you in a number of ways – chat rooms, social networking sites, unsolicited emails or dating websites – all the same ways that genuine lonely hearts will approach you.
They'll build up a relationship of trust with you, then eventually ask for some type of financial help. Usually, they'll ask you to send money to pay for airfares for them to visit you or to help them out of a sticky situation while they’re travelling. They can also send you a fraudulent international cheque and ask you to cash it and send the money back to them. If you do this and the cheque dishonours, you'll be liable to pay for it.
This can also often take the form of a cold call. A scammer claiming to be a stock broker or portfolio manager calls and offers financial or investment advice. They claim the investment opportunity they're offering, which is usually in overseas companies, is low-risk, but offers fast and high returns. These scams are often sophisticated to the point they'll have created fake websites and other material to back up their claims. They'll be persistent and may keep calling you back.
NOTE: It’s illegal to sell financial products through a cold call in New Zealand. If you’re contacted in this way, it’s likely to be a scam.
Another investing scam is when you're contacted by email or a message in a forum encourage you to buy shares in a company the scammer is predicting will increase in value. They'll stress the need to act quickly or miss out and the message will seem like an inside tip. The scammer is trying to boost the price of share, so they can sell shares they already own and make a big profit. The share price will then go down dramatically, leaving you with shares that are virtually worthless.
This is a tricky one, as it usually an invoice or request for payment that you were expecting and the invoice appears to come from the business that it’s supposed to. The only visible difference is the bank account number on the invoice that has been altered or a follow up email is sent with a request to change the account number.
Scammers can access to a business’ email account and they’ll read the emails for a couple of weeks to see when large payments are due. The scammer then sends an email from the business’ email address asking the customer to pay into a different bank account as they have recently changed banks.