Cybercriminals can have many creative ideas when it comes to stealing money from people. They usually use various methods to target people ranging from impersonating government officials to creating fake online marketplaces.
Many scams have emerged in the Covid-19 pandemic, with various schemes impersonating health authorities or selling fake Covid testings kits. The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has also launched campaigns such as Scamsmart to help people avoid these scams.
The situation will worsen with time as more people work from home and use online services to purchase their groceries or other household items. These cybercriminals have stolen millions from many people all around the world during this ongoing pandemic. If you don’t want to become a victim of cybercrime, you need to know about the top online scams used by these cybercriminals to trick people and tips on how to protect yourself from getting scammed.
Top Online Scams Used by Cybercriminals to Trick People
Cybercriminals or scammers are using all their tools to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic as people rely more on mobile banking transactions and online shopping services.
To help you discover how these scammers are using the pandemic to scam people, some of the top 5 online Scams, along with a bunch of tips on avoiding them, are:
Covid-19 Testing:
With the increasing number of Covid cases, laboratories fail miserably to keep up with the rising demand for tests. Now, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the clogged system by conducting fake covid tests of people.
It is better to book a test with a lab or a website approved by government officials to avoid getting scammed. If you come across a new website or a new lab, do an online search by typing the website or laboratory name and adding “scam” or “fraud” to it. There is a possibility that victims would have talked about it on their social media platforms.
Donations:
Social media is full of people asking for financial help in this ongoing pandemic. Many people are taking the initiative to help needy people and even ask their friends or followers to contribute if they wish.
Many cybersecurity experts are warning people not to trust these social media pages or fake accounts as it is also possible for cybercriminals to fake such initiatives and scam people by asking for contributions.
It is better to donate to an established and well-reputed NGO or only to people you trust. These cybercriminals often use hacked Facebook accounts or fake websites to reach out to people and ask for financial help. It is necessary to double-check these links or email addresses before clicking.
Fake website links or email addresses often add extra, random, or misspelled words to imitate authentic websites.
Online Shopping:
Online shopping facilitates people to purchase groceries, medicines, or other household items without going out and risking their safety in this pandemic. Due to the shortage of certain products such as face masks and hand sanitizers, people rely more on these online shopping services to purchase these items.
These fraudsters have created multiple fake websites to trick people into shopping daily routine products to luxury goods from famous brands for ridiculously low prices. However, once you place an order and proceed with the payment, you will either receive nothing or a fake product.
For processing payments, people will also share their account details or credit card information. Cybercriminals can later use this information to crack up charges on them or steal money from the account.
In order to reduce the chances of losing your hard-earned money to these scams, it is better to shop from reliable and authentic e-commerce online marketplaces. Before placing your order on any website, always try to find reviews from other customers who have ordered from the same website.
Conclusion
As a result of Covid-19, more people are online than pre-pandemic, and that number of people is constantly increasing. It also increases the need to create an infrastructure that is safe, reliable, easy to use, and guarantees the payments are coming through. BridgerPay is a company that is trusted by many online organizations worldwide. The main aim of Bridgerpay is to make payments easy and safe. There are many payment methods available out there, but no one is as transparent, safe, and reliable as BridgerPay.
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