The United States is where you will tackle your greatest opportunities to bring them into reality. Along the way, you may find people who will try to take advantage of your charity or hospitality, which can lead to you being scammed. This article will help you make the right decisions in those situations and how to best identify them.
Company Impostor Messages
It’s not unusual for students to take advantage of student deals through Amazon Prime, UNiDAYS, and various other websites. While it is helpful to have a third eye open for opportunities that these companies offer, you should be warned about the information you click on.
Phishing is a type of scam where someone mimicking a reputable contact (in this case, someone with an Amazon look-alike email) will reach out to you for information like your credit card, passwords, and other valuable information. In cases like these, the scammer may attract their victims through promises of deals that lead to websites or forms purely meant to take and store your information.
Job Scams
Dedicated job application websites like Indeed have risen in popularity in recent years for its ability to make reaching out for jobs an easier task. However, many also use this accessibility to pose as recruiters to either provide personal information, or to receive money as a job/training-related expense.
Please keep in mind that no legitimate company will ever make you pay money during your application there. Also, verify any information being sent to you, like a contact email or phone number. Simply Google searching that information may bring up listings of others’ previous experience with this contact, and may give you more insight as to whether you are being scammed or not.
Some scammers are smarter than others, and can use more elaborate forms of outreach, such as LinkedIn. Like the above, it always helps to verify the person’s information before clicking on any links or sending anything in return.
Tech Support Scams
The most common of the scams mentioned so far – you’ve likely seen many popups that tell you your computer is “Highly vulnerable to viruses!”, and that you’ll need to “Contact x support now!”. This will be in the hopes that you’ll provide scammers access to your computer remotely, so they can take control and proceed with their business.
Always be wary of websites you click on when browsing the internet. Messages like these tend to be pop-ups that appear when you click within a website. Unless you receive official communication through a secure line or medium, exercise caution when opening pages like these and click out of them as fast as possible.
Loan Forgiveness Scams
With many students relying on government relief to fund their schooling in the United States, it should naturally excite them to see a message saying their loans have been forgiven. In this scenario, students agree to pay a small fee to lower their monthly payments or expedite their loan repayments. In reality, they provide their personal information on a fake application, which can lead to fraudulent transactions.
Use actual documents from your loan servicer to confirm their information. Knowing who you owe thousands of dollars to is going to be just as important as actually paying the money.
Anti-Scamming Best Practices
While scammers try to be as clever as possible when attracting their victims, there are many instant red flags that you should be wary about:
- Excessive urgency: messages that are over-repetitive and provoke you to perform an action may have hidden intentions. Countdowns are used very often to show that action is needed almost immediately.
- Very intimate requests: many scammers tend to ask for a social security number, credit card information, or passwords to accounts. Please note that companies do not ask for this information.
- Check your bank statements from time to time: look for any suspicious activity in your accounts including repetitive payments, large deductions, or unusual purchases.
- Playing to emotion: many scammers will try to manipulate you to provide the information they need through sensitive topics that may appeal to your emotion. Because many of these messages are unsolicited, read these types of requests with a grain of salt.
- Most common examples are the “person-stuck-in-a-foreign-country-and-needs-your-funds-to-leave” scam, and the “law-will-penalize-you-if-you-don’t-pay” scam.
- Overfamiliarity: many scammers will try to create a bond with you by saying they are a family member or friend that needs help. Don’t be afraid to get more information from the contact, as the only thing you might be helping is a scammer’s wallet.
- Emails: many companies have their own dedicated email domains, typically ending the same way you would type it in a browser (ie – digital-no-reply@amazon.co). Email addresses where a domain looks vaguely off should be researched for validity before providing a response.
- Fake websites: scammers create entire online pages to entice visitors to leave their information, usually disguised as a more reputable source, like Amazon. Tools like the Google Transparency Report make it possible to see if a website is dangerous to visit beforehand.
A full list of notable scams can be found here. Remaining vigilant and being protective of your information is the best way to make sure it stays in your hands.
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