With so many scammers out there now targeting vulnerable people. We need to do as much as we can to help share anything we can about scams and how they are currently targeting people.
So here are some of the steps I use to help people quickly determine if they could be talking to a scammer or being sent to a scammer’s website.
1. Is it a Real Business?
Real Businesses don’t reach out on social media with private messages to people. So if you are being direct messaged about a business or investment then there is a very high probability it is a scam. Real businesses don’t have time to spam direct messages in the hope of getting a client. The safest bet is to just block and move one.
2. Social Media and Spamming
Scammers spend hours every day spamming out messages to people on social media because it’s a numbers game to them. They only need a few people a day to fall for a scam for them to make money. Once again real businesses don’t spam messages out on social media, they advertise properly and get you to come to them.
They usually message you on the platform you are on and then direct you to either WhatsApp or Telegram as both apps are harder for them to be tracked.
3. People aren’t who they seem
If you are being contacted by someone on social media the first thing to do is search their name on the same app or equivalent apps. If they have multiple profiles then simply just stay away. With so many clone accounts you don’t know who you are talking to. It’s safer to just move on and look elsewhere if you are talking to someone who has multiple cloned accounts. Scammers always use fake accounts or cloned accounts. They can also hack people’s accounts and use them.
4. High Followers but few videos
This is a common theme you come across. they have an account with 100’s thousands of followers but only a few videos or even 10 to 20 videos. These are scammers who have already finished copying someone and pretending to be them and using their copied videos until they aren’t getting much more from it, They then restart by deleting all the videos finding someone else to copy and clone. Once they find someone to copy they then change their account to a new name and profile and start adding all their videos. So this looks like a different person but it’s the same scammer changing to a new cloned profile of someone different, They start scamming all over again.
5. Scammers hide their identity
Scammers won’t do videos or audio as they hide behind other people’s videos and identities, the targets they have copied and cloned. If you want to catch them out ask them to send you a voice note and tell them what to say in the voice note so you can confirm it’s them. It’s not foolproof but will annoy most scammers. Once they get annoyed you soon realise it’s a scam.
6. Comments on videos to message them
A scammer leaves comments on other creators’ accounts pretending to be them and when you click on them it will go to a different cloned account. As they are using the same name it looks like its the creator that is commenting but it’s the scammer. Also, click on the name of the person if it takes you to a different profile but looks similar its a scammer,
7. Scammers have very basic websites
Scammers send you to very basic websites. Usually one pager with links that don’t work. If you start clicking links that look like they should go somewhere and nothing happens it’s a red flag this is a scammers site. They make them look good but they don’t work properly. It’s all about visual appearance, they don’t have time to keep creating new functioning sites as they don’t use them for long. They need quick sites they can put up use and then close down again.
8. Images on websites
They use images they have taken from real sites and post them on theirs. Things like Trust logos and reviews. An easy way to debunk them is just to click on them. Once you realise it’s just an image with no links built in it’s another red flag. Real sites use real reviews and should link you to a system site used to get their reviews like Google etc.
Overview
All these points are quick and effective ways to help prevent you from being scammed which I have used over the years to stay clear of these scammers. It’s easier than it used to be as scammers are working overtime on Apps like TikTok and not hiding as much as they used to. They instead use the fear that has been spread of the unknown to scare people into the fear of missing out mindset which makes people make irrational decisions.
Graham Hodsdon
I hope you find these points useful to help stay away from Scammers.
Please share your experiences in the comments below to help share as much information as people to keep people safe.
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