Whether it’s taking out a romance scammer on a dating app or avoiding the series of phishing attempts disguised as emails that clog your inbox, avoiding scam attempts has made its way into our online lives. So why do so many victims find it so difficult to talk about it? Maybe they are embarrassed, maybe they don’t know how and where to report being scammed, or maybe they don’t think they will be believed. Regardless of the reason, experts say unreported scams shroud the perpetrators in mystery, causing the general public to treat very real, very serious scam incidents like urban legends. When people think that scammers are mythical threats, they are more likely to fall for fraudulent schemes.
Unfortunately, scammers are a very real threat to your wallet and personal data. Read on for an overview of common scams to spot. And, if you fall victim to one, we break down exactly what you should do.
Anyone can be a fraud
The portrayals by online creators make the scam look like the work of silly, petty scammers. In reality, real-life villains are running global online fraud operations with a level of sophistication that would impress the likes of Ponzi.
“They’ve got it covered from all angles,” said Lisa Plaggemier, executive director at the National Cyber Security Alliance. Earlier this year, we talked via video call about the rise of credible AI-driven tax fraud. Plaggemier said fraud operations capture victims with data collected through the same tracking methods used by legitimate businesses.
“They’ve got a call center and they’ve got emails going out. They’re doing SEO… There’s going to be a malicious website. They’ve got the whole story locked down in a more sophisticated way than I’ve seen in the past,” Plaggemier said.
The most popular scams at the moment
Fraud is an industry, and like any other business, it follows trends. The r/Scams community on Reddit gives a pretty good look at this niche within the criminal zeitgeist. Highlights include exposing fraudsters using AI-generated photos and videos, social media scams targeting artists and payment app scams.
Social Engineering still works
Despite all the high-tech scams involving AI or malware, low-tech social engineering schemes are still doing brisk business online. Posts on r/Scams include stories of romantic scams ending in possible blackmail, or classic bait-and-switch schemes involving TikTok-based scammers offering tips on reselling luxury brand scams in exchange for money.
In the past, PCMag has warned readers about phishing email links, disaster relief scams, romance scams, and a variety of other online scams. Plaggemier mentioned that current fraud trends show the complicated business operations mentioned above. This means that spotting a budding scammer is no longer so easy, and anyone can be a victim.
Let’s talk about pig slaughtering tricks
Over the past year of monitoring this subreddit, I’ve seen a large number of posts about pig slaughtering scams. For the uninitiated, the scheme’s name is a sign of fattening a pig before slaughter. Here’s how it works:
First, the scammer will contact a victim, often by SMS, under the pretense that they know the victim through a mutual friend or that they entered the wrong number by accident. The scammer will often be charming and may omit small bits of personal information about the victim’s real-life friends or family to gain trust.
Once the scammer gains a new friend, they offer their victim a chance to invest in a financial opportunity, usually involving cryptocurrency. These schemes often promise high profits for a short period.
“There is a huge shame factor in reporting.”
Pig slaughter scammers use fake applications, investment portfolio documents, social media profiles and banking websites to legitimize the opportunity in the victim’s eyes and collect bank account details, identification numbers and other highly personal information . After the victim invests the money (usually through a payment app or cryptocurrency), the fraudster disappears, money and data in hand, leaving only financial ruin in their wake.
What to do if you get scammed
Plaggemier said the reason scammers continue to get away with their crimes has less to do with the victims being scammed, an understandable circumstance given the level of effort put into actual scams. Instead, scammers continue to win because victims are afraid to speak up.
“There’s a huge shame factor in reporting,” Plaggemier said. People don’t report scams because they worry about being seen as a fool for “falling for” a crime or because the scammer lured them in using embarrassing personal information.
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Since these crimes are often underreported, it is possible that law enforcement and government agencies still believe that fraud is the work of scattered individuals rather than coordinated efforts by criminal organizations. Plaggemier told me that the people who can take down fraudulent enterprises simply do not have enough public records.
“Law enforcement is not getting an accurate picture of what the landscape looks like. Is it some petty criminal or is it a big gang stealing hundreds of millions?”
How to report a scam
Before taking your case to the authorities, you may want to open up to family and friends about your experience as a victim of fraud. Given the sophistication of fraud methods, chances are good that someone you know he was a victim.
As mentioned earlier, shame is often the reason people do not report these crimes. Take shame out of the equation and tell the people you love about what happened so they can offer support as you rebuild your life.
What to do if you click on a phishing link
Plaggemier mentioned that efforts to report fraud can sometimes miss the mark. “If you call your local police, they often don’t know what to tell you,” she said, noting that some states use the 311 call system for fraud reports. The FBI website lists common scams and various reporting methods, such as in person at a field office or online.
To report any type of online fraud, visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Identity Theft Resource Center to report crimes and get tips on recovering from identity theft. I also recommend checking the FTC’s online identity theft recovery center, identitytheft.gov, to add your fraud report and follow their guides to undo some of the damage.
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About Kim Key
Senior Security Analyst
