COMMOM FRAUD SCAMS

The opportunity to work from home is becoming a very popular and an attractive option for many. As the interest increases, so do the opportunities to be conned with jobs that pay “big financial rewards.” Although there are many legitimate work from home jobs, these schemes do not guarantee a regular salary and almost always require an “up-front” investment.

During a romance scam, the victim is courted online for some time before the scam starts. At first, the criminal is very interested in the victim and will make many promises. After a period of time, they will ask the victim for help, either due to an illness, accident, job loss, family emergency, or their bank accounts have been frozen for some unknown reason. Once a small amount is sent they will ask for larger amounts and become very demanding.

In this scam, the victim may be selling goods in a marketplace, over the internet, or through a trade site. The buyer will send a cashier’s check for the goods, but the amount will be incorrect, normally for a much larger amount then the goods were sold for. The victim will be asked to deposit the check and then wire the extra funds back to the buyer. After the victim wires out the funds, the deposited check will charge back as fraud. The victim is out the amount that was wired out and will never receive back the merchandise the criminal “purchased” from them.

Card Cracking begins with a criminal posting on Facebook or another social media site, asking if someone would like to make easy money. The victim is advised to open a bank account (if they don’t already have one) and then give the scammer the debit card for the account. The scammer will then make fraudulent deposits into the victim’s account and withdraw funds via the ATM. The account holder is advised they will get to keep some of the cash from the deposits and they are to claim their card was lost or stolen. The scammer tells the account holder there is nothing the bank can do to them as they did not make the fraudulent deposit.

Skimming is a common method used by fraudsters to obtain credit card or debit card information. The “skimmer” device is a small tool with a mag-stripe reader that stores card information. Generally, the card is swiped through the skimmer when making an ATM withdrawal or a purchase at a location where the consumer inserts their card into a machine. The information obtained is used to create a counterfeit card or is sold to other fraudsters.

This type of scam is a criminal activity that uses fraudulent techniques to trick you into providing personal information. These techniques include the use of fake emails, phone calls, and/or websites posing as legitimate and trusted organizations to fool you into divulging personal financial information that is then used to commit identity theft or other types of fraud.

This scam is used in the same manner as Phishing; however, the contact is made by text messages instead of an email or phone. The victim is asked to provide their personal information.

The Mystery Shopper scam is similar to the “Work from Home” scam. The victim is approached to earn money for little to no work. They receive a letter and check in the mail asking them to deposit the check, withdraw cash, and then shop at the merchant stated in the letter. One of the merchants will be a money service business (Western Union, Money Gram, or similar business) and the victim will be directed to wire funds out, then report on the service they received while conducting the wire. As with other scams, the victim is advised to keep a small amount of the funds as well as the items they purchased. However, the check deposited charges back as fraud and the victim is out the funds.