Know How to Avoid Online Money Transfer and Remittances Fraud
Money transfers, especially overseas remittances have been a challenge for a long time. With the coming of companies such as Western Union, PayPal, and InstaRem, online transfers have become much simpler. But there will always be tricksters aiming to cheat people out of their money. When using online money transfer and remittance services, one must always be wary of money transfer scams. There are different kinds of money transfer scams and they can be spotted and prevented with a little bit of caution. The best recourse in such a case is informing local authorities and the financial services involved immediately. The financial service provider may be able to freeze the perpetrator’s assets and inform the concerned authorities.
How to Avoid Online Money Transfer and Remittances Fraud
Mankind’s biggest weapon has always been the mind. What one person can earn through hard work, another person can steal. If you are thinking of sending money to Indonesia or to any other country, financial services such as Western Union, PayPal, and InstaRem offer security, nothing is absolute. There is a wide spectrum of online scams and frauds. Some of the common scams and the ways to avoid are as follows –
- Phishing: Phishing is a form of email scamming that uses a fake identity to cheat people out of their money. Phishing employs the tactic of impersonating authorities that people normally trust. It could be a bank, or a government, or a series of scams that lead to the bank account. Usually, the scammer develops a fake website to trick the ‘mark’ or target into revealing confidential login information. Once they swipe the information that they need, they usually reroute the user to the home page of the organization that they are impersonating. It can be tricky to spot phishing, but there are ways to do so. Most anti-viruses can block phishing scams. There are also certain discrepancies in the website’s URL.
- Investment Scams: There are many fraud agencies that set up an online presence and bombard innocent, unsuspecting people with investment policies. They ask people to sign up for a paid course or software that teach people to make some get-rich-quick investment schemes. Their promises of instant refunds are meaningless. Once the money is paid, it is gone. These scams come in the form of work from home to get rich easy schemes as well. Best be wary.
- Lottery Scams: These scams are some of the most popular scams ever created. They send people emails telling them that they have won a lottery and in order to collect the winnings, they need to send their bank account details and transfer a small amount to their account for verification. While the amount may be small per user, the amount of money they steal in one run is obscene. Avoid them at all costs.
- Loan Scams: Many frauds capitalize on the need of financial loans in the working classes. These tricksters send emails asking people to claim a very alluring loan offer. In order to claim these offers, a fee is charged to facilitate disbursement. Not only do they get the money, but also private information. In this case, it is best to call the agency and verify it in person. If they seem reluctant to set up a meeting, they may be frauds.
