aliciajohnson@unr.edu
Internet hoaxes and scams surround us on a daily and there is a good chance that we have all been caught up in someone else’s evil scheme. With the help of my elders and friends I have become pretty tech savvy and maybe a bit too on edge as to what is a scam and what isn’t. I try hard to avoid any odd links, block strange numbers and keep track of my bank statements to ensure my information is safe.
I have begun to take these precautions because I have watched countless friends and family post about being their Instagram or Facebook accounts being hacked or even people trying to impersonate them. Its scary.
Many scammers use trust and friendliness to receive what they want, utilizing the victim’s friends and family to scrap up information in hopes to pocket some extra cash or full on assume someone’s online identity.
These strategies highlight a number of purposes and reason behind such evil behavior:
- Steal personal information to commit identity theft
- Grow scam networks
- Resell accounts with high following and engagement levels
- Spread phishing links to steal more info and passwords
These are just a few unfortunate gains that a hacker could receive. Many hackers target social media platforms because it is a very low risk operation that can result in high reward. Many hackers carry out these actions by sending phishing links for shops like Temu, and TikTok shop that convince the receiver that they are helping the sender by following the link and giving them a free item. These links transform with the state of the world as well, many come out during election season to catch extremely political people and farm their information.
Unfortunately, these scams can even be geared towards younger and more naïve peoples of society with scams advertising Robux and VBucks.
The biggest way to avoid scams like these is to avoid clicking unnecessary links from friends and family unless you’re told that you would receive one beforehand, or if it’s a legit link. You should also analyze the message and ask, “is this how this person usually texts?”, if not then disregard the message and alert the victim. If you’re ever totally unsure, try reaching out to the person through an external source like their phone number.
Oh yes this all sounds very familiar 🤔 I remember when the temu scam was spreading like wild fire. My friend was recently scammed when trying to sell a television set and the scammer stole 700 dollars instead of purchasing the television, is there any advice I could give them?
Hi! while I can’t offer any advice to get their money back, i will say my biggest piece of advice would be to handle cash instead of relying on a virtual transaction in the future. This ensures that you can receive the product before you pay and it remains a mutual sort of “trade” and both the buyer and seller get their reward simultaneously and face to face. Handling cash also allows you to see if the seller is trying to be shiesty in any way as they would probably back out of the sale and move on to their next victim.
Thanks for this valuable information twin now I can make sure I only get my robux from trusted sources
Of course! Stay safe and get that reliable and super cool robux! 😛
Wow, I haven’t really given much thought to how elections may increase the turnout of phishing scams on the internet. I see why people may want to find this data out during those times. Another thing that I found interesting about your post is that these kinds of scams can also infiltrate spaces for younger people as well. An additional example I can think of are scams on Discord that advertise free Nitro, when in reality these links are typically pulling personal data when clicked on. I’ll be sure to use your tips if I encounter a scam like this, especially during election season now that I’m of age!
Hi! Being sure that your vote is being used in a reliable way is very important to people, especially in more recent times. I’m glad that this post brought that to your attention and keeps you safe during election season :). I also really like that you provided another example that targets younger audiences, Discord’s Nitro wasn’t something I had even considered but sadly is definitely quite a common source of data collection.
I feel this post a lot as I remember when some scammers pretended to be me in an email where they said that I got arrested and needed my grandma to hot wire them like 10000 dollars for bail. Luckily she didn’t do this, but she is also not tech savvy so how would you suggest we avoid this in the future?
Hi, how unfortunate… I think all we can do is hope that she has learned from this experience. I have close family that has also been caught in this scam via phone call. It can be quite scary for the receiver, I believe that my family member had reached out to the victim personally through text, this idea leads back to my mentioning of; fact checking and reaching out to whoever you think is in trouble. Another deciding factor should be the email address/phone number this this is received from. With a quick google search you can find the valuable contact information of the police department or any other companies/organizations that may be used by scammers to hide themselves behind.