Introduction
Now scammers can be a pest and are like flies and pests, they are everywhere and when they see an opening, they go for it. Basically scammers are people you don’t want to get involved with and you would want to stay away from. So I have been doing research about this subject to make a big problem from getting any bigger.
Research Question 1
A scammer is someone who commits or participates in an operation. Usually they do this for money but sometimes (mainly in schools) they would try and go for other stuff, like food or other stuff of value. To simplify it, scamming is like stealing except you see it and you want something in return and the scammer doesn’t give you what you want.
Research Question 2
When it comes to identifying a scammer it can be hard due to their tactics looking real but with these clues, your wallet will thank you. A way scammers use is they contact you out of the blue and ask for money despite you never meeting them in person. They also go to great lengths to appear trustworthy. They claim to be someone from the company you work at. Another big clue that they are a scammer, is they ask for upfront payments for opportunities like housing and employment. They also pretend to be someone you know or a family member so look out for those ones too.
Research Question 3
In Australia alone millions of people are scammed each day, and in the past 3 years over 200 million dollars have been taken from people and given to greedy scammers. In 2021 alone 323 722 996 dollars were taken just in 2021! Reports flooded in august yet that month, had what would be the average amount of money scammed, $26,240,509. The most money scammed in 2021 was in December, about $43,022,542 was taken, to make matters worse December had the least amount of reports in the whole year. The data started in 2019 and in that year 142 698 377 dollars were gone, in 2020 175 694 583 was gone.
Research Question 4
Now not all scams use online transferring and internet use, some scams require people to get the money. Scammers rent an airbnb and then send someone who goes to pick up the money who then drives it to a supervisor who deposits the cash and wire transfers it the remaining money to the scammer. Another way scammers get money is by using atms and they put a device which works like the usual atm but it sends a text to the scammer with all your info, they also put a keypad on top of the keypad and that sends your pin to the scammer, and they install cameras to see what numbers you typed in without thinking twice. Scammers will get you to try and withdraw money from the bank to send and they sometimes cry and act like this job is the only way they feed their family. Dirty little liars
Research Question 5
Scammers have what’s like a little dictionary of scams when it comes to scamming methods. One way scammers scam is by phishing which scammers pretend to be a person to be someone you know or you owe a company money or stuff and you need to give money. Another way is Auction Fraud which scammers pretend to do an auction online like Ebay or something else. This scam is dangerous because they get a lot of money from this so be careful. The worst scam out of these is probably donation scams where people pretend to be sick or going through a tragedy and the thing about this is that it is hard to tell if it is a scam or not. Another way scammers use is by saying fake claims like those ads where it says you won so and so but this is avoidable by getting an ad block but still this is dangerous. Another scam is romance scam where scammers use dating apps to build relationships to gain people’s trust and when they do the scammer asks for money and gifts, they use fake profiles to not get tracked. So this shows that you better be careful on the internet.
Research Question 6
Some scams are big and they keep getting bigger, but none can grow or even come close to these scams. In 1920 a man who went by the name Charles Ponz would scam people by using payments made from new investors which then the money he made from them to satisfy promises made to previous victims, Charles had repeated this for over 18 months and made 15 million dollars and this is so famous that it has a scam named after the man. Another big scam was run by an entire bank and the bank was called Barings Bank, triggered a tragic financial crisis for the bank which led to its ultimate demise. The rogue trader gambled over US1 billion dollars or 1668130000 NZ dollars on unhedged positions on markets falsifying internal accounting records to cover up his actions.When the markets failed to turn in his favor, the losses multiplied. Rarely, Leeson’s actions weren’t revealed as a result of internal audit or oversight, but through a letter of confession sent to the head of the bank as his losses mounted. But one of the biggest scams ever pulled was done by one man.\
Conclusion
With all the information and with the pmi analysis we should block unknown numbers and get on with our day and live on. So in conclusion, block scammers and also report them. Thank you for listening and have a good day.
Links:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scammer#:~:text=Definition%20of%20scammer,%2C%20but%20nefarious%20scammers%20might.%E2%80%94 https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/scam.htm https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/working-providers/what-are-scams
https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/general-help/scamwatch/types-of-scams/identify-a-scam/
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/how-to-identify-scammer/
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/scam-statistics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrKW58MS12g&ab_channel=MarkRober
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doqxtp2f4aY&ab_channel=TommyBryson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4mkZU2Y0as&t=0s&ab_channel=ScammerPayback
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/scam.htm
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2020/fraud-tactics.html
https://www.cert.govt.nz/individuals/common-threats/scams-and-fraud/
https://stacker.com/stories/2525/30-biggest-scams-modern-history
https://www.neuralt.com/5-cases-of-historical-fraud-that-transformed-the-world/