littlemull Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 I was hoping that some people would share their experiences of internet scams with me and ways to avoid them if possible. This involves any kind of scams, not just the ones in the work from home industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clickprincess Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 The easiest way to avoid scams, online or off, is to use your common sense. It is when people let greed get in front of their common sense that problems happen. Of course, I have long said that common sense is being bred out of the human species so perhaps it's not surprising how many people fall for obvious scams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlemull Posted December 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Yes you are certainly right about that! I have never bought something or been scammed before but it interests me to find out how many people have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burton Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 I'd add that we should be aware of the phishing emails that try to get us to give out our account numbers. Specifically, I get emails from time to time that appear to come from PayPal, but aren't for real. I forward these to spoof@paypal.com and usually within a few hours I get a response identifying them as scam email. My experience with PayPal has been fine, and I like to try to alert the company to any threats to them or their customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arneld Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 I have been scammed once and that gave me a big lesson that not everything said in the internet is the truth. Most often, the advertisements that would entice you to join are mostly too good to be true. But we will find out too late after we took the bait and had been scammed already. I like what clickprincess said, if you want to join or buy something in the internet, make sure that you have researched about it first before joining or buying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeesThoughts Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 When it comes to internet scams the best advice I can offer is do your own research. Don't rely on "testimonials" that may or may not be accurate, or take for granted that the email your great Aunt Tilly forwarded to you is legitimate. Take the time to research any company, proposition or even news item for yourself. It usually only takes a few moments on a search engine like Google and you'll be saving yourself time, money, and sometimes embarrassment in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerell8 Posted December 29, 2008 Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 A key way to avoid scams is to not give out any personal information via email. Any legitimate company will ask for the information through their own secure website (either website starting with https: or it will have a "lock" symbol in the browser address bar), or via phone. There are always exceptions. Recently I have been receiving phishing emails from what looked like legitimate emails. For example, I have been receiving an email that looks like an official FedEx email, but it asks for all of my personal information in an email. This is obviously a scam, but it was shocking that phishers are now using legitimate company names in their scams. Another way to know if an email is a scam or not is to run your cursor over a link in the email. Your browser, on the bottom left hand side will show where that link will take you. If you move your cursor over a link in an email, and the website or email listed does not have the company name in it, then it is probably a scam and don't click on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJoeJoe Posted December 29, 2008 Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 There are a number of online forums that provide detailed information on rip-offs and scams. Many of these forums and sites have very detailed archives that catalog companies that have been scamming people. Checking out these types of sites in advance can work wonders for reducing the chances of being scammed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
so Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 Fortunate for me I haven't been scam yet. Well almost, a couple of months back I was to pay a membership fee and I triple checked before sending any money. And yes, recommendation was total avoidance from the site and its unsolicited emails. It was a scam all right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Hmm, I have certainly run across some scams, but I don't think I have ever really fallen victim to a scam. Except for one time: I replied to what seemed like a legitimate local job listing with my number, and I am still receiving telemarketer calls on my cell phone! The way that I know something is a scam is when they either ask for information or you need to pay money in order to make money. And I agree, research is key. Before I ever sign up for anything, I google the company or website to see what others have had to say about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silva Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Just a couple of months ago my sister in law saw an ad on-line for a free sample of acai berries. She is always looking for something to help lose weight so she ordered some and paid with her credit card. We are in the UK and the sample was coming from USA. She was duly debited about $10 on her November credit card statement by a company named DRI*REGNET.COMMN but when she got her December statement she was shocked to find another three debits in dollars on three different dates in December and all from different companies. These were for almost $80 a time. She contacted her credit card company and was told that she had signed up to join a monthly scheme related to Anti-spyware software! The credit card company say lots of people have been complaining about this. Apparently your card is debited varying amounts until you cancel but she had no contact details so is now relying on the credit card company to sort it out! I only hope they do, otherwise her only option is to cancel the card completely. A Google search brings up many more complaints about this all over the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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