Internet Security Tips

The Money transfer scams belong to the phishing scam family. Their purpose is similar to that of disaster relief scams.

Still, what makes them different is that money transfer scams occur during times of excitement. From this perspective, they seem to be more related to the lottery scams, that we previously talked about.

What Are Money Transfer Scams?

Also known as the fake check scam, this fraud has the purpose to catch happy people off guard. Thus, they can occur when someone might think they can successfully sell a valuable good, online.

This is the moment when scammers come with their tricks. They pretend to be interested in the goods you are selling. So, they buy the product, but send more money than the agreed price. For this, the villains use wire transfers, cashier’s checks, or personal checks.

So, immediately after the seller receives the check, something strange happens. The fake buyer asks the victim to deposit it. Then, they ask their target to send back the difference between the agreed price and the paid one.  But immediately after, the victim discovers that the check is just a fake.

Still, there is not too much to do in this case, to recover the money. Villains use fake email accounts, and immediately after they receive the money, they close their bank accounts.

Some other times, they just send an email asking for help. They request naïve users to help them transfer important amounts of money. This is the Nigerian scam scheme. So, they ask for the victim’s bank account details and then transfer all the money to their accounts.

Tips to stay away from these scams

To make sure you do not become a victim, pay attention to these:

1. The first warning sign appears whenever a purchaser or another unknown person asks for money via wire transfer.
2. Another important sign is when you receive an email that you won an amount of money, but you need to pay to receive your prize.

So, remember to never:

1. Send money or unveil credit card details or online account information.
2. Deposit a check from someone you don’t know, especially if they ask you to wire money back to them.

Now, that you know how to protect yourself against money transfer scams, you should never become a victim of scammers.