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Many people are not aware of an online scam until they fall for one. This is especially astonishing when you consider that some of the most common online scams are centuries older than the internet itself. For instance, Advance Fee Scams (more popularly known as the ‘Nigerian Prince’ scam) can be traced back to the late 18th Century and Ponzi schemes have been running rampant since the late 1800s.
While the ‘scripts’ and technology used to perpetrate scams change with the times, the scams themselves have not evolved drastically. There are three distinct stages that can be observed for most types of online scams.
While ‘online scam’ is a broad term that encompasses everything from romance scams to shopping scams, this article reveals the most common signs of one-to-one scams such as Romance Scams and Investment Scams.
Being aware of and recognizing these stages can help you avoid losing money or losing more money, depending on which stage of the scam you are in.
Scammers are masters of exploiting human psychology and will try to push various buttons of the potential victim’s psyche at once in order to make them participate in the scam. They also use various communication methods available at their disposal in order to reach as many people as possible. Scammers try to bait victims using
You might be being baited for a scam if you receive either of the below:
The opening communication will urge the victim to reply as soon as possible, such as within a 48-hour window to avoid losing out on the opportunity.
If you respond to the scammer’s communications, they will then first create an illusion of authenticity. Professional scammers will rarely ask for money directly in the first or second communication; they first try to assure the victim that they legitimately have their best interests in mind. This could be done by:
Once the victim starts believing the scammer’s lies, then comes the request for money. The scammer might ask the victim to pay them for various reasons such as:
Scammers are rarely content with getting just one payment with the victim. They will try to squeeze as much money out of them as possible, which usually means that they will use more than one of the excuses listed above.
Scammers are also known to maintain ‘sucker lists’ of victims which they use to target vulnerable people repeatedly with different scams. Once the victim catches on that they are being fooled, the scammers move on to the third stage.
If the scammer realizes that they have gotten as much money as possible out of the victim and cannot extract more, they simply discard the victim and move on to new ones. You will know that you have been taken for a ride if:
Spotting a scam becomes easy if you know the patterns. If you spot any of the signs listed in this article, the best course of communication is to simply cut off all communications with the scammer. There is no benefit to confronting them or trying to expose them, as scammers know very well how to cover their tracks and avoid being caught.
If you have already fallen for a scam, read our guide ‘I've Been Scammed, What Now?’
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