The old saying used to be, “there are only two guarantees in life, death and taxes.” Well, thanks to technology, on the most part, we can now add scams and frauds to the list.
Last night on television, I saw a fellow sitting outside with his laptop talking about losing $60,000 on a Bitcoin investment scam. It was one of those scams that had him sending more, and more money. That’s the common denominator in most scams. They want you to send more and more money with the promise of investment returns beyond your wildest dreams.
You don’t have to have a computer in your home to be the target of a scam or fraud. Your telephone is a valuable tool used by any number of crooks to remove your life savings.
Most of us have heard about the call to a grandparent from a grandchild in trouble. Send money or I’m going to jail. Did you know that there is a computer program available that can record your voice allowing the bad guy to say anything he or she wants in your voice. That’s a game changer.
Another old favourite is the 900 phone number scams. You will get nothing but a big fat telephone bill.
Multilevel marketing, work at home scams, the old Nigerian advance fee frauds, fake bills and invoices, computer performance scams (that’s a doozy). They know most of us don’t have a clue, fake prizes (send money to claim), owing on back taxes and an endless list of others have already re-surfaced in the New Year.
Do everything you can to stay sharp and protect what belongs to you and your family. Believe me, the bad guys are doing everything they can to swindle you out of everything you have.Remember that old saying, “Don’t take any wooden nickels.” Life was so simple in those days.
That’s Life.
