Whenever there’s money involved, there’s potential fraud waiting to happen. Learn to recognize the most prevalent financial scams here.
What’s a voided check? It may sound contradictory. Checks are documents that order banks to process payments, while the word “void” cancels those orders. Even though you can’t send money with a voided check, they still share useful financial information. People often use them to set up electronic payments. How To Use Voided Checks For example, you can send a voided check to a company so that they know where to make the deposit. Or maybe a business requires your …
What is black dollar money? In short, it is a scam, also known as “Black Dollar Scam” or “Chemical Wash Scam”. In the scheme a victim is convinced they inherited cash by various means. Why is the money coated black? The scammers will make you believe that the money had to be painted black to avoid attention from the authorities. Now you have to pay the chemical cleaning fee in order to gain access to the clean cash. Is Black …
Need money? You’re in luck. Many lenders will give you the amount in no time, depending on who you are. If you have strong credit, you can get low-interest loans fast. But most people won’t likely qualify for these. Without a good history, loans become a complex, long process with tons of paperwork. Because why would a lender trust money to an unreliable person? Some lenders decide to give such people a chance: free loans for everyone, no matter your …
Have you been on the lookout for cheap electronics, mobile phones, game consoles and digital cameras for your own private use or to turn a profit? There has been an increasing hype to buy electronic items at a much lower price than the retail price. Many individuals are looking to buy items for a low price and then resell them on eBay or similar auctions websites and turn a profit. Online electronic product shopping scams involve perpetrators pretending to be …
Can you make money online fast? Is it possible to go from broke to millionaire in X days? If so, how could you do it? A get-rich-quick scheme promises that participants can make money fast with basically no skill, effort or time in a very short period of time. With so many internet gurus talking about these get-rich-quick schemes in the past, some turned to more towards a get-rich-easy propaganda. Anybody can make millions by following a few steps – …
Can you trust Moneygram? Yes, they can scam you on Moneygram, just as they can on any platform. Like Western Union, Moneygram is a money transfer company that wants the best for their customers. When we look at the usage of these payment methods that others make, that’s a different story. Even today, the most preferred methods to pass money to a scammer are money orders and wire transfers, hence the bad connotation of these companies. It doesn’t mean all …
Short and distort is a less publicly known trading scam similar to the classic pump and dump. Shorting is a word in traders’ jargon and means basically selling a stock, currency, crypto or any other similar financial item that can be traded. Imagine some stranger reaches out to you and says: “Buy this penny stock before it skyrockets, and you’ll get RICH!” It may feel exciting, but you don’t need to take action if you don’t trust the advisor. Now, …
Wire transfers are a popular payment method, and sometimes this is exploited for the wrong purposes. It’s a convenient way to receive money, but we can’t say the same about sending it. Why? Because wiring money to a stranger is like moving cash: once the other has it, you most likely lose it forever. Many scammers request wire transfers to their victims because of these “flaws”. It’s not that bank wire transfers an services like Western Union or Moneygram are …
The best way to steal is the subtle way. No matter how it’s done, there’s a better chance to succeed if the victim never notices. That’s why modern thieves prefer more elusive and nonviolent methods, like cashpoint scams. ATM Fraud is as old as the machines themselves. When you enter your credit card into an ATM machine and provide the proper associated PIN number, you should in normal circumstances establish a “link to your bank account” . However, once the …
Which one would you choose? Would you like to receive a million dollars right now? Or perhaps get a penny and double it for thirty days? If you do some simple math, the second option yields five times more gains than the instantaneous reward. Thus, compound interest is the secret of how Warren Buffet made his money, and how you could do it too with a High Yield Investment Program. You may have heard their promotions: “Make large returns from …
Did you just receive a suspicious email, call or a text message that was supposed to be from Bank of America? How to tell if it’s a scam and what can you do about it? Thieves attempt to lure you into providing personal information with the help of bank phishing and email spam, fake telephone calls or even through regular mail. The goal of getting your personal information is the same, just the communication method is different. Bank of America …
Once you’ve been a victim of fraud or identity theft, it’s difficult to know what you should do first. One of the statements you may have heard when it comes to identity theft is a fraud alert. But do you know what fraud alerts do, what types of fraud alerts are available or how fraud warnings work? What Is a Fraud Alert? Credit fraud is nothing you ever want to concern yourself with, but the sad fact is that some …
When was the last time someone helped you for no reason in particular? You get private information, someone sends money, or finds someone’s wallet. The help received makes you feel privileged. It may be luck, goodwill, and also a hook. No matter the purpose, that gift makes you trust the person. The same can happen when investing. Imagine getting help from an insider who has privileged information about stocks. The problem is: Everybody talks about the penny stock rise. What …
We all experience unpredictable events in our life. From time to time, you may need more money than you have to respond to those events. Get fired at work? Relationship issues? Medical emergencies? For your convenience, many helpful lenders will offer you generous amounts. Right at the right time, these people reach out and come up with an offer that’s too good to be true. Money may solve problems. But how much does it matter Who you trust to help …
Imagine how many scammers may be trying to steal your bank account. Sometimes, they just need a few pieces of data to breach all your accounts. That’s why the first step starts with security. You set passwords on your account and not share them with anyone. What about the account number? You may notice that when you want to transfer money, all you need to do is enter your number and the destination number. Yet, this number is visible everywhere. …
Paypal is a safe online payment option if you know who the recipient is. Everything is possible to manipulate in our computer world though, and we can do so with paypal as well. A fake paypal account can be opened in a couple of hours and verified with fake documents later on. Therefore you should not base your thrust on the fact a seller is using paypal. A step by step method on how to open a stealth paypal account …
The insurance industry collects more than $1 trillion in premiums each year in the United States. Insurers as well as the insured are trying to take a piece of that pie. When they do it in a dubious way, we call it insurance fraud. When we think of insurance fraud, we usually imagine individuals or people collaborating to defraud an insurance company. However, elaborate schemes exist to scam people off of their money by the insurance companies as well, or …
Cash and vending machines are prone to security breaches and outdated cash machines are especially vulnerable. If you’re the owner of a cash or vending machine you must acknowledge the most common security concerns to update or replace your machine. If your machine is located in an isolated area and left unmonitored, it could be drained of the merchandise or cash inside it. Depending on the security level of the machine, it might not require security upgrades. This is valid …
Aren’t you tired of collector calls? They won’t let you breathe until you paid the last penny you owe. Whether you pay or not, they may take all kinds of legal actions against you because of your vulnerable condition. If you don’t pay back borrowed money in a while, a 3rd party collector may become your new lender. Once the lender believes you’ll never be able to pay it back, he’ll look for help. It doesn’t matter how they punish …
Who says no to money? What if you could get it for free with no catch? Most people would believe it’s a scam. Although it’s unlikely to happen, you may find any of these cases: What they have in common is, you first need to participate to have a chance to get unclaimed money. If you have never participated, then any claim of you having unclaimed money should be viewed as highly suspicious. Think about it: why would a stranger …