How do I identify a fraudster?
Fraudsters often mislead individuals by tempting them with the prospect of substantial gains, attractive incomes, or presenting cryptocurrency at exaggerated prices. This can lead individuals to unknowingly transfer their funds to fake accounts or fraudulent platforms. As a result, these individuals then encounter difficulties when attempting to withdraw funds or receive what was promised. Unfortunately, this can ultimately lead to financial losses for those affected.
Friendly reminder: We do not encourage you to engage in offline transactions due to unforeseen risks. We kindly ask you to remain vigilant throughout the transaction process. If you receive unsolicited project introductions or unclear file links on messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and others, please exercise caution and consider reporting or blocking such contacts. Safeguard your personal assets to prevent falling victim to scams.
Common communication tools used by fraudsters
Fraudsters usually will reach out to users via different communication tools. Here are some of the common communication tools:
- Website: fraudsters often create a fake website that impersonates legitimate entities, deceiving the users into providing personal information or engaging in financial transactions.
- WhatsApp: fraudulent groups will contact potential victims via WhatsApp, send false information, or conduct scam activities.
Note: we don't have any official WhatsApp groups. Be cautious of scams pretending to be our official channels. - Telegram: fraudsters will establish private chat groups on Telegram to recruit victims or disseminate false information.
- Facebook: fraudulent groups may create fake pages or accounts to conduct fraudulent promotions or connect with potential victims.
Common fraudulent approaches used by fraudsters:
Here are some of the common fraudster approaches:
1. Investment Scam
Often, fraudsters will send private messages to a user via messaging applications, stating that they can earn money by performing investments. They will often switch to different messaging applications to communicate with users, claiming that investing a certain amount of assets can lead to profits, and users will fall for it. Fraudsters will then change the rules and request users to pay more to withdraw their earnings, and subsequently, withdrawal requests will be denied for various reasons.
For example, someone on Instagram gets a message from a stranger. The message says they can earn money by voting on ads for car companies. They begin chatting on Telegram. In the beginning, the person explains that if the user puts in some money, they can get even more money later. This makes the user think investing is a good idea. However, later on, the person changes the rules. They tell the user they have to pay more money to take out their earnings. They use various excuses to reject the user's requests to withdraw the money.
Some investment scams will start with fraudsters offering seemingly attractive opportunities, promising high returns. These opportunities can cover various assets like stocks, real estate, cryptocurrencies, and more. They often make unrealistic guarantees, emphasizing urgency and asking for confidentiality. They may also use fake information and present themselves as experts to lure unsuspecting investors.
2. Transfer Funds to Fraudulent Platforms
Fraudsters will lure users to withdraw their funds to fraudulent platforms by promising high returns. They initially provide users with some profits. Later, when users invest a significant amount of funds, fraudsters will reject withdrawal requests for various reasons such as "low credit score, requiring payment of a certain amount," or demanding a deposit before allowing withdrawals.
Another common situation where an individual fell victim to an online scam involving the Edaytask platform. This serves as a cautionary tale of how trust and financial vulnerability can be exploited in the digital age. The victim met a person on a website who enticed them with a business opportunity, claiming to work for Amazon. The victim was introduced to the Edaytask platform and, believing they could earn money, started completing tasks. However, their earnings froze, and they were coerced into paying money to unlock their earnings, resulting in significant financial loss. This case exemplifies the importance of online financial awareness and serves as a reminder to be cautious when presented with too-good-to-be-true opportunities on the internet. It also underscores the need for vigilance and knowledge to protect oneself from online scams.
3. Working Fraud
Fraudsters will lure users under the guise of high-profit earnings to deposit a small number of funds and earn a modest profit. However, as they progressively increase the deposited amount, if the user decides not to make additional deposits, their account will be frozen and they will be prompted to deposit more funds in order to initiate a withdrawal. For more details on the common working fraud, refer here.
Some of the fraudsters will offer some easy, well-paying and flexible fake job opportunities which might include online marketing, data entry, product testing and others. They will usually request upfront payment from the users, claiming it is the "training fee", "entrance fee" and other similar types of fees which are used to provide relevant training material or equipment. Once the upfront payment is made by the users, the fraudsters will assign some simple tasks to users, including posting online advertisements, filling in some surveys, clicking the provided links to complete the tasks, or other simple actions.
4. Impersonation Scam
Some of the fraudsters will pretend to be from official organizations, using fake documents and logos to seem trustworthy. They offer services like tax help or legal advice, asking for fees or personal details. Sometimes, they even use threats to scare people into giving them what they want. They might ask for personal info, bank details, or money. Watch out for telephone scams too, where they pretend to be police or government workers, saying you're in trouble and need to give them things to avoid problems.
How can I prevent myself from falling victim to a scam perpetrated by a fraudulent individual?
- Be cautious of calls, emails, or any social media messages sent by strangers. They could claim themselves to be from government agencies, companies, or even charities to collect your personal information or funds. Do not easily trust or believe them. Avoid having a mentality of seeking benefits, as this can be exploited by malicious individuals.
- Exercise the practice of verifying the individual's identity when someone pretends to be a government officer, company officer, job hunter, and others. You can independently search for relevant contact information and directly reach out to them, rather than using the provided phone number or email address.
- Avoid casually sharing personal information such as Social Security numbers, bank account details, or credit card information. Only provide this information to trusted entities or individuals.
- Do not easily trust tempting messages. Private transactions carry significant risks. Do not readily believe messages on social platforms that encourage using digital assets for virtual recharge card transactions at high purchase prices or low selling prices. Stay alert to various enticing messages claiming "high returns."
- Be cautious when an individual requests upfront payment through unconventional methods, such as wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrencies. Some fraudsters will alert you that you've won a prize, but you will be required to pay an upfront fee in order to receive the prize. Before making any payment, ensure you understand the nature of the transaction and deal only with trusted entities.
- Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources, which can lead to malware infecting your devices.
- The platform does not encourage offline transactions due to unforeseen risks. Throughout the trading process, please maintain a certain level of caution to prevent potential asset losses resulting from private transactions.
- Familiar yourself with various fraudulent tactics and scenarios to identify the fraudsters' trends and behavior, so you can avoid being the next victim.
- In case of transaction risks or if you realize you are being deceived, it is crucial to terminate the transaction immediately, cut your losses in a timely manner, save chat records with the scammer, and preserve transaction records on scam platforms. Contact our customer support promptly for assistance.