Scam Watch

Scammers are everywhere on the Internet today from business deals to unsolicited emails to job wanted ads. While there is no surefire way to safeguard yourself, the first step toward avoiding a scam is pure prevention. In order to help you prevent from being scammed, we provide some of the most common scams that you can identify before becoming involved.

1. Offers too Good to be True: If you get a notice that you’re a winner of a contest, lottery or free prize, you should immediately be wary of the offer. True to the maxim “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”, there’s likely to be a catch, if not outright scam, underlying the offer. Never provide any information, at all, to companies who proclaim to provide contest prizes. If you win a genuine prize, you will rarely be contacted by email – instead, companies will contact you personally and give you a frame of time to pick up your award, or offer to physically ship it to you without worry of a sales pitch or catch.
2. Virtual Companies: Any company you deal with online should have a physical, real-world presence that you can verify – including active phone number, business registration and address. Always call the phone number to ensure it’s legitimate and check with the Better Business Bureau to find any record on the company.If someone is selling a product that you’ve never heard of, do a Google search for it – there should be a record of other users’ experience with the company and/or product for you to review. A web search that turns up nothing should raise a red flag that they may be selling vapor ware – caveat emptor.
3. Unsolicited Sales Pitches: As individuals get smarter about spam, you should be wary of any unsolicited sales email that may come your way – unless someone contacts you by way of a verified mutual contact, they are likely making a blanket sales pitch that should be treated with caution. Reputable companies should allow you to pay using the payment method of your choice, including major credit cards or well-established payment methods such as PayPal. You’ll want to ensure that they have a secure merchant account and a verified rating with any processing company. If the company demands that you pay by cash (or wire), you should shy away from the company, as that’s an initial signal for scams because you can’t recover those methods of payment. Even if you come across a new product that you are interested in, there are likely multiple vendors to choose from so you don’t have to work with the first company that contacts you, even if they may be legitimate.

Always be cautious when doing business online, and be wary of any deal that seems too good to be true… because it probably is.