10 Red Flags To Help You Defend Yourself Against Scams

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Here are ten red flags that can help keep you safe from scams. 

There are so many different kinds of scams to watch out for today. They can come at you in a variety of different ways. Like over the phone, text message, email, or even in person. Most of these scams have one or more of the following red flags. A red flag is an indicator that it may be a scam. Note that just because something doesn't include one of these red flags doesn't mean it is legitimate. Likewise, just because something does include one of these red flags doesn't mean it is a scam. These are just indicators, things that should put you on high alert if you spot them. . 

For instance, if you're ever told to use gift cards or cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, as a payment method, that's a big red flag that this is a scam. Legitimate agencies and companies don't use gift cards and cryptocurrency for payments. They use regular methods like credit card, bank card, or check. Gift cards and cryptocurrency allows scammers to get money from you and then there is no way for you to pull it back. There is nothing anybody can do once you've given away gift cards or cryptocurrency. In addition scammers like this because they can't be tracked. Once you give them the money this way there is no way to trace them. 

A more subtle red flag is when you get an email or maybe a text message or phone call. They don't know your name even though they claim to be calling about your account or the business you're doing with the company or agency. Any legitimate company or agency is going to know your name and address you that way. But scammers don't usually have this information. So they use generic greetings like dear customer. In addition the first step in a lot of scams is to send out a mass email or text to a lot of different people. They're often not going to go to the trouble of using some sort of database of names that match the email addresses or phone numbers so they can customize each one. They're just going to send the same message to everyone. They don't care if most people never respond. They only need to get a few responses for their scam to be successful. 

Now when you do get an email, a text message, or a phone call you've got a way to identify who is sending it to you. You can see the from email address, or the phone number. Often this will be generic if you're getting scammed. For instance, a bank wouldn't send you a customer support email through gmail or yahoo or hotmail or something like that. It would come from the bank's legitimate domain. Keep in mind sometimes scammers will get a little more sophisticated and use a domain but it's often fake, like instead of your bank name.com it will be your bank name dash something dash something.com. They just make it up so at a glance it kind of looks real. So pay careful attention. The same for phone numbers. If a phone number is from out of the country it's probably not from the agency or company you usually do business with. Or sometimes you can just see the phone number and you can just check it to see if it's the actual phone number for the company or agency. 

Now it is important with this red flag to not use it to prove it's not a scam because it is easy for a scammer for fake an email address or a phone number. So if it is wrong it's a good indicator that it's not real. But, if it is correct it doesn't really mean anything. It could still have been faked. 

Now this is the one that everybody likes to talk about. If you get an email or a text from a scammer very often it has spelling or grammar mistakes in it. Sometimes people like to laugh about these mistakes and it's a good red flag. If there are a lot of errors it's probably not legit. Real companies and agencies care more about getting things right. Often scammers are from all around the world from a different country than you and may not speak your language as their first language. So that would lead to spelling and grammar mistakes. Also there's the idea that some scammers may not mind that they have spelling and grammar mistakes. It might filter out a lot of people and just leave them with the ones that aren't paying close attention. They would rather spend their time trying to scam them than people that are more detail oriented. 

This red flag can also be a false positive here because, of course, a scammer can take the time to get all the spelling and grammar correct. Just because it all looks good still doesn't mean it's not a scam. It is just that if there are a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes it's a red flag and you should be on high alert.

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Next we've got the situation where you've been contacted by somebody and now they are asking you for information, usually to confirm your identity. So the scammer may be posing as, say, your bank and maybe asking for your bank account number to confirm that they are talking to the right person. Of course that's not how it works. They shouldn't be asking you for identification especially if they called you. Keep that in mind. If they initiated contact then they shouldn't be asking you for additional confirmation. What they are really doing here, of course, they are trying to get the information from you that they don't actually have. It could be something as simple as, say, your mother's maiden name or it could be something really important like your social security number, bank account number, things like that. 

But what if you feel that this may actually be legitimate and you're not sure how to proceed. Well, what you want to do is just tell the person that you don't feel comfortable talking to them because they contacted you and you're going to call back the support line for the agency or company directly. If it is real they should be happy about that. If they are a scammer they are probably going to try to keep you on the line and prevent you from calling the actual number. Remember don't call any number that was given to you by them like a phone number that came in the email or text message or one that they give you on the phone to call back! That could just take you right back to the scammer. 

Now kind of a variation on this is when they ask you to send them a code. The way this works is that they say they're going to send you a code to confirm that it is really you. They just want you to read them that number. You'll actually get a code then and the code seems to be from the real company. That's usually because it is. This is a common way for a scammer to get into your account when you have two-factor authentication. They're trying to get into the account and it's sending a confirmation to you because somebody is trying to get into the account by relaying that number to them, you're allowing them to complete the logon on their end and break into your account. So be on the lookout for this. They ask you to relay a code that is then sent by text message or email or some other way. The code will probably be real. So you can't use that as a way to confirm that it is a scam. But unfortunately this is kind of similar to techniques that are actually used by companies to confirm it is you. But usually it is when you're calling them. You are initiating contact that they want the identification confirmation. Not when they call you! 

Now this is a kind of obvious one but a lot of people still fall for this everyday. You get a call telling you that there's an issue with your computer, your network, some technology you've got. Eventually it leads to them asking you to install some software or to do something on your computer to grant them access. Always be thinking about how you were originally contacted. If they called you, you should NEVER follow their instructions to install something or grant them access. They can be really persuasive and can take a lot of time to lead you to this. That's why a lot of people still fall for this. Note once they get access you may not notice any difference. Everything may seem fine. That's because they are not actually going to do something bad to your computer or some account they've gained access to until much later. So if you've fallen victim to this it is important to take action right away. Change passwords, lock credit reports, have an expert checkout your computer to make sure it hasn't been hacked. 

Now on the other hand installing software or granting access is a legitimate way for technical support to help you. So if you've initiated contact, like you've contacted Apple and it's had gone to the point where they're going to try to help you by taking control of your computer, well it could actually be legitimate in that case. You always have to think about who contacted who. 

Now another big red flag to look out for in all scams is some sort of urgency or even threats. This is really common. They want to keep you off your guard. So they want to tell you there's a deadline or due date or there's consequences. Now legitimate companies, agencies don't behave this way. The person you're usually talking to usually really doesn't care whether or not you've paid the bill or do whatever it is you're supposed to do. They are just relaying information to you. They are going to remain professional. If there's actually a due date for something or something is overdue it's going to be  presented to you in a very professional manner. Look for that and look to see if it seems a little bit too threatening or urgent. 

Also look out for a scammer preventing you from getting more information or talking to more people. For instance, they may tell you that you shouldn't be calling the main office line. They won't know anything or they won't know how to help you. That kind of thing. They may try to prevent you from hanging up. A legitimate agency, company are going to be professional. They are not going to try to keep you on the line if you say you want to talk to somebody else. A really sinister one is if you get an impersonator scam. Like, for instance, a grandparent scam where the person pretends to be a grandchild calling a grandparent asking for help and usually that goes along with not telling the parents or anybody else about this. Or if it is some sort of serious legal issue or a bill way over due and you mention you want to get professional help with it, they're, of course, not going to want you to talk to anybody else. They want to keep you on the line and just get some money from you. 

Finally, there's the red flag of needing to send money. Anytime somebody asks you for money over text, email, the phone, or any other way you always have to consider that a red flag. A very simple example of this is being told that you won some money in a prize or sweepstakes or something. But you have to send some sort of fee first in order to get your prize. Another one is, say, when you're looking for a job and somebody contacts you about a job offer or maybe you're looking for an apartment and you ask to send in an application. If any of those ask for a fee, that's a big red flag that this is a scam. It can be a lot more complex. Like there are scams where you're hired for a job and then suddenly the job involves receiving money from somebody, depositing it in your own account, and then sending the money out to somebody else. Or perhaps just receiving items and then forwarding them onto somebody else. These are not legitimate jobs. These are scams. You could end up loosing a lot of money in these or maybe not loosing any money, but be the one that's found guilty of a crime that you didn't even know was happening. 

So those are ten red flags to look out for. If you keep those in mind when getting communications from people hopefully you'll be able to avoid many of the scams that are out there. Just remember, just because one of these red flags is not there doesn't mean that it is not a scam. Just because one of these red flags is there doesn't mean it is a scam. These are just indicators. Things that should put you on alert that something could be wrong. At the very least do this one thing if you see any of these red flags. Talk to somebody else that you trust about what is going on. They can help you see more clearly if it is a scam or not. Stay safe and thanks for watching.