Look Out For These Online Payment System Scams

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me update you on the latest online scams.

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It used to be pretty easy to spot most online scams because they always seem to be asking for gift cards. Very often iTunes gift cards. This was always a red flag. No legitimate business or government agency was going to want payment with gift cards. A lot of people still fell for these scams but hopefully you didn't. However today a lot of times they are asking for payment using legitimate payment services like Venmo, Zelle, Apple Cash, and other methods. These are all great ways to transfer money between you and family and friends. You can split a bill at a restaurant, you can pay a handyman. But they can also be used by scammers because they are quick and easy to do completely online. 

So one thing to look for, when you're doing a transaction online, like say buying an item or a service, and the other party wants to move from the current platform to another platform to get payment. Never go to a second location! Right. So if you're on eBay, it's only the person that wants to pay you by Venmo or some other way, instead of staying on eBay. That is a red flag. Insist that they stick with the platform you are currently using. Don't let them take you somewhere else where they can pull a scam on you. 

Now if are accepting payment from somebody you have never met on an online system like Venmo, Apple Cash, or something like that a common way they get you is not by getting money from you first, but by giving you money. You may think, how can that be bad if they are giving you money? Well, a lot of times what they'll do is intentionally overpay. So, for instance, you may expect getting $30 from them for something you're selling and you end up getting $300. They come back and say they made a mistake and they need you to send money back to them. A lot of times this will come with a lot of pressure. They'll say it is really important they get it. They have to make rent. They have to pay medical bills. Whatever it is and they need you to do that right away. Now if may seem harmless if you see that you have $300 from them in some online account, sending back $270 may not seem like a big deal. But in fact they may have a way to reverse that charge or they are probably using a stolen credit card to pay you anyway. So when that charge gets reversed by the real card holder you're stuck with the fact that you sent somebody $270. You can't get that back! 

There are a lot of variations on this scam. I suggest you read the page at wikipedia.com which goes into detail about a lot of the different ways this can work. 

Sometimes when you're online somebody will say they send you money and then show you proof that they did. Or maybe you'll even get an email that seems to come from the service, like Venmo or Zelle, saying that the money has been sent to you. But if you don't check you wouldn't notice that the money actually hasn't been sent to you. It's just a fake email. So you send the item to the person without ever receiving payment. The worse variation on this is an email that you get saying you have payment but it is being held for some reason and you need to pay a fee in order to get it. Remember it is really easy to fake emails even down to the line that says who it is from and every piece of information on it can be pretty legitimate. But, in fact, that email didn't come from that financial service but it came from the same scammer that you've been talking to about selling that item. 

Another variation on getting overpaid is getting accidentally paid. So you weren't actually talking to anybody at all. You just suddenly got a payment by Venmo or some other system, and you don't even know the person. You don't know what it is about at all. But it seems like you've really got the money. Somebody had actually paid you using a stolen credit card number and then maybe they get in touch with you and say they want you to send them the money back. If it was a legitimate accident, which never happens, they would just go back and request that the transaction be canceled. They are trying to trick you into making a legitimate transaction and you sending them money. Eventually the money you received, that's wiped out because it was a stolen credit card. 

Now this one gets more and more common and more and more sophisticated. It's known as Grandparent Scam or I like to call it Family-In-Need scam. You get a phone call or a message sometimes on social media pretending to be somebody you know. A family member. They are in trouble. They need help. They're on vacation somewhere and they need payment sent because they have been put in jail or the hotel bill isn't paid or something like that. A lot of times a scammer is able to get personal details in different ways to make you think it's real. Of course our desire to want to help our loved ones plays into this so we want to react quickly and help that person out. 

Then, of course, there are romance scams. The idea is you start an online relationship. Perhaps just a friendship at first and then it gets little more romantic and it goes on for quite awhile. Then some sort of emergency presents itself where the other person needs money and you send it to them. Usually this works because of the length of the scam. If somebody we met yesterday asked for money today our alarm bells go off. But if it goes on for six months we tend to trust that person more even though, if you think about it, you've never actually met them in person. The important thing to remember is that while the relationship may have been a big part of your life over the last few months, for the scammer they probably have dozens or even hundreds of other people on the line and they are not emotionally invested. So it is really not that much work for them. People tend to trust because of all the time they've put into the relationship forgetting that the other person really hasn't put much time and effort into the relationship in this scam. Never send money to someone you've never met in person. 

Another common type of person that uses online payment methods is the rental or vacation rental scam. So, you find a listing online. Maybe for an apartment. Maybe you're moving to a new city. Or maybe it is just a vacation rental for a week during the summer. You see pictures. You see information and all of that. It all seems legitimate. You even email back and forth with questions. Then it comes time to send money. So you send it without thinking. What has actually happened, of course, is the person has stolen all the pictures, the description, and all of that from a legitimate listing, maybe one from a long time ago, and you just sent them money and they have nothing to rent to you. Checkout this FTC page about these rental scams. Things to look for and ways to avoid them.

Now you may have heard of, but not experienced, any of those scams so far. But you probably have seen these. These are email messages you get. They seem to come from legitimate companies, ones you've heard of before, asking for payment for something you didn't buy. So, for instance, here's one that seems to come from Microsoft for buying Windows Defender for $400. Here's another one from Norton LifeLock asking for $650. Here's a third one for Geek Squad asking for $239. What these all usually have in common is a message about, if you didn't authorize this charge or if you think they're fraud or something like that, then call this number, click this link, email this address. That is exactly what they want you to do. Nothing has been charged to you. This is just an email that has gone out to millions of people in hopes that a few of them will fall for it and call that number. Once you call that number they'll try to get information from you, maybe even banking information saying they are going to refund the money. When in fact what they are doing is using that information  to extract money from you. All these messages are just spam. Just delete them. Also you find some advice about them if you look at the email address. If it is fake the email address won't be legitimate. Don't rely on that because email addresses can be completely faked. So it can look completely legitimate except for maybe the toll free number they give you to call or maybe one link that they give you to click. Even if the other links actually take you to the right place. 

Another type of email you may get is that you won the lottery or a prize or a free item or something like that. Then if you actually respond to them, whether it is online or something, then they'll ask you for all sorts of information in order to send you the prize. They're actually using that information to steal your identity or get money from one of your accounts. 

Another particular nasty version of this is when you get a message, sometimes a phone call, that seems to be from your bank or some other company you do business with saying that there might be some kind of fraud. Can you confirm this information. They are actually trying to get information from you. If you get information about fraud or something being charged to your credit card or to Venmo or Zelle or to any other way to do online transactions, ignore all the contact information in that notification. Instead go to the legitimate website or call the real number that you know for that company and ask them about it. Chances are it is a scam. But if you feel the need to check up on it then never use the contact information provided in the messages that you receive about it. 

Now one last one that I want to mention that may be the worst of them all and that's the victim scam. That's when, maybe, you've been hit by one of these and then a few weeks or a month later you get a message or an email or a phone call claiming to be from somebody that is trying to help you. Maybe from your bank or from Venmo or Zelle or whatever, and they are trying to get you your money back. Remember, if you've been scammed there are three parties that know about the scam. You, the legitimate company because you presumably contacted them and tried to fix things, and the scammer. So in this case it would be the scammer that knows exactly the details of how you've been scammed but you trust the information because it seems to be from your bank or whoever and they end up pulling another scam on you in the guise of helping you get your money back from the previous scam. 

So for me, as a general rule, I only ever use systems like Venmo, Zelle, or Apple Cash when I know the person. I've met them in real life. They are a friend, a family member, or maybe somebody that has done some work like a handyman, landscaper, that kind of thing. There's a real world connection with them.

When it comes specifically to Apple Cash, Apple actually has a page about how to be safe using it and it runs through some of the scams that you may see with Apple Cash.  The best way to protect yourself from these scams or any kind of online scams is to just educate yourself about them so you recognize them when they are happening. Hope you found this useful. Stay safe. Thanks for watching.