5 online scams and how to avoid them

With the social era at its peak, many ways have been crafted to extort your sensitive information from various social platforms. Such action is carried out through fake websites, links, emails, and accounts. However, you need to guard against scammers who target social media users while also keeping an eye out for hackers.

Here are 5 ways to avoid scams on social media.

Watch out for scam giveaways, contests, and surveys

If you are an avid user of social media platforms then you must have come across the offer of "free gift cards" or "amazing discount coupons" under the guise of giveaways or anniversary celebrations or offer some reward in exchange for completing a survey. These crafty scams are used to get access to your social media account information, for example, authorising a survey link access for your account on Facebook to win the prize or to collect personal information, all of which will be surely used for nefarious purposes. The tell-tale signs are when a survey, contest, or giveaway is being shared, posted or advertised solely via social media posts with no affiliation with a legitimate website or social media account/page of the party associated with the reward. Do not spread them by sharing such posts with others on your social platforms.

Beware of 'fake' people

Fake accounts for non-existent people are often created to connect with real people just to exploit their contacts and use the information in victims' private posts to devise elaborate scams. It is important not to accept friend requests from unknown parties on Facebook. Be extra cautious of connection or friend requests from impersonation accounts

It is always wise to check out an account from which you received a friend or a connection request. Setting up fake accounts using publicly available photos of people is something a fourth grader can do. To figure out whether an account is real, see how many friends or contacts the person has in common with you and consider if that number makes sense, see how far back the posts in the account go to figure out its legitimacy.

Guard against fake live streams and movie offers

Scammers also offer fake live streams of popular events or movies on various social platforms. These links often show up on websites that distribute malware. Furthermore, they also almost always request credit card credentials and personal information, stating it will not be charged until after a free trial, which will then be used either for identity theft or social engineering. Live stream events or online movies should always be accessed from parties that legitimately are authorised to provide them.

Avoid clickbait

Claiming to offer a juicy scoop or exposé of some breaking celebrity news, unseen explicit salacious photos of celebrities, or some secret and fabled information that can make quick money through some stock investments overnight are red flags to steer away from. Scammers have been known to post links that attract the attention of their victims; which, of course, often direct to malicious websites similar to those used in giveaway, contest, and survey scams.