These 7 Habits Make You an Easy Target for Scammers

Most of us know the basic principles on how to safeguard ourselves from scammers — don’t trust, don’t share, don’t give. And yet, there are times when we tend to drop our guard when approached by smooth-talking strangers.

Why does it happen? Why do perfectly cautious people fall prey to the most ridiculous scams?

Here are some habits and traits that make you an easier target for fraudsters than others.

1. Selective Trusting

From an early age, we are taught not to trust strangers. When we grow older, we rely on our wisdom and experience to judge whom to trust and whom not to.

We have faith in our judgment and intuition about people. But it’s simply never possible to be 100% accurate, not unless one is a mind reader.

Here is the only golden rule about strangers.

Trust nobody.

If you’ve watched enough spy movies, you know how overused this line is.

There’s no need to exercise your judgment, just assume that every stranger has an agenda, and it will save you from a ton of trouble.

If a stranger promises some form of personal gain, question it.

Why you? What are they asking for? What do they stand to gain? Why will anyone offer charity to random people?

2. Believing the Initiator

If an online entity initiates the first communication, they want something from you — be it money, information or something they are trying to sell.

Human beings are driven by material gains. Can you think of a situation where a stranger might make the first contact for charity?

That wonderful offer where someone pledges 150% returns if you buy cryptocurrency from them — is it for real? If it was, wouldn’t everyone do it?

Initiators are takers, not givers.

Never forget this! Initiators are just trying to get something THEY need, not something you need. No need to consider what they’re offering, it can never be skewed in your favor.

3. Empathy and Kindness

Never donate money to strangers based on a narrative. It’s impossible to physically verify the situation of a person you know nothing about.

If you are brimming over with empathy, here’s a thought. Shower that kindness on your family, perhaps a relative or a friend who genuinely needs your help.

Want to be a philanthropist? Just donate to a known charity or person. That way you know where the money is going. Or even better, sign up for that voluntary work, your time and energy are way more valuable than money.

4. Perpetual Thrift

We all love to save money, to seek out that terrific offer, to want to get more value out of purchases. But beware!

If an offer is too good to be true, it probably isn’t!

Freebies usually mean crappy products. Quality products seldom offer unbelievably large discounts. That’s the harsh truth of consumerism.

As a buyer

• If you’re buying from a private seller, always perform physical inspections of the product before transferring money.
• If the seller has to ship the item, buy only from a reliable platform. Most established e-commerce platforms have return policies to safeguard buyers and sellers, they hold the seller’s money until the return or exchange window closes.

As a seller

• If you are the seller, it’s natural for people to respond to your ads. But how do you know if the potential customer is a scammer?
• When selling privately, don’t ever part with your item unless the buyer has physically shown up for pickup. Let them inspect it, transfer the money and then collect the item, it should be like a “ransom exchange”.
• Never accept cheques as those can be fake, stolen or might bounce due to insufficient funds.

5. Fear and Curiosity

Scammers often exploit fear and curiosity to gain sensitive information from us.

Phishing

It is a very common scam that exploits these traits.

Phishing is a form of information gathering that directs the victim to a fake website posing as a well-known platform. Here, the victim is instructed to provide personal details.

Imagine your bank sending an email about an unbelievable cashback offer. All you need to do is fill up your information on their website.

Think of the times you got a text from the bank claiming that your funds will be frozen unless you complete a personal verification.

Hello! Shouldn’t the bank already have your details? That’s what phishing scams look like.

Here are a few pitfalls to avoid

• Don’t ever fill up forms on unknown or untrusted websites.
• Avoid clicking on website links from emails, those may seem genuine but may have been cloned from the original website.
• Always type in the website address directly to visit frequently used websites.
• Never divulge any information to anyone over the phone, email or text.
• Don’t get tricked into sharing OTPs with someone, remember that OTPs are meant only for consumers, not service providers.

Your details — name, phone number, birthday, bank details, social identification number, residential address, etc — are all confidential data. Guard them like a hawk would guard its babies.

Blackmail

It’s the oldest trick in the book — to exploit the victim’s fear.

Imagine getting a call from a law enforcement officer about a crime you have committed — your name, phone number, vehicle registration number, etc, has been linked with a certain money laundering scam.

Guess what! Authorities never call. They turn up at the doorstep or summon people to the station. They don’t ask you to pay hefty sums to enable you to escape the allegations.

Bottomline — If someone is using fear and insecurity to demand money, it’s a scam without fail.

6. Lure of Money

Offers to get rich quickly are typical examples of the money lure schemes.

There’s no such thing as getting rich quickly unless you have landed a job with a major crime syndicate.

Never fall for an offer that promises quick cash. Nobody gets rich without an effort or inheritance.

Scammers often attract unsuspecting folks with “work from home” job offers involving trivial tasks performed online or via phone.

Initially, they might even pay you once or twice to earn your trust. Soon, you’ll be asked to invest a small amount of money to unlock better-paying tasks.

Never pay money to earn money.

That’s a no-brainer. The moment someone asks for money, run fast!

7. Loneliness

If you’re feeling lonely and tend to turn to strangers to meet your needs, this is the perfect trap for you.

Popularly known as honey traps, these are the most well-exploited trickery in history.

A good-looking stranger befriends you, gets you hooked into a fairytale romance, then comes to you with some sad story and asks you for help — mostly it’s money, but they might also be fishing for confidential information. They will play with your vulnerability and empathy to extract what they want.

Honey trapping can happen both online and offline, but online just makes it easier.

To all kind and lonely souls out there — if you are involved in an online romance, go ahead by all means. But refrain from donating money to save that poor guy or gal hounded by dangerous loan sharks or struggling to get their terminally sick child treated.

If you want to help, get them registered on non-profit websites that raise money for truly needy folks. If you have too much money, donate it to a charity rather than enabling potential scammers online.

Key takeaways

Fraudsters will always be there and new scams will be invented every day. But few things won’t ever change — the human traits needed for every scam to be successful.

Be the good samaritan that you want to be, but prioritize your well-being first. Control your humanity, not everyone deserves it.

Avoid those momentary judgment lapses.

Keep doubting everyone and everything unknown to you. Cynicism isn’t such a bad thing and you are responsible for your well-being.