Common Reasons Why So Many People Fall For Scams !

Scam is simply defined as an illegitimate plan of making money, particularly by tricking unsuspecting victims e.g. individuals, companies or organisations. We live in an age where almost anything seems easy, available and possible. The scammers are also taking advantage of this to trick unsuspecting victims to giving their money, personal information or property to them. They are always looking for ways to make money at the expense of unsuspecting victims.

Scams are getting more sophisticated every day because of advancement of technology. As far as scams are concerned, we are all vulnerable irrespective of age, sex, status, colour or ethnicity.

Scams cannot be totally eradicated but we can reduce it to the barest minimum by educating ourselves, implementing best practices and staying vigilant.

There are many reasons why many people fall victim to scams but here are some common reasons why many people fall for scams:

1. Greediness: Most people with excessive desire for wealth usually fall victim to scams.

2. Ignorance: A lot of people fall victim to scams because they had little or no knowledge about the common tricks used by scammers.

3. Gullibility: Anybody that can be easily convinced that something is true or real will always fall for almost any type of scam.

4. Lack of proper investigation: Scammers send a lot of scam emails every day and many unsuspecting victims respond without doing proper investigation.

5. Urgent desire for free offer: Scammers send out information containing free offer of goods & services to trick unsuspecting victims and many unsuspecting victims fall for the scams because they want goods and services that they won't pay for.

6. Desperation to gain employment: Many unemployed people that are desperate to get job fall victim to unemployment scams on daily basis.

7. Fear of missing great opportunity: Many unsuspecting victims fall for scams because they don't want to miss the deceptive business opportunities introduced to them by scammers.

8. Lack of special internet safety education for aged people & young children: Elderly people & young children are key targets of scammers because they are the most vulnerable.

9. Lack of daily awareness campaign: Lack of awareness campaigns on daily basis to sensitise the general public on the dangers attributed to scams makes many people to fall for scams.

10. Urgent desire for cheap products: Many people fall victim to scams because they are urgently looking for cheap products.

11. Carelessness: Many people are careless about their personal information and this increases their vulnerability to scams.

12. Many victims don't want to share their stories: When victims don't share their stories with others, others will continue to fall victim to scams.

Safety tips to avoid scams: 1. Investigate thoroughly before you invest in any business.

2. Avoid sharing personal or sensitive information on social media.

3. Report any suspicious fraudulent activity immediately to the police.

4. Avoid sharing personal information on phone. 5. Avoid any goods or services that is free. 6. When you receive strange calls or text messages frequently, be suspicious.

7. Check your online and offline accounts regularly to know if there is any fraudulent activities.

8. Avoid connecting to the internet through public WiFi.

9. Avoid clicking on any link or downloading any attachment if you are not sure of the source.

10. Always keep personal and sensitive information safe and secure.

11. When you are contacted to provide personal or sensitive information online, be suspicious and do thorough investigation.

12. Avoid doing online transaction in any website that you don't trust.

13. If an offer sounds too good to be true, be suspicious and do a thorough investigation.

14. Use anti-virus softwares and keep it updated with the operating system of your device.

15. When you receive any call from your bank requesting for your personal or sensitive information, don't provide the information but visit your bank immediately to address the issue.

Rotimi Onadipe, Tel: +234-8169121819 Email: onatechconsult@gmail.com