With the accessibility that comes with the Internet, there are increased opportunities for making money. It helps open a Pandora’s box of investment, employment, donation, and other opportunities to help a person succeed. However, on the flip side, it also lets loose scammers who are eager to make the most of these unsuspecting people. With both the negative and the positive opportunities, there are various online money-making scams that one should be vigilant about.
Phishing
Probably one of the biggest and long-running money-making scams there is, phishing is a common problem faced by several people. Usually, the process involves receiving a text or an email from a company that seems legitimate. In most cases, the scam impersonates one of the organizations the individual already interacts with. The mail contains a verification link; on submitting the details, users make themselves vulnerable to attacks from scammers.
Cryptocurrency scams
Cryptocurrency might not be creating as big a frenzy as it was earlier. But that hasn’t been enough to slow down the scammers who are making the most out of people’s interest by offering them some early investment opportunities, giveaways, fake prizes, or entering them into contests. Scammers can try to lure people into believing them by impersonating reliable companies and websites and citing the need for login information or proposing early investment opportunities. Some have even employed the one-time password (OTP) technique to falsely gain access to sensitive information.
Employment scams
These scams are mostly targeted at people who are looking for job opportunities online. Scammers even put the time and thought into the fake hiring process to make it look as legitimate as possible. Employment scams make it easier for scammers to gain access to people’s information via digital employment forms. Alternatively, they can convince people to buy training programs or ask for money from the applicants. Some scammers offer courses that increase the chances of finding jobs significantly higher. People have also noted how they were sent larger checks by the fake employer and then asked to return the extra money.
AI-powered scams
With the rise of new technology and artificial intelligence (AI), scammers have taken the ride. While AI is used to make life easier, scammers are instilling a new level of fear among people. There is a wide avenue for them to put AI in their use. It can help scammers to create fake voices of celebrities and telemarketers to scam them. This convinces people that they are investing in a good project. AI can also be used to impersonate banking officials or company employers to gather personal information about any person.
