Foam Scam Alert
Scammers are raking in millions of dollars per year from unsuspecting victims by pretending to represent many well-known companies and organizations. They will take advantage of every opportunity to take your money, especially during shortages, pandemics, natural disasters, or situations in which a large population is seeking help. Scammers abound on every social media site, and they advertising themselves through bogus websites or robocalls just waiting for their next victim. Their goal is to scare you into taking some kind of action immediately.
Spray Foam Scams
Recently, scammers have been taking advantage of the spray foam industry’s material shortage. They are posting that they have spray foam material; however, when you dig a little deeper, you find that there is little to no information about them online. They ultimately want you to give them your email and website address. They pretend to have something of value that they think you need. Scammers can be based anywhere in the world, but they can make themselves appear to be located in the U.S. Sometimes, they have an accomplice who is actually located in the U.S. in order to funnel the scammed money to other counties.
Scammers located in other countries often target U.S. citizens because they truly believe that all Americans are rich and ignorant. Remember, anyone can create a website that can show or say anything they want. Moreover, anyone with a laptop can be an international scammer. Scammers also post on social media and place ads everywhere they can to draw in their victims. Scammers will also Email you with links that are either infected with viruses or that lead to a scam call center.
How to Detect a Potential Scammer
- Read the ad carefully for tell-tale signs that it is not legitimate. Sometimes, a scammer’s ad will not quite make sense, or the grammar or spelling is poor.
- The scammer will not talk with you by phone and prefers to text or email you.
- The scammer wants your credit card or other personal information before they deal with you.
- The scammer wants you to enter your personal information on their website form or click a link on your phone.
- The scammer tries to make you feel a sense of urgency.
- The scammer avoids answering your questions and tries to direct you away from your questions.
- Scammer often use popups on your computer to get you to call them. If you do end up responding to a popup phone number, remember to shut down your computer and reboot it, so they cannot cause any harm.
- Scammers who call you pretend to be someone they are not. Hang up the call.
- If the deal sounds too good to be true, it is most likely not legitimate.
Scammers are Getting More Sophisticated
It is becoming increasingly difficult to discern who is legitimate and who is not. According to Security Magazine, “…Experian [an identity theft protection company] expects fraudsters to use fake faces for biometric verification. These “Frankenstein faces” will use AI to combine facial characteristics from different people to form a new identity, creating a challenge for businesses relying on facial recognition technology as a significant part of their fraud prevention strategy,” January 11, 2021.
One of the most popular scams is someone calling you, or emailing you, to tell you that you have a refund coming. If you truly do have a refund coming, it can be mailed to you without you doing anything. Since you would already have an established account in order for a refund to be legitimate, the company would already have your mailing information. Do not give them any information. The damage they can do to you is not worth pursuing the refund.
Other Scams to Watch Out For
Car Wrap Scams: a so called car wrap service wants to send you a check to be spent on a car wrap. They send you a fake check which your bank cashes before they realize it’s fake. If you pay the target company for the car wrap, the money is gone and you are stuck paying the bank back.
“Utility companies” call you to tell you have an overpayment and want to give it back to you. They want your banking information to do this.
“Software Services” and “Cyber Security Service” want to gain access to your computer and bank account.
“Amazon” and “Apple”: Companies pretending to be these companies want your personal information to rob you.
Someone calling you pretending to be a relative who is in trouble and needs money.
Never:
- Never click on any link from people you do not know.
- Never give out your personal information without knowing exactly who are dealing with. Remember, scammers pretend to represent well-known companies and organizations.
- Do not click on unfamiliar links sent to your email or phone.
Watch Scammers Get Busted on YouTube
If you would like to understand more about how scammers operate and see videos of them getting busted by a professional software engineer, I highly recommend watching the YouTube videos by Jim Browning. While he does a lot of internet scambaiting videos, he also makes other types of scambaiting videos as well. Jim’s videos are highly educational and entertaining.
If you think you have been in contact with a scammer, contact the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint.
Information gathered from professional and qualified resources.