It’s no secret that the Internet is full of scams, phishing schemes, and frauds. So then, people are constantly on the look out for potential dangers, right? Unfortunately, too many people believe that they are safe on the Internet, so they don’t pay too much attention to what they do online. There are plenty of scams and such online that people do not realize or know about, which is potentially dangerous for their personal information, finances, and health. Therefore, here are some online scams or similar dangers that you might not know about.
Dietary Supplements
Thousands of people purchase dietary supplements online in the hopes of losing some weight. Obviously, supplements aren’t the way to drop some pounds – only exercise and proper diet can do that. Anyways, online dietary supplements usually come from shady sources and contain some pretty dangerous stuff. A simple weight-loss pill can have a high amount of substances that have been banned by the FDA. Sadly, certain loopholes allow manufacturers to pack these dangerous substances into supplements without listing the ingredients on the bottle. The FDA is slow to react on these supplements until a good amount of people step up and cite the dangers of a particular supplements.
Don’t fall into the trap of using dietary supplements in any shape or form, especially when they come from the Internet. Unfortunately, you could end up paying a bunch of money for a supplement that actually ends up harming your health. Some supplements have been found to contain substances that can cause sudden death, so the risk is much too great in comparison to the benefits of these supplements – which are few. Online dietary supplements are extremely dangerous because the ingredients in the pills are not always listed on the bottle and these are often dangerous substances. Obviously, you don’t want to throw your life away to lose a few pounds with an unhealthy pill.
Job Offers
You normally won’t receive random job offers in your e-mail account, but you will more than likely do some job searches on the Internet. Of course, there are tons of different job searching sites out there, including local newspaper sites, Craigslist, Monster, and more. Most people are not aware that there are plenty of scammers on these sites that are just looking for your personal information, but you wouldn’t think about that when responding to a job interview. Whenever you do respond to a potential job, make sure that everything seems right. Obviously, any listing for a job should look and sound professional. It isn’t too difficult to realize when something is fishy, so just use some common sense.
The most common method of gaining your personal information on a fake job offer occurs when a scammer sends you a form by e-mail and requests that you fill it out. Of course, these forms will ask for a lot of information that any other application would, but there could be some extra questions about your interests or something else that you find strange. You should be wary about any applications like this because e-mail applications are not common and may more than likely be a scam. Now, I’m not referring to the process where YOU e-mail a person a cover letter and resume, but when THEY send you an application by e-mail and request all the information. Within days, you could find that your identity has been stolen because you wanted to apply for a job that wasn’t real.
Text Message Scams
Unfortunately, text message scams are relatively new, and many people are not ready for them. The majority of people don’t even know that they exist, but they do. However, these text scams are becoming more common and the whole thing has been referred to as “smishing”. It works pretty simply because these text scams are very similar to e-mail scams. A person will send a text message to your phone that claims your bank account has some issue. Of course, the message will proceed to request your bank account number and other information, which you had better not give up because it is a scam. NO authentic bank text message will ever ask you for any of your information. In fact, those texts will only tell you your account balance or recent transactions. These texts are not a two-way communication kind of thing – aside from you requesting information. The text should never request information from you. Sadly, many people fall for these texts because they feel more trusting of text messages than e-mail messages, even when they end up being fraudulent. Don’t fall for the scams!
Businesses With Bad Reputations
Well, just about everyone has dealt with a business in the real world that has a bad reputation, whether they offer poor service or sell faulty goods. Similar businesses exist on the Internet, and many people will end up dealing with these sites sooner or later. Anyways, you can’t always trust businesses that you haven’t used before, especially when they aren’t commonly known places. Sites like Amazon, well-known retailers, and other businesses are pretty safe bets for receiving good service and working products. However, there are plenty of them out there that will do you more harm than good.
Usually, the only problems you will face with these ill-reputed sites are some poor customer service, slow shipping times, and difficult return policies. There are plenty of other things that can happen though, so you should be prepared to stay away from these sites. A lot of lesser-known businesses fail to encrypt their shopping carts, which leaves your personal information and credit card information in a vulnerable position. Therefore, you shouldn’t purchase anything from a website that has an unencrypted shopping card. On top of this, some sites purposefully mislead consumers by failing to describe items completely or don’t mention huge fees for shipping. You can determine if a business is legitimate by reading online reviews about it or using your own judgment as to whether or not you trust the site. Either way, you must watch out for shady businesses.
(Some) Google Ads
Google isn’t the cause of all evil, but some of its ads can cause you a financial loss, identity theft, or even health problems. Of course, everyone has seen the ads on almost every site that advertise miracle fruits or medications. Websites with great reputations post these ads on their sites, even though the ads can damage a person’s life in more than one way. Obviously, you should never click on an ad that takes you to a shady or unknown company. Some of these websites will lead you to scams that will take your personal and financial information. However, other sites will lead you to some miracle product that will list one price but charge another on your credit card. These miracle products are usually extremely dangerous for your health too, so you shouldn’t waste your time with them.
When you surf the Internet and look at ads, you have to be able to determine which ones are legitimate and which ones are dangerous. Obviously, you don’t want to end up losing money, your health, or your identity. Never click on ads that promise some great service because it’s more than likely going to be a scam in some way. Google Ads is a legitimate service, but many of its ads are nothing more than petty scams that people fall for all too often. Don’t be the next victim.
Scams Abound
Sure, there are a lot of scams out there and they are always evolving, but you can avoid the majority of them by simply being careful. Always use encrypted and trusted sites; never respond to e-mails or text messages from sources that you don’t know. Sadly, millions of people fall for scams each year. Some of these scams will just take some of your money, but other ones can steal your identity or harm your health, so you need to be careful. Undoubtedly, nobody wants to become the next victim of a scammer online.
