Today, more and more Nigerians are shopping online, using online banking and getting into online trading. Sadly, this has seen the country afflicted by a new wave of online fraud. Do you know how to stay safe online? Scammers can be very clever but most of the time they stick to a few tried and trusted tricks. Learn how to recognise them and you’ll be a lot safer.
Temptation
The single most significant thing you can do to reduce your risk of getting scammed is to learn not to give in to temptation. Scammers seek out people who are greedy. They rely on people being willing to take a chance even when they know there’s a risk because the prospect of a big reward is hard to resist. If you’re offered a deal which sounds too good to be true, be very cautious, because it’s probably not true. Don’t let anybody put you under pressure to decide quickly – that’s a common scammer technique.
Your new best friend
When you first get involved in financial activity online you may find that some people are very keen to make friends with you even though you’ve never met them before. Although it’s quite possible to make real friends through online spaces like trading forums, you should be wary of people who approach you out of the blue, especially if they don’t seem to know anybody else there. They are trying to get you to form a friendly or romantic attachment, after which they will start asking you for money, making threats or playing on your pity.
Secret knowledge
Sometimes you will meet people who claim to have secret knowledge that lets them make big profits when they trade. They’ll offer to sell it to you or, more often, they’ll offer to use it on your behalf, supposedly using it to work out the best trades to make each day or week and selling you that information instead. Don’t fall for this. If they really had such knowledge they’d use it to get rich directly and they wouldn’t be bothering people like you. What’s more, despite many such wild claims, there’s no proof that any such secret has ever existed.
The middle man
If you’re engaged in online trading, you’ll usually need a broker to help you buy and sell assets. There are fake brokers out there so it’s important to be careful. Some will charge you unreasonably high fees while others will just take your money and disappear. To find a trustworthy broker, read the reviews in established finance publications and look for one with a well established reputation. Plus500 is such a broker and you’ll also note that it’s both formally registered and regulated by a respected national organisation. These are details you should look for whichever broker you choose.
Phishing
Sometimes scammers are not directly after your money – they’re after your personal details. if they got hold of your name, address, passwords and so forth, they can pretend to be you. This could give them access to steal your money. It could also enable them to commit crimes online and leave you to take the blame. Be careful how you share your details online. Always keep your passwords secret. Never log into a website through a link sent to you in an unsolicited message, even if the message seems to come from a trusted source. Don’t join in with online memes that invite you to list your details as part of a game.
Easy does it
A unifying feature of scammers is that they try to get you to do what they want by making it look easy. They claim to be able to help you make a lot of money for very little effort, they offer to take your money and do the work on your behalf, or they offer supposed shortcuts which actually help them to steal your details. Don’t fall for tricks like this. You may wish otherwise but the truth is that there’s no honest way to get rich in this life without doing some work. If you try to take the easy path then you’ll be easy prey to people whose plan for getting rich is to take what you have.
It’s never possible to be 100% safe from scammers but if you follow this guide then you’ll be a much less attractive target to them. You’ll be able to stay out of trouble most of the time and keep your hard-earned money for yourself.
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