Working from home scams
Because the coronavirus pandemic has forced many employees to work from home, scammers are trying to benefit from this as well. One way they will try to fool you is by offering remote jobs and salaries that are too-good-to-be-true, promising people that they can earn loads of money without having to go to an office.
If users are interested, they’ll have to offer their personal information (including social security numbers, bank accounts statements records and so on) leaving the scammers to collect and resell it to the highest bidder.
Be aware of the posts that sound like this “Be part of one of America’s Fastest Growing Industries. Be the Boss! Earn thousands of dollars a month from home!” Or like this “Can you really make $2,000 a week without having to get off the couch?”
In some cases, the scammers asks the user to send in money or purchase certain products in order to put their hands on the “inevitable fortunes.” Make sure to do your research before agreeing to anything online, check if the company is legitimate, and never click on offers that seem too-good-to-be-true.
Taking quizzes scams
I know you might be tempted to find out what 90’s celebrity is your spirit animal, but just… don’t. Some scammers use Facebook quizzes as a way to access your profile, while others even throw certain questions into the quiz itself, according to Adam Levin, founder of global identity protection and data risk services firm CyberScout and author of Swiped.
“They’re purely to gather information because … they could be the answers to security questions,” he says. If you still want to take quizzes, make sure you know and trust the website and use fake accounts for password recovery questions, says Levin, because they can’t be tracked so easily. Also, lie on the questions that require your mother’s name, personal information or data.
