Avoid Being Conned

Being conned or hoaxed is a great way to lose lots of money.

Here are some tips and hints about how you can avoid being conned.

Steps

 * 1)  Don't answer emails whose senders you can't identify.
 * 2)  Don't give away your bank details over the phone. This is a classic con-artist trick. A legitimate banker should ask you to phone the bank where you can do whatever it is that needs doing. If someone asks for bank details over the phone, put the phone down.
 * 3)  Delete any emails which seem suspicious or which have bizarre titles. Some of these will have viruses attached which begin working when you open the email.
 * 4)  Don't reply or react to any email that offers you a huge sum of cash, whether it's inheritance from a previously unknown long-lost relative, or a jackpot from the lottery. If you click any link or send any details, you've just given the con artists what they want.
 * 5)  Get a junk mail sorter installed to your email client. This should help to filter out junk mail straight away, without you getting involved.
 * 6)  Don't give out your email address freely. If you do this, you could end up being targeted much more often than otherwise.
 * 7)  Don't fall for any 'get rich quick' schemes. Most of these are cons. There is no easy way to make lots of money without working hard to get it. Anyone who offers you the chance to make thousands is probably looking to take thousands from you.
 * 8)  Watch your credit card history and balance. If you see anything suspicious, report it to the fraud department of your card.
 * 9)  Don't set yourself up as a target. If you fall foul of even one fraud, your name and address could be spread throughout the conning community as a target for further fraud.
 * 10)  Ticket Scams! Football and concert ticket scams are frighteningly common, and often very sophisticated. Make sure that any ticket broker is legitimate before you deal with them. Search for people's service history with them on external sites, and check for registration with an official organisation such as FIFA. Remember that many con sites of this type will have logos, and will look official, although they're not.

Tips

 * Banks and financial organizations never send out emails asking you to click a link to a site where you can enter your details. If they ever ask for your details, they'll ask you to type their web address directly into a web browser. They won't ask you to click a link.
 * Con artists sometimes have dodgy grammar and spelling, but not all cons are amateurish.
 * Research the subject yourself. It's unlikely that any one place will be able to offer you all the know-how on stopping yourself being conned, but stay to large company sites. Any small individuals' sites are likely to be bugged or cons in themselves.
 * A common trick is to claim that someone from Nigeria for whatever reason wants to relay money through your account, and you will get hold of a large sum of money in the process. It's cheap, and falling for it could lose you all of your savings.
 * Fraudsters often start out by taking very small amounts of money from your account, and gradually take larger and larger sums. If you can't account for any transactions, phone your fraud department.

Warnings

 * NEVER reply to an email unless you're certain who it's from! At best, you'll end up getting huge loads of spam-mail. At worst, you'll be getting a lot more cons sent your way because you'll be earmarked as a target.
 * If a deal looks far too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
 * If you EVER think you've been the victim of fraud, get the targeted card or account canceled and the credit passed over to a new card/account. If you leave any suspected fraud unattended, you could lose a lot more money.