Avoiding Money Transfer Frauds
Money phishing, scams and hacking are a common occurrence in today’s technologically advanced world. Recent reports show that there is a significant increase in money transfer frauds and a vast amount of victims are of the younger generation. According to industry research 18-24 year olds are losing an average of £1036 compared to £640 across all age groups.
With the access through social media platforms such as Facebook- scam artists are finding simple and more targeted ways to approach the younger generation and especially students.
Scam artists are sneaky and very devious so be aware of their approach as it may seem quite sincere.
Follow the tips below to ensure you don’t become a victim of the Fraudster.
The first thing to think about is responding to an email that you may have received. A common scamming email would be , ‘Hi, your Friend Hailey Briggs is stuck in Thailand and has asked me to get in contact with you as she desperately need funds transferring to her bank account as soon as possible.’ Would you really take this seriously? If this is a real person surely they would put you in contact with your friend or offer to speak to you. It is easy to fall for convincing spiel but make sure you think and seek advice before taking any action.
You may be approached with an email from your bank account ‘HSBC’ asking you to make an immediate payment to them before you receive charges. Of course you may panic but do not respond to this email. Banks and Student loan companies would always call to discuss these issues with you and sending an email is not in their common practice.
A frequent scam, involves ads for jobs that require applicants to send money for “training” and ask you to transfer straight away. If you really wanted to sign up to a course that is paid, you would obviously ask the company, course leader for further information before perusing with any form of payment.
You may think some of the above are very obvious but it is apparent that more and more people are getting sucked in by devious scam artists.
If you happen to know anyone who has become involved in this type of arrangement, encourage them to make a report with their local authorities. Laws against fraudulent money transferring and laundering are rather strict – a chance such as this will never be worth the risk of criminal prosecution and probable jail time.
International Money Transfer
If you are making an international money transfer, make sure you are using a trusted service and the transfer is being sent through a legitimate process. With more and more agencies providing money transfer facilities, you always have a number of options before you. Always conduct thorough homework before making any final decision. All agencies come with their own level of protection and security. Make sure you find out what is being done to keep your money secure, and keep yourself updated on the status of transaction, so that in case of any discrepancy, you can contact the agency immediately.
If you chose to ignore the correct method of transferring money you could end up in a pickle, with no means of recovering funds. You may even find that your bank account will have the original debt reversed, leaving you with the loss of the funds withdrawn and sent via money transfer.
Tim Basset, expert in dealing with foreign exchange and International Money Transfer
