9 Money Transfer Scams to Watch Out For in 2023
Money transfer scams have unfortunately become rampant over the years, despite regulators and remittance companies doing their best to protect users through education and enhanced security measures for remittors.
One of the best ways to protect yourself from fraud and transfer scams is to know what forms they can come in. That is the aim of this article! Below you will discover a list of the common remittance scams you need to watch out for.
Family Impersonation
A common form of money transfer scam is someone impersonating one of your family members to demand money. Some are so good that they use familiar numbers and fake their voice to sound like the voice you are familiar with. They often try to feign illness or make you believe they are in financial trouble. They may tell you not to inform anyone else for some reason.
When you feel something suspicious about these kinds of messages or calls, reach out to a trustworthy member of the family in person or via a phone call to confirm the message before sending any money. You can also call the fraud line of your money transfer platform, and contact support to make a report, and help with more tips on what to do.
Fake Charity and Orphanage Programs
Con artists often use emotion and sentiments to sway their targets. For example, they can send a message or an email about vulnerable kids in an orphanage that needs your help.
You may also get people who would claim to be conducting projects for the less privileged or for the greater good asking you to send them money. Some of them even attach pictures to spark an emotional reaction.
As emotional or sentimental as you might feel, it’s helpful to conduct your own research to confirm the genuineness of the charity project in question before transferring any money. Get in touch with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, to find out about the project. Also, you can post it on Twitter, Facebook, or other popular social media channels to verify the authenticity of the charity project.
Phishing
One of the most popular cybersecurity attack vectors in the world is phishing. Here, cybercriminals will message you through different online platforms with a link to click to get your bank details or account information. They could even impersonate banking organizations online.
Other forms of phishing can be strange links being sent to you to claim a gift or money. Some could even be disguised as software and antivirus for your devices.
Be vigilant to not click on any suspicious links or send anyone details to your financial accounts and endeavor to check the website link you’re visiting to ensure it’s the right one.
For Africhange, it is always https://africhange.com/.
Quick Money Scams
Another common wire transfer scam technique is strange individuals calling you to tell you about alleged quick money making opportunities. It could be in different ways. Some may suggest to you business opportunities abroad, imploring you to invest in them. Others include money flipping schemes that offer to double any amount you first put in. They may also offer you a product telling you to work from home.
Carefully verify these opportunities and if a message contains lots of grammatical errors and poor font formatting, ignore it immediately. However, if you’re unsure, you can copy the whole message and paste it into Google. There are always others who have received these kinds of messages in the past and have declared it a scam online.
Immigration Scam
You may receive a call from people who claim to be immigration officials telling you about problems with your records. Their aim is to put you under enough pressure to make hasty money transfers. They may even resort to threats of deportation or imprisonment.
Scam patterns also exist where victims receive calls or messages granting them visas and travel opportunities. To claim the visa, however, they need to pay.
Remember that these scam artists are professionals, so you want to be careful if indeed you are in the middle of a visa application. You should get the number of the right embassy to verify these claims.
Love Affair and Relationship Scammers
Another area
to be careful of is in matters of the heart. As lightly as this sounds, there are scammers who disguise themselves as people interested in a love relationship with you. Now, we all know that emotional matters make one vulnerable. Be careful of someone on social media who suddenly takes a love interest in you.
They can tell you that they want to send you a gift, but their bank account just got frozen, or they are stranded in a place and don’t have access to their own bank account. They would then request you send money to them with the promise to pay back as soon as they get access to their bank account.
Be on red alert immediately when you hear stories like this. It’s better to cut the person off immediately to prevent them from convincing and making you feel bad so you can give in to their request.
Email Scams
Email scams are also rampant. Be careful of emails that have unusual arrangements to them. Avoid clicking strange links or opening attachments sent to you via email.
Also, be wary of emails sent by banking agencies asking you to verify your account by providing private account details. Make sure you double-check strange email addresses to confirm. And you can go to your bank’s website to confirm their email. You should also call your bank’s fraud report number to report the incident if you experience something like this.
Lottery and prize Scams
You may get a call or message stating that you have won a lottery or prize of a huge amount. In this instance, scammers typically ask their victims to send a certain sum of money to claim the prize or access the lottery.
They make it sound so good as they understand that everyone loves free gifts. But be wary of any win that sounds too good to be true. They may even send you documents to back their claim and testimonials from supposed past winners. Some may tell you you have won big money and ask you to send your private bank details so they can transfer the money to you.
Be careful as these are red flags and you can report to the fraud department of your bank to guide you on what to do.
Government and Financial Institutions Impersonation
Also, you may get a call from a “government agency” or “financial institution” requesting that you make certain payments. Some may not even be as subtle as being a request but in the form of outright threats with the hope of getting you to transfer money under duress.
Call someone else to read the email to get an unemotional perspective to the email and try to reach the agency or institution through their verified phone number, which is often on their website, just to confirm.
The Takeaway
Scams come in different forms. So the best way to prevent yourself from falling victim to a money transfer scam is by following the motto: “Don’t trust, verify.” Also, always reach out to the fraud protection or customer support number of your bank or remittance platform when you notice a red flag.
To securely send money from Canada to Nigeria, Ghana, US and Mexico or from Nigeria to Canada, sign up for a free Africhange account today.