Most often, once a certain friendship or even romantic connection is formed, you are asked to make money. Maybe your new contact is a bit troublesome, financially, just need a quick loan. Or maybe they have found an excellent investment opportunity for you, although you need to act quickly to take advantage of it.
How to find and respond to wrong digital scams
Do not respond to messages and block senders.David Nield
First, you need to look for any unexpected contacts on the messaging app. You might think this is easy to spot, but fraudsters (and the AI they use) are very good at convincing. They can even provide photos and videos to help prove that they are who they say they are.
Remember that the person you communicate with may have completed the assignment for you. They may claim to be friends with someone you actually know, or part of an organization you once volunteered to attend to in order to look more credible. You should definitely double-check any such claim.
Ideally, don’t respond as this will mark your future scam attack. If you feel the message may be true, then after all, people will encounter numerical errors, check as much as possible before replying. For example, if it is related to what is happening at work, check it out with your colleagues.
If you are attracted by the first message, the scam should be easier to spot as the exchange progresses. The bots and people on the other end of the conversation will try to entice you to chat by asking questions or sharing photos and videos. As the FBI warns, some attempt to grab money or data will follow and then follow.
Whenever you realize you are targeted by a liar, just stop replying. In the United States, you can forward messages to 7726 to report them as fraudulent. You can also block future messages from numbers: In Google Messages on Android, click on three dots (top right in chat) and then Block and report spam. In the message on your iPhone, click the title at the top of the chat, and then click information and Block caller.
