Fraud is an intentionally deceptive action designed to provide the perpetrator with an unlawful gain or to deny a right to a victim. Financial fraud refers to scams related to financial services and causes economic losses to the victims.
Financial fraud generally refers to deceptive practices that financial institutions with poor integrity use to induce consumers to make investment decisions. For instance, those financial institutions may exaggerate investment returns to induce investors, and investors would receive small returns at an early stage. However, after investors increase their investment capital, the returns would drop and result in losses, or fraudsters may embezzle the funds of investors. Therefore, consumers should be cautious of so-called “high-yield” investmentschemes with low transparency. Investors should carefully consider their own investment experience and risk appetite before making any investment.
Financial fraud has also turned to the internet in recent years. Fraudsters will pretend to be investment experts, and they would post pictures and information showing their success on forums and social networks to entice victims. To lure people into their traps, fraudsters may use social apps to trick their targets to invest in emerging investment products, or even those that have not yet been officially launched, without providing details of the operation, returns and risks (such as the London gold and cryptocurrency).
Fraudulent Website
Some fraudulent websites use addresses similar to those of genuine bank sites or financial institution sites to trick customers. If a user misuses a device or platform without network security measures to exchange personal data (such as personal ID number, date of birth, address, credit card information, and even bank account and password), they may be stolen by hackers and this incur losses to the victims.
When using online banking services, users should directly enter the web address in the browser, or add the official website to the browser bookmark list, and connect to the online banking account from the bookmark menu.
Users can also choose to use security authentication, such as fingerprints, face recognition or Face ID, and set their own security passwords for online banking authentication, to ensure that transactions are protected and reduce the risk of data theft.
Phishing Emails
In addition to fraudulent websites and mobile Apps, scammers also use phishing emails to trick you into giving them your personal information. Phishing emails may look like they’re from a bank and contain some important information (for example, saying that they’ve noticed a large amount of transaction in your account, or asking users to enable new security features to continue the banking services), recipients are asked to click on the hyperlink in the email or open the attachment. When recipients open the link or attachment, a hacker can plant viruses into their computers or mobile phones, and steal their personal information or those saved on the devices.
If you receive a suspicious bank email and suspect it is a “phishing email”, you should not open the link or attachment in it. It is best to contact the bank's customer service hotline immediately.
Always Dig the Truth
Little Thrifty received a message from a friend through a social media platform. His friend asked him for a few thousand for an emergency expense and requested him to transfer the money to a bank account, promising to repay Little Thrifty shortly.
Little Thrifty, who values friendship, made quick action. Well, he didn’t make remittance, instead, he immediately called the friend to ask what happened. The friend said on the phone that he did not send Little Thrifty that request and he had no financial problem. After the two discussed, Little Thrifty believed that his friend's social account was hacked and misused, so they decided to report to the police.
"Always dig the truth" is Little Thrifty’s motto, he always verifies with the person or organization concerned when dealing with special circumstances, and such an approach protects him from falling into a scam. In fact, many scams are not difficult to detect. But victims’ lack of alertness make them vulnerable to scams .
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