10 Red Flags to Indicate a Scam
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Scams are a continually evolving threat, but there are some common themes that are pretty timeless - here's a list of 10 things that I consider to be significant 'red flags' for a possible scam.
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*Red Flag 4.1 - It's Urgent Because it's a Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity* (as opposed to a dire threat). Rare opportunities are rare. If someone else is telling you that it's amazing and time-limited, what reason do you have to believe that?
*Red Flag 5.1 - It's Secret Because it's Fraudulent or Otherwise Illegal* - Yes, believe it or not, pretending to be the heir of an intestate deceased millionaire is illegal, even if it wasn't an outright lie and a scam.
*Red Flag 12 - Misplaced Religion* - Scammers often lean into religious language or characters, even when the context is banking etc, presumably to try to seem trustworthy or to 'click' with believers.
*Red Flag 13 - VIPs* - Scammers often claim to be the CEO of a major organisation or bank, or other prominent figures such as celebrities, relying on the victim to trust them based on their status.
*Red Flag 14 - Demanding Trust* Trust is not a thing that a stranger ever has legitimate right to demand. Trust comes from experience of integrity.
I still wonder, with that in mind, how some scammers might react if you answered their feigned religiosity with a passionate anti-religiosity or held up the scam by insisting on God's non-existence. I imagine you could get some fun reactions so long as the scammers still thought they could get some money out of you.
"Religion"? You mean "cult", right, since that's all they really are - long-lived, blood-soaked cults that managed to gain normalcy and general acceptance through surviving so long?
@@drewstillexists There was a scambaiter a few years ago who turned the tables on the scammer by claiming to be a member of a particular religious cult and insisting the scammer join it because they could only enter business dealings with other cult members. 'Joining' the cult involved doing various silly and embarrassing things and sending photos of them as proof! I can't remember where I saw this - I don't think it was on Atomic Shrimp's channel.
Another red flag - Email address oddity - If the email address's name and the sender's name don't match, or if the domain doesn't match the organization they claim to represent, it should arouse suspicion.
@@drewstillexists That's be interesting to see. I can't imagine it'd go very far, scammers don't like to be insulted, but it'd be funny maybe.
"This is 100% legal." should be regarded with the same amount of caution and suspicion as the statement "This hamburger contains 0% asbestos."
Yeah. I saw a real estate posting for a house, and under the for sale sign was a little sign saying something to the effect of ‘not haunted’. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe that that house is haunted.
Yeah - anything that makes you think "Uh... Why wouldn't it be?" Is something to be wary of.
I love that "You mustn't tell anyone about this, it has to remain a secret" line. How much of a secret can it be if they've just told it to a complete stranger 🤣🤣
Yeah, actually, on thinking about it, it's a red flag in a very general sense if strangers tell you to keep a secret - not just people trying to scam you, but also sexual predators, criminals seeking to shift blame onto you, etc.
@@AtomicShrimp Scams are getting so prevalent that it's getting harder to communicate with legitimate emails and callers.
For example, my bank always puts "we've added part of your postcode so you know this email is genuine" in their emails. These emails ARE genuine as I've been to my bank to check, yet even after telling the bank that it's not hard for scammers to get people's postcodes they still continue using the same method... and I continue to ignore them.
As for callers, when asked if I "can confirm a few details" I usually say "Sure, tell me what details you have and I'll confirm them if they are correct.", after all, that's what 'confirm' means right? They'll then say something along the lines of not being able to do that for 'data protection' purposes and I reply that I can't give them any details I don't know they already have for the same reason. That usually ends the call in a stalemate lol
“It’s a secret to everybody.” - Friendly moblin in the original The Legend of Zelda
I knew I should never have trusted him.
@@Galerak1 I really like how my bank handles it. There's a mailbox built into the online banking, and all the e-mail says is that there's new messages (monthly statement, credit card statement, …) in my mailbox. The only personal info it contains is my last name. There isn't even a link to the online banking.
A real joy with this one is telling the scammer that you have 'accidentally' forwarded their message to HM Customs. They tend to go away after that.
I worked at a port for many years, and knew a lot of Customs staff, and I often showed them scam e-mails I received.
2:53
"Please press '1' to pay your taxes. If you happen to miss this chance, please prepare to be arrested"
...
*A ton of FBI men immediately swarm the house outta nowhere, including helicopters and riot vehicles*
Yeah, I used to get that one a lot on my mobile; a robotic English male voice saying "This is the Inland Revenue. Your National Insurance Number has been compromised. *If unless* you press 1 you will be immediately arrested"
@@AtomicShrimp I assume if my government tax office wants money that bad then they can go get a garnishee order that forces me to pay them. Therefore no amount of threats can work because I know they have a legally protected and guaranteed way to get paid assuming I do nothing so I don't feel stressed.
An unmentioned red flag: If what you are engaging in is ethically questionable, such as siphoning funds out of a dead man's account.
Getting re-friended on Facebook by someone who is already your friend and simultaneously has been dead for several years is probably a scam...
The last thing scammers want is for you to stop and think. Scammers are always screaming "why are you using your brain" or "dont be over smart" to Kitboga when he drags them off script, and doesn't do exactly what they want. Taking time to assess things and discuss it with someone you trust is a good way to stay safe.
i love when Kit gets the "don't be over-smart", it could not _possibly_ be more transparent
I like it when he keeps babbling and babbling and they scream their heads off, call him horrible names and get SO angry. All he has to do is keep talking XD
As a Canadian, here's another one: you answer the call in French and the company doesn't have any staff who speaks French. Any corporation that does business across Canada will have staff that speaks both official languages. Indian/Nigerian scammers are unlikely to speak any French.
I have tried responding en français to scammers claiming to be from Bénin... they usually can't keep up.
I don't pick up the phone at all anymore, but when I did I'd reply in German. My German is quite poor, but it sufficed.
@@carrieann1640 it could be anything that they do not understand...
@@ulrichkalber9039 That's a lot of latitude...
Jim Browning did come across some scammers in Tunisia that were running scams in France, speaking French. However, they follow the exact same format/run the same formula that is typical in these scams, so if someone does call you and speak in French, watch out for those usual signs.
You forgot inconsistencies.
If, for example, you were watching an information video promising 10 red flags but in fact they gave you 11, be suspicious, they are saving all the Nigerian Princes inheritance money for themselves!!!
Quality video, your normal down to earth approach is an excellent way to present this information
I almost clicked a phishing link the other day. I got a text from my "bank" that there was some problem, but I had literally just rolled out of bed in the morning and didn't notice a clear typo in the text, and clicked the link. Thankfully, my browser notified me that the link was sus and I realized, but I felt really silly. It's always those moments that you don't even realize you're vulnerable, even when you know scams exist and how they work.
Oh yeah understandable, but remember for next time to never click a link if you're not a 100% sure it's legit.
You aren't alone, this guy has a video of when he did that himself. Even the best scambaiters are human.
@@Soapy-chan_old You’re absolutely right! My guard was way down. I knew better but did it anyway, and I’m just glad it didn’t turn out worse. A huge slip up on my part, but it was a great reminder to always pay attention.
@@2008bunnybigenderflux I actually thought of that video when it happened! Scams can get anyone, even when you know better. This one just happened to hit a blind spot I didn’t even realize I had.
PayPal email almost got me the same way. I'm extremely aware of scams, been watching scambaiting for several years now.
A few years back, my university sent round an email telling people to do some anti-phishing training. It involved clicking a link and some vague threat that if we didn't do it then our IT accounts might be limited. Every warning light in my head was going off (I particularly liked that it was specifically an anti-phishing thing).
It later turns out that it was genuine and the IT department didn't think through the irony of an anti-phishing course that's advertised as a textbook phishing scam. I didn't do the course in the end because I felt that clicking the link would be an instant fail.
I would have assumed that it was deliberate to reach as many as possible of those who needed anti-phishing training without wasting the time of those who didn’t need it.
@@ragnkja I don't think they were clever enough to have thought of that. I just went back to the original email and was reminded that they sent it to *ALL* students (about 15,000 people), and in such a way that meant anyone who got the email would reply to all when they clicked 'reply'. It quickly got out of hand. So there was definitely an issue with competence there.
Would've been absolutely genius if clicking the link led to a page saying you failed the training lol
My Dad fell for the "I'm on a temporary number, I need money" one the other week. Luckily, he sent the photos of the front and back of his bank card to my actual phone number, and not the scammers number so I was able to steer him straight. I've since educated him on what not to do, and he cancelled his card straight away so it was all OK.
I've never owned a car, but I constantly get phone calls harassing me about renewing the warranty on my nonexistent vehicle, from people who can't tell me what company they supposedly represent. If a business calls you, they will identify themselves up front. If someone claims to be calling you in some official capacity but can't name whom they represent, that's a scam.
I don't own a car either but get the emails & phone calls about the car accident I was involved in recently 😂. Would like to string them along but can't be bothered.
I told them I had 210,000 miles on my car (which was true) and they lost interest
I have that and I literally don't own a car! No matter how many times I ask them to remove me from their damn list it never works. I never got these calls on my number before I switched service providers, I believe AT&T sells it's customers phone # to these people!
Tell them it was totaled.
@@Shero1337 I stopped getting these for the most part.
Another Red Flag, that you often mention in your videos, is where the email address of the sender doesn't match the name of the supposed person, or organization, sending you the message
Especially if it comes from Yahoo or Hotmail.
I’ll generalise the other reply, and say that if an email claiming to be from an organisation or corporation, but the domain name doesn’t match that of the organisation it’s claiming to be from, it’s a scam. My bank, for example, will never send me information from an email address that isn’t “@[bank-name].[tld]”, which is the same as the address I go to to log into my online banking account.
Will be showing this to my Gran, she’s almost 90 but has an iPad and uses insta and Facebook to keep up with all the kids/grandkids/great grandkids and family in Australia and finds it hard to get her head around having to constantly watch out for people trying to rip her off, this is explained well, thanks Mike.
Not a sure fire solution, but you should setup a pi-hole / parental controls for her, add lists for phishing and completely block remote desktop software, again it wouldn't protect from everything but at least some protection and should it get to that point, will prevent anyone gaining access to her iPad.
Hey, I live in Australia:)
my tip: get her an adblocker. faster loading, less attack vectors
@@firedingo5 they said she uses an iPad. It's possible to install an Adblock on such devices?
And when you DO identify something as a scam don't forget to report it as such on any platform that has a report system. Spam filters rely heavily on user reports and with a couple of extra clicks you may save a senior citizen from getting abused by scammers.
Little things like other people telling you a scam are really important. Many people who are scammed are isolated and vulnerable members of society and the scammers play on this. Having signage and training in stores that sell things like gift cards is really important because when little old Doris comes into the store to buy £1,000 worth of Steam Gift cards, the sign next to the cards notifying it may be a scam, or the cashier stopping Doris and asking why she is buying them might be the only opportunity little old Doris has to see this red flag.
She may subconsciously believe something isn't right but the only voice she's had is the scammer's telling her everything is fine, making her overlook those fears, until a friendly, relatable, understanding and caring person steps in and helps her.
So I always advocate for these signs and this training. It won't stop scams 100%, and awareness needs to grow overall, but it helps.
What an obnoxiously patronizing reaction! Sell Doris £1,000 worth of Steam Gift cards if that is what she's come to buy! She surely knows better. Think she was already an adult making her own decisions when the cashier was still shitting in his diapers. What's wrong with the society today?? What's wrong with you, people ? 43 people who agree so far... Really?!
Definitely. If someone sees a red flag, it's important to point it out to whoever is possibly being scammed. At worse, you could be wrong and just annoy the person, but at best you could be saving them so much money and heartache.
@@SerbanCMusca-ut8ny lmao are you serious?
Oh wait you're probably a scammer X'D
@@PoptartParasol Yep, we've spotted the scammer!
@@PoptartParasol If you take a look at my other comment on this vidjayo, you might find your answer.Also, my earlier comment in this thread is a tribute to Ken M
Whenever sometimes starts a conversation with "Hi, can you help me?" Or "Hey, I need your help." It immediately raises my red flag. It is not 100% sure it's scam yet, but it is very likely. People wouldn't ask a total stranger who they never talked to before for help.
Quick thing (especially if you are female), some people start conversations like that when they are being stalked by a criminal. They might say that and then ask you for something dumb so the criminal sees they have a friend and goes away, but starting with that might also get your attention as a decent human being. It's more common for females because, ya know..... yeah ima stop talking now.
but that only applies to when it's not online.
@@2008bunnybigenderflux I guess a good rule is, that it's a red flag if the conversation switches to money or similar really quick
The whole appealing to the greed of strangers thing works. My brother know it was a scam and was still trying to convince himself "what if this is the one time its real?". He listened to reason eventually but that greed really had him by the short hairs.
My grandfather was scammed because he wouldn't listen to his own adult children who told him it was a scam. He eventually ran out of funds ... I normally have sympathy for the elderly, but in his case, it was just greed.
@@daffers2345 I saw someone accept a friend request by what seems to be a romance scammer on a social media account. It is rather recent so I hope to mention it to the person face to face when I next see that person and it doesn't go far. The acquaintance in question is married, so hopefully not vulnerable to a romance scam, but still I do worry. I have also seen people nearly get hooked into gift card scams, supposed free handouts from companies that are posted to Google Docs or some other random hosting service instead of the company's website, and so on.
I dunno why anyone believes a government or official organization would want to be paid through gift cards .. that's one of the most ridiculous elements of scams to me.
I know, how much iTunes does government need?
I was told that the police were going to arrest me that very day unless I paid my taxes. As my only source of income is a non-taxable disability pension I knew I owed no taxes. I told the scammer ‘Fantastic. I am lonely and I could do with the company.’. The guy hang up on me. I then reported the scam attempt to the tax office.
Always trust in the good ol' "if it's too good to be true, it probably is"
I just had a very disturbing thought. For about 2 weeks I worked in a call center. That call center was for a phone company called lively, basically cell phones for old people with special tech support. A person could call in and have the agent remote access their phone. I'm now concerned that services like this may be conditioning old people to allow random strangers access to their electronic devices.
One I got a lot a few years ago was a repeated phone call of "you were recently involved in a road accident"
Most of the time I immediately hung up on them, I couldn't be bothered to waste their time
I have no driving license, worst thing I've done is miss the bike pedal and ruin a shoe!
The point of the scam is that they are calling multiple people, so there will be at least one guy who was actually in a road accident, so the caller will seem more legitimate to him.
It is pretty funny to imagine Amazon or another company warning you of fraud, but just going ahead and letting it happen unless you stop it yourself. Another is where the bank flat out threatens to close your account even though the fake letter acknowledges that you're the victim.
Another red flag - the use of the word “kindly”. Scammers in other parts of the world are often taught to use the word in the mistaken belief that it is widely used in U.K. and American English.
in the words of pleasant green "When was the last time someone 'kindly' asked you to do something" XD
They also use "dear" when referring to you as a person, i.e. "Why would you think I'm a scammer, dear," etc. NO ONE talks like that and it makes it glaringly obvious.
@@daffers2345 I see where you're coming from, but also as someone from the south, dear is kinda normal and this would trip up southerners
Use a local colloquialism in a conversation with a scammer, if they do not understand the term and ask the for an explanation or repeat the question, they are most likely not based in your country and not a native speaker of English.
@@m.g.540 well tickle my gerbil and call me a fruitfly, what a grand idea. ("Well x my y and call me a z" are fairly common joke phrases that make no sense but most americans would understand the joke)
As far as I know, this is the only TH-cam channel which protects from both scammers & hemlock water dropwort.
Here is one which might seem obvious but it's worth mentioning.. if you have to pay money out first before you can get whatever it is that's being offered. I recently had a buyer for an item I was selling on Facebook marketplace who tried to pull this on me. She said that a courier would come to collect the item from my door and the payment would be delivered to me in an envelope, I just had to pay an insurance fee.. of course I had to pay the insurance fee first via a link and this needed to be done as soon as possible. She also sent me an email explanation of what was involved, which was full of punctuation errors, differently-sized fonts and basically didn't look legit. I smelled a rat immediately and blocked the scammer then looked online...sure enough it's well known as the insurance fee scam.
@sidefish yep! Had two of the exact same messages for something I was selling on marketplace recently.
I'd like to add one more. Is the thing making you want to move forward FOMO, Fear of Missing Out? This is one of the most important tools to scammers. They're relying on your fear of missing out overriding your rational mind telling you that this is obviously a scam. That's why people keep coming with obvious scams to ask if they're scams. Clearly they know it's a scam, but they want so very badly for it not to be.
If you EVER find yourself in this position, thinking anything remotely like, "I'm not sure this is real, but...", then you must IMMEDIATELY stop and accept that this is a scam. Nobody is ever going to contact you with an unsolicited offer of a lifetime. That's not a thing that happens. There are no Nigerian princes trying to send you money, no wealthy widows looking for somebody to invest on their behalf, no boxes of money waiting for you to claim. Those are not real things. Never, ever. Not even once.
NEVER.
Yeah, I think I'll call FOMO red flag 4.1 - i.e. urgent, but because of an unmissable time limited offer, rather than a threat
When I saw the thumbnail, I already knew it's from Flag Waver, have been using it with custom and fictional country flags, didn't expected to see flagwaver on an atomic shrimp video lol
Two things I always do, and also tell my mom to do, is if there is an email or an SMS claiming a not paid order or parcel that is expected or whatever, is to check the addresses and then I go independently on the corresponding websites and look if there is something or I call the company in question on a number that you can find on their official website.
I had an email recently telling me I'd overpaid for something & to phone the included number to arrange return of the funds. Instead of phoning that number I found the number for the main switchboard of the company & phoned that instead, turned out it wasn't a scam but the person involved understood why I checked.
When I walked by the gift cards in the super market the other day I noticed they've now got a sign warning people about scammers.
I once experienced something, I was sure was a scam - but it wasn't! 😅
I had a second email account with a small, somewhat specialised provider (a reputable business, mind you, not something shady from abroad) that cost around 20€ a year or so to maintain.
Well. I got an email from them at 1am on New Year's Eve/Jan 01., telling me, I needed to paypal my yearly fee within 24h or my account would be deleted and all messages lost.
Well, I wasn't very drunk, so I thought: Yeah...sure! And contacted them via their website the next day.
After some back and forth, they confirmed, it was a genuine email from them! They claimed to have sent me the appropriate 'warnings' before and that that was just their usual final message.
Lol. Well. I told them, it was at least rather bad form, to scare customers at such a time with what looked like a Scam. Even if the fault was mine... although I still can't fathom, how I could have overlooked at least 2 payment reminders.
Still payed in time, so all was good, but what an experience!
Red flag 13 - "kindly" "beloved" "dearest"
The most obvious thing is a combination of two of those. They ask you to keep it a secret and in the same email emphasize it is 100% legal. If it really is legal, why is it a secret?
Basically, assume everything is a scam until you have proof its real.
Yep, trust should begin at zero and be painstakingly built, if at all.
Should also point out: some scams also don't have any of these features. If there's something else that just makes you question whether something is legitimate, or even if it just doesn't "feel right", take whatever additional precautions you need to make yourself confident, and do not proceed unless your doubts are fully assuaged.
I always hold to this: if a company comes to YOU, it's probably not worth it. Applies to scams and things like door to door salespeople.
If their products were real, reasonably priced or useful, chances are they don't need to convince you. You've already read of them through more conventional channels or word of mouth. Or sought their services out yourself.
If something is truly great, it'll sell itself and be widely known.
In general, obviously. Exceptions exist.
Door to door sales is like the Wild West. As a matter of strict principle, I will not entertain cold callers, no matter how fantastic their offer sounds, nor how much I might feel that I want it. A lot of local councils have banned cold calling.
I had this happened to a friend of mine that has an MBA and very smart. They had him running all over town for gift cards. He never asked a single soul. Had he just asked me I would have saved him thousands of dollars. Someone did suggest that he not do that but he didn't pay any attention to that person.
Great video to show my parents. Some of these points translate to phonecall scams (they dont use computers/emails but) it's been a bit of an eye opener for them. Theyre not tech savvy nor savvy in the scam department at all. Almost been scammed when my mother was home alone and got a call off of amazon about my dad's card being used weirdly. She almost gave her card detail untill my brother came in and shut the phone down as he was unaware of what was happening.
Took me over an hour to explain to all of them about scam calls and i had to do control damage afterwards with my parents that, it's still ok for us to buy off of amazon, just to never accept calls or emails off of them as they would never get into contact with us that way. they were scared wich is understandable but it's hard explaining to people who despite being adults when technology was blooming, it was a world they never interacted with.
Yeah, I think the most important thing to always bear in mind is: *is this person calling me/emailing me/in front of me, actually who they claim to be?*
Another red flag is if the email or text message you've received is making everything sound urgent, e.g. "If you don't confirm your address, your account will be locked down immediately!" or "If you don't call this number right away, you will be arrested by federal agents!" Scammers are always trying to rush things and make a big deal out of things that usually aren't a big deal.
That's in the list already
The exception to red flag 10 that I’ve seen was when I was genuinely misunderstanding what it was. I thought it was a give away, which immediately I won. No, it was a legitimate service, but one with few people employees, and what I had ‘entered’ (without giving any personal details) was the waiting list to be able to place an order, not a raffle for a free product
Thanks for this list! I found it very clear and complete, but I also felt this list doesn’t apply to the SMS scam messages that I and many people in my country are receiving.
There’s always some bank claiming you lost control of your credit card, or an important shipping company telling you that you van track your order or that your package was lost.
Of course, all of these end with a shortened link, and many of them are registered by the phone with a name and not a random phone number, so that you’ll se a name like “DHL”, “UPSPkgInfo” or “BRT SpA” as for shipping companies, and “Intesa SP”/“ISP”/“Intesa” (all wrongly made from the original IntesaSP) as an example of banks.
I think it would be good to include these new scams and to inform about them. They’re extremely dangerous, since they make you go in a hurry more easily and only require you opening a link or logging in a cloned fake site with that link.
One that I’ve always looked for first is “Does someone who should know your name not know your name?” Automated messages are rarely sent with a name on them, but your bank for example knows your name. Don’t trust emails from people who don’t know your name.
Good job Mr. Shrimp. You left out a vital clue as to a scam email. If they do not call you by your full name. If they open with "dear valued customer"...it is a scam.
I got a phishing email from the "Geek Squad" yesterday. It was very blatantly fake, but I still got a good laugh out of seeing how many flaws I could pick out based on your vids lol
The annoying thing is the amount of companies who do some of these things, so you have to go through another route to contact them to check (and I am ever scared that there is some tech thing I don't know of which means my checking will be rerouted through the scammer).
I just cannot forget getting a "Your council tax is overdue, pay it now or we will start legal proceedings, here is a number to call on" text. It was the number from the website, but Fear Of Tech Wibblies meant I chose to email them on an email I had used before - with "the last thing you told me about council tax was that the bill was 0 (due to exemption stuff), if that has changed (and not on my end!) please re-issue your letter as I never received anything else". Basically, went as much 'I have been told this is urgent, I have no evidence of what you're asking, so I'm showing I'm cooperating but am by no means sending any money until I have an official document". They sent out the actual council tax bill that somehow never made it to me, and it's all been fine from there. I guess my moral from that is 'the only thing you should do urgently is contact via official channels - no money, no link following' (maybe password updating though, I think so long as you go via non-linked routes that's not an issue?). But then there's also companies that are just bad at being talked to! Yay! -.-
And I'm also remembering the stories of banks sending OTPs when talking to people in customer service, completely negating the 'never give an OTP to a person, only a system' rule (.... not that that's particularly foolproof either, now that I think about it. I wonder when scammers will start spoofing websites (especially when using remote access software)). OTPs should always come with an 'this is the precise thing this will verify', but a) they don't always, and b) even I, trying to be security concious, will skim over that if it's something I expect. Which I would if a scammer was telling me they'd send it, too.
Sigh.
This is a really great, informative, and well-toned video. I really love your patient yet informative approach to teaching people about scams. It’s all too common on the internet for people to laugh at victims of scams and call them stupid.
"expensive acts of random philanthropy do happen"
The video: _i filled my friend's house with 10 million legos_
Can you imagine it. I would be livid. they'd have to pick up everyone and take them away if they did it to me. Hate lego bricks on the floor so much.
Two red flags of mine, although on the more minor end. 1; if someone replies immediately to your message with a clearly copy and pasted answer. And 2; if you need to explain basic concepts to an adult, so if they need telling things like not everyone is looking for love, asking to video call a complete stranger at midnight is rude, no means no etc. Number 2 also goes with someone asking ‘why’ repeatedly, when being told no.
Another super obvious one but could be worth mentioning, if someone offers something to you, a complete stranger, and you say no if they’re legitimate they’ll move onto the next person. If they seemingly won’t take no for an answer then it’s a scam, because if the thing they’re offering free was real why would they argue with you instead of giving it to someone else?
OMG I’m so happy you made this video!!!! I’m always paranoid about scams, but I can usually never find any advice other than “look for grammar/spelling mistakes”
Grammar... spelling... I'm doomed!
A useful thing in some email inboxes is to look at the little picture next to the email address. It will usually be the company logo, or a letter from the beginning of the main address. I've often seen a Paypal or Amazon email that looked legitimate enough at first glance, but when I looked at that image there was another letter like F that made me realise that the address was a bunch of random letters or words.
This is invaluable advice and it needs more exposure!! There’s a reason scammers still dishonestly siphon money out of people’s savings; not every scam is as poorly written or ludicrously implausible as the ones scambaiters like Mr. Shrimp here highlight.
A perfectly thorough yet equally succinct video, thank you for this, Shrimp. This mirrors the phishing training I've been getting at work but now I can actually share this with my family and friends.
I don't get a lot of scam calls but most of the few I do get are an A.I. that sound just about human but are at the edge of the uncanny valley. There's something barely off with the steady cadence and confidence in the speech, like it's too perfect.
These days, calls I get (from new numbers) that don't ask me to press 1 to speak with a "senior supervisor" is an A.I. I like to put them on hands-free so my wife can hear the back-and-forth as I toy with the algorithm. It entertains her while I keep that computer tied up.
I watch these videos and can't help feeling we're seeing the stock footage that Mike didn't find a use for in a Slaughterton PSA.
One red flag I'm irritated to be familiar with is having excuses why they cannot follow or simply refusing to follow what would be normal procedure for a company (e.g. "We cannot post you a letter", "We cannot send out an engineer", etc). I was caught off guard once by the phone being bought to me by someone else who didn't understand what was being requested, so didn't initially realise it would have been better if they had just hung up, instead of bringing the phone to me because it was "about the internet". I learned that day how far I could be duped into a scam but they luckily failed at the last hurdle. The scam website they wanted me to install malware from was a commonly known malware site. Also even if it wasn't, I'm hopeful I would have still Googled "[domain name] scam". That is what I did when I saw it was a 3rd party domain that looked familiar to me, so I'm sure I would have checked either way. Safe to say I felt very stupid for staying on the phone with them for any length of time and irritated that the person who answered, didn't just hang up in the first place.
Thank you for these short, easily understandable/shareable awareness videos.
Well done video - you covered almost everything I have seen or heard involving scams! In other scam baiters' interactions with scammers, I have noticed that their arguments never stand up to logic or reasoning. Back them into a corner and they get even more flustered. They generally react by becoming rude, pushy, and/or verbally abusive.
3:23 is also "Someone is offering you money to which you know you are not entitled / they want you to help with fraud'.
The content machine rides again, love the rate of production dude you work hard
Great video. It would have been cool to have two or three real world examples and doing a "red flag bingo", because usually scams have several of them, if you make a second part consider adding it.
don't mind me, I'm just casually checking how many of these fit into NFTs
Have you ever done, or thought to do a video on say, super obvious ridiculous red flags? Just for a fun video or the like? The one I always think of is when I used to get those spam emails of "hackers" saying they had access to my webcam, and saw me on a porn site, and were going to blackmail me with the "footage".
I don't have a webcam.
I got those, one had my password in it so I was a bit spooked. Then remembered I don't look at adult material on my laptop, I use my phone instead 😂
@@TheSarah2412 Same, it had a password I did use at one point, but years ago. So it was gotten from a website leak.
Thirded, got an email like that with a password that I had used on a (relatively innocent) site (the password was very weak mind you, but it was for a site that I didn't care much for if anything happened to the account, and the password wasn't reused). As soon as I saw mention of adult sites, I couldn't help but to laugh at the poor effort - that account was mostly used on computers without webcams and which weren't mine, and the last time that account saw any real use was _many_ years ago. Went and changed the password there anyway...
Videos like this with concise and easy to digest explanations of suspicious things to look out for are fantastic. It's a point of reference that I can share with my relatives that will help educate / remind them of the dangers out there and what they can be on the lookout for. Thanks for making this video!
Great video! I will definitely put this in my top 10 lists of 11 most informative cybersec videos.
It's kinda saddening to see even educated people like teachers or engineers often get scammed by these sort of easily spotted scammers. It always left me wonder if there's any more effective ways to spread awareness.
Love the videos about scam 🔥 (this is how I got to know this channel on the first place), but I confess I miss the budget series 😭 I enjoy seeing you cooking with whatever you have. So creative. Thank you for always uploading content 👏🏻
I would love to see a condensed version of these tips as PSA spots on TV. It would help so many people, especially the demographics that scammers often target.
I like the tone you have in these videos, you don't assume anything is obvious or act like someone would be stupid for not knowing it, I think you will help a lot more people than other videos because of this, it's far more accessible and explains the issues clearly.
The PayPal scam is pretty easy to spot.
The real PayPal will never refer to you as "Dear PayPal customer" a real email from PayPal will include your name associated with the account.
A couple months ago someone attempted the Steam "I've reported your account by accident" scam. Got the message on discord from someone I had never talked to stating that they accidentally reported my account for duping items, followed by sending me a link to my Steam account (which was publicly available through my discord, like pretty much everyone else). Here's the thing, I don't do anything with the Steam community trading system for pretty much any game I've ever played that has it. On top of that, I had vaguely remembered people talking about a weird Steam scam, so I ended up telling extremely early what they were doing.
I remember when I first used Decluttr I thought it was probably a scam. I did some research but ultimately sent in $110 in merch. They paid me every penny and I have used them multiple times since. But it felt pretty sketchy the first time.
A great legit example: My bank called me out of the blue and said it's urgent and to contact them regarding fraudulent activity.
Why? They'd locked my debit card.
And why did they do that? Because I'd purchased $300 worth of uni textbooks on Amazon which was cheaper than my uni co-op bookshop.
They assumed such a purchase was fraudulent when in fact it was not.
In that case, _they_ will have the details, and ask you to confirm whether that was you. E.g. “We recently noticed an unusually large payment from your account; did you pay [exact amount] to Amazon on [date]?”
@@ragnkja: Yep got an automated call that went like that, it was like "hello [my name], we have noticed some transactions on your account: [transactions with details, one of which I was texted about]. If these were you, please confirm." Confirmed it and I was on my way - though with that said, I wonder what it would have said if it wasn't genuine? Would it have connected me to one of their agents, or would it have told me to contact them directly and search for the details myself?
Thanks so much Sir Shrimp. Spot on! Another fantastic and informative video. As with all your scam info-vids, I'll be sharing this with my mum, as you explain things so much more betterer than my describery deficient noodle ever could😜
A great video for us all to send to our older parents / people who may not have grown up or worked with technology! Thanks Mr Shrimp.
Super excited to see the other 9 parts of this 10 part, 11 item series.
;-)
I know this is a subtype of one of the flags,and this is specifically if they are posing as a bank:
Red flag 13:If they are a bank, why are they asking you for information they should already have
to verify they are talking with the right person
These PSA-type announcements are so valuable. There are a lot of really evil scammers out there, and Shrimp gives really sound advice.
I love the variety of content on this channel
that one at 0:04 is a pretty good red flag
More people need to watch your videos. I love how you do a variety of videos. However, your scam videos are just amazing. I've recently seen an uptick of strange calls on my VoIP number. I always answer as if I'm a business. Whomever it is usually hangs up rather quickly. Seeing as they most likely want people at home and not a business. (While I do have a business and answer that way in case its a customer) I still have found pretending to be at work such as a retail location, or even a grocery store works really well. Even with legitimate calls, maybe a bill collector, they tend to hang up quickly and stop calling after a while. Because more often than not scammers and even debt collectors don't want to talk to someone at a business, and if that's all they ever get as an answer they mark the number as a business and stop calling it. More often than not because either the information is sensitive or they already know at a business they will not put up with it, or even bother to spend their time talking to them.
"This is a totally real endeavor and is super cereal" I guess in the end, if it's too good to be true, it more than likely is.
It still makes me shake my head that these "totally legit, 100% real" companies take payments in Gift Cards. Gift Cards?
Just a few days ago my boss was in a Spark shop (Spark is a major ISP in NZ), getting some gear for a client. (I work for an IT support business.) While there, he received a call from an unrecognised international number (turned out it was France). He answered it, it was "Jeremy Smith from Spark Tech Support". He asked the guy to repeat his intro and handed the phone to the Spark rep he was dealing with. She laughed and replied, "Coincidence, I work for Spark as well". Caller hung up. He was in the right place to receive that one LOL
The first red flag usually for me is the very notion of wondering or questioning if it is a scam, before you even start looking for reasons it is a scam. If i have any doubts at all thats its a scam before ive looked at it properly then 99/100 it is a scam.
Thank you so much for this advice! I will try this on my next victim 👍
My gosh I actually thought you were being real for a second XD
Hey Atomic, American here. I have an off topic question if you have time. In the 1960s when I was ~5 years old there was a very sweet elderly couple next door to my family who were from somewhere in the UK. All I can remember is that the husband called me "laddie" and my sister as "lassie" and I seem to remember them using the word "me" instead of "my" as in the phrase " I forgot me coat". From these linguistic clues would you venture a guess as to whether they were British, Irish,Scottish? I know it really doesn't matter, but remembering how lovely they were to me as a child has got me all nostalgic and curious and as everyone from my childhood has passed away I really have no one to ask. Thank You
Sounds like they might have been Scottish
Thank You
This was a great video and very informative. Thanks!! :)
It’s always the grammar that gives it away for me, that or if an official corporation is contacting me with a link via a text from a mobile number. Always check with the actual company first before clicking anything!
Most organisations have an email or text number to forward these scams too, so that they can shut down the links in them (so other potential victims are safe). I work for an ISP that has over 100,000 employees. So few customers actually forward scam emails to us that a single employee (Bob) deals with every email or text we have forwarded to us by customers.
And that's not Bob's only job. It takes him like 5-10 minutes out of his day to deal with.
I do that a lot(Well a lot is an exaggeration, I think I know by now when an email is fake), if I say get something that claims to be from Amazon, or Paypal, I just go to those websites and check without clicking anything in the message.
I know it's mostly the elderly, but I have to assume when people get those scam auto calls that says someone used their Amazon account to buy an iPhone, they'd go right to their Amazon account to check, instead of calling the number first. Scam success rates are actually pretty small from what I understand, but the success rate of those small percentiles can still get the scammer/s a lot of money.
@@Pattoe thanks this is really useful to know I’m getting bombarded by texts from a random mobile number saying I’ve been in contact with someone with Covid and need to click on a suspicious link
Anything containing "Warosa" ("Barosa"?) always raises my eyebrows...
As I watched the video, I noticed some red flags, mostly the stressing of the matter being "legitimate", that I've seen in your scambaiting videos. I've never gotten a scam e-mail before, but your content has in my opinion partially prepared me for it. Hell, maybe I'll even go scambaiting (without giving scammers anything, obviously)
i got a call from my bank a few months ago while i was driving (hands free phone). they never call me, but i picked up hoping it would be short. they just wanted to talk to me about investing with them - but i thought it was odd and i was also driving, so after a couple questions about my job status and things i asked if i could call them back if i was really interested. they said yes and politely hung up. i googled the number later and it was legitimately my bank - it helps that they DID address me by name and knew other details without me providing them, and didnt ask for anything personal, but it goes to show that being skeptical and safe is always worth it, since i was a little preoccupied i wouldve been a prime target to get info from me quickly. real, legitimate businesses will 99% of the time have no issue with you calling back or politely declining offers - there are the bad days, sure, but from my own customer service experience it was taught if you cant handle the call, pass it on to another employee or simply hang up (the latter usually reserved for aggressive customers). and even when we had urgency (low product remaining) i never did like rushing a customer, it made me feel a bit bad but sometimes they would be sad if they missed out.
Missed opportunity for the bonus red flag to have a plus on it instead of 11
Came to the comments for this. 🇨🇭
One I get often is 'dear customer/username/email' - then further down the email it says 'we will always use your real first/last name' - but they don't know it.
10 Red Flags list contains 11 items. Seems like a scam. LOL --- Thanks for the video @Atomic Shrimp! A lot out there need to know this, and the rest of us can all use some re-enforcement.
Thanks Shrimp, nice and concise!
I got an email from a Lawyer shortly after my grandmother passed away who said I had a pending payout from her will. The email seemed a bit unprofessional with a few grammatical mistakes, so I played along and messed with the poor guy for about an hour a day for a week.
I told my father about this, expecting him to think it was funny since I assumed that my grandmother passed away with almost nothing. (After my grandfather passed, she spent her retirement saving like no tomorrow since she lived a few years longer than him.)
I soon found out that this was from the bank since her house was fully paid off, but on the will with my father to be the one to decide who gets it. He decided to sell the home back to her original loaning bank and divide the money equally. I had about $65,000 USD waiting for me and the lawyer just wanted to tell me in person at his office just a few blocks away from my house.
I was 23 at the time and surprisingly even dumber than I am now some how. I felt so bad that I paid him normal rate for a free session, about $1,800 for a couple of hours.
I invited him out for drinks later that night and we have been great friends for a few years now. That's how I became best friends with a scammer/lawyer (Same thing I suppose.)
Thank you for the video explaining the red flags (even though scammers might see this. ) I don't know whether certain signs depend on countries but in France we receive messages on our phones telling us that we have to pay 1€ for custom services.
The site itself looks legitimate but the red flag is the 1€ you have to pay. And hours later the site is down.
Another sign in are again text messages asking to open a link.
And receiving emails from realistic looking companies and organization (for us it was the tax) my uncle was unfortunately scammed.
If it is a phone scam then one of the easiest ways to spot it is ask the person who they wish to speak to, a genuine caller will usually ask for a person by name if they don't then it is 99% likely to be a scam and it is highly unlikely a scammer will be contacting a named individual. It is a good one to teach older people who are often reluctant to be what they consider to be impolite, but asking "who are you trying to contact" is a perfectly reasonable and polite question.
i had a text saying someone got access to my bank but it was for the wrong bank they told me my HSBC account was comprimised even though im with a different banking company