Scam Spotter is an initiative by Google and Cybercrime Support Network. It is a simple website designed to help people spot the most common patterns used by scammers and offers some practical advice to help you avoid them. There is a simple quiz included that you can take and see if you are vulnerable to those scams. There are various types of scams explained on the main website that you can learn about and share it with your friends and family. Billions of dollars have lost to those scams so something needs to be done in order to stop them.
Even in the Covid19 pandemic, there is a rise in scams. You can learn about more on those Covid19 scams on the Scam Spotter website. This isn’t the only one website out there; there are some other resources where you can learn and you can find them all on Scam Spotter. If you’ve never been a victim of an online scam, then you can take the scam quiz. In the quiz, it will show you some most common type of messages scammers use. In the quiz, you can mark them as scam or not scam, and in the end, see your result. This is as simple as that.
Scam Spotter by Google to Help People Avoid Scams:
There is no sign-up or registration in order to use the website. You just go to the main Scam Spotter website from here and then start reading about the scams. There is a separate Scams section where you can learn about the most common types of scams, such as.
- COVID‑19 scams: Scammers are taking advantage of Covid19 pandemic to call you and sell you stuff to save you from Coronavirus. In that case, you need to consult an expert or doctor first before taking the matter in your own hands.
- Romance scams: They usually happen on social media or dating apps/websites. You need to avoid these scams by doing thorough research on your admirer.
- Bad news scams: In these types o scams, you get calls from scammers pretending to be government or bank employees. You just need to avoid them and if it seems a serious issue, then visit the government office or bank personally.
- Good news scams: These are also common scams in which scammers may call out of the blue to say you’ve won a lottery or some kind of heavy prize. Don’t involve in this kind of tricks and do not give any personal information, especially bank details.
The next thing on the website is a simple quiz that you can take and see if you can spot scams. In the quiz, it shows, you some most common messages or emails that scammers use to get money from you. So, just go to the quiz section, and then you can simply take the quiz. You will definitely learn something from this.
Above, you can see how the quiz that it gives looks like. There is other information that you can explore, some tips are mentioned on the website and you can just go through them and use them when you think you’ve run into a scammer.
Final words:
Scam Spotter is a very much needed initiative that can help a lot of people out there. I will advise you to go through the website once and simply take the quiz and read the tips and tricks mentioned there. My personal suggestion to avoid most scams is to stop using free dating apps/websites. There are fake people using fake images and after a little friendship, they will start asking money or gift cards, etc. As the website itself says “they may have a silver tongue, but they’re going for your gold”. So, stay safe and avoid these scams, and Scam Spotter is a very useful website to train you for that.
