Internet scam!

The internet has become a tool that governs our lives, whether we like it or not. What do you do when you get up in the morning? You check your inbox, emails, likes on social networks. The internet has become like going to the toilet or having morning coffee.

The internet is fun and full of adrenaline until things get serious. From one click to tears is a long way, but such an unfolding is likely if you are a person living in your own world.

What is internet fraud anyway?

SCAM or internet fraud is a term used to describe abuse or plans to extort money or other property from people who do not suspect fraud. In other words, well-disguised scams that are easy to fall for and in which false information is provided in order to make a profit or confidential information.

Each of us can find ourselves the target of these well-disguised scams, but the most vulnerable are the desperate women who are the most common target of scammers.

Let me tell you a story I read in the daily press on the topic of Internet fraud:

Adela is a lonely woman. Her husband died ten years ago, the children live abroad and she lost contact with her friends. She is in her sixties, retired. She heard from a neighbor that she could open a profile on social media and that intrigued her. She posted her pictures from her younger days, added a couple of acquaintances. That got her out of depression. Then she started getting friend requests. 10, 20, 30 requests from younger men from distant, exotic countries like Egypt and Tunisia, who praised her photos and their age didn’t matter. She started corresponding with one of them. Nouri, an Arab from Morocco, an attractive man in his fifties. He was a true cavalier, sending her roses with coffee every morning. He promised to visit her, but he was plagued by financial problems. He never asked to be sent money, but he followed the opposite logic. “I wish I could hug you.” “You must be even prettier live.” Slowly, Nouri crept into Adele's heart, and then into her wallet.

Adela fell in love and offered him money for a plane ticket. She sent him a certain amount but Nouri delayed his arrival. He said he had health problems, that he needed money for medicine. She sent more money because she wanted her chosen one to be healthy and fit. After being relieved by several thousand euros, his messages stopped coming. One morning she revealed that he had deleted his profile. She couldn't find him anywhere else. Painful sobriety followed, she was more lonely than ever.

Internet scammers are not stupid. They cast their hooks like experienced anglers. They know where they will find fertile ground, examine the terrain and then act step by step. He is decent, he presents himself as a cavalier, because women like that. At some point they will ask you for money. He is sick, he needs medicine, or he has sick parents or sick relatives who need help, and you are his good fairy.

How to neutralize it?

Ignore friendship requests from people without a profile picture, with avatars and those with a small number of friends. Pay attention to his list of friends. Are there pictures of naked women or do many seem fake, with a profile picture of celebrities?

Did he immediately start asking a lot of questions about you and not saying anything about himself?

As children we read fairy tales about princes on a white horse, and today the prince is behind the monitor, and we just have to say YES. But when a prince from a fairy tale turns into a manipulator in the hunt for our bank account, then we pay for our mistakes in the true sense of the word. Sure, you can always report a cheater, but many get away with it because they covered all the clues back in the days when you fantasized about living together and a happy ending.