Social media sites are now the favorite digital hangouts of everyone. According to Statista.com, there are around 3.6 billion people who are registered on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as of 2020. By 2025, there should be an estimated number of 4.41 billion social media users.
With the number of social media usage increasing each year, scammers and greedy financial gurus flock within Facebook and the likes of it too – doing their very best to drain people off their valuable assets and finances.
How these digital pirates employ their tricks can be summed by the following key points:
They create legit-looking websites or social media pages.
On the previous pages, it is mentioned that an establishment’s lack of online presence is one indicator that it is a scam. Knowing this, the smartest scammers get around this obstacle by creating websites or social media pages that appear to be very legitimate and professional.
With the existence of comprehensive tutorials on the web today, nearly anyone, as long as he or she has the guts to do so, can easily make impressive websites already. In addition, web-hosting fees are so affordable that anyone with the most meager budgets can already buy a hosting plan and start launching a website in the quickest way.
And if those scammers find web designing and owning a functional website to be expensive and time-consuming, they may just decide on making a social media page. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn have very comprehensive guides and setup wizards that can help anyone.
In just a few clicks, a professional-looking business page can be already laid out for you – no technical background needed, just the right motivation and mindset. Because of the ease and hassle-free methods offered by web-designing platforms and social media sites, dealing with people and deceiving them becomes a lot easier too.
They post engaging, professional-looking content.
Next to setting up a web portal for one’s business, the next step would be posting engaging content. This is to make sure that people keep coming back to that business’s website or social media page so they can still continue to buy their products, utilize their services, or so those scammers could continue to rob people’s money.
Aside from the investment they make with their online portals, these scammers also invest in other high-end equipment like cameras and other relevant photography equipment. They need to do so because they have to produce quality content that must include high-quality videos and photos.
In addition to some equipment, they would also hire very talented people that could produce those videos or any multimedia project that would launch their fraudulence into the world. Videographers, video-editors, graphics artists, writers – take your pick. People like these are already in their employ.
Since these scammers have already amassed a great amount of wealth already, paying these people to do their bidding would just be very easy. Those people work in their offices daily, sometimes in just the confines of their own homes as they craft the perfect internet content that people on the web will find to be very appealing.
They task their well-trained staff to communicate with netizens professionally.
Because of their well-strategized online marketing campaigns, the scammers would have already stacked a huge number of followers already. And when they do, they will keep those people within their clutches by never letting them go easily – they will unleash the skills of their well-trained staff to communicate with their victims in a very professional way.
In engaging with their victims, their staff will not do the usual “instant marketing tactics” anymore. Smart consumers will not fall for it anymore these days. So to outsmart them, scammers would tell their staff to talk to their preys in a friendly, professional manner.
As the conversation goes on and on though, the luring techniques will be delivered, and the netizen will already be victimized before he even knows it. The power of these fraudsters actually lies in their excellent sales-talk abilities and their marketing skills. Because of their wit and communication skills, the victims can’t almost say no to them.
Whenever the victims show signs of turning away, the scammers will then say things like the victim will miss out on a lot of things, or may also employ tricks as if they will be too shy to ignore the conversation.
They deal with you like they truly care.
Of all their tactics, this is perhaps the most effective one. They have established their online presence, posted quality content, and have communicated with you well. And since you’re already hooked into them, they will then unleash their most potent weapon – they will deal with you like they truly care.
From time to time, they will ask you how your dear life has been going on lately, and what you were up to for a certain day. They will also tell you about how good you look, or how nice you are as a person based on your social media profile.
How they’re able to do it convincingly is due to the reconnaissance that they will do beforehand. As mentioned earlier, these people are smart – they do their homework before preying on their victims. Like brilliant detectives, they will scour the best information they can get from you, so they can manipulate you in the most effective manner possible.
With the data checklist that they have already gathered from your social media habits, they will then act as your friend, telling you about how good your life is, and will tell you tips on how you could get better with your job, with your relationships, and with the other aspects of your existence in general.
Then they will offer you something for free. Once you start using that free stuff they’ve offered, it will only be a matter of time before they will slowly entice you into buying something, or subscribe to a service their company is giving.
Be very careful in dealing with business negotiations in the social media sites you frequently log on to. A scamming activity in the making could just be lurking nearby. Be very vigilant so you won’t be robbed of your hard-earned money which could happen during the times when you least expect it.
