14 DAY TRIAL // All sorts of social media websites are targeted by cybercriminals who try to fool people into investing in ghost businesses.
Facecrook informs us on the alert issued by the North American Securities Administrators Association which warns potential investors not to trust anyone they've just met on the internet.
The crooks try to convince anyone who comes in their way to invest sums of money into certain businesses that in most cases don't even exist. By promising large earnings, they're able to attract naive members into giving them their savings, hoping that the amount will double in no time.
Social networking customers are advised not to accept friend requests from someone they don't know. If one of these con men gets access to your friends network, you expose each one of them to these potential threats that can empty their bank accounts in a heartbeat.
Those who consider making investments in the future are warned by Eileen AJ Connelly to keep a close eye on certain things that should give away a person with bad intentions.
He compares the red flags usually present in the real world with those found in the virtual environment. There's not much difference between them, so it shouldn't be a problem to smell a foe if you rely on common sense.
High returns with little or no risk should always make you wonder. Usually, it takes time for an investment to bring some profit and if things are too good to be true, then they usually are.
Another sign that something's fishy is when you are asked to recruit others into the so-called investment. Scammers will try to attract as many as they can all at once, as in most cases they disappear without a trace soon after the deal is done.
The company's website is always a good place to start looking. It might look good, but if its content is very general, with no detailed information about the sort of business that takes place, then you're probably looking at a dummy site.
The purpose of these posts, as always, is to keep people on alert. Even though many don't think anything can happen to them, the better informed you are, the less are the chances you'll get duped.