Tausi Insider

Photo : CHIRATH PHOTO ( Shutterstock ) Imagine you get this random text from an unknown number out of the blue: “My dog needs to be seen by a vet right away. Can you help me?” Do you respond to let the person know they have the wrong number? Do you ignore it? What do you think most people would do? 02:15 How to Steam an Egg Wednesday 11:19AM This type of message is one of the many used by scammers to hook people into in what’s being called “ Pig Butchering,” a scam that led to victims losing $429 million in 2021, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s press release about online safety earlier this year. What is “ Pig Butchering ?” ‘Pig Butchering:’ A Text-And-Crypto Scam Costing Victims Millions | Tech News Briefing Podcast | WSJ Pig Butchering is a scam where scammers target victims and form a friendly relationship for days or weeks, presenting themselves as financially stable individuals, eventually encouraging them to invest in crypto before convincing them to t...

Photo : Rawpixel.com ( Shutterstock ) Whether it’s investing in the newest cryptocurrency, or eyeing some type of “ make money while doing nothing! ” scheme, it can be hard to resist all the shiny “new” finance trends that constantly pop up. Often, though, these trends aren’t actually all that new—and even if they are, it’s important to look for signs that they’re doomed to fail. Any income or investment opportunity that seems too good to be true is, most likely, just that. And scam or not, chasing these trends is usually a mistake. Sure, you know not to fall for a phishing scam; e.g., you wouldn’t give your PayPal information to a text from an unknown number. Here are other types of finance trends that you’d be better off ignoring. Avoid “get rich quick” investment opportunities It’s important be wary of finance trends that aren’t an outright scam, but are a mighty big risk if you don’t know what you’re doing. Take gaming apps, for instance. If you’re going to put large sums of ...

Photo : HakanGider ( Shutterstock ) It’s no secret Instagram is plagued with fake accounts, bots, and impersonators. Just take a look at any comments section on any trending post and you’ll see it’s swarmed with thirst traps and crypto “moguls. ” But there are far more elaborate fake accounts out there that have mastered the art of seeming genuine on the social network, and it can be difficult to tell whether they are real— or not, and out to scam you . Most of these offenders offer some kind of “service” that requires you to place an order or give away sensitive information, from the more innocuous (you email address or phone number so they can add you to a spam list), to the potentially damaging ( a two-factor verification code or banking information) . Some of these accounts are crafted with such precision that the conventional rules of thumb—look at their profile pics, check their frequency of posts, consider their follower to following ratio, and general   level of act...

Photo : mundissima ( Shutterstock ) It’s no secret scammers get more skilled and ingenious with time. Part of their strategy is knowing when is the best time to target certain people. As the holidays approach and people are expecting packages from Black Friday shopping or early Christmas gifts to arrive, scammers are taking advantage of the time to strike confusion and catch people off guard with shipping scams. If you’ve gotten a text or email message that seems to be from the United States Postal Service (USPS) or any shipping company with a link, be alert. These kinds of shipping scam messages have been on the rise since May and are expected to keep increasing through the holiday shopping season, according to a news report from WGAL, an affiliate of NBC. How do shipping message scams work? Shipping message scams try to mimic a shipping text update that you might expect to receive from the USPS or another shipping company. They usually claim that your shipment will be returned ...

Photo : Sheila Fitzgerald ( Shutterstock ) We are in peak gift-card-buying season as the holidays rapidly approach—which means that scammers are also in their peak season of trying to trick us into buying gift cards that those on our list won’t actually be able to use. We’ve previously covered how scammers pretend to be from the IRS or other   figures of authority to get you to pay for things with gift cards . But time only makes scammers more sophisticated and creative, so here are the new gift-card scams to watch out for. How to spot tampered gift cards in a store Unbought g ift cards have been tampered with for years, but it’s usually the old trick where scammers take a gift card, find the PIN information, and then put it back on the shelves where it waits for a victim to buy it and put money o n it. They do this by periodically calling the number o n the back of the card to see if there’s a balance, and then draining it as soon as there is. But now, scammers are pri...

Photo : r.classen ( Shutterstock ) As unlikely as it is to happen, every parent can imagine the horror and helplessness they would feel if they discovered their child had been kidnapped. The rush of emotions you’d experience—especially if you received a call from your child begging you for help—might overwhelm you, leading you to act rashly and do whatever it took to get them back. And that’s just what the engineers of a new “virtual kidnapping” scam are counting on. Here’s what you need to know about “virtual kidnapping” schemes, including how to spot one before you become a victim. How does the“virtual kidnapping” ransom scam work? According to the Los Angeles Times , the perpetrators of these schemes will call parents and attempt to get them to believe their child has been abducted, and demand an immediate ransom payment. All the while, the child is still safe at school or with the babysitter—but the scammers are hoping you don’t find that out until after you’ve paid up. As FB...

Photo : Michael Vi ( Shutterstock ) Venmo is an easy way to send money back and forth to friends, family, and the guy who runs the office fantasy football league. But what if you received a Venmo notification that says you’d received money from someone you don’t know and that you weren’t expecting? Chances are, it’s not an accident or a stroke of luck: It’s a scam. The practice of sending money by “accident” —and then asking for it back in apologetic and somewhat frantic tones — is a scam that has been making the rounds not just on Venmo, but other similar pay-apps like Zelle, PayPal, or Apple Pay. It’s a scam that preys on people’s kindness and gullibility. How does the scam of sending money by “accident” work? According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), scammers buy stolen credit cards from the dark web and connect them to their payment app of choice. Then, they start sending random people money by “accident” and proceed to message them asking for the money back, ...

Photo : Nitiphonphat ( Shutterstock ) These days, I get so many spam calls I hardly pick up the phone anymore. However, if I see a call from someone I kno w, whether they’re a friend or family member, I, of course, answer them (usually) . Unlike a random number, I know the person on the other end of the line, because I have their contact in my phone, right? Unfortunately, that’s not 100% true, and scammers are using that to their advantage. Take this TikTok from creator Citylivingsoutherngirl , for example. In the video, the creator describes getting a phone call from her mom. The call came through as any other call would: Her mom’s contact popped right up, nothing nefarious or suspect about it. She answered the call, only to hear what sounded like her mother’s voice far away from the phone, and sobbing. A man’s voice then answered, and demanded money from the girl or else he’d kill her mother. Of course, the creator was terrified, and eventually agreed to the demands. She talked...