Financial scams are everywhere. They’re all around us. From gas pump scams to online credit card scams, you’re bound to come across one. And sometimes, you might even get conned. But what if you got taken by a legitimate cash app scam? What are they and what should you do?
What You Know About the Cash App?
A cash app, or cash transfer app, is an app you can download to your mobile phone or tablet that allows you to transfer money to someone else. This app is not your typical money transfer app like Venmo or PayPal. This is usually free, high-tech app that is intended to make paying back your friends or family easier and less painful. This is often not advertised as such and you may have even downloaded one without realizing it. The facility of chargeback on Cash App is also very economical.
Cash App Scams and How to Avoid Them
As the name implies, this app doesn’t use your normal banking system to make transactions. Instead, they simply allow you to transfer money to anyone, anywhere in the world, with no fees. No sharing your account information and no receipts or receipts for the transfers. You don’t even have to have the money in your account to make a transaction. This makes it great for those that are always short on cash or for international travelers. It also makes it attractive to scammers. The cash app you use might be legitimate but that doesn’t mean that they’re not also plagued by scammers.
Cash App Scams
Here are five of the most common scammer scams and how you can avoid them.
- The Superfood Scam
This scam tries to trick you into believing that certain items are superfoods that will make you healthier. So, you download the superfood app. You enter in a lot of information like the foods you eat, the vitamins you take, and your personal information. And then you buy some of the items. But what do you get in return? Well, nothing. You get absolutely nothing. Your money isn’t actually in your account. It’s all gone. And you have no way of getting it back.
How to Avoid It:
Never download any app that tries to tell you that certain foods are superfoods.
2. The Out-of-Town Phone Scam
Another scam that you can avoid by simply being smart about your purchases. This one is quite popular. You order something online from a reputable company and they offer to ship it for you. All you have to do is pay for the shipping by credit card or cash. Then they tell you that your package will be delivered in 7-10 days. So, you pay and as expected, the next day you have a package on your doorstep.
But what do you get inside the package? Well, a number, the postal code, the sender’s name, or even a tracking number. All of these are important to use in order to contact the sender, but a number or a name, you’re out of luck.
How to Avoid It:
Research the shipping company before you order anything online and check their reviews to see if any customer complaints have been filed.
3. The ‘Free Gift of YouTube’
This one is one of the more notorious scammer scams. They’re calling you from different numbers and they’re asking for your help. One of the numbers they use is this: 1-866-840-3761. They then ask you to call another number which is 1-800-649-8797. Their numbers may be different.
But once you make the call and you say you want help, they hang up. It’s a scam. But what makes it really interesting is that YouTube will actually, eventually, offer to give you a free account, if you contact them, and give them your information.
How to Avoid It:
Do not tell anyone the number you are taking phone calls from. Also, do not call to any unknown number that the scammer asks you to dial. It will finish your all money from your Cash App wallet.
4. The Email Scam
The biggest scammer of them all. You receive a message from a company with a fake email address (i.e. [email protected]), that promises you a refund for something you had ordered. You’re excited, because a refund for something you had ordered is always a good thing. You hit the button to get your refund. And then you get nothing. You get absolutely nothing. You have no way of getting your money back.
How to Avoid It:
Don’t just blindly click on any links. If you have a question, look up the company or website on Google to see if it has a real, working website or not. And, of course, never give out any personal information to someone you don’t know, or if you don’t know that they know you.
5. The Data Scam
This one is tricky. You receive an email from an unknown sender who is trying to get you to sign up for something called ‘software’.” You click on the link and you’re asked to enter some personal information. They ask for your credit card number, or your bank account number. But you’re out of luck. The site you’re on doesn’t actually exist.
How to Avoid It:
DO NOT enter your credit card information when you’re offered to do so by someone you don’t know, or if you don’t know that they know you.
Conclusion
These are five of the more common scams that you could encounter online. Stay vigilant and don’t get scammed. You have nothing to gain from doing so. You can do your part to make sure the internet is a safe place. Use your brain to identify and avoid online scams. When you fall for one of these scams, don’t blame yourself. As hard as it is, you did nothing wrong. It’s the scammers who did wrong. Furthermore, report about any scam if you encounter any of them to the Cash App’s official helpline.
You may be interested in: How to Protect Your Business from Scams