The Internet is probably the most important invention of the 20th century. A lot has happened since the first E-Mail was sent across the continents.
Meanwhile you can be in real time contact with people on the other side of the world and exchange information without any time delay.
In addition to communication, the Internet has also strongly influenced trade, making it faster and easier.
Nowadays it is no longer a problem to order a new computer, a game console, various household appliances and other products from other countries and to receive what you have bought within a few days.
Services are of course also offered on the Internet.
The main providers are sports betting providers, online casinos and trading portals are obese, but customers and fraudsters.
As is well known, every medal has a flip side, including the highly acclaimed Internet.
Fraudsters find themselves there just as well as serious providers. The following article explains how you can protect yourself against fraud on the Internet.
The focus is on the above-mentioned sectors of sports betting, online casinos and the financial market and how fraud is committed.
The Dark Side of the World Wide Web
There’s nothing on the Internet that doesn’t exist. When it comes to the Internet and commerce, the Darknet is often called.
The Darknet is in principle the Internet, only that it is not controllable or regulable. This leads to the fact that you can buy everything you want in the Darknet without exaggerating.
In Darknet, fraud is not really the buzzword, as merchants are more out to sell their goods. However, because these goods do not have to be legal and can still be bought, they can ultimately have negative consequences for the buyer.
Phishing emails – fraud via email
The types of fraud and how it happens are very different. As a rule, however, the objectives of the fraudsters can be summarised.
The main goal is usually the financial means. So-called phishing mails ask people to open their bank account via a link, to log in and to change or enter something.
The problem is, however, that this e-mail is not from the bank itself, but from fraudsters who send fake e-mails. As soon as the account details are entered, they fall into the hands of the fraudsters and thus also the possibility of accessing the money saved.
The only way to protect yourself against it is not to follow such e-mails. If the Bank has to announce changes to its General Business Conditions, announces a change in the system or other important information, these shall be communicated by letter or can be read on the Bank’s website.
By telephone, by SMS or on the Internet
The way the scammers proceed is often very admirable. It takes a lot of effort and sophistication.
But it is also part of this to hide one’s conscience. The so-called grandson trick made the rounds a few years ago.
Unknown persons called elderly and single people and pretended to be their grandchildren in need. That sounds simple, it was for some cheaters too, but the damage it caused was often life-threatening.
Now that each age group has several electronic devices with Internet access, the ways to contact these people have also become more diverse. Fraudsters often exploit the ignorance of older people in particular, who are often not sufficiently familiar with the technology itself or the Internet.
Fraud on the Internet
The Internet offers many opportunities to earn a little money on the side.
You can make your own investments on the financial market, you can play in an online casino or win money through successful sports betting.
Further fields of activity, which have grown through the Internet, are programmers, web designers, graphic design, content marketing, SEO optimizers, backlink typesetters, translators, writing and selling eBooks, founding their own online shop and trading via eBay and Amazon.
Those are just the headings. The problem with all these industries is that you often don’t know the customer/seller. So it can be quite possible that many hours of work are not remunerated or the sale was a fraud.
The opinions and evaluations of customers and their credibility
If you search the Internet for a certain product, there is often a rating of five out of five stars.
Buying such a top product can in some cases be a cheap counterfeit. Counterfeit customer ratings are not uncommon, but have become a market.
On the Internet you can find many clients who offer companies and private dealers to write positive customer opinions.
The people who write the reviews have never received the product for review. If at all perhaps seen on a picture with the most important key data.
A few years ago there were fake customer opinions about a handful of online casinos. Many customers fell into the trap, created a user account and deposited money at the supposedly reputable online casinos.
Fraud in online casinos, betting providers and online brokers
Now the question arises how fraud works with online providers. The customer is usually cheated of his money by already the deposited sum disappears.
It also happens, however, that the fraud does not happen immediately. For example, on fraudulent online casinos the games are programmed so that you can not win the games of chance or just so much that you just do not lose the desire.
Other online casinos leave open the possibility that the customer will win, but then the payout does not work.
There were also cases where the personal and account data were resold to third parties. In sports betting, fraud is committed by manipulated players or even entire teams. The focus of the scammers is on lower leagues and games.
There have already been sports bets on games that didn’t even exist. Online brokers had similar cases of fraud to online casinos, so the trades did not end successfully. Sites like openodds.com protect players.
How to protect yourself against Internet fraud
Fraud on the Internet is very diverse. The following points, however, are the characteristics of a reputable provider:
– A valid license – for example, a gambling license for betting providers and online casinos or a financial trading license that guarantees state regulation.
– Certificates and test seals – these come from MGA in Malta, among others, and provide information about safety, quality and reliability – for both products and services.
– Positive customer reviews that need to be read and compared on multiple platforms.
– A good quality site – bad translations, grammar mistakes etc. speak for a dubious provider.
– Read more about fraud on the Internet
– The platform betrug.org specifically addresses the issue and how to protect against it.
