Dealing With Con Men: The Most Common Scams Out There And How to Identify Them

We all like to think we’re too savvy to be fleeced by a con man. But thanks to technology and years of practice, scams are getting more advanced and sophisticated to the point where it can be hard to tell whether or not something is a scam.

What we’re going to do? Outline common scams you should be watching out for and how to deal with them safely and responsibility.

Work From Home 
Who doesn’t like the sound of working from home? No one wants to deal with a long commute or have to sit through yet another day in the office. Getting to work in your pajamas is something most of us fantasize about. Many scammers play off of this fantasy and will call you up, offering you the opportunity to work from home. Usually, this is an attempt to get you to either launder money or to hand over your financial information for the chance to attend a “seminar” or receive a “special package” for starting your own website. In general, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. With very few exceptions, if you want to work from home you’ll either need to have an employer willing to let you do this or you’ll need to freelance.

You Owe Money to the Bank or the IRS 
This scam is especially common during tax season but people have had to deal with variations of this trick throughout the year. How this works is the scammers will call you, pretending to be from your bank or with the IRS. They’ll allege you’ve either been accused of fraud or that you’re being audited. What you need to know? The IRS will never call you and threaten you to hand over your money- if you owe money on your taxes, they’ll typically send you a bill by mail.

You’re Supposedly Under Arrest 
These scammers, like those who pretend to be from your bank or with the IRS, try to prey on your fears to scare you into giving them money. They might tell you that they have an outstanding warrant for your arrest and you’ll need to pay a fine or go to jail. They’ll then demand you give them confidential information, such as your social security number and bank account info. Keep in mind, these are not actual police offers and cannot legally arrest you. Don’t fall for it.

How to Handle These Scams 
Safely responding to these scams is the key to beating con artists at their own game. The most important thing is to never give personal information or your hard earned money to someone over the phone, especially if you’re not sure who they are or why they’re contacting you.

Since you have their phone number, what you want to do is consider a reverse lookup for cellphones. With a reverse cell phone number lookup, you’ll basically search for the true owner of the number. This will tell you who owns the number and where they’re based out of. These free reverse cell phone lookup services, and there are many of them, are based on publicly available information and are perfectly legal.

When you’ve conducted a search like this, what you need to do is contact authorities. Get in touch with the police and consider filing a report with the Fair Trade Commission to make sure these scammers can be identified and brought to justice so that way, they can’t fool or scam anybody else. Your safety matters over the phone and identifying crooks can help your neighbors from being bamboozled too.

Staying Smart as a Small Business Owner

Whether your business is based out of a storefront or online, small business owners both have a lot to be grateful for and a lot of things to be worried about thanks to the advent of the Internet. While it’s never been easier for a small business to find customers from all over the world, it’s also never been easier for scammers to take advantage of you. Luckily, you’re not helpless.

There are many internet resources out there you can use in order to successfully avoid some of the most common scams out there. Staying smart is not impossible when you’re a small business owner.

Common Red Flags to Watch Out For

Small business owners unfortunately are uniquely positioned to become prime targets of online scammers. Every business owner will have to deal with an array of common scams, such as offers to “list your business on Google” or receive special access to supposed favorable loans over the phone.

In general, there’s a few easy ways to tell whether or not someone calling you about a business opportunity is a scam. For example, consider whether or not the person calling you over the phone is asking you for personal information. If they are, that’s a bad sign. Never, ever give personal information over the phone even if someone is offering you what sounds like a fantastic business opportunity.

Google, for example, will never contact you over the phone and they certainly won’t ask you to pay money to improve your chances of appearing as one of the first results when someone looks for a specific term.

Be wary of anyone who mails you a check from a bank you’ve never heard of. Don’t immediately deposit any check you’re sent, no matter what the reason. Always take it to the bank and ask for them to verify whether or not it is legitimate.

If an opportunity sounds too good to be true it probably is. While you may encounter customers who are kind and who make big orders on your products, you can tell them apart from scammers because they don’t ask you to wire money and their requests are likely not unusual.

Be wary of anyone offering loans over the phone, especially if they represent a financial institution you have never heard of. Always apply for loans in person at a legitimate bank or other financial institution.

Identifying Scams

Don’t rely on just a phone number to decide whether a caller is someone you can trust. Take some additional measures to make sure that whoever you’re talking to is legitimate. For instance, always search for phone numbers you’re not familiar with on reverse cell number phone lookup services. With many sites offering free reverse cell phone lookup number services, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be doing this already. Reverse phone cell number lookup services use publicly available information in order to see what demographic information they can find about the owner of the phone, such as their name, general location, and any reports people may have made about the number.

Never provide credit card information or other personal information over the phone, especially if you are not so sure what kind of company you’re dealing with. If you are purchasing a business related service, always consider these kinds of services in a face to face setting or do your research about the company that the person claims they represent. Search for the company over the Internet.

If you believe you have encountered a scammer, don’t hesitate. File a report with your local police department and with the FTC so that these con artists can be put to.

4 Ways Reverse Phone Lookup Can Help You

Have you ever wondered what reverse lookup is?  You can use the service to learn about a phone number that appeared on your caller ID.  This is usually a missed number that may be associated with someone you don’t know.  There are reverse cell phone lookup free with name options online that help consumers learn about the owner of the phone number.  This means you can get this information fast and easy without the owner knowing you accessed it.  When you want to do a quick search some may refer to it as a, reverse cell phone lookup since it can be anybody and you wonder who called you.  

 Here are 4 points to help you understand how this service is used and how you can benefit.

1. Contact person or business associated with phone number. If a phone number shows up on your caller ID and you have no idea who it belongs to you can do a reverse search to find out.  There are service options including free reverse cell phone lookup that are easy to use and can help in determining who is connected to the number (who owns the number). 
2. Learn whether the phone number is a mobile number or a landline number. There are times you may be able to look at a number and tell the location based on area code.  Yet, chances are you may not know how the caller made the call.  This means it could be a landline or a cell phone.  With cell phones you may be able to learn the carrier of the service. Knowing the location of the caller may give a clue as to who they are or why they called if their name, address or email remains unknown.
3. Is there an email address connected to the number? Some reverse search options may know if an email address is connected with the number. This could give another clue as to who owns the number.  You may be able to learn this information from an unknown number that shows up on your landline phone or cell phone.  With cellular options consider cell phone number reverse lookup or a service provider that can use cell phone numbers when searching for information.
4. Additional contact information if available. Details such as name, location, address and email or cell phone carrier can be learned depending on the service provider. Sometimes you may learn that you actually know the caller.  Other times it could be a scammer, debt collector or someone who simply dialed the wrong number.

Learn More through Reviews and User Feedback

When considering any type of service for reverse number search consider what others have said about the service.  There are some options offering an easy way for people to search about a phone number.  There are options that let consumers do a search based on a name.  Check with other options when you get information about a phone number to get an idea how accurate the information is.

Why Reverse Cell Phone Lookup is Necessary

“People turn to reverse phone directories for important reasons like (1) to find out who’s behind an unknown number that came up on the caller ID, (2) to find out who their kids are hanging out with, (3) to find out background information about their new date, or even (4) to find out if their spouses are cheating on them. When the information they’re looking for is that important, it’s critical that he or she is given accurate results.” -Yahoo Finance News. It is very true, you will never know when a website like this can come in handy. Overall it is important to have straight forward information within minutes. Free reverse cell phone lookup is extremely convenient!

Some may ask, why use reverse cell phone lookup, if using a search engine is just as good… Not true! If you’re curious to know who the unknown number is, searching a phone number on google may not be a direct hit nor can it give you all the information you’d like. It is a lot more promising to do a reverse cell phone lookup. Hero Reverse Phone Lookup is a guaranteed direct hit! You can easily locate an unknown number without them knowing. “In principle, the Reverse cell phone lookup is like the Google of phone lookup Web pages -- just enter the phone number you want to reverse engineer and click Lookup.” – Johnson, David. “Reverse Phone Lookup service is free and simple.” CBS Money Watch. Reverse cell phone lookup free with name is an amazing tool!

“A free reverse cell phone lookup is difficult to come across, I am not even sure it is even possible. Unfortunately, reverse cell phone lookup is one of the new kinds of online searches that it’s almost impossible to get for free.” –CBS Money Watch. There are quite a few Reverse cell phone lookup websites that have a monthly charge, however Hero Reverse Phone Lookup has a one-time charge. You have the option of being a Premium Member for a one-time cost a year or just paying for a one-time reverse search.

What’s so great about this, is that you are extremely likely to get a full report on a cell phone or landline. As I mentioned, with Google you aren’t likely to find any information. I have also tried Facebook, but not many people connect their phone number to their social media accounts and not everyone has a Facebook account. I found that having a reverse cell phone lookup website to be the most convenient; it avoids the hassle of digging deeper and deeper within assumed results to ultimately come out with nothing- It’s really annoying. Hero gets straight to the point, within seconds you’ll be provided with a complete report.

I find a website like this very helpful, and with my personal experience I feel like it give me a peace of mind. Getting an unexpected and unknown call simultaneously is just creepy.  I hate the thought of a stranger having my number. I am a very private person, so getting these unknown calls really aggravate me. Because I am such a private person I chose to conceal my information. All I had to pay was less than $5.00, it is very worth it and it costs so little.

Having Hero Reverse Phone Lookup came in very handy. It is a purchase that is worth every penny! After a month of having it I can definitely say, it pays for itself! I love having access to reverse cell phone lookup free with name at any time I want.