Since the invention of the internet, unscrupulous individuals have used it to further themselves financially. The email scams of old, promising you millions if you just help them get an amount of money into the UK - although still around - are much less prevalent than they were. The condition to this huge amount of money becoming yours? You need to send them thousands of pounds/dollars of your own money, just to be sure.
Since the invention of the internet, unscrupulous individuals have used it to further themselves financially. The email scams of old, promising you millions if you just help them get an amount of money into the UK - although still around - are much less prevalent than they were. The condition to this huge amount of money becoming yours? You need to send them thousands of pounds/dollars of your own money, just to be sure.
Well, the scams are moving on, and at a frightening technological pace. In 2010, the Apple iPad was released upon to the world. Every techy individual on the planet (well, nearly) would want one, so the scammers promptly seized upon the promise of the free iPad to lure unknown numbers of individuals into numerous scams.
The most renowned one is the recent iPad Beta testing team scam that famously hit social networking site Facebook. If you have seen an advert that looks to be an official Apple advert, claiming to be from a small team - the iPad research team - who will allow you to have, and keep, and iPad, simply for sharing your views about the product with them, then beware. Test an iPad and get to keep it?
Seems OK right? Well, not really, not to anyone who has any experience with Apple. Professionals like big time technology bloggers and journalists may get their hands on a free iPad if Apple deem so. Mortals like you and me? Nah. We have to buy them, - and we will - but at full price.
So how do the free iPad Beta tester scammers make their money? When you sign up, you give them your mobile phone number. This mobile number is then used to sign you up to pay subscription service. Voila! The scammers have your cash. By the time you notice, a good amount of cash has winged it's way to them, and you are left out of pocket.
The moral of this story? Use your common sense. The majority of people who signed up for the free iPad scams won't have even Googled it. Google everything. I may sound like a spokesperson for Google, but if most of the people who are now a fair bit poorer had just searched to try and clarify the beta tester 'offer', then they wouldn't be out of pocket.
If you're at all worried that you might have been lured into this particular scam - you'll have a good idea if you may have been by now - then there's a simple solution to stop you losing any more cash. Ring your network provider! Next time? Google is your friend. Of course, there is no guarantee that you won't be scammed again, a few internet 'testimonials' can do wonders for reputation. But you're more likely to be scammed if you're ignorant. Arm yourself with knowledge. In the age of the internet scammer, it's your only weapon.
The lure of a free iPad, although tempting, must set off alarms somewhere, but in the rush to believe it, and to get an expensive gadget for nothing, seemingly sensible people lose all their wits and run head first, straight into a scam.
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