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Alfa One Corporation Accounting Solutions: Top social media scams to avoid in 2016

Nowadays, almost everyone is vulnerable in the virtual world and it's not surprising that scammers often target victims in social media sites. The power of social media is massive these days because there are billions of people using social media platforms every day to perform different purposes.

Alfa One Corporation Accounting Solutions claims that the personal, especially the financial information of a person are not 100% secured online. Experts reveal that in the past few years, the number of phishing attempts on social networking sites has exploded to more than a hundred percent.

To hide their identity, fraudsters often blend in with the crowd and use social media to target a lot of people. They take advantage of the way people use social media by mimicking users and their activities to deal with business matters. Alfa One Corporation reviewed some studies and found out that the following are the most common scams on social media sites today.

Fake customer service accounts

This deceitful scheme often happens on Twitter. Criminals who reside online can phish the financial and other sensitive data of their victims by creating fake customer service accounts. Their usernames may seem identical to the genuine ones, but note that there are usually some characters that do not match or does not belong to the original one. Look for an extra underscore or other keyboard characters.

One example of this scheme is that when a real customer tweets at a major bank, the fraudsters will divert the conversation by replying to that tweet with an answer that seems authentic. And intercept the tweet with a link to a fake support site that attempts to steal the customer's actual banking account details.

Fake comments

Well, this could be done by anyone, but scammers have different motifs behind and often done on popular posts. It's apparent that a well-liked social media post or news story will generate a lot of comments and the scammers will take advantage of that. They will pretend to be an ordinary Facebook user and will comment on posts with links that could catch the interest of many that often leads to a credit card phishing scam.

Fake discounts

Some online discounts are bogus and this scheme is somewhat similar to fake customer service accounts. Scammers will create social media accounts that are identical to real businesses and pretend to offer real deals and discounts, and then steal your personal and financial information.

Fake live-stream videos

Live-streaming appears to be a trend nowadays and a lot of media companies began streaming their shows and movies online. Through this, scammers find a new way to find possible targets and carry out financial phishing scams. For example, they usually offer a link to a free live stream and many people will tend to believe them and not knowingly, becomes a victim of an evil scheme. In this tactic, the link will take you to a fake website and demands you to provide your personal information in order to begin the live-stream.

Fake surveys and contests

Not all online surveys and contests available on the web are real. Scammers can mine and sell your personal data by doing surveys and contests that require you to provide your credentials through personal questions. Scammers use the comment section on social media sites to target as many people as possible with fake online surveys and quizzes that steal personal information. They often embed them into social media posts and often look legit because of URL shorteners and there's also a normal looking profile picture. Be aware of a comment that goes something like this: "What's your opinion? We'd like to know! Participate in our research surveys and enter to win prizes!”

Alfa One Corporation always strives to give people important warnings about scammers on social media sites. The firm wants you to remember that the only one responsible for your own safety is yourself. Not every post you see on the internet is real, so be cautious all the time.

For over two decades, the financial experts of Alfa One Corporation Accounting Solutions in Tokyo, Japan have provided a one-stop financial-services source in management of business practice, tax and financial planning, accounting, transition, investment counseling and retirement planning consultancy especially for the dental industry in Malaysia, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Since our company started its operations, dentists have relied on our knowhow, expertise, and experience to help them attain their business and personal objectives with excellent results. Our well-trained staff of Certified Public Accountants, Certified Financial Planners, accountants and bookkeepers are ready to provide dentists the assistance they require on a day-to-day arrangement. We aim to enhance all our clients' financial productivity as well as the quality of life.