The internet is one of the most useful things that we have available. It can be used for many things, from keeping in touch with people to doing shopping. However, the internet also has a dark side, and it has also proved appealing to criminals who want to be able to go about their illegal activities.
Part of the problem with the internet and the reason why it is a particularly attractive prospect to criminals is of course the ease of being anonymous online. This means that things like criminal gangs can operate and easily evade detection. Despite many things being put in place such as an AML ID check like this https://www.w2globaldata.com/regulatory-compliance-solutions-and-software/aml-id-checks criminals are still able to use the internet for a range of crimes, and one of the most common of these are scam messages.
All sorts of messages sent via email or text are used in order to scam people out of money. For example, things like emails pretending to be from Royal Mail asking for money to redeliver a parcel, or messages asking for a payment for a Covid Test are two common scams that have done the rounds over the past couple of years.
WhatsApp is also a commonly used space for scams, and many people have reported messages pretending to be a child asking for money as they are in an emergency situation. It is important that if you are to get a message from a number that you don’t know that you make certain it is the person that they say they are before you ever give any money or details to them.