5 popular financial crimes to be wary of

about 1 year ago

Its usually painful to loose valuables like money, important documents, or other things to criminals. Financial crime is big business. Perpetrators continue to evolve their methods and usually target victims that are inexperienced for exploitation. If we are fully aware of their tactics and types of financial crimes, the knowledge will give us valuable insight into the mind of financial criminals.

There are many types of financial crimes you need to beware of. Each is unique, with criminals perfecting their steps in order to achieve the intended aim. Lets look at some of the popular ones.

Some Popular financial crimes

Fraud: Fraud is an umbrella term that encompasses all illegal activities intended to deceive a target and convince them to hand over some financial assets. The main aim of all types of fraud it financial gain.

One of the most popular type of fraud is advance fee fraud. In this type, the criminal parades as a business partner looking to supply some goods or deliver some services. The victim is deceived into believing that they are in for some genuine business. Through various correspondence, this victim is made to pay some initial deposit for goods or services that never exists. Once the initial deposit is obtained, the criminal tricks his victim into paying in more to facilitate the deal. The victim continues to pay until he realizes he has been defrauded.

Identity theft is another popular type of fraud where the criminal tries to steal personally identifying information and use this to steal the victims money. For example, credit card theft and other types of digital identity theft makes it possible for criminals to wipe off life savings in a matter of seconds. These are all different forms of fraud which you need to protect yourself from. For example, do not allow anyone to be looking through your shoulders as you type your ATM PIN into the machine. It is an easy way to steal your digits and do away with your savings.

Embezzlement: This happens with people that are in positions of authority. One might find oneself occupying an office where they are in charge of large public funds. Embezzlement happens when one uses their official capacity to misappropriate public funds. That could include diverting some public funds into some personal projects for financial gain. It could also involve moving public funds to some personal or fictitious bank accounts.

If a fellow employee tries to convince you to be part of a ploy to divert organization funds into something not intended for personal financial gains, you need to reject such offers. Embezzlement is a criminal offense and carries the full weight of legal actions and punishments as other financial offenses.

Ponzi Schemes: This is another popular financial crime that many people fall into. They promise huge return on investment without much work. Many Ponzi Schemes appear online or in the form of multi-level marketing projects. Early recruiters are paid with funds from those that will join later. When the organizers feel that they have accumulated enough funds, they simply disappear into thing air with the stolen funds.

The basic rule to stay away from Ponzi Schemes is simple: if an offer appears too good to be true, it probably is. Avoid high yielding investment projects where you are promised huge returns on investment over a short period of time. And when a project requires massive recruitment with no sensible project behind the networking, it probably is a Ponzi Schemes. Do not get involved so you avoid falling a victim.

Counterfeiting: People reprint fake money and try to mix it with real money while making purchases. Unfortunately, fake money really is in large circulation. Its all too easy to accept those fake money if one is not really watchful. Even when making withdrawals from the bank - especially when it involves a large amount of money, be sure to check each note carefully to ensure it is genuine money.

Counterfeit money might look like the real thing. These criminals continue to make fake money real and harder to detect. But with a little more patience and carefulness, one can detect fake money and reject it. If you find yourself in possession of fake money, report it to the authorities. It is always not advised to try and spend fake money. If you are caught doing so, it might result in criminal prosecution since it is legally considered a financial crime.

Cybercrime: All criminal activities perpetrated over the internet with the aim to defraud and receive some financial gain are considered cybercrimes. The most popular type of cybercrime is hacking. This involves un authorized intrusion into a protected system in order to hold ransom, steal personal information or commit other crimes with financial gain as the aim.

The growth of cryptocurrencies also expanded the scope of cybercrimes with fake crypto airdrops and other kinds of crypto fraud at the forefront. Just do not give away digital identities online. Do not click links that appear suspicious. The same can be said of free downloads that could turn to be ransomware attacks or other types of cybercrime.

Conclusion

Financial crimes happen every time. If you know how they are designed, it will be easy to stay safe and avoid loosing financial assets to criminals. Take not of the above five. Do research and learn about other types and always be alert. Financial crimes could be costly, but they are largely avoidable.