Fertile season for online scams
As the holiday season nears, print, TV and social media are replete with catchy advertisements and gimmicks to encourage their target markets to be more liberal in buying gifts for themselves and their loved ones.
To make the sales pitch more effective, payment can be done on installments or other interest-free flexible credit arrangements.
Those promotions tend to draw the interest of employees who have already received their 13th month pay and, for the luckier ones, an additional Christmas bonus.
It is widely believed that during the Christmas season, people who have substantial disposable income are more open to opening their wallets for personal or social reasons.
For some of them, since Christmas comes only once a year and, as a ditty goes, “it’s the season to be jolly,” why not make the most of it? To the millennials and Gen Z members, that’s an opportune time to give meaning to the principle of YOLO (you only live once). That may look like a hedonistic way of living, but who cares.
It’s also the time of the year when scammers and con artists are on the prowl for people who are prone to lower their guard amid the festivities or could be made to easily believe in sales promotions that can bring joy to the customers at the least cost.
And what better way to engage in these activities than through the internet or social media, which has become the favorite source of information for practically anybody who has a mobile phone that has the capability to connect to those communications facilities.
Judging from the way the same things had been done in the past, expect some artificial intelligence tools to be used to make the manipulation subtle or subliminal that the target victim would be made so trusting that he or she would quickly fall for the scheme.
The deception involves, among others, posting the photo of a socially exposed person, putting as background of the post the brand name or logo of a reputable company, and mimicking the voice of a prominent business executive.
These are so convincingly done that their viewers would not have any second thoughts about their genuineness, so they are encouraged to click the links that would complete their order and make the payment.
Recall that there were several instances in the past when some prominent personalities issued disclaimers about their endorsement of certain products that were being sold online, or companies denounced the use of their brand names to provide an aura of legitimacy to some promotional activities.
Whether or not those actions were effective and deterred people from being conned is a big question mark.
Note that if the product bought online is of poor quality or does not match the way it was shown or described in the sales pitch, there is hardly any remedy available to the buyer to get his or her money’s worth.
In case he or she decides to complain to the online seller, there’s a chance the address provided would be fictitious, or he or she would be given the runaround or given all kinds of excuses to avoid making good the delivery.
Also something to guard against are online solicitations for monetary contributions by supposed nongovernmental organizations or social groups for the benefit of indigent persons or charitable institutions in order to spread the joy of Christmas.
To make the appeal more convincing, photos of the alleged beneficiaries in their most pitiful state would be included in the post in the hope that the solicitation would tug at the heart of whoever sees them and make him or her send money to the indicated bank account.
The problem is, there is no way to determine the legitimacy of that account, much less its registered depositor, because of our existing bank secrecy laws.
An American showman once said that “a sucker is born every minute.” Sadly, that saying finds fertile ground during what many consider a season of love and grace.
