RP281 Don't Get Taken

 RP281 Don't Get Taken

In 1849, New Yorker William Thompson was arrested for an unusual series of robberies. Thompson would pretend to know someone, and then ask to borrow money or a watch from that person. Some people had enough confidence in him to agree, and so they lost their property. After Thompson was caught, newspapers nicknamed him "the confidence man" because of the unique nature of his crimes.

Nearly 170 years later, the people we now call con artists are no longer unusual. The list of tricks used to get people's money through trust is endless. And in the age of the Internet, the list is growing faster than ever before.

Almost no one would hand money to a stranger on the street today. Countless people, however, are fooled by online scams all the time. Have you ever gotten an email telling you you' ve won a fortune? How about a text message offering you an amazing business opportunity? Or a contact request from your perfect love? These are just a few of the ways Internet con artists establish relationships with their victims. If you respond, you' ll soon be asked for money and/ or information. A bank account number, password, or email address is all the skilled con artist needs to go to work.

Many online crimes rely on identity theft. This means stealing someone's name, identification number, address, or other personal details. Once a con artist has such information, he can commit identity fraud. This means using someone else's identity for criminal purposes. The victim may suffer directly, say, by having his credit card number used to make fraudulent purchases. With the explosion of social media, one person's information can give criminals access to many other people's details. The more you put online, the greater the danger.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Today's William Thompson use all sorts of disguise and stories to gain people's confidence. It's up to all of us to have the good sense not to give it to them.