As long as the Internet exists, so will the people who use it maliciously to try and trick you into giving them your hard-earned dollars. Mashable recently combed through its archives to find the most common scams people have encountered in the digital world this year. Chief among them are bad actors sending fraudulent texts to motorists.
The E-ZPass scam, as people have taken to calling it, has been very popular this year. Scammers have been sending text messages claiming to be from toll collectors like E-ZPass, stating that the recipient has unpaid tolls. The messages have a very urgent tone and threaten serious consequences like having your license revoked if you don’t pay up. This is very similar to the also-popular DMV scam, which claims to be from the recipient’s state driver licensing office, threatening punishment if they don’t pay outstanding fees. State DMV offices in New York, California and Florida had to issue official warnings about these scams.
Also high on Mashable’s list were scams about job offers, particularly claiming to be from the popular job search site Indeed. Again, these are delivered through text messages, claiming the sender has a job offer for the recipient and containing a malicious link. Scammers on Facebook also took advantage of the closure of Joann Fabric, advertising fake online sales from the retailer. See the whole list from Mashable here.
