It's Saturday afternoon. After putting in a full week on the job, you now have the delightful task of refilling the family larder. Clutching your fistful of coupons, you are braving your way towards the checkout counter.
You've just spent the last hour scratching and fighting your way through the crowds in the grocery store. Your 18 month old daughter is tired of sitting in the passenger seat and is expressing her unhappiness to anyone within earshot while your 4 year old son is tossing fists full of candy bars into the cart.
You're almost down to the wire. You've stacked your mounds of treasure on the moving counter and eased your way toward that tiny little shelf that's supposed to accommodate your purse and anything else you have in your hands. You manage to work your debit card out of that slot in your wallet that they always make too small and run it through the slide.
Foot tapping, both kids are now screaming at the top of their lungs when the clerk says, "sorry it's declined." What? Can't be, you just deposited your paycheck yesterday. Oh well, it probably hasn't posted yet, right?
Pulling out your number one credit card you slide it through with a flourish. Uh, oh! "Sorry, that's declined too," says the clerk with an impatient shrug of her shoulders. Well, this is just ridiculous. Fishing through your purse for a pen, you pull out the checkbook and scribble out a check with handwriting that would make any doctor proud!
By this time, the clerk just rolls her eyes and says, "Nope!" Scraping the bottom of your purse you manage to pull together enough cash to pay for half your order.
By now you are thoroughly embarrassed and feel the angry line behind you boring holes through your back. Chastened you manage to get the kids and groceries out of the store.
What just happened? Someone has gotten ahold of your financial information and literally cleaned you out. Emptied your checking account and probably maxed out your credit card as well.
If you think this could never happen to you, think again. It happens every day all around the world. The only thing you can do is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Scams abound, both online and offline. If you aren't doing everything you need to do to protect yourself, it's only a matter of time.
The different types of fraud and scams just lying wait to snatch your cash number in the hundreds. You need to take control. Knowledge is your most valuable tool to combat this growing problem.
Scams Exposed by Elliott Wright is your best defense. He lays it right out for you. What to expect, how to identify it and what to do about it.
Discover some of the scams that have been around since the Middle Ages, like The Feline Pig!
He reveals how unscrupulous con artists take advantage of your charitable nature.
Learn from his in-depth examination of the classics, like:
- The Ponzi
- The Big Store
- Money Laundering
Study what you need to learn about identity theft and the current one "phishing," which is what happened in our scenario above.
Don't waste another minute. The next scheme is just lying in wait for you right around the corner. Knowledge IS power. Take control. You've been warned!
