Q4 2022 Mission Update: Price
Our average price changed from 0.64% to 0.66% in Q4. Overall, this quarter we 🥳Decreased fees on sending money to Brazil and Mexico, 🥳Removed fees for when...
At Wise, one of our top priorities is to protect our customers and keep their money safe. Our dedicated financial crime team deters, prevents, detects and protects our system from being used by criminals.
We’re passionate about fighting crime and catching the baddies, but there are some important things you can do to keep yourself safe and avoid falling victim to a scam.
A scam is an illegal way to make money, often by using trickery. Below are some of the most common scams that you should be aware of and a few tips on how you can protect yourself from becoming a victim. As a rule of thumb: when a deal is too good to be true, it usually is…
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Investment scams come in many forms. The common theme among them is that you are required to put some money in a venture that will often yield a very high rate of return. Too high, in fact. This can seem enticing but is often unrealistic and higher than any rate offered by legitimate companies. Investment scams can occur over a short or a long period of time. Scammers will often try to convince you of the legitimacy of the investment by offering dividends or “cash backs” before convincing you to invest some more money.
Before you entrust your money to that polite person on the phone or put your details on that very sleek website, take some time to look it over. That glossy leaflet that came through your letter box, or that smartly dressed person at your door might be promising the golden goose by asking you to invest in some rare, vintage wines or in a company that is soon going public, or in something else that will make you a bit more wealthy. Nevertheless, be diligent, this might just be a scheme to take your hard earned money.
If you are thinking about making an investment, consider the following:
Love makes the world go round. Unfortunately, people can exploit your good nature. Romance scams involve someone feigning their feelings and using your goodwill to commit fraud.
Romance scammers commonly create fake profiles on social media, online dating sites and contact their victims via these platforms. They will develop a relationship with their targets, building trust and expressing strong emotions over a relatively short period of time. Scammers can go to great lengths to gain interest or trust - this can be emotional manipulation, sharing of ‘personal information’, or even sending gifts. In reality, this serves not only to gain trust but also to encourage victims to share their own personal information - and make it easier for the scammer to steal their identity.
In most cases, a scammer will eventually ask - outright or subtly - for money. They might ask you to send money directly to them, or for your bank or credit card details. It could be for anything, from a plane ticket to visit you to an urgent medical emergency.
If you are thinking of sending money or sharing your financial details with someone you have known for a very short time but love very much, here are a few things you can do just to make sure the glass slipper fits:
Never send money to someone you haven’t met in person
Pay attention to spelling and grammar mistakes and look out for inconsistencies in their stories
Be careful when sharing personal information or pictures and videos with prospective partners - romance scammers have been known to attempt to blackmail their victims
We all love a good holiday. Unfortunately, this has created an opportunity for holiday rental scams. Rental scams involve the booking of villas or apartments that don’t exist. Rental scams can take different forms. It might be that a legitimate accommodation owner has been hacked by fraudsters, or it might be a fake advert listed on a popular holiday rental app or website, or where a fake holiday accommodation website is established using photos/details from legitimate websites.
While they can be difficult to spot, there are a number of ways to protect yourself from falling victim to a rental scam. So before you send that money and pack those bags:
If you are unfortunate enough to have encountered a scammer or believe that you have unwittingly become a victim of a scam, where you may have paid with Wise:
Want to help us win the fight against the bad guys? See all our current roles here.
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