these are 10 scams you should not be
falling for in 2022 from huge texting
scams to vacation rental cons i have you
covered in the first spot we have the
venmo scam then mo allows you to pay
someone or receive money in a relatively
easy way it was designed more for
splitting a lunch bill with a bunch of
friends or paying for a secondhand piece
of furniture then mo has one tiny issue
attached to it which is what created
this vulnerability when you set up your
venmo profile by default it's public and
all of your contacts the people with
whom you interact who might pay you
money or from whom you might receive
money is also visible to a scammer so
what do scammers do they replicate your
user profile they take your exact photo
they might change the letter i to the
number one or add a hyphen or some type
of punctuation so it's not your exact
name but it looks like it for when they
start to reach out to your contacts and
ask for money they might send you a
frantic plea for help or a relatively
unassuming note like hey need a hundred
dollars i'm at the store and i left my
wallet at home will pay you as soon as i
get back the quick fix other than not
falling prey to messages like that make
your venmo profile private that will
prevent both your profile and your
contacts from being visible to scammers
in the number two spot it's a wrong
number scam
and for this wrong number scam which is
making its way around the scammer will
text you from a number belonging to the
same area code as the one from which
you're located they might send you a
photo of a good-looking man or woman
saying how nice it was catching up with
you or alluding to wanting to see you
again or being from your past that
scammer is hoping you'll text back even
if it's just to say that they have the
wrong number which sparks the potential
for communication
this typical romance scam or flirty
conversation back and forth can escalate
into a catfishing scheme or push you
toward a fake dating site where they
want you to spend lots of money the goal
initially is just to get you to engage
and then after they might try and
extract some funds from you this wrong
number phishing scam is also just used
to see if you'll text back letting a
scammer know whether your number is
actually active in the event that your
personal information has been sold from
some type of database they may just be
checking to see if it's real before they
pass that number on to someone else i'll
cover a vacation rental scam and a
youtube scam in points 4 and 5 but first
for 0.3 it's a lost pet scam and this
one's quite sad scammers will look
around neighborhoods at lost pet signs
and if it wasn't already sad enough
losing a four-legged family member they
will claim they have found that dog or
cat and pressure you for money to make
the pet return they might claim that
they found your pet on the side of a
highway and that they're already in
another state with the pet because they
are a truck driver they'll claim that
they need you to transfer the money to
transport your supposed lost pet back to
them whether they need money for gas or
some other type of motel expense to
avoid falling victim for this scam
always make sure you get a callback
number and demand that they send you a
photo of your lost pet before you
exchange any money in the number four
spot it's a vacation rental scam and i'm
not trying to drop any type of panic but
i want you to be ahead of scammers
specifically when we're planning
vacations it's a happy time we're
excited and it's easy to overlook a
quick detail which is common on vrbo and
airbnb a common vacation rental scam is
the scammer will copy all of the photos
and details from a legitimate listing
and then try and get them to pay you for
the reservation on some other website or
through some other means an easy way to
stay ahead of scammers is never agree to
transact any type of payments on a
different platform where you are no
longer protected if you're on some other
type of independent website whatever you
do make sure you do not use a debit card
to hold a reservation or make a deposit
your credit card has all sorts of
protections built in in the event that
your funds are taken and the reservation
doesn't actually exist in the number 5
spot before i target a facebook and
instagram scam i want to address a
youtube scam that makes me particularly
crazy i'm so fortunate to have viewers
and subscribers of this channel sharing
input letting me feel appreciated and
interacting with me in the comments
section to know that there are people
pretending to be me or scammers
imitating one of your other favorite
youtube creators as something we can
stop right now you've probably noticed
all over youtube including right here on
my deal guy channel hundreds of scammers
will create fake profiles using my exact
photo or a photo of your other favorite
youtuber to the point where it's
difficult to see whether or not it's
actually them they'll then try and get
you to contact them on whatsapp or
telegram other than remaining vigilant
and understanding that no legitimate
creator is going to start asking you to
contact them on whatsapp or ask you for
money or tell you that you've won a
prize in the comments section it's
important to take a close look at the
youtuber's name ensure that that profile
is actually attached to the channel that
you're on but this scam still targets
the less technologically savvy youtube
viewers youtube is trying to crack down
on this but they haven't succeeded yet
and for all those of you flagging these
posts or letting other people know that
they're in fact talking to a scammer i
really appreciate you in the number six
spot facebook and instagram also have an
issue and this is tied to the look what
i found scam this happened on instagram
late last year and it's now targeting
facebook users scammers will impersonate
a friend of yours from your contact list
and then send you a message with look
what i found or a message asking hey is
that you in this photo or video usually
with some type of link so you can
supposedly view it in a split second
messages like this prey on our curiosity
or vulnerability but whatever you do do
not click that link the link usually
goes to a fake facebook login page and
once you input your facebook username
and password scammers will take over
your facebook account and use it to
target others in the number seven spot
before i exploit a scam that pertains to
anyone that's shopped at best buy it's a
text from yourself scam now when i was
in college i would have been happy to
get a text from myself i was kind of
lonely back then but a text from your
own phone number could really throw you
off these scams are often generated by
bots that will mask your phone number as
a username and it usually happens when
your phone number has been in some type
of database and sold you may receive a
text message from yourself indicating
that your bill has been paid or that
you've won a prize there'll be a link in
that text message to either send you to
another scam website or some other
portal to steal your personal
information please be aware that no
legitimate company including your
smartphone provider will generate any
type of text message from your own phone
number if you are a parent or
grandparent you're not going to want to
miss scam number 10 but first in the
number 8 spot it's a geek squad scam and
for this scam you'll receive an email
from a fictitious geek squad indicating
that geek squad or best buy has renewed
your membership for some type of service
plan often to the tune of three or four
hundred dollars the email will offer you
a phone number if you want to call to
prevent this fake plan from renewing or
our own curiosity might prompt us to
inquire since we won't recognize that
charge once you call that number you'll
be connected with a scammer who will
attempt to verify certain pieces of
information to see if it's actually you
and then try and steal your identity in
some cases the scammer will offer you a
refund for that so-called 400
transaction as long as you verify your
credit card number so they can
facilitate the refund the quick fix for
this never call any phone number that
you receive from an email or a text
message directing you to customer
service use your web browser actually
google the contact phone number for the
supposed company for the next point on
my list before i get to an irs scam it's
a zell scam and if you're unfamiliar
with zell zell is an add-on service used
by most major banks as a way to quickly
send money for this zell scam you'll
receive a text message supposedly from
your bank inquiring if you are
authorizing a transaction from zell
similar to messages you've received from
your bank in the past the text will
simply ask you to reply back with a yes
or no and in this case if you haven't
authorized something through zell you
will likely text back no
this will then alert the scammer that
your phone number is active and they'll
use your phone number to call and
pretend to be from your bank here's
where it gets even more tricky the
scammer will ask to verify your identity
and then they'll supposedly need your
banking username in most cases so they
don't raise any further red flags they
will not ask for your banking password
once the scammers obtained your username
they'll then go to the website for your
bank and click forget password that
likely will prompt a security text from
your bank for verification which will
then go to your phone the scammer who's
already on the phone with you pretending
to be from your bank will say something
along the lines of i'm sending you a
code to further verify your identity if
you give the scammer that code you are
then giving them full access to either
your zell account or even worse your
bank account the best way to stay ahead
of that scam don't accept any calls from
your bank just kindly tell the customer
service agent that you will proactively
contact the fraud department on your own
and you can easily look up that number
and call to see what's actually going on
for the next scam on my list before i
get to that irs one if you are a parent
or grandparent this is another sad one a
grandparent or a senior citizen might
receive a call from someone with a
frantic sounding voice posing as their
grandchild the voice will frantically
mention something about an accident an
arrest a robbery or even claim that he
or she is stuck in a foreign country
other than having a young sounding voice
the scammer will speak quickly there'll
be a lot of background noise and they
may even throw in some recognizable
names or family particulars which they
might have stolen from facebook or
social media the scammer will say
something like don't tell my mom or dad
i don't want them to get angry with me i
just need you to wire me some money
these frantic pleas are sometimes
conducted these days as well via social
media or text for this scam the best way
to stay ahead of it is awareness make
sure you tell a parent or grandparent
that this exists and that might help
when that frantic call or text message
comes in now i do have one more scam
which i'm classifying as a bonus and
it's an irs scam particularly timely
whenever there is a tax deadline upon us
there are countless scams making their
way across the country right now emails
threatening voicemails and even more
threatening phone calls after the filing
deadline has passed claiming you have
not filed your taxes or claiming that
you've missed a deadline or a payment
the scammers will ask for money and the
particularly idiotic scammers will ask
for gift cards which i'm still not sure
anyone falls for anymore these days but
just in case so you can stay ahead of a
scam like this or make sure anyone
vulnerable is aware the irs will never
email nor will they ever call you unless
they have first notified you of an issue
via registered mail also the irs will
never ask you for a debit or credit card
number via text message or through any
type of customer support service phone
number and there you have it that wraps
up my list please feel free to share
this with anyone else you think might be
vulnerable and in the meantime thank you
for watching i love you bye bye