How wedding scammers turn a holiday into a nightmare: popular fraud patterns
'25.05.2020'
Source: ITRC
In the process of planning a wedding, you have to deal with the preparation of a wide variety of things and events - from dress to travel - many of which can become "bells" for scammers. ITRC tells how wedding scams can turn your dream day into a nightmare, and how to avoid it.
Say yes to the holiday and no to scammers
Wedding dresses that look different from the internet and photographers who get prepaid and don't show up for a party are just the tip of the huge iceberg of wedding scams. Some fiancée scams can lead to identity theft, Internet account hijacking, and even home invasion. Here are just a few of the most common scams possible.
Statuses in social networks
Your engagement means you will be planning a wedding, booking everything for your honeymoon, and perhaps looking for a new place to live. It may even mean that expensive gifts will arrive at your home. Social networks are great for informing your friends and family about your wedding preparations, but they may also have some pitfalls.
If you are going to post your status updates in “for all” mode, you must be attentive to overly tempting offers and advertisements. The scammers may also be interested in the fact that you changed your maiden name to your last name after the wedding in your profile.
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Honeymoon
Regardless of whether you go on a long trip or on a modest vacation for the weekend, your honeymoon should not be destroyed by scammers. There are many ways someone can use your finances and personal data: fake hotel and flight offers, fake bookings, stealing your credit card information, bookings with fictitious hidden payments, and so on.
To avoid this trap, use only reputable sites that you can trust your personal information in and carefully check the payment accounts you used for signs of fraud. Remember, this does not only apply to pre-wedding planning. Keep track of your data and bills during the weeks and months after your trip to make sure everything is in order.
Gift List
If you accept gifts from your friends and family, the list of gifts can significantly help not only them, but also you. The list provides a wide range of prices to choose from and helps to make the present truly necessary and useful. But nobody needs identity theft.
Creating an account in a reputable online store with a proven security history gives you confidence when making online purchases. You will also be more likely to get a tracking number, as well as customer protection.
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Credit reports, social security cards and more
The wedding is inevitably associated with official documents. Some brides decide to change their last name, which means applying for a new driver’s license, social security cards, credit cards, insurance papers and much more. Newlyweds may need to change the form of tax withholding, wills, insurance documents, agreements on payment of utilities, leases and the like.
All this is an abundance of paper documents with your personal data that can be stolen, copied or forged. How to be? It is imperative that the newlyweds keep all their important documents in a safe place and completely destroy those that need to be recycled and replaced (without having to keep the previous forms). Maybe add a shredder to your wedding gift registry!
