5 Most Common Line App Scams that You Should Know

With technological advancement, there is a rise in chat applications in the market today. There are few chat apps that users in the United States of America (USA) are fond of. One of these chat apps is Line. 

Line is a chat app allowing users to experience free messages, video calls, and voice calls. As of 2019, there are 3.15 million Line users in the USA.

This app can be helpful, but scammers are also on the rise. Identity theft statistics show that identity fraud scams affected 42 million adults in America. 

In this article, explore the five most common scams on Line and the ways to avoid these scams to protect your online privacy. 

Top 5 Line App Scams

Scammers have a lot of ways to steal your money or sensitive information like passwords, email addresses, phone numbers, and even banking details. 

Here are the top five scams that happen on the Line app: 

Phishing Scam 

With a phishing scam, the scammer will send you a link through Line app along with excuses why you should click it. 

Once you click it, a malicious website will pop up. It will either ask for private information, install spyware on your device, or both. 

Your privacy may be vulnerable if you click the link and enter your details. 

Prize Scam

This scam is also known as the "You Won!" scam. The scammer will send you a link saying you won a lottery prize and need to claim it. 

Upon clicking the link, it will ask you to enter your details. This scam can lead to identity theft and other forms of fraud.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there are three signs of a prize scam:

• You have to send money to get your prize.
• The scammer claims that paying will increase your chances of winning. 
• You're required to give your financial information to get the prize.

These tactics will allow the scammers to get away with your money and details without actually giving you a prize. 

Romance Scam 

As its name suggests, scammers use romantic tricks to fool victims. 

You may chat with a person on the Line app. Only this person is not a real one. This scammer uses a fake profile and pretends to be a person you can trust. 

Once they gain your trust, they will ask for money for different reasons. It can be about an emergency, a relative in the hospital, and others. 

The red flags  of a romance scammer include:

• Not being able to meet you face-to-face or give you a video call.
• Bringing conversations back to money matters, no matter the topic.
• Asking you for money and telling you how to send it. 

If you don't give or stop giving the scammer money, they will stop talking to you or even block you. What this person is after is not a romantic connection but your money. 

Reimbursement Scam

A reimbursement scam starts when scammers tell you how they can help you earn money. The scammer may offer an easy money job. 

This person will then tell you you'll have to send an amount of money so you get a full payment in return. 

Scammers would often ask for your details along with the money. After you send the money, the scammer will block you and not pay you back as promised. 

Gift Card Scam

This scam happens when a scammer is pretending to be your workmate, friend, or family who uses the Line app. The scammer will trick you into sending a gift card. Scammers get away with the gift card code and block you off the app.

A Line user named Jonathan Wong received a message from a scammer using his friend's number. The message was an attempt to scam him with gift cards. 

Good thing he spotted the scam immediately and decided to engage in the conversation. The scammer got tired of chatting and didn't reply. 

Scammers will have a lot of ways to fool you so you can send your money to them. Awareness of preventing this may help you preserve your cash and protect your data.

How to Avoid Line App Scams

Knowing how to avoid these Line app scams will save you from unwanted money loss, identity theft, or spyware. A few tips to prevent this from happening to you include: 

• Not clicking malicious links.
• Not sending money or personal information to anyone in the Line app.
• Making use of two-factor authentication.
• Keep your login credentials to yourself.
• Creating strong passwords.
• Set "Reject Message' on your Line app to filter contacts.
• Block and report contacts that send malicious links or spam messages. 

If you fall victim to these scams, you can do the following: 

1. When you become a scam victim, report it to the Federal Trade Commission. 
2. Report the incident to the company that owns the Line app by clicking "Other settings" and "Report." 

When talking to a stranger on the Line app, it may help you to verify this person's identity first. You can do this by looking up his/her details online. 

Websites offering reverse search lookups, like Social Catfish, may help you. 

Social Catfish

As seen on Social Catfish's website, it directs you to its default search, "Name." From there, you can do the steps below to search for someone and verify their details. 

Step 1: Enter the name of the person you're chatting with

Step 2: Select a country where this person is claiming they are from

Step 3: Click the "Search" button

Step 4: Select an age range, or you can skip this

After this, the website will begin searching within its 200 billion records. The website will show you results such as possible people of your interest, their location, languages, gender, and phone. 

If you want more of the results, you may click "See Complete Results." The website will run more tests for in-depth data like dating profiles, dating accounts, and archived photos. 

You must sign up and enter your subscription details to access the results. 

Key Takeaways

• The top five scams on Line are Prize, Romance, Phishing, Reimbursement, and Gift Card. 

• To avoid falling victim to scammers, don't click on malicious links.

• Keep your private information away from chat app conversations.
• Report a scam to the FTC and the Line app company when it happens.

Bottom Line

The Line chat app can help communicate with friends, family, and innocent strangers. Yet, there are scams you should know to protect yourself from online tricksters. 

There are ways to avoid scams, like not sharing private information with anyone in a chat app. When you think fraud is happening, you may report it to the FTC and the company.