Every year, millions of dollars are lost and countless individuals fall victim to online scams.

It's not just money vanishing; it's dreams shattered, hard-earned savings stolen, hopes crushed and basic needs torn away.

While many dismiss alarming messages, ranging from promised package deliveries to large charges from Amazon, as attempts at fraud, over 2.4 million people reported being a victim of fraud in the past year, including one retired Foley couple.

"I got an email from my neighbor; his name was Mark. He told me he broke his hip, and he was in the hospital," the husband said . "He said 'I promised my granddaughter that I would get her some gift cards for her birthday, which is today. Would you mind going out and buying $200 worth of gift cards?'"

Upon purchasing $200 in gift cards, the Foley couple was instructed to email a photo of the gift cards to who they thought was their neighbor.

"The next morning, I walk outside and who do you think was pulling weeds out of his flower bed? It was Mark," the husband said. "I said, 'Wow Mark, you must have healed pretty fast. He was confused and I told him, 'You said you had fallen and broken your hip,' but Mark told me it was not him."

This instance is just one of thousands of people who get scammed due to phishing.

Phishing, the practice of sending fraudulent messages to individuals with the aim of committing fraud, remains a pervasive threat. According to reports from 2023, Alabama ranked ninth in the nation for fraud reports, with losses totaling over $1 million. Baldwin County alone experienced a loss of nearly $96,000 due to scams and fraudulent activity. One Alabamian lost a total of $81,000. Not only are individuals losing money, but some are losing life savings, retirement and even their life.

According to the Better Business Bureau, the top three scams in Baldwin County include online purchasing, phishing and employment scams.

Phishing, a fraudulent operation where an online user is tricked into revealing personal or confidential information that can be used for fraudulent purposes, usually comes in the form of an email, text, call or direct message on a social media platform.

Some messages may say things such as "Your order has been processed for X amount of money," "Congratulations! You have won $1 million" or "Your USPS package is on the way," and some messages can come from someone impersonating a close family or friend.

"Anyone can be a victim," said Capt. Andre Reid at the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. "It is important to be aware and that is the biggest thing."
Reid noted that scammers will try to catch their victim off-guard before stealing what could be their last few dollars.

"Being aware reduces the number of victims we have," he said. "It is when people catch us off guard that sometimes we are more vulnerable, and you end up getting victimized."

When you find yourself receiving a message like these, the best thing to do is ignore them. However, if you find yourself questioning the legitimacy of them, call your close friend or family to confirm whether they messaged you or not, or simply research the website the message appears on.

Online Shopping

The popularity of online shopping has surged as people appreciate the ease of ordering items with a simple click.

However, amid this convenience, it's crucial to exercise caution about the websites you utilize.

During COVID-19 pandemic, the Foley couple reported they noticed an advertisement on the Facebook Marketplace promoting a vacation in Savannah, Georgia.

"The link said, 'book now' and you had two years to go to Savannah," the husband said. "It was like five nights or four nights for $270 pay in advance. The website said they would send you a certificate and then when you're ready to go this thing won't expire for three more years. Give us a call and we'll book. I thought, 'you know what, we're retired, we have money, we like to travel,' so I bought it."

Upon trying to redeem the certificate for their vacation, the couple noticed they were having issues logging onto the web page. They found that the company that was advertising the vacation had gone missing and no longer existed.

"There was an article on them that they had been missing in action," he said. "Their phones were disconnected, and whoever did this set it up as a scam and took everyone's money."

During a scam prevention seminar at the James P. Nix Senior Center in Fairhope, Better Business Bureau Educational Foundation Vice President Monde Donaldson said ads are not always your friends.

"Be careful about purchasing sought after products and do your research," Donaldson said. "Use secure transactions and be sure that you use your credit card instead of your debit card."

When searching Google for a certain business or item, the top websites will say "sponsored." Be sure to research this page to ensure it is trustworthy and look for the "HTTPS" in the URL. The extra s stands for secure and there will be a small lock icon on the address bar.

Because the state of Alabama is ranked ninth out of 50 states for highest scam rate, state Rep. Donna Givens, R-Loxley, said she has had close friends who have had their entire bank account wiped out, leaving their children to take care of them.

Since Givens understands the effects that a scam can have on a victim, working with the law and helping these victims is something she would like to do.

"I would love to work on this, but I have got to figure out how to do it and it what would look like," Givens said. "People need to be educated. If you are a victim of a scam, do not be embarrassed. Share with other people so they can learn from this unfortunate event."

Romance Scams

Just like other scams, romance scams will try to steal your information.
The scammers' goal is to catch their victims off guard and manipulate their emotions by making them feel a sense of love, hope and even excitement.
A scammer will create a fake profile on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even dating websites and pretend to be someone they are not.

It is important to notice red flags such as promising to meet you without an effort to do so, excuses as to why they cannot video chat or call on the phone, moves the conversation from the dating site to another platform, shares a hard luck story and asks for money to help their hard situation or crisis.

"These scammers are doing as much research as anyone else and we need to do our part as citizens to do our research when someone contacts us by phone or over social media," Reid said. "No matter how professional it might seem, just be careful."

During a scam prevention seminar in Fairhope, Nick Vonderau, education and public affairs manager for the Alabama Securities Commission, said scammers will try to manipulate their victim's emotions.

"The fraudsters will either make you angry, afraid, excited, feel loved or have a sense of hope," Vonderau said. "They are really good at manipulating our emotions to get us to act without thinking."

Though the Foley couple experienced financial loss, they emphasize the importance of raising awareness about scams to prevent others from falling victim.

"We are just very cautious, and that is just the way it goes," the husband said. "It is a big world out there, and you just have to protect yourself."