The Art of the Counterfeit: Spotting a Fake

You always have to remember, Kiran Trivedi readers that one of the biggest threats to your personal finances is when you’re tricked into buying a fake product. In order to help protect you from the risk this brings, I thought this week I’d give you a few tips on spotting a fake.

Kiran Trivedi knows it’s not rocket science. If you are tricked into buying a fake product, especially a big ticket item like a fake designer piece of clothing, then you are blowing money on something worthless, and either you’ll simply lose money on something that is not going to add any value to your life, or you’ll have to fork out more money on buying a replacement.

This is bad enough – however there is more than one way to skin a cat, and as such, more than one way to be taken in by a con. An article by the BBC brought this to my attention, as it highlighted the top five cons tricksters run on you to make you part with some serious cash.

It was certainly illuminating. According to the news source, the top five cons that can cost you the most money are the fake solicitor, fake holiday tickets, fake debt help, fake job adverts and fake alcohol.

It’s easy to see why these cons would be so effective and so detrimental to UK consumers. They are all either essential or popular products/services, and thus not only can they bring in significant amounts of people, they can part them from a lot of cash.

Counterfeit bill in the US

Kiran Trivedi’s Top Tips

So if you want to protect your personal finances, what can you do? Here are a few tips straight form the Kiran Trivedi blog:

• Use your common sense: If something feels like a con, walk away, it probably is. 
• Research: Once again, use the internet to look up who you are dealing with. Research is everything!
• Identification: If you have any doubts, check for ID or official verification if possible (this usually depends on the industry involved).
• Caution: Protect your details, don’t give them out unless sure, avoid online banking and pay in cash when possible to minimise any damage a potential scammer could do.

The reality is that it is so easy to get scammed in the modern world- it’s happened to nearly everyone at one point or another. If you want to protect your personal finances, take precautions and always remember to do your research! A great place to start is the Kiran Trivedi Blog.