Behind the Fake Profiles

The Trial Shift Scam

A group of young jobseekers are gathered outside a dental surgery in West London, nervously waiting for a trial shift for the job they've just applied for. But as time ticks on, they realise there is no shift. In fact there is no job. But it gets much worse - their identities have all been stolen. Shari Vahl and the Scam Secrets team hear from one of those people, Joe. For him, the real impact of what the criminals had done only hit home several months later. What started as a plausible looking job posting on a big recruitment site, from a business that checked out, ended with him trying to extract himself from thousands of pounds' worth of loans and the lingering fear of what the criminals would do next. It's a growing scam aimed at anyone browsing online recruitment sites. Would you spot the red flags? Remember you can get in touch with the Scam Secrets team: scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY

The Customer Service Returns Scam

If you buy from a website that turns out to be fake and run by criminals, your first thought is probably about the money you've parted with. But that's not all they're after. Because you're also handing over personal data that can be far more lucrative than whatever you paid for the rubbish clothes that you're left with. In this episode, Shari Vahl, Dr Lis Carter and Alex Wood revisit the Great Knitted Cardigan Scam to find out what happens to the information victims enter into these sites. Email address, phone number, bank details...Shari calls it identity bingo. She's uncovered an audacious technique where victims' details are used as returns addresses to make these bogus sites look legitimate. And it doesn't stop there - cyber security expert Matthew Gracey-McMinn reveals how our data changes hands on the dark web and some of the other uses criminals make of it. Remember you can contact the Scam Secrets team and tell us the scams you want to see investigated - scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY

The Podcast Scam

You've been invited onto a well-known podcast (not this one). They'll even pay you to take part. Would you know what to do? Shari Vahl, Alex Wood and Dr Lis Carter unravel an elaborate scam that's aimed at people and organisations with a big social following. They hear from a dog groomer who was tricked into handing over her Facebook account by an extremely convincing-sounding invitation to appear on a US podcast. The same trick has been used on other charities and influencers and it's made even harder to spot because the podcast does exist. So how are you supposed to check? And crucially, what are the criminals really after? PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY

The Booking.com Scam

You've booked a holiday and the hotel gets in touch to ask for a payment to confirm your booking. They know your name and they've got all the details of your reservation. Would you know what to do? In this episode, people using booking.com are targeted by a hard-to-spot scam where official-looking messages arrive, asking for payment. Needless to say, that payment doesn't go to the hotel. But how do the criminals do it? And what chance do you have of spotting it? Shari Vahl, Dr Lis Carter and Alex Wood find out, with the help of cyber crime expert Rafe Pilling. Remember you can contact the programme at scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk. PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY

Behind the Fake Profiles

Whether we're chatting, texting, buying or dating, the tech services we all use are being abused by criminals to worm their way into our lives. So what are these huge businesses doing to keep us safe? In this episode of Scam Secrets recorded at the United Nations Global Fraud Summit in Vienna, some of the biggest names in consumer tech chat to Shari Vahl, Dr Lis Carter and Alex Wood about the threats they're facing. Red flags at the ready, we ask Amazon what the world's biggest online marketplace is doing to protect users. Match Group, owner of Tinder, Hinge and a host of other well-known dating sites tells us it's trying to weed out fake profiles. And Virgin Media/O2 lifts the lid on how those Winter Fuel Allowance texts arrive on your phone. PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY