Just lately, I’ve had a number of emails telling me things like:
“My email was hacked, so here is my new address.”
“My credit card info was stolen, so I have to change my donation method.”
“Someone I know got scammed.”
It seems to that it is growing worse.
Personally, I had a probable scammer buzzing my phone tonight.
I get phishing texts about topics like “a package couldn’t be delivered” or “where are you, you said you would be here” or something designed to get you to interact with the sender. I get emails which look really suspicious so I check the sender addresses or URLs carefully. I virtually NEVER open anything or click on anything without doing some extra checking.
There are emails from a anti-virus software firm which look like you’ve been charged, others want you to put remote control software on your computer and then they emulate your bank account and fake adding or subtracting money to lure you into their trap, some scammers want you to send gift cards, some pretend to be possible romantic connections, some want you to send cash to be picked up by a mule, they go on and on and on. On the rise are cryptocurrency scams.
There are scammers who pretend to be guys who fight against scammers to help you to get your stolen money back!
I use VPNs, virus checking, and a malware sweeper.
I also saw recently a video about methods to steal passwords via wifi. Scary stuff. If you are in a public place and want to use the available “free” wifi … hooboy!… you don’t know who else may be there waiting for you.
As a public service post, we might have some discussion here and some tips.
Phone and wifi security.
Password security.
Identity theft issues.
Pentesting and cyber security and vulnerability detection.
I will also throw into the pot, a reminder about …
FEDERATED COMPUTER replaces expensive “software as a service”, your data is yours and it isn’t being mined by AI. Old post about Federated HERE
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The one scam I was seeing a lot until recently was the “you have an unpaid toll in Florida” scam. I actually fell for it a while back since I had actually been in Florida so thought it might be legit.
I have a VPN running and also subscribed to Incogni which removes you from various sites which has reduced the amount of garbage that I get.
Even if a legitimate email or text comes my way about something official, I won’t click any links within them. I go to the official website which I’m already familiar with, and then check my balance/inquiry/etc. from there.
I’ve already had a couple cases where I’ve received a message about owing a balance, gone and checked the official site, only to see I didn’t actually have a balance, then noticed a warning that there was a current ongoing scam to be aware of.
As I tell my hubby and my elderly friends, do not answer phone calls from people or phone numbers you do not recognize. If it is legit, the caller will leave a message. Add your doctors’ numbers to your contacts.
Also check the phone number of texts you receive. Yesterday I received a text from the local police stating that a warrant had been issued for my arrest for an unpaid speeding ticket. I could click on the contained link to settle my account. Phone number was from country code +66. Hubby wanted me to click to see what it said. I reported and deleted it before he had a chance to do it. You don’t want to peek.
Our neighbor just lost everything to scammers. He received an official looking government letter in the mail a couple of days ago, saying he was guilty of money laundering. Of course he wasn’t so called the number and was told he must have been scammed. They would help him and deal with the problem. They just needed his SS and bank account numbers to straighten things out for him. When he checked his bank account yesterday, it was empty. He told us he was so scared that he didn’t think about contacting the police or an attorney beforehand.