Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – May 11, 2023 – Major Healthcare Data Breach
NextGen healthcare, an electronic health record software company recently notified a million patients that their personal data had been stolen in a major data breach that apparently occurred between March 29th and April 14th of this year.. This particular data breach is extremely serious because the information stolen included names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and home addresses.
A letter was sent to all of the affected people recently informing them of the data breach and offering free credit monitoring for two years.
As I have reminded you many times, we are only as safe and secure as the security of the companies, government agencies and websites that have our personal information. Even if you are extremely diligent in protecting your personal information, you can be in danger of identity theft and scams if your personal information falls into the hands of hackers.
So what can you do to protect yourself from these data breaches that will be occurring?
TIPS
One important lesson is to limit the amount of personal information that you provide to companies and websites whenever possible. For example, your doctor doesn’t need your Social Security number for his or her records. This is particularly significant because health care providers are the biggest targets for data breaches.
You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger. If your information is compromised in a data breach, you should immediately change the password for that account.
If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of you accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
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Scam of the day – May 10, 2023 – Walmart Gift Card Refunds to Scam Victims
Scammers are big fans of gift cards because they are easy to purchase, easy to send to the scammer and impossible to trace to the scammer. It is not even necessary for the scammer to be in possession of the actual gift card to use it. Sending the gift card numbers or taking a picture on your phone and transmitting it to the scammer is sufficient for the scammer to use the gift card to buy things that can then be sold and converted into cash.
In many instances the scams involved scammers posing as large companies or government agencies such as the IRS demanding payments. It is important to remember that no legitimate company and no government agency asks for or accepts gift cards as a payment method so anytime you are asked for a payment by gift card, you can be confident it is a scam.
Large retailers such as Walmart and Target are the most common places where scammers send their victims to purchase gift cards to provide to the scammers. In 2016 Walmart began tracking the gift card balances from outside the country and developed a system to recognize fraudulent patterns involving these gift cards. Using this technology Walmart identified and froze gift card funds that would have been sent to scammers. However, Walmart did not refund the cost of the gift cards to the targeted victims of the scams. Consequently the Department of Justice filed a legal action to get those frozen gift card funds returned to the potential scam victims who purchased them. This legal action has now been settled and Walmart is returning the frozen $3,958,060.84 to their customers who purchased the gift cards with those funds. People who bought Walmart gift cards between April 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017 that were identified as going to scammers and were frozen can now apply to get their money refunded. If this applies to you, here is a link you can use to apply for your refund. https://kccsecure.com/walmartgiftcardremission/Claimant The deadline for applying for a refund is July 14, 2023.
TIPS
Gift cards are a favorite method of payment for scammers because the payments are completely anonymous and unlike credit cards where a fraudulent payment can be reversed, once a scammer obtains the numbers of a gift card, the money is gone.
Often the scammers, many of whom are perpetrating the scheme from overseas pose as the IRS, the FBI or some other government agency and pressure their victims into paying them for some non-existent debt by way of a gift card. It is important to remember that no governmental agency ever demands or accepts payment by way of gift cards.
You also should remember that even if your Caller ID indicates that the call is from the IRS or some other governmental agency, scammers using a technique called “spoofing” can manipulate your Caller ID to make it appear that the call is legitimate when it is not.
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Scam of the day – May 9, 2023 – Scams Using Car Photos
After more than ten years, it is rare that I come upon a new scam, but today is one of those days. Recently in San Diego it has been reported that scammers are taking photos of cars and then posting them on social media indicating that the car has been stolen and that a thousand dollar reward is being offered for information about the whereabouts of the car. When people respond to the social media post with information about the “stolen” car, they are then instructed to provide their bank account number and bank routing number in order to have the reward sent to their bank account.
Unfortunately, once the scammer has your bank account number and the routing number for your bank which is used for wire transfers, they are able to use that information to make purchases where money is wired from your account and the goods purchased are sent to the scammer who then can sell the goods thereby laundering the proceeds of the scam. Some scammers will even use your banking information to set up recurring payments such as for utilities.
TIPS
Never give your bank account information to anyone or any company that you have not thoroughly researched to make sure that they are legitimate. In fact, if you are a bit paranoid, like me (remembering even paranoids have enemies) you can avoid the problem altogether by not providing your bank account information to anyone and have payments sent to you by a check.
If, however, you do become a victim of this type of scam where a scammer has your bank account information, freeze your accounts immediately and notify the police and the fraud department of your bank. Change your online banking password and make sure you are using dual factor authentication as well.
The good news is that for this type of wiring of funds fraud, you are not liable for the money withdrawn from your account if you notify the bank within 60 days of when you receive your monthly statement. Frankly you should notify your bank within 60 seconds of receiving your monthly statement indicating the crime. Banks are required to investigate the crime promptly and replace the money into your account within one business day of determining that the loss of funds from your account was fraudulent.
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Scam of the day – May 8, 2023 – “Smishing” Getting Worse
Although the name may not be as familiar as “phishing” which is the name for emails that lure you into clicking on malware infected links or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft, “smishing” is the name given to text messages that lure you into clicking on links or providing personal information in response to a text message from what appears to be a trusted source, such as a company with which you do business.
Smishing scams have increased in frequency over the last year. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 21% of fraud reports dealt with smishing. Many smishing text messages appearing to come from Amazon, USPS, Federal Express, Cash App, Netflix and others. Like phishing emails, the purpose of a smishing text message is to either lure you into providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft or to click on a link in the text message that will download dangerous malware.
TIPS
Among the topics of smishing text messages are free prizes, gift cards or coupons, credit card offers, student loan assistance, suspicious activity on an account of yours, or a need to update your payment information with a company with which you do business. Smishing emails that appear to come from your bank are also quite common.
As I always say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” You can never be truly sure when you receive a text message seeking personal information such as your credit card number whether or not the email is a scam. The risk of clicking on a link or providing the requested information is just too high. Instead, if you think that the text message might be legitimate, you should contact the company at a telephone number that you know is legitimate and find out whether or not the text message was a scam.
As for Netflix, which has been used as a hook in many recent smishing scams, the real Netflix will never ask in an email or text message for any of your personal information so anytime you get an email or text message purportedly from Netflix asking for your credit card number, Social Security number or any other personal information, it is a scam. Here is a link to Netflix’s security page for information about staying secure in regard to your Netflix account. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13243
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Scam of the day – May 7, 2023 – Mystery Shopper Scam Continues to Claim Victims
I have written many times over the last ten years about the mystery shopper scam because it continues to ensnare unwary victims. These scams continue to be effective and are increasing in number so it is important to remind you about them again. Mystery shoppers are people hired to shop at a particular store and report on the shopping experience for purposes of quality control. Unlike many scams, there actually are legitimate mystery shopper companies, but they never advertise or recruit through emails, text messages or letters.
The manner in which the scam generally works is that when you answer an advertisement, or respond to a letter, email or a text message to become a mystery shopper, you are sent a bank check. You deposit the check into your own account and spend some of the money on the goods that you purchase which you are allowed to keep and also are directed to keep some of the balance of the check as payment for your services. You are instructed to return the remaining funds by a wire transfer.
In a Walmart themed mystery shopper scam, the targeted victim was sent a legitimate appearing, but counterfeit check for $2,940 and told to keep $540 as payment and then go to the nearest Walmart and use the remainder of the check to buy six $400 Kroger gift cards and provide the numbers to the scammer. The scam victim was then told to keep the gift cards for their next assignment although there never is another assignment and the scammers use the numbers on the Kroger gift cards to make purchases, making the actual cards worthless. The victim of the scam loses the $2,400 used to purchase the gift cards from the victim’s own bank account when the check bounces.
TIPS
One reason why this scam fools so many people is that there really are mystery shopping jobs although the actual number is quite few and the companies that do mystery shopping do not go looking for you. A firm indication that you are involved with a scam is when you receive a check for more than what is owed you and you are asked to wire the difference back to the sender. This is the basis of many scams. Whenever you receive a check, wait for your bank to tell you that the check has fully cleared before you consider the funds as actually being in your account. Don’t rely on provisional credit which is given after a few days, but which will be rescinded once a check bounces and never accept a check for more than what is owed with the intention to send back the rest. That is always a scam. Also be wary whenever you are asked to wire funds or send gift cards because this is a common theme in many scams because it is difficult to trace and impossible to stop. Legitimate companies do not use gift cards as payments.
For more information about legitimate mystery shoppers, you can go to the website of the Mystery Shopping Professional Association https://www.mspa-americas.org/scam-alerts/
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Scam of the day – May 6, 2023 – Phony Hotel Website Scam
Booking a hotel room online for a vacation can be an easy and economical way to find a room. It can also be an easy way to be scammed. According to recent figures from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, consumers were duped into making reservations at hotel websites they thought were those of particular hotels, but actually were websites set up by scammers who victimized 15 million people last year using this scam at a cost of 1.3 billion dollars to the victims.
Merely because a website comes up high in a Google search does not mean that it is legitimate. It only means that the scammer knows how to manipulate the algorithms used by Google to get a good position in an online search. Sometimes the scam website uses the logos of well-known hotel chains although they are not connected to the hotel chain. Counterfeiting a hotel logo is simple for a scammer to do.
When you make a reservation with these scam websites, you run the risk of one of two problems. The first is that you will end up paying more than you would have at the legitimate hotel website because of hidden charges or second and worst, you may not get anything and end up having your credit card number stolen.
TIPS
So how do you recognize a phony hotel website? Go to the website https://www.whois.com/whois/ where you can input the exact URL of the website that purports to be the official hotel website and you can find out who actually owns the website.
It is also important to remember not to use your debit card for a reservation. Using a credit card will make it easier for you to dispute any charges with which you disagree as well as have any fraudulent charges removed. With a debit card, you do not get the same level of protection if you are scammed and your entire bank account tied to your debit card could be jeopardized. Finally, make sure whenever you transmit personal information such as a credit card number online that the URL is preceded by “https” rather than just “http.” The “s” means that your data is being protected by encryption while being transmitted.
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Scam of the day – May 5, 2023 – Protecting Your Electronic Devices While Traveling
Summer vacation time will soon be with us and many people will be traveling, however, since few of us totally disconnect from the digital world, many of us will be traveling with our cell phones, tablets and laptops. Today, I will tell you about some steps you should be taking to protect your security on your electronic devices while traveling. Using public WiFi in coffee shops, airports, hotels and other places while on vacation poses a particularly significant problem. Whenever you use public WiFi, there are two concerns. First, you can’t be sure that you are actually using the public WiFi and not a phony WifFi readily set up by a hacker sitting near you who is stealing your information and second, someone may be able to hack into your device while you are on the legitimate public WiFi.
Additionally, if your phone, tablet or laptop is stolen, the data on your device can potentially be accessed and used to make you a victim of identity theft, therefore you should make sure that the entire storage unit in your device is encrypted. Devices that have been updated with the latest versions of Android are encrypted by default. Microsoft provides encryption for Window’s products. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-on-device-encryption-0c453637-bc88-5f74-5105-741561aae838#:~:text=Or%2C%20select%20Start%20%3E%20Settings%20%3E,and%20then%20follow%20the%20instructions.
Macs can be protected through FileVault with a password. Here is a link to help you use Apple’s FileVault. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204837
TIPS
Whatever electronic device you are using to connect to a WiFi network, whether it is a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone should be equipped with up to date security software. Also use dual factor authentication whenever possible. Switch off your WiFi and Bluetooth connections when you are not using them. In addition, you should have encryption software so that your communications are encoded. You also should go to your settings and turn off sharing. Also make sure that your firewall is current and turned on. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you should consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which enables you to send your communications through a separate and secure private network even while you are on a public network. Here is a link to an article that lists ten good VPNs that you can get for free. https://www.techradar.com/vpn/best-free-vpn
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Scam of the day – May 4, 2023 – Danger of E-Skimming
Regular readers of Scamicide are certainly familiar with skimmers which are devices installed on ATMs and credit and debit card processors that steal information from credit and debit cards thereby enabling criminals to use that information to make charges on those cards. The increased use in recent years of cards with chip technology has dramatically decreased the amount of fraudulent purchases made through stolen credit and debit card information because the chip card creates a new authorization number each time the card is used thereby negating the value of skimming a credit card with a computer chip.
Chip card technology, however, offers no protection when credit and debit cards are used for online purchases. The FBI has warned about what it calls E-Skimming which occurs when criminals infect the websites of businesses and government agencies with malware that allows the criminal to steal credit card and debit card information and then use it to make charges using the victim’s credit card or debit card.
TIPS
There are many steps that businesses and government agencies should take to protect their sites from this type of crime. They should update their security software with the most recent security updates; change default login credentials on their systems; segment their network systems to limit access by criminals and educate their employees to the dangers of phishing and spear phishing emails because it is through these phishing and spear phishing emails that most malware is delivered. A good rule for us all to follow is to never click on links in emails unless you have absolutely confirmed that the email is legitimate.
What, can we as consumers do, however, to protect ourselves from becoming a victim of E-Skimming?
First and foremost, while it may be more convenient to leave your credit card on file with an online retailer you regularly use, this is not a good thing to do because it leaves you more vulnerable to having your credit card data stolen in the event of a data breach and as we all know, data breaches are and will continue to be very common.
Consumers should refrain from using their debit cards for anything other than as an ATM card. Use a credit card for all of your card purchases to achieve greater consumer protection. The holder of a credit card used for fraudulent purposes cannot be assessed more than $50 for such use and most credit card companies charge nothing. However, the potential liability of a person whose debit card has been compromised can reach his or her entire bank account tied to the card if the card owner does not report the crime promptly and even if the card owner does report the theft promptly, the debit card owner’s access to his or her own bank account is frozen while the bank investigates the crime.
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Scam of the day – May 3, 2023 – The Danger of Facebook Farming
Many of you may not be familiar with the term “Facebook farming”, but we have all seen Facebook postings urging us to click that we “like” them. Sometimes it is an emotional appeal to show support for a sick child. Sometimes it is to show support for a political message. Often what appears to be a familiar company promises a chance at a substantial prize merely for liking or sharing a post.
While some of the postings described above urging people to click on links or share the posting are legitimate, unfortunately often they are not. Often they are done to take advantage of Facebook’s algorithms that value the popularity measured by likes and shares which causes the posts to appear on the Facebook pages of more people. Although the original content liked or shared may appear sincere or entertaining, the scammers who use this technique, which is called “farming,” then are able to change the content of the post to something entirely different from what was originally shared or liked. This is done for purposes of sending advertising or gathering marketing information, but, at its worst, it also can be used to send malware infected content such as keystroke logging malware that can steal personal information from your computer and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.
TIPS
So what should you do?
Posts that promise some sort of prize for sharing or liking their post are most likely scams. If you think that the posting of a company offering a contest might be legitimate, you should go to the company’s website to find out if indeed it is legitimate or not.
As for the other farming scams, you may wish to be a bit skeptical before automatically sharing or liking a post. You may wish to even do a little research yourself to find out if the posting is legitimate. A 2007 photo of a seven year old Pennsylvania girl with Stage IV cancer posing in her cheerleading uniform has been used numerous times for Facebook farming. Today that girl is a cancer free young woman whose family is understandably outraged that their daughter’s photograph has been abused by scammers through Facebook farming.
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Scam of the day – May 2, 2023 – Watch Our for Delivery Scams
Delivery scams have been with us for a long time, however, the pandemic brought a tremendous increase of deliveries by UPS, Federal Express, Amazon of online purchases and this increase continues even as the pandemic wanes. with many of us still finding the convenience of online shopping very attractive. Scammers are always taking advantage of whatever is popular with people so it is not surprising that there are many scams related to deliveries following online purchases.
Many people are reporting receiving text messages that appear to come from UPS or Federal Express indicating that it is necessary for you to update your delivery preferences. In order to do so you are asked to click on a link and provide personal information. Unfortunately, if you click on the link one of two things will happen. Either you will be taken to a page where you provide your personal information to a criminal who will use the information to make you a victim of identity theft or you will download dangerous malware, such as ransomware, merely by clicking on the link.
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