Scam of the Day
Scam of the day – July 19, 2020 – Massive Credit Card Fraud Scam Stopped
The court order temporarily halts the Orlando-based operation, freezes its assets, and appoints a receiver over the businesses. In a joint complaint, the FTC and Florida Attorney General’s Office are seeking to permanently stop the conduct and secure money for consumer refunds.
“If you’re one of the many Americans now dealing with rising debt, steer clear of companies promising to reduce your credit card interest rate after you pay them,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC is proud to partner again with the Florida Attorney General to stamp out these bogus offers.”
“Consumers who find themselves living with debt can feel like they are trapped in a downward spiral, struggling to find assistance to meet their financial obligations. It is reprehensible that fraudsters would exploit the trust of individuals searching for financial stability—often leaving them in even greater debt,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said. “These telemarketing scammers hid their identities and reaped millions of dollars at the expense of vulnerable consumers. I am proud to partner with the FTC to stop this fraud, particularly during these unprecedented times of economic strain on so many consumers and legitimate business creditors.”
According to the complaint, the defendants blasted consumers with telemarketing cold calls promising to permanently and substantially reduce their credit card interest rates. After tricking consumers into believing they were affiliated with the consumer’s existing credit card companies or well-known credit card networks such as MasterCard or Visa, the defendants allegedly promised to save them thousands of dollars in credit card interest and enable them to pay off their credit card debt three to five times faster. The defendants charged upfront fees of as much as $3,995 for their bogus services, the agencies allege.
Many consumers who paid the defendants’ significant upfront fees reportedly received no permanent debt reduction and were left with more debt and worse credit. Instead of contacting the consumer’s credit card companies to negotiate permanently and substantially lower interest rates, the defendants allegedly applied for new credit cards in their names with temporarily lower “teaser” interest rates. They then executed balance transfers from the consumer’s existing cards to the new cards. These tactics not only failed to provide many consumers the savings they were promised but also often left them saddled with substantial balance transfer fees, on top of the upfront fees they paid.
In bringing the case, the agencies charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The defendants named in the complaint are GDP Network LLC; G & G Success LLC, also doing business as YF Solution LLC, QSC Professionals, and G.C.D. Management LLC; G & N Squared LLC; and Gino De Paz; Grace De Paz, and Shabana Khublal.
The FTC hopes to recover funds to return to the victims of the scam, but any refunds would be a long way off. I will keep you informed as to progress in this case.
TIPS
It is important to remember that the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rules specifically prohibit charging advance fees before providing any debt relief services. Any company that requires an advance fee before they have completed their successful debt reduction services is breaking the law. You also may want to consider avoiding scams like this by enrolling in the federal Do Not Call List so that if you are contacted by a telemarketer, you already know it would be someone who is knowingly breaking the law and cannot be trusted. Registering for the Do Not Call List is easy and free. Merely go to http://www.donotcall.gov to register your phone number.
If you need real credit counseling you can go to this section of the Department of Justice’s website where it lists agencies approved to assist consumers with debt problems. https://www.justice.gov/ust/list-credit-counseling-agencies-approved-pursuant-11-usc-111 You also may consider contacting companies that are affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at this link https://www.nfcc.org/
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 18, 2020 – FTC Sending Refunds to Victims of Debt Relief Scam
Today’s Scam of the day is a bit late because I had emergency surgery yesterday, but after not missing a single day in 3,012 days, I was not going to start now. Being in debt is a difficult situation faced by many people. Unfortunately, it can be made much worse when debtors are targeted by unscrupulous scammers posing as debt relief specialists steal from the people in debt. Recently the FTC and the Florida Attorney General settled its lawsuit against an organization called the Helping America Group that got people to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a month by falsely promising to pay, settle, or obtain dismissal of their debts and improve their credit scores. Over time, victims found their debts unpaid, their accounts in default, and their credit scores severely damaged—some were sued by their creditors, and some were forced into bankruptcy. Now the FTC is sending more than 16 million dollars to victims of the scam.
If you were a victim of this scam and need information about getting your payment from the FTC go to the FTC Refund tab in the middle of the first page of Scamicide.com
TIPS
There are many debt relief companies that may be able to help people with debt problems, however, credit counseling services may be a better and more economical choice for many people. While there are legitimate debt relief companies, there also are many scammers who will take your money and provide little, if anything, for your payment. Again, it is important to remember that it is illegal for a debt relief company to charge you a fee prior to settling your debts. If you are considering using a debt relief company, you should check with your state’s Attorney General and your state’s consumer protection agency to see if there are any consumer complaints against them. Finally, for detailed information about alternatives to consider if you are having debt problems, go to the FTC’s website at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0153-choosing-credit-counselor
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 17, 2020 – Massive Hacking of Prominent Twitter Accounts
Two days ago, Twitter accounts belonging to many prominent people including Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mike Bloomberg and many more prominent people along with company Twitter accounts of Apple, Uber, Wendy’s and more were hacked for more than two hours during which time, the hackers sent out tweets that tricked a minimum of a few hundred people into transferring Bitcoin to the hackers believing that they would receive a large Bitcoin payment in return. The phony tweet that came from Bill Gates’ Twitter account read “Everyone is asking me to give back, and now is the time. You send $1,000 and I will send you back $2,000.” This type of scam tricking people through Twitter into sending bitcoins to scammers is nothing new. I have written about this scam many times during the last few years. However, what is unique and extremely concerning about this scam is that the people whose Twitter accounts were hacked did absolutely nothing to make themselves vulnerable to such an attack.
In the past many such attacks, such as when Jennifer Lawrence had her iCloud account hacked and nude photos of her stolen from her iCloud account, have resulted because the people whose accounts were stolen did not use dual factor authentication. Most companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Tumblr, Yahoo, WhatsApp and others use dual factor authentication which most commonly works such that when your password is used to access your account, a special code is sent to your cellphone that must be used in order to complete access to the account. This provides dramatically enhanced security. Whenever you are able to use dual factor authentication for a particular website, account or app, you should take advantage of this. Some dual factor authentication protocols do not require it to be used when you are accessing the account from the computer or smartphone that you usually use, but only if the request to access the account comes from a different device.
But dual factor authentication is not perfect. Last year Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s own Twitter account was hacked. The hacker posted numerous racist tweets. It obviously is shocking when the CEO of Twitter has his account hacked. Jack Dorsey uses dual factor authentication, however, it was able to be bypassed because the hackers gained access to his account by taking over his phone through SIM card swapping. SIM card swapping is a major problem. A Subscriber Identity Module, more commonly known as a SIM card, is an integrated circuit that stores information used to authenticate subscribers on mobile devices, such as a cell phone. The SIM card can be transferred between different devices, and often is, when people update into a newer cell phone. As more and more financial transactions, such as online banking, are now done through cell phones, identity thieves with access to their victims’ SIM cards are also increasingly becoming able to intercept security codes sent by text messages for online banking as part of dual factor authentication and thereby providing the identity thief with the opportunity to empty their victims’ bank accounts and cause other financial havoc.
Porting is the name for the crime where someone convinces your phone carrier to transfer your SIM card to a phone controlled by the criminal. They often do this by answering security questions over the phone after gathering information about you. To prevent someone from stealing access to your phone through porting, you should have a PIN added to your account so that no one can call your cell phone provider posing as you and ask to have your SIM card transferred. If Jack Dorsey had done this, his account would have been secure.
Many of the Twitter accounts hacked on Wednesday used dual factor authentication, but it was able to be avoided by the hackers because it appears that through socially engineered phishing emails, the hackers had hacked the computers of employees of Twitter and were able to get direct access to the accounts of their victims bypassing the dual factor authentication. Most of the large data breaches that have occurred in recent years have been as a result of such socially engineered phishing emails and the companies we put our trust in still have often not done enough to protect us from this happening.
TIPS
We are always going to be as vulnerable as the companies and governmental agencies with the worst security that have our important data, but there are things you can do to protect yourself.
The first step to protecting your Twitter account from being hacked is to set up dual factor authentication. Here is the link to information about setting up dual factor authentication for your Twitter account. https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/two-factor-authentication
The best thing you can do to protect your SIM card from porting is to set up a PIN or password to be used for access to your mobile service provider account. This will help prevent a criminal from calling your carrier posing as you and convincing your mobile carrier to swap your SIM card to the criminal’s phone merely by providing personal identifying information or answering a security question.
AT&T will allow you to set up a passcode for your account that is different from the password that you use to log into your account online. Without this passcode, AT&T will not swap your SIM card. Here is a link with instructions as to how to set up the passcode. https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/wireless/KM1051397?gsi=9bi24i
Verizon enables customers to set up a PIN or password to be used for purposes of authentication when they contact a call center. Here is a link with information and instructions for setting up a PIN with Verizon. https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/account-pin-faqs/
T-Mobile will allow you to set up a passcode that is different from the one you use to access your account online. This new passcode is used when changes to your account are attempted to be made such as swapping a SIM card. This code will not only protect you from criminals attempting to call T-Mobile and swap your SIM card, but will also prevent someone with a fake ID from making changes to your account at a T-Mobile store. Here is a link to information and instructions for adding a new passcode to your account. https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/secure
Sprint customers can establish a PIN that must be provided when doing a SIM swap, in addition to merely answering a security question, the answer to which may be able to be learned by a clever identity thief. Here is a link to information about adding a PIN to your Sprint account. https://www.sprint.com/en/support/solutions/account-and-billing/update-your-pin-and-security-questions-on-sprint-com.html
You also may want to consider protecting your dual factor authentication from being threatened by a SIM swap by using a dual factor authentication app such as Google Authenticator which is not tied to your cell phone. Here is a link with more information about Google Authenticator. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?hl=en&ref_topic=2954345
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 16, 2020 – MGM Data Breach Bigger Than Originally Thought
Last February I told you about personal information of 10,683,188 people gathered in a data breach of MGM Resorts hotels turning up on Dark Web websites where criminals buy and sell stolen data. The data included full names, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and dates of birth of MGM Resorts customers. It did not include credit card information. MGM has resorts in the United States in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Detroit as well as resorts outside of the United States in China and Japan. Las Vegas MGM resorts include the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Mirage and Luxor hotels The data breach was discovered in the summer of 2019 by MGM, but relates to travelers who stayed at MGM hotels prior to 2018. Cybercriminals use the information gathered in data breaches such as this to form the basis of scams that start with spear phishing emails which are emails specifically tailored with information about you and your interests. These spear phishing emails will attempt to lure you into either providing personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft or to click on links containing harmful malware. Everyone should be skeptical of any email asking for personal information or prompting you to click on a link. Never provide such information or click on links until you have confirmed that the email is legitimate.
Now, personal information that appears to be related to the MGM data breach is being again offered on the Dark Web, but this time the details are of more than 142 million people. The information is being offered on the Dark Web for only $2,900 for the entire list of personal information.
TIPS
If you stayed at an MGM hotel prior to 2018 you should be particularly skeptical of any email that may ask you for personal information or to click on a link. Indeed, everyone should refrain from ever providing personal information in response to an email unless you have absolutely confirmed that the email is legitimate. The same rule applies to clicking on links.
In addition, if you have stayed at an MGM hotel prior to 2018 and you have not frozen your credit reports, this would be a good time to do so.
To get the maximum protection from identity theft, it is important to freeze your credit at each of the three major credit reporting agencies. Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:
https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze
https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
Once you have frozen your credit, be sure to keep the PIN and information on how to unfreeze your credit report in a safe place.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 15, 2020 – Amazon Phishing Email
Shopping on Amazon is extremely popular both with consumers and scammers seeking to exploit Amazon’s popularity. I have warned you many times over the years about scammers who send various types of phishing emails which purport to be from Amazon attempting to lure you into either clicking on links which can download malware, such as ransomware or providing personal information that can be used to make you a victim of identity theft.
The latest Amazon phishing scam starts with an email that appears to come from Amazon confirming an order you didn’t make and providing a telephone number for you to call to dispute the order. The order indicates that the goods, which in this case are a television and an Xbox were sent to someone other than yourself. If you do call, you will be prompted to verify personal information, however, if you provide the personal information, you will be providing the personal information to a scammer who will use the information to make you a victim of identity theft. The phishing email is constructed well. The grammar is correct and the logo used appears legitimate, but as I have told you repeatedly, it is very simple to counterfeit a legitimate appearing logo. In this case, even the email address from which it was sent contains the name “amazon” within the email address, but the email address is clearly not that of the real Amazon.
TIPS
While this is a very legitimate appearing email that uses the Amazon logo and also is written with proper grammar and punctuation there are a number of indications that this is a phishing email. Legitimate emails from Amazon would be directed to you by name rather than being addressed to your email address as this phishing email was. Most tellingly, this phishing email is sent from an address that has no relation to Amazon. If you receive an email like this and think it may possibly be actually from Amazon, merely call the customer service number for Amazon where you can confirm that it is a scam. The real number to call if you suspect Amazon related fraud is 866-216-1075.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 14, 2020 – Charity Scams related to the Coronavirus Pandemic and the Civil Rights Movement
In recent weeks the United States has faced two major issues, namely the continuing and worsening Coronavirus Pandemic and a heightened awareness of the need for greater civil rights for all Americans spurred on by the tragic death of George Floyd. Looking at the glass as half-full, many Americans are doing what they can in regard to wearing masks and taking proper precautions to limit the spread of the Coronavirus and many Americans are also organizing efforts to recognize injustice and take the steps required to lead to greater justice for everyone. Americans are also trying to aid both of these causes through charitable donations to organizations that will advance these causes and this is where the scammers come in. As I have told you many times, scammers are always taking advantage of anything that captures the public’s attention and triy to turn it into an opportunity to scam you. The best intentions of Americans trying to help others through their charitable donations are exploited by scammers who set up fake charities and non-profit organizations that appear to advance important causes, but instead just take your money for their own uses. In many instances, it can be very hard to distinguish what is a legitimate charity or non-profit organization from that of a scammer. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem.
TIPS
The website http://www.charitynavigators.org is a free website that will provide you with important information about charities and non-profit organizations to which you may be considering making a donation. First and foremost the website will tell you whether or not the particular website or non-profit is a scam. However, also importantly, http://www.charitynavigator.org will also tell you how much of your donation to particular charities and non-profits goes toward their charitable purposes and how much goes toward their own salaries and administrative expenses.
Charitynavigator.org has a separate page where you can find out the best charities and non-profits helping in regard to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Here is a link to that page .https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=7779
Charitynavigator.org also has a separate page where you can find the best organizations working to advance civil rights for everyone. Here is a link to that page. https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=5204
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 13, 2020 – Synthetic Identity Theft Ring Busted in Louisiana
Twenty people were arrested recently in Louisiana on charges related to a synthetic identity theft ring, which, according to police, was operated by Charles Roy and Tanya Ward. Many people are not familiar with the term “synthetic Identity theft,” but it poses a significant threat to many people particularly children. Synthetic identity theft occurs when a criminal takes information from a variety of sources to create a new identity to take out loans, purchase goods and services, or fraudulently obtain credit cards. Synthetic identity thieves combine real and fake information to form a new fictional person. They may use your Social Security number and combine it with the name, address and phone number of someone else. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has said that synthetic identity theft is the fastest growing type of identity theft. Children are the most common victims of synthetic identity theft and it is often many years before the problem is discovered.
The accused criminals in Louisiana are alleged to have stolen the Social Security numbers of their victims and then used the address of a local house for sale and created phony payroll stubs and utility bills in order to apply for credit cards. As is done often with synthetic identity theft, the accused criminals then built the credit score of the synthetic identity by having people use the credit cards and make regular payments until the credit score of the new synthetic identity was high enough for the ultimate payoff, which is referred to as the “bust out.” In the bust out phase, the identity thief uses the new synthetic identity to either make large purchases or take out big loans that are never paid back. Some synthetic identity thieves will take years to build the synthetic identity theft credit score by making payments on cell phone accounts, car loans and more.
TIPS
Some telltale signs of synthetic identity theft include being contacted about an account that you never opened or a debt that you didn’t incur. Also, look for aliases listed on your credit report that you do not use. A dramatic lowering of your credit score coupled with a lack of negative information on your primary credit reports are further indications of synthetic identity theft. The reason that your primary credit report will not show negative information due to synthetic identity theft is because when a criminal uses your Social Security number, but doesn’t use your name, the negative information caused by their actions does not appear on your regular credit report. Instead, the information is added to a sub-file of your credit report which will, however, cause your credit score to drop tremendously.
If you do find out that you have become a victim of synthetic identity theft, notify each of the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion of the crime and ask them to investigate and remove the false information from your sub-files.
Parents also should, as much as possible, try to limit the places that have their child’s Social Security number and become familiar with the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act which helps you protect the privacy of your child’s school records and enables you to opt out of information sharing by the school with third parties.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide.com was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three best sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 12, 2020 – FTC Refunding Money to Victims of Work at Home Scam
Working at home sounds very appealing. No commute and you get to work in your pajamas. What could be more convenient than that? It may sound convenient, but many work at home opportunities are scams and some even make you into an accomplice to a crime. Following a settlement of charges the Federal Trade Commission brought against Effen Ads, LLC, the FTC is now sending refunds to victims of Effen’s scam in which it sent emails that appeared to come from CNN or Fox News touting a work at home scam that the scammers indicated was endorsed by legendary investor Warren Buffet. The emails linked to websites filled with phony news stories and phony endorsements of the work at home scam. Effen operated the scam under a wide variety of names including Secure Home Profits, Paydays At Home, Home Cashflow Club, Home Cash Code, Home Payday Center, Snap Web Profits, Complete Profit Code, Global Cashflow Center, Global Payday Center and Home Payday Vault.
Years ago, stuffing envelopes was a common work at home scam. That scam has been updated by other scammers to offers of being paid to read emails, but it remains a scam. The range of work at home scams is constantly changing and evolving, but the result is always the same – rarely are these work at home schemes legitimate nor do they provide any income except for the scammers who operate them. Often the advertisements for these work at home scams appear in conventional media that have not checked out the legitimacy of the advertisements they run.
Recently there has been an upsurge in a work at home scam that actually makes you an accomplice to a crime. Your job is to receive goods, often electronics that have been shipped to you, inspect them and then reship them to an address provided to you by your new employer. The problem is that these goods have been purchased with stolen credit cards and you have just become an accomplice to the crime when you ship them to someone else who will then sell them to turn the merchandise into cash. The term scammers use to describe the people doing the reshipping is a “mule” and it can get you into a lot of trouble. The companies offering this type of work may seem legitimate, but they are not.
TIP
As always, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Check out work at home scams with the big three – your local attorney general, the Better Business Bureau and the FTC. And as always, you can Google the name of the particular company offering you the work at home program with the word “scam” next to it and see what turns up. As for reshipping scams, they are always a scam and you should steer clear of them.
For more information about this particular refund program check out the “FTC Scam Refunds” tab in the middle of the first page of http://www.scamicide.com. You also can find information there about the mailing of the refund checks. There is no cost or fee to file a claim or get a refund. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to scam you.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide’s list of Coronavirus was recently featured in the New York Times as one of three top sources for information on Coronavirus scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 11, 2020 – Global Empowerment Fund Scam
To paraphrase Thomas Paine, “these are the times that try men’s (and women’s) wallets.” Many people are having financial difficulties due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which unfortunately makes them vulnerable to scammers eager to take advantage of their concerns. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning about emails being circulated that purport to come from the FTC that claim to offer much needed money from the “Global Empowerment Fund” to help people in financial need due to the Coronavirus pandemic. You are told that all that you need to do to qualify for a grant from the Global Empowerment Fund is merely provide your bank account information after which the Global Empowerment Fund will wire money to your account. Unfortunately, the FTC is not sending out such emails and there is no Global Empowerment Fund offering money to anyone. The scammers sending out these emails are merely trying to trick people into providing their banking information so that the scammers can empty their victims’ bank accounts.
TIPS
The FTC will never contact you by email, text message or phone call and ask for personal financial information. It is also important to remember my motto, “trust me you can’t trust anyone” and never provide personal information of any kind in response to an email, text message or phone call without absolutely confirming that the communication is legitimate because you can never be sure when you are contacted by email, text message or phone call as to who is really contacting you. While some less sophisticated scammers will send emails using bots of infected zombie computers to send out such scamming emails that show the email address of the person whose computer was hacked to send out the email which is a clear indication that the email is a scam, other more sophisticated scammers will use email addresses to send out their phishing emails that appear quite legitimate. It is also easy to “spoof” a phone number for a text message or phone call that can appear to come from a legitimate source, so you can’t trust text messages or phone calls either.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide’s list of Coronavirus was recently featured in the New York Times as one of three best sources for reliable information on Coronavirus scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and click on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”
Scam of the day – July 10, 2020 – More Coronavirus Related Phishing Scams
I first started telling you about coronavirus phishing scams on February 8th. Today, I am warning you again because scammers have dramatically increased the number of phishing scams using the Coronavirus as a hook to lure people into providing personal information or clicking on links and downloading dangerous malware. Most phishing emails try to create a sense of emergency to entice you into quickly and without thinking provide information or click on links. Concerns about the Coronavirus are easily exploited by scammers who trick people to throw caution to the wind and become victims of their phishing scam.
According to the security company GreatHorn, one of the more common Coronavirus related phishing emails comes with the subject line that reads “Mandatory Covid-19 Assessment for Employees.” Victims of this phishing email, believing it is from the company for which they work, click on the link and provide personal information that is used for purposes of identity theft.
The security company ProofPoint identified a number of other Coronavirus related phishing emails that were used to lure people into downloading dangerous ransomware malware. These have been coming with subject lines including “Your COVID-19 results are ready / 85108,” “Your COVID-19 results are ready / 85513,” Your COVID_9 results #99846,” “View Your COVID19 result #99803” and “COVID19 virus analysis #83273.
TIPS
Phishing emails are a leading cause of many scams and even major data breaches. It is relatively easy to craft a legitimate appearing email that can use a variety or pretenses to trick people into clicking on links or downloading attachments. Anytime you get an unsolicited email that asks for personal information, instructs you to click on a link or download an attachment you should be wary. Remember my motto, trust me, you can’t trust anyone. Never provide personal information, click on a link or download an attachment unless you have absolutely confirmed that the email is legitimate. You can hover over a link with your mouse and determine where the link will take you. Often this can help you learn that the link is part of a phishing scam, but regardless the best course of action is to never click on a link unless you have absolutely confirmed that the it is legitimate.
You should also make sure that your phone, computer and any other devices you may have are protected by security software and update your security software with the latest security patches as soon as they become available. It is important to remember, however, that the most up to date security software will always be at least thirty days behind the latest strains of malware so you cannot depend on your security software to be 100% effective.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide.com was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three best sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.