Anyone can be swindled and there are plenty of opportunities of attack these days. Fortunately, there are many sources to educate yourself to guard against these criminals. There are several organizations releasing warnings to the public about current scams on innocent people: the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the FBI, the IRS, and private organizations like Consumer Reports and AARP, to name a few.
These scammers contact their victims through three main avenues:
- Telephone scams where people pretend to be your grandchildren in trouble, a fake IRS agent who demands immediate payment with an iTunes gift card, and bogus charities soliciting your money for a recent tragedy.
- Knocking on your front door to provide a shoddy service or product you don’t want, or soliciting donations for a fake charity. Scammers demand money up front for work and never return. Some are trying to case your home to rob it later with a false story of asking you personal details for a survey or demonstrating a product inside your home. One scam to case your home is to say, “There have been several robberies in the area lately, our company is offering a free security assessment by going through your home for vulnerable areas.” Meanwhile, the two fake security staff walk around with you as one of them distracts you while the other one searches for valuables to steal on the spot.
- Online hackers employ fake e-mails, websites with viruses and malware, and identity theft. I’m acquainted with a business woman whose computer was recently compromised by a virus through a fake e-mail download that appeared to be official. This particular virus is nicknamed ransomware, or cryptolocker, and it locked up her computer and the hackers wouldn’t release her data to her unless she paid $2,000 in untraceable bitcoin. Since she hadn’t backed up her computer in a very long time, and needed the data to operate her business, she was bitterly forced to pay the criminals.
Last month my computer was hacked out of Russia and within minutes they controlled two of my e-mail accounts, a financial account (luckily with no money), and were nearly successful in resetting my cellphone. Fortunately, I was able to get control of most everything back within 3 days and didn’t lose any money. I was unable to ever recover one the e-mail accounts. But I was baited by a fake URL link, and even though I know better, they acted like someone that I trusted and so they slipped past my natural defenses.
So be alert, keep up with the latest scams, reject unsolicited offers that knock on your door, keep your computer protected, and beware that con artists are the most charming and personable people that you’ll ever come across.