Technology E-mail & Phone Threats 2020

This post was originally published on February 5, 2020
The latest update to this post was made 5 years ago.

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E-mail Threats

• Tax/Debt Collections – these e-mails typically state that you owe the IRS or some other government agency money. The main purpose of these types of e-mails is to gather personal information to be used for potential identity thefts. Identity theft can be used to obtain credit cards in your name and even file false tax returns. In the case of the fake tax return, the filed return will be forged and have low income and many fake deductions, which result in a large tax refund. They request the refund be issued in the form of a prepaid card making it hard to trace.
• Sweepstakes Winnings – these e-mails state you’ve won a sweepstakes and are on the road to financial freedom. They usually ask you to contact Mr. or Mrs. someone to discuss the details of your winnings, where you are asked pay a processing fee to get everything rolling. The fee is actually going straight to the person you contact and there are no sweepstakes winnings. The entire process is one huge scam designed to get the processing fee out of you then drop communications.
• “Work From Home” Employment – although work from home employment does exist, in the e-mail world, it’s mostly a scam. You may receive an e-mail asking you to be a mystery shopper or start your home based business by performing simple administrative tasks for a ‘large company’, all with the promise of quick easy money. Work from home scams favor targeting internet newcomers and the unemployed. Medical billing is by far a huge part of the work from home scam, offering good money to help hospitals perform billing. Be aware of anything offering multi-level marketing (pyramid schemes), turning your computer in a ‘money making machine’, making money fast and envelope stuffing.
• Loans / Fake Checks / Money / Investments – these types of e-mails offer instant loans, regardless of credit history or maybe a distant family member who has passed away and left their fortunes to you. Although loan e-mails can be legitimate, you should use extreme caution when dealing with any type of money borrowing or giving on the internet. The all too common distant family member who is ill or recently passed and has left their fortune to you has been going around for many years. This typically involves a processing fee that is demanded from you, once paid the conversation is over – there is no fortune and the scam is completed. Investment scams include rare metals, cannabis farming, prescription meds and other new-age investment “opportunities”.
• Social Media – social media scams are on the increase. By using social media and making something appealing enough, the intent is to have you share, your friends share, etc. The equivalent to ‘going viral’ as it’s commonly called. These types of scams can be chain letters or gift exchanges, etc. All of which are scams and just plain annoying!
• Phishing – phishing scams are typically easy to pull off, because they emulate a real website or person. Phishing is usually always delivered via e-mail and asks the user to validate, update or check information on their account, giving them a clickable link to follow. The link itself looks normal, but when you hover the mouse over it, you’ll see that you aren’t actually going to the real website, but instead a fake one. The fake website looks like the real thing, only when you enter information, it’s sent to the malicious operator. This is how they can obtain personal information and bank logins so easily. A good example of this might be Bank Of America asking me to verify my account is current and update to date, with a link to their website (which would normally be https:///www.bankofamerica.com). When the mouse is hovered over the link though, a different website is displayed, for example, http://www.bankoofamerica.com. The unsuspecting user doesn’t notice the misspelling and thinks they are signing into the real bank, only an hour later to find that all of their accounts are at zero balance.
  • Spear Phishing – is a clever twist on phishing, only Spear Phishing appears to come from somebody you actually know or work with. The trouble with these types of e-mails is you have to know what to look for or you can quickly fall victim! Spear phishing can appear to be from friends, people in your contact list/address book, your boss, departments in your organization or from a mutual friend. Because you think this is someone you know, you are more likely to give out the information they are requesting. Spear Phishing is designed to extract personal information about you or your company to be used for malicious intent and identity theft. Commonly seen Spear Phishing e-mails include:
    • A message from a friend/contact who abruptly traveled overseas and has lost their wallet/purse and needs help getting back to the United States
    • A message from the CEO of your company asking for employee records, like rosters or W-2’s
    • A message from someone you know (perhaps your boss) asking you to get them a gift card, stating they cannot handle it because they are in a meeting, etc.  They assure you they will pay you back promptly…

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