Y'all I know this is weird but I'm here with a public service announcement. We all know about spoofed calls and phishing emails and all that but there are millions of people a year who get scammed out of untold amounts of money around the world, and unfortunately this is usually the elderly. Do your grandma and grandpa a favor and educate them about the warning signs of some of the most common scams out there.
The tech support scam. This often happens when you type a web address for a big website slightly wrong and it redirects you to a page with a big warning. Your computer has been infected with hackers and viruses. They are going to steal your money. Call support at 1-800-SCORP-SUX now before they steal all your money and identities! These windows are often very difficult to close and have alarm sounds in the background. Tell your grandma if she sees this to call you, or restart her computer, just don't call the phone number.
The refund scam. These are getting more clever by the day. A new one is the Amazon refund scam. They will send out fake invoices for an expensive item like a $3000 big screen TV. There is a phone number to call for support. Grandma calls and says she didn't order the TV. Helpful agent agrees to process a refund. Helpful agent then tells grandma to download Teamviewer or Anydesk and log into her online banking. Helpful scammer agent blackens the screen and uses the "inspect element" feature of chrome to modify the HTML to make it look like they just added $10000 to her account. OH NOES! We refunded too much! You need to PayPal us $7000 back for the difference! Or gift cards! Or take a picture of a check! I know your grandma isn't stupid but they get smart people to fall for this all the time too.
And there are a ton more. Car warranty scams. IRS scams. Warn your family to look for these signs:
1) Cold calls. Tech support. Billing. IRS. Car warranty. You name it. You will never receive cold calls for these legitimately. Especially when you answer you hear nothing for a few seconds then the microphone kicks on and the person on the other end sounds like they are in a noisy room.
2) Remote access software. If they want you to install remote access software like Teamviewer or Anydesk they are not a legitimate service. Tell them to hang up and call a tech savvy family member if they are concerned about a security issue with their phone or computer, or take it to a local store.
3) Logins and passwords. Everybody knows support should never ask for a password, but they give it anyway. These guys are good at pretending like this is a normal thing when challenged about it. If it feels wrong, it probably is. Never give anyone your password to anything no matter how much they pretend like they need it to solve a problem.
4) Refunds. They don't need your bank info to refund you if they've already charged you. End of story. They don't need you to log in to your bank account to process a refund. If someone "refunds you too much", it's a scam, hang up and call your bank.
5) Call us at... The basic function of 90% of these scams is that they are trying to bait people into calling them. Don't.
Educate your old folks. Times are desperate around the world right now and desperate times make desperate people who will take advantage of others. Christmas is a great time for them to use a lot of these tactics and all new ones.
The tech support scam. This often happens when you type a web address for a big website slightly wrong and it redirects you to a page with a big warning. Your computer has been infected with hackers and viruses. They are going to steal your money. Call support at 1-800-SCORP-SUX now before they steal all your money and identities! These windows are often very difficult to close and have alarm sounds in the background. Tell your grandma if she sees this to call you, or restart her computer, just don't call the phone number.
The refund scam. These are getting more clever by the day. A new one is the Amazon refund scam. They will send out fake invoices for an expensive item like a $3000 big screen TV. There is a phone number to call for support. Grandma calls and says she didn't order the TV. Helpful agent agrees to process a refund. Helpful agent then tells grandma to download Teamviewer or Anydesk and log into her online banking. Helpful scammer agent blackens the screen and uses the "inspect element" feature of chrome to modify the HTML to make it look like they just added $10000 to her account. OH NOES! We refunded too much! You need to PayPal us $7000 back for the difference! Or gift cards! Or take a picture of a check! I know your grandma isn't stupid but they get smart people to fall for this all the time too.
And there are a ton more. Car warranty scams. IRS scams. Warn your family to look for these signs:
1) Cold calls. Tech support. Billing. IRS. Car warranty. You name it. You will never receive cold calls for these legitimately. Especially when you answer you hear nothing for a few seconds then the microphone kicks on and the person on the other end sounds like they are in a noisy room.
2) Remote access software. If they want you to install remote access software like Teamviewer or Anydesk they are not a legitimate service. Tell them to hang up and call a tech savvy family member if they are concerned about a security issue with their phone or computer, or take it to a local store.
3) Logins and passwords. Everybody knows support should never ask for a password, but they give it anyway. These guys are good at pretending like this is a normal thing when challenged about it. If it feels wrong, it probably is. Never give anyone your password to anything no matter how much they pretend like they need it to solve a problem.
4) Refunds. They don't need your bank info to refund you if they've already charged you. End of story. They don't need you to log in to your bank account to process a refund. If someone "refunds you too much", it's a scam, hang up and call your bank.
5) Call us at... The basic function of 90% of these scams is that they are trying to bait people into calling them. Don't.
Educate your old folks. Times are desperate around the world right now and desperate times make desperate people who will take advantage of others. Christmas is a great time for them to use a lot of these tactics and all new ones.
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