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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Be Wary of Scam Attempts
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Last year, New London Journal Reporter Virginia Ekstrand received a number of requests to send gift cards or money from an organization’s treasury to meet the needs of its president, who was out of town and unable to respond. The set of circumstances actually fit the description. This year, warnings of scam and phishing attempts have been sent out by banks and email providers. PayPal and other payment assisting groups have been hacked as well. The scam attempts from the same group of bad guys picked up again last week. Virginia received phone calls from friends who had received requests for money using her name. Fortunately, they were very aware and savvy of the dangers.
It is the start of a new year. Scammers use the beginning of financial seasons like first quarter or new educational semesters to trick you. Sometimes it is phishing getting you to turn over personal information or actual scam requests for funds.
Four common scams:
- Job offer scams: Job offer scams usually promise good pay for part-time work. This type of scam will often tell you to deposit a check into your bank account and then withdraw the funds to purchase gift cards or wire money to other accounts. The check is later found to be fraudulent, leaving you on the hook for paying back the amount of the counterfeit check. Never accept a job that requires depositing checks into your bank account and wiring portions to other individuals or accounts.
- Personal account scams: These scams claim to have impacted one of your accounts in some way. For example, you may be told your email has exceeded a set storage limit or your payroll information has changed. You will then be prompted to click on a link that will ask you to log in to take some type of action. The link will direct you to a malicious website that will steal your username and password. When in doubt, always check with the company or person sending the email before taking action.
- Disinformation scams: These scams may use fake information about current events to trick you into donating money or turning over personal data. Some scams to look out for include ones involving topics like COVID-19. As always, avoid opening attachments or clicking on links on unsolicited or suspicious emails. Also, if an attachment you open asks you to [Enable content] when you open it or make some other security downgrade, don’t do it – it’s a trick.
- Gift card scams: These scams often start with an email or text message that asks: “Are you available?” If you respond, the scammer — often posing as a person in a leadership position — claims they are caught in a meeting, asks you to buy Amazon or iTunes gift cards on their behalf and promises to reimburse you later.
Rowan University offers a quick security training that helps one identify cybercriminals, phishing scammers and malicious websites. Other reliable organizations also give good advice. Be sure to inform your bank and other account holders. Virginia also contacted the Henry County Sheriff's Office. Cassandra Kraft, Henry County Deputy Sheriff sent this website address. Use the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | to file a complaint < https://www.ic3.gov/Home/ComplaintChoice> with the federal government.
Rowan has six questions you should ask yourself when determining the validly of a financial or informational request. Virginia has found the quickest and easiest way to determine the scam is to use the header. By mousing over the sender the email address will appear. At that point it becomes apparent that a bogus email address is being used. This should be done even if the sender has a familiar name.
