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  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 20, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    FBI warns of social media cash scam 

    FBI warns of social media cash scam

    By Greg Collier

    The advent of personal payment apps like Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle has given rise to a new generation of scams. One of the most egregious scams is the cash flipping scam. This is mostly associated with Cash App, although it has appeared on other platforms. Cash flipping is when scammers try to convince their victims that they’ll give the victims a lot of money in exchange for a little money.

    For example, a scammer may promise victims $500 if the victims send the scammers $50 through Cash App. Once the victim sends the money through Cash App, the scammer blocks the victim and keeps their money. The scam is given legitimacy since Cash App itself holds giveaways called #CashAppFridays. Cash App policies give little recourse to victims in scams like this. Payments can often only be refunded if the person who receives the payment cancels the transaction.

    Recently, the Las Vegas office of the FBI has issued a warning about cash flipping scams. They say that scammers are using hijacked social media accounts to approach victims through private messages. Often these hijacked accounts show pictures of people with large amounts of cash to try and make the scam seem on the up and up.

    If the scammers don’t break off contact immediately, they’ll claim Cash app is holding up the transaction. The victim will then be instructed to use a certain email address on their Cash app account to make the transaction go through. This then allows the scammers to hijack the Cash App account itself.

    To avoid this scam, the FBI recommends using two-factor authentication on your payment and social media apps. While this can be an inconvenience to some, it goes a long way in keeping online accounts secure. If the scammers ever request any kind of verification code number, they’re trying to circumvent your two-factor authentication, and that code should never be given out to anyone.

    Lastly, people don’t get rich by giving away money for free. As with most scams, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 7, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Even LinkedIn has job scams 

    Even LinkedIn has job scams

    By Greg Collier

    When we think of social media scams, we normally think of platforms like Facebook and Instagram. When we think of online job scams, we might typically think of platforms like Craigslist. When it comes to job scams on social media, we don’t usually think of LinkedIn. While it may not be LinkedIn’s intention, the social network gives off an impression that it’s for professionals to network with other professionals. LinkedIn may also give its users a false sense of security when it comes to being recruited by an employer. What many LinkedIn users seem to forget is anybody can open a LinkedIn account under any name they want. Anybody can claim to hold a position that they don’t currently hold, such as job recruiter.

    The Better Business Bureau is warning LinkedIn users that phony job recruiters are scamming victims out of money and personal information. In one instance, an Indiana woman was hired rather quickly for a work at home position she applied for on LinkedIn. The woman was asked by her supposed employer to open a bank account in her name to book a conference for the phony company. Thankfully, she realized it was a scam before she opened the account. Unfortunately, others have not been so lucky.

    In other instances, the phony recruiters have asked for money upfront for training or business supplies. After the victims have paid the recruiter, the job never materializes. This is after the victim has supplied the recruiter with their personal information during the application process. This often leads to the applicants becoming victims of identity theft.

    The best way a LinkedIn user can protect themselves against this scam is to thoroughly research the company and the recruiter offering the position. If their profiles are filled with grammatical errors, the odds are pretty good they’re scammers. You can also ask to speak to the recruiter on the phone. While it’s not a guarantee of dissuading a scammer, it will go a long way in weeding many of them out.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 4, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Instagram scam promises free iPhone 

    Instagram scam promises free iPhone

    By Greg Collier

    Not too long ago, we brought you a post about how an Instagram scam could hijack your account. As we mentioned then, there are no shortages of scams on the popular photo sharing platform. Recently, one of those scams rose above the others to garner some headlines.

    CNET is reporting an iPhone giveaway scam is currently plaguing Instagram users. If you use Instagram on a consistent basis, you may have seen one of these scam posts. Users are being tagged by what are essentially spam accounts. These posts promise you a free iPhone 13 and all you need to do is click the link in the tagger’s profile. According to CNET, if you click the link, you’ll be taken to a website where you’ll be asked for your personal information and a credit or debit card number.

    While the CNET article does not go into specifics, we believe this could be one of two scams. The first one is straight up identity theft. With your personal and financial information, scammers could easily take over your life. Not only could identity thieves use your card for fraudulent purchase, but they could also use your information to take out loans or open other lines of credit.

    The other scam could be the advance fee scam. This is where a user is told they’ve won something, but have to pay a fee to collect their prize. This is a common scam when it comes to online giveaways. The scammers will disguise the payments as shipping fees, insurance for the item, or some form of tax. While this practice is illegal in the United States for legitimate sweepstakes, scammers aren’t concerned with the law.

    The best way to avoid this scam is to not expect anything for free on social media. Never click the links that these scam Instagram accounts provide. Furthermore, never give your personal information to random Instagram accounts, no matter how good the prize their offering is. Lastly, you can set your Instagram account to only be tagged by people you know or people you follow. You can also set it to where users can manually approve each tag they receive. The CNET article has the instructions for that.

     

  • Geebo 8:12 am on March 30, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    New twist on old scam comes to private messaging 

    By Greg Collier

    Most of us have a friend or loved one who we constantly communicate with online. Many of us like to share jokes and memes with that person that we think they’ll find humorous. Now, what if that person sent you a private message that said ‘Look what I found’ along with a laughing emoji and a link? Many of us could be forgiven for clicking on that link since it supposedly came from a trusted friend. However, if the link is clicked, you could end up losing one of your most valuable online accounts.

    For many, the majority of their online presence is on Facebook. It’s where their friends are, it’s where they get their news, and it’s how they communicate with others. In internet terms, this is known as a walled garden. AOL was famous for being a walled garden back in the internet’s early days. In essence, the more a platform can keep their users engaged, the more profitable it becomes. One of the problems with walled gardens is users can be too trusting of other users on the platform, which inevitably leads to scammers.

    Currently, tech experts are warning about a scam that’s taking place on Facebook Messenger. Users are receiving messages from close friends that say ‘Look what I found’ along with a laughing emoji and a link. The person who appears to have sent the message have had their Facebook account compromised. If the message’s recipient clicks on the link, it takes them to a website that looks like Facebook and asks for your Facebook login. If a user enters their information, their account will become compromised as well. Our Facebook accounts hold a lot of personal information about us. Some accounts even have financial information saved within them. In numerous instances, it’s enough to have your identity stolen.

    This is not a new scam. In the past, the message would read ‘Is this you?’ and also include a link that would attempt to hijack your account.

    If you get a message like this, even from someone close to you, message them on a different platform to ask them if they meant to send that message. If a friend tells you that you sent a message like that, immediately change your password.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    The other victims of romance scams 

    By Greg Collier

    Typically, when we discuss romance scams, or catfishing as it’s sometimes known, we talk about the victim who ended up losing money to these scammers. However, there’s sometimes another victim in these scams. In romance scams, the scammers often use the photos of actual people and in some cases even impersonate that person. This could lead not only to unnecessary grief for the person being impersonated, but it also has serious safety implications as well.

    A woman from the Scottsdale area of Arizona found herself in the middle of one of these scams. She suddenly started receiving emails at her business, before receiving phone calls at home about a man who was allegedly threatening to show up at her home or business. The man claimed that they had been dating online for months and that he flew from New York to see her. A romance scammer had tricked the man using the woman’s identity into thinking he was in a relationship. It’s believed that the man had given the scammer a substantial amount of money. According to reports, the scammers cut off communication with the man once he landed in Arizona.

    According to the Scottsdale woman, the New York man had trouble accepting that he had been scammed and directed his anger toward her. She claims the man has been leaving voice messages on her phone from multiple phone numbers. She has no idea what the man even looks like.

    Since the woman is a business owner who deals in social media, she has a large social media presence. This allowed the scammers to essentially copy her life and use her online identity in their scam.

    To better protect yourself from not only being in this side of a romance scam, but from other scams as well, it’s best to change your social media profiles to private or friends only. While it’s not a guarantee your online photos won’t be used in a scam, It does help in discouraging scammers from doing so.

     

  • Geebo 9:06 am on February 2, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    What was the biggest social media scam of 2021? 

    What was the biggest social media scam of 2021?

    By Greg Collier

    On its surface, social media is a remarkable tool. When social media first took off, it let us get in touch with friends and family who we may not have seen for years. It’s let us stay in contact with those friends and family. Now it’s advanced to the point where it has become a daily part of our lives where we get news, find jobs, and conduct commerce among its many other uses. But like any tool designed to bring us closer together, it can also be used for nefarious purposes. This not exclusive to just social media. Back in the days of landline phones, they were great until the advent of telemarketing. However, social media is now going through its telemarketing-like phase when it comes to scammers.

    If you’ve been using social media for a while, the odds are you’ve come across a scam and may not have even known it. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans lost a combined $770 million to social media scammers, and those are only the scams that were reported. The biggest money loser for social media scam victims were investment scams. However, the largest number of scams on social media involved online shopping. This mostly entailed people ordering through ads they saw on social media and never received their item. Most of those who reported an online shopping loss said that the ads were mostly on Facebook or Instagram. Just because someone can buy an ad on these platforms in no way guarantees they are a legitimate business.

    Anytime, you’re about to make an online purchase from a retailer or vendor you’ve never heard of before, do your research to make sure they’re not going to scam you. You can do what’s known as a whois search to make sure the website is not being run from overseas. Also check their contact information. If you can only contact them through email, it could be a scam. You can also do a web search with the name of the retailer along with the phrases complaints or scam. Lastly, you can always check with the Better Business Bureau website to see if the BBB has received any complaints about the business.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 28, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Grant money scam returns to social media 

    Grant money scam returns to social media

    By Greg Collier

    When we say the government grant scam has returned to social media, it really never left. However, we’ve seen a number of reports about the scam this week. The way the scam typically works is you’ll receive a message on social media from a friend, telling you they received substantial grant money from the government, and you can too. In reality, your friend’s social media account has been hacked and is being used by scammers. In what’s known as the advance fee scam, the scammers will try to get you to pay fictitious taxes or a processing fee to get the phony grant. This can end up costing a victim of this scam thousands of dollars.

    For example, a woman in Nebraska recently fell victim to this scam. She had received a message from a relative on Facebook. The message said she could receive $100,000 in grant money. She thought the grant was some form of pandemic financial assistance. She ended up paying $5,000 to the scammers in prepaid debit cards. Not only was she dealt a financial loss, but scammers may have stolen her identity as well. The scammers had asked her for a copy of her driver’s license as part of the phony application process. With that kind of information, identity thieves can open any number of financial accounts in the victim’s name.

    The way you can tell this is a scam is that the government doesn’t ask for money when approving an actual grant. And if the government did ask for money, they wouldn’t ask for it in prepaid debit cards or gift cards. If you receive one of these messages on social media, do not respond to it. Instead, use another method of communication to let your friend or relative know that their account may have been compromised. Since this scam often targets elderly victims, you may want to inform any older relatives you might have if they are active on social media.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 14, 2022 Permalink | Reply
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    Grandchildren are huge security risks 

    By Greg Collier

    The grandparent scam is one of the worst scams that continues to plague seniors in our country. For those who may be unfamiliar with the grandparent scam, it’s when a scammer calls an elderly victim posing as one of the victim’s grandchildren. Typically, the scammer will say that they’re in some kind of legal trouble and need money for bail or some other legal fee. They’ll then instruct the victim not to tell anyone else in the family because they’re embarrassed, but what they’re really doing is making sure the victim’s family is unaware of the scam. This scam has cost seniors thousands of dollars at a time and has put the victim’s safety at risk.

    Grandparent scammers often possess very detailed information about the person they’re claiming to be. According to the Better Business Bureau, this is because younger generations tend to overshare information on social media. This leads the scammers to all sorts of information about the victim’s family. The reason this is important is that it circumvents one of the ways usually used to detect this scam. Security experts typically advise seniors to ask the caller a question that only the grandchild would know. Now, that answer may actually be floating around on social media.

    However, there are still ways to help you or someone in your family from becoming a victim of this scam. The best way is for your family you to set up a secret phrase or word with each other to use in case of any actual emergency. But, if you ever receive a call like this, it’s not going to hurt anyone to hang up and try to contact your family to make sure the grandchild is actually ok. Nobody arrested ever got extra jail time because a grandparent wanted to verify their story.

    Again, we ask that if you have an older family member who may not be up on the latest technology, please share this blog post with them or show them any one of the many articles about this scam.

     

  • Geebo 9:01 am on December 16, 2021 Permalink | Reply
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    New debt collection rules could lead to scams 

    New debt collection rules could lead to scams

    By Greg Collier

    If you’ve ever had to deal with a debt collector, whether rightly or wrongly, you know just how persistent they can be. Even some legitimate debt collection agencies have used some pretty underhanded tactics to try to collect on a debt that can border on harassment. Some agencies will try to pressure someone into making a payment right then and there over the phone, without telling the person where the debt came from. The collection agency might not have this information, since they may have bought the debt from someone else. They might also try to threaten you with arrest or wage garnishment. Both of these tactics are illegal, but that hasn’t stopped some collection agencies. Now, there is one less place where you can avoid debt collectors.

    Debt collectors are now allowed to approach you on social media. However, that comes with a few cautions. The communication from the debt collector has to be private. For example, they’re not allowed to post anything on your Facebook page that your friends and family could see. Debt collectors also have to properly identify themselves along with the amount of the debt, and where the debt is originally from. They’re also required to give you the option to opt-out of receiving any social media messages from them.

    However, with these new regulations, authorities are worried about scammers approaching people on social media while posing as debt collectors. According to the Better Business Bureau, if you think you’re talking to a scammer, end all communication immediately. Instead, you can go to the BBB website to make sure the agency is legitimate. You can also use the same tricks against scammers that you can use to protect your rights against debt collectors. Ask them for a debt verification letter that will detail where the debt supposedly came from. You should also check your state’s law to see when the statute of limitations on debt expires.

    However, we should warn, that if you choose to ignore messages from debt collectors this could negatively affect your credit whether the debt is correct or not.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 11, 2021 Permalink | Reply
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    Pyramid scheme disguised as gift exchange returns 

    Pyramid scheme disguised as gift exchange returns

    By Greg Collier

    With many people already starting their holiday shopping, an annual holiday scam has returned to social media. The Better Business Bureau is warning to consumers to be aware of the Secret Sister Gift Exchange. The scam seems harmless and fun at first. The posts on social media ask you to add your name and address to a list where you send in a small $10 gift. In return, you’re promised to receive up to 36 of the gifts. You’re also asked to recruit at least six more people into the gift exchange. It’s just $10. What could be the harm in that?

    Anytime you’re asked to recruit more people to advance an exchange like this, whether it’s gifts or money, it’s a pyramid scheme. It’s the people at the top of the pyramid who reap the rewards of the scam, while those on the bottom of the pyramid often find themselves empty-handed. That’s not even considering that you sent a stranger your name and address. You basically just paid $10 to have your identity stolen.

    What’s even worse is that by participating in a pyramid scheme, you could potentially face legal action, as pyramid schemes are illegal in the United States. Often, the people who initiate these gift exchanges will swear up and down that the gift exchange is either not a pyramid scheme or is approved by the US Government. They’re either lying or are ignorant of the law. Not only is it illegal to recruit someone into a pyramid scheme like this, since the scheme also uses the US Postal Service, you could also be charged with mail fraud.

    If you have a friend on social media who has engaged in one of these gift exchanges, you might want to warn them about the illegality of it. While your friends may not be the scammers themselves, a short conversation with them may save them from trouble in the long run.

     

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