The Season of Scamming: Dealing with Scams During the Holidays

Happy holidays, ’tis the season for scamming.

It’s that time of year again where online scams begin to rise. It’s imperative to be on the lookout to avoid being a victim yourself. In today’s installment, we will outline some common scam schemes and how to avoid becoming a victim.

The Tech Support Scam

These scams rely on using scary sounding webpages to deceive you into believing your computer is actively under attack by a problem. They use official Microsoft or Apple branding to appear legitimate. They typically produce pop-up windows that are hard or impossible to close out of making it actually appear that your computer has been “infected” with something.

Almost all of these scams require you to call a phone number and chat with tech support to resolve the issue. The individual on the other end of the phone will instruct you to install a remote support tool, and they will remotely control your computer showing you all of the “problems” with it.

Interested in reading more, check out the Wikipedia page detailing all types of “tech support scams”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_support_scam

In the case where this happens to you:

  • Immediately close the webpage you are on
  • If you cannot close the webpage, attempt to restart your computer
  • If you cannot restart your computer, hold the power button until your PC completely powers down

These webpages are mostly harmless, but they scare you into thinking something terrible has happened. Closing the webpage should avoid any potential problems, and you can continue on your day.

The Government Phone Call Scam

These scams rely on making you believe a government agency is calling you about something serious and important. Sometimes it’s the IRS, other times it is your state’s DMV. In any case, the individual calling will always be representing a government agency and ask for very sensitive personal information about you.

In almost all cases, a government agency will NEVER reach out to you directly. You will almost always receive a letter in the US Postal Mail that directs you to call the agency directly.

In the case where this happens to you:

  • Hang up the call immediately
  • If you think the call may be legitimate, do NOT provide any personal information over the phone. Whoever is calling you has all the information they need to inform you of whatever may be taking place. Ask for something in writing to confirm the concern is legitimate.

Email Phishing Scams

These scams rely on making you click on and interact with an email that appears to originate from a legitimate company (a bank, a payment company, a social media website, etc). These scams try to steal your username, password, or other account recovery information to access your account.

It’s important you always check the URL address bar of your browser to ensure you are on the website you think should be. A phishing scam will always be on a website close to, but not the same as the actual website for the company.

_paypal–accounts.com is not paypal.com - Keep your eyes peeled for close but different websites when clicking on emails.

In the case where this happens to you:

  • Immediately close the webpage you are on
  • If you typed in a password or username before you closed the tab, immediately go change your password on the official company website to avoid having your account stolen
  • Turn on Two Factor Authentication (2FA) on any website that supports the feature, refer to https://twofactorauth.org/ for more information

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Fake Charity Scams

It’s unfortunate that some people take advantage of the season of giving, but it is something you should be wary of. Individuals or websites may pose as a 501(c) Nonprofit organizations and accept donations.

If the charity is something you are unsure of, you can always use Charity Navigator to confirm the organization is real and legit. Use an external source and not the organization’s official website to confirm the organization’s 501(c) status.

In the case where this happens to you:

Concerned you may have been affected?

If you think your computer may have been remotely accessed as part of a scam, feel free to reach out to us via: https://www.marptech.com/contact – We are happy to consult with you to determine the best next steps.

Be wary of scams and spend the extra second to really consider whether something is legitimate. Sometimes that extra second is all it takes to avoid being a victim of scams.

Thank you for reading this far, and we hope you stay safe during this holiday season.

phishing  holidays  tech support  charity  scamming  scams  fraud  fbi  scam  websites  fake  prevention  marptech 

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