By Connie Garber
Maybe you are someone who looks at Facebook once a week, or you rely on X, TikTok, Instagram or any of the other platforms for your daily news and connecting to your friends. Either way, scammers are looking for ways to hook you or take advantage of your curiosity. So, here’s some information to help you see potential trouble before it bites you.
Common Scams
Phishing – messages or links to click on that are designed to get your login information
Online Shopping – it may look like a real store (like LLBean or Coldwater Creek) but it’s really a fake, designed to get your credit card information
Charitable Organizations – fake fundraisers looking to take advantage of your generosity
Investments – where you are promised amazing returns and low risk, sometimes involving cryptocurrency
Impersonation – when it seems like a friend or family member is reaching out to you in need of money, sometimes using that person’s photo and/or voice from their own social media posts
Romance – online relationships that look real to begin with but end up with scammers asking for money for a needed surgery or other emergency
There are a number of ways that scammers can create what looks like a real presence online. The easiest option is to create false identities, complete with a picture on their profile that may be someone you know, or a celebrity. Then they use that to contact you and either request funds or personal information like your social security number, birthdate or asking for remote access to your computer. One of the tricks used often is about timing, like asking for funds when your bank is closed (nights, holidays) or it’s too late to reach out to other friends or family to confirm the contact is real.
Another approach used is sending a malicious link in a message that you are asked to click, but one that gives them access to account information or installs malware on your computer. Similarly, scammers may play on someone’s willingness to answer a survey or take a quiz, to extract personal information.
What Signs to Look for to Know if You May be Getting Scammed
A friend request from someone you are already friends with a new friend request from someone whose profile has little or no personal information.
A message that is awkwardly phrased, has misspellings or bad grammar, where something may have been translated from another language.
A request to send money using gift cards, cryptocurrency or other untraceable methods
A Too Good to be True deal, a limited time offer
Best steps for you to always take? Take time to think about what is being asked of you before you respond. Don’t click on anything or reply to a request immediately, scammers count on getting an emotional response to trap you. Always confirm that you are connecting with someone you know by reaching out by phone or text to them or a mutual friend or family member. Having two-factor authentication on your accounts, along with strong passwords is always recommended. You can report any fraudulent activity and block it, along with regularly checking your accounts for any suspicious activity like a small dollar charge used to test a scammer’s ability to access your accounts.
If you see something that looks amiss, contact your bank immediately, change passwords on critical accounts, and check your computer or other devices for malware. Remember that scammers are now taking advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to make detection that much harder. The urgent message from your niece, nephew or grandchild that you hear may actually be that person’s voice, stolen from their own posts. Be cautious, be safe, don’t get scammed.
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