Well, maybe not. In today’s technological world, what appears to be may not be.
Phishing, credit card fraud, email scams have all become very sophisticated.
An example, I just included my Note 5 in the Amazon seller account, in a matter of minutes I had a buyer, until I read the answer:
Does this sound like something Amazon would write?
Quote: “We hereby notify you that your item order has been completed and we have received payment from the buyer on your behalf. An additional 50 has been added for shipping. You may now go ahead and ship the item and contact us at the number shipment tracking for shipment verification in another to transfer your payment to your account”.
Obviously, these jerks weren’t very good at it. But many are.
A scammer contacts you out of the blue pretending to be from a legitimate business, such as a bank, phone service provider, or Internet provider. You can be contacted by email, social media, phone call or text message.
The scammer asks you to provide or confirm your personal details. For example, the scammer may say that the bank or organization is verifying customer records due to a technical error that removed customer data. Or, they may ask you to complete a customer survey and offer you a prize for participating.
Alternatively, the scammer may alert you to “unauthorized or suspicious activity on your account.” They may tell you that a large purchase has been made in a foreign country and ask if you authorized the payment. If you say no, the scammer will ask you to confirm your credit card or bank details so the “bank” can investigate. In some cases, the scammer may already have your credit card number and ask you to confirm their identity by citing the 3- or 4-digit security code printed on the card.
Phishing messages are designed to appear genuine and often copy the format used by the organization the scammer purports to represent, including its brand and logo. You will be taken to a fake website that looks real, but has a slightly different address. For example, if the legitimate site is realbank.com.au’, the scammer might use an address like realbank.com’.
You can be sitting in a cafe, a deli or a coffee shop, you can get hacked while you’re sitting there, it’s called a “pineapple”, the Wi-Fi pineapple makes man-in-the-middle attacks really easy, look around you and see if anyone is using it
Pharming – The scammer redirects you to a fake version of a legitimate website you are trying to visit. This is done by infecting your computer with malware that causes you to be redirected to the fake site, even if you type the real address or click the marked link.
Warning signs
You receive an email, text, or phone call claiming to be from a bank, telecommunications provider, or other company you do business with, asking you to update or verify your details.
The email or text message is not addressed to you by your proper name and may contain typing errors and grammatical errors.
The website address does not look like the address you usually use and asks for details that the legitimate site does not normally ask for.
You see new icons on your computer screen, or your computer is not as fast as it normally is.
protect yourself
Do not click on any links or open email attachments that claim to be from your bank or other trusted organization asking you to update or verify your details; just press delete.
Do an internet search using the names or exact wording of the email or message to check for references to a scam; many scams can be identified this way.
Look for the safe symbol. Secure websites can be identified by using ‘https:’ instead of ‘http:’ at the beginning of the Internet address, or a closed padlock or intact key icon in the lower right corner of your browser window. Legitimate websites that ask you to enter sensitive information are usually encrypted to protect your data.
Never provide your personal, credit card or online account details if you receive a call claiming to be from your bank or any other organisation. Instead, ask for their name and contact number and make an independent verification with the organization in question before calling back.
Keep an eye out for anything on your credit card alert that says canteen, they try your credit card at a vending machine, if it works, it all breaks loose in minutes.
Go to your bank (online) and set up your alerts, I set mine to $1 dollar, anything that hits my credit card I get an instant alert.
Sign up for identity theft programs.
Change your password every 90 days.
Use credit cards, it’s the banks’ money.
Debit cards are your money, if they are scammed it can take months to get your money back.
If you use a debit card, always use it as credit, you have your signature to prove that it was or not you.
NEVER CLICK ON THIS
CAVEAT
YOUR SYSTEM MAY HAVE DETECTED VIRUSES ON YOUR COMPUTER
Your financial information may not be secure Call technical support at: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Hope this helps, I know I was a victim of identity theft several years ago, and it’s no fun to undo it, and in some cases, it kills you.
I subscribed to LifeLock® Identity Theft Solutions, I was so impressed with their services and protection that I became a corporate agency for them. They oversee all 3 offices and more.
Good luck and pay attention!
Frank J. Eberhart, Author of the CEP® RFC®