BE AWARE of SCAMMERS
- andrew shepard
- Nov 16, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 24, 2023
The holidays are wonderful family times. They are also wonderful times for scammers to trick you out of money.
Never open any attachments from people you do not know - no matter how tempting they might be.
Scammers use emails that will make you react quickly and not think. They do this by getting you angry, "This is not right!!!!" Examples include:
"Here is your bill",
"Thank you for your order",
"Confirming your renewal".
"You owe the IRS money"
"You could be arrested"
"There is a law suit against you"
If you get an email like those above, follow these simple rules:
Never open any attachments no matter how tempting. Typical examples are invoices, confirmations, packing lists, demand, arrest warrant, IRS demand, etc. They make it very tempting so they can install a virus on your computer.
Never use the phone number they provide in the email no matter how legit it looks. I broke this rule recently and talked with someone before hanging up and looking up the number for Intuit / Norton online - It was different and I used that one to confirm the other number was a scam.
Always check both the email address they used and your receiving address. Telltale signs of a scam email address include:
Group emails: see if the email was sent to many people not just you. ACTION: Check the to: address
BCC: You were bcc'd and the address you can see was not your address. ACTION: Check your address.
Bad sent from email address: Check if the address they sent the email from is not the correct company address. Things like @Invoice.Norton.com vs just @Norton.com are a warning. ACTION: copy the @company.com name and search Google to confirm.
Phone calls are second way they try to get you.
Never allow someone who called you to load a program onto your phone or computer. Even if they ask you to go to a legitimate site like the Apple App Store or Google. Hang up and find a legitimate phone number.
Never give them your IP address
Never give them your email, phone number or your full SS. They should be able to provide something and have you confirm their info.
No matter how they got you on the phone, never do one of the following, just flat out refuse:
Buy gift cards for any reason - for example suggesting a way to catch a scammer. (What happened to my neighbor)
Provide your IP address - they want to connect to your computer to remove a virus on your computer.
Transfer / wire money - for example, pretending to be one of your grandchildren who is stuck somewhere or a police officer holding your grandchild. Always confirm this with us no mater what they say or beg to keep this a secret.
Provide any bank info - even if they want to send you money - they could tell you this is a company refund, lottery winnings, tax refund from MA, etc. never give even your bank name, let alone any other account details.
Provide any Medicare info. This includes calls from CVS, the town calling about free Covid shots, ALWAYS call them back. Get the company name and address and look it up yourself.
Here is a nasty trick. They will call with a bad bad connection with all sorts of cracking and then ask, "can you hear me?" They are looking for a voice print of you saying "Yes". They will then try to use your voice print to get approval to charge your credit card. Don't fall for these questions, say "I cannot hear you."
Computer or Phone Popup:
Some scammers use a screen popup on your phone or computer to get your attention. It might include a warning message, "you have a virus", "you have been hacked", "Microsoft has found an error that needs to be fixed." These will likely have a phone number you must call.
REMEMBER: Don't use their phone number, email, links in general, or any website they provide. Look up the phone number for the company they report to represent.
The Massachusetts EOEA is a great place to get help if this happened to someone at Abbey Road. They can help provide next steps and also provide more info so you are educated on these things as they change over time.
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