In this blog, we are talking about internet scams. So, just like every year, there are a bunch of scams that are either brand new or maybe they are not even new, but they are becoming more popular recently. They are variations on an old scam that you should watch out for. But of course, the best way to defend them is to simply know about them.
Let’s discuss the scams
Google Voice Verification Scam
This is very tricky because you might not even realize that you were tricked by the end of it. This one usually targets the people who are selling things online, such as on Facebook, the marketplace, or Craigslist, but really anywhere people post their phone number to be contacted. And this even includes, sadly, people who are looking for lost pets. So how this scam works is, that they will first contact you and say they are a little bit hesitant. They want to verify you are a real person or verify that you are the real pet owner, or verify that you realize something.
And then they will say that they are going to send a verification text or there may also be a voice call, and it will be from Google Voice. It will say Google Voice Verification text, and then a code and they will ask you to give that code to them. And if you do, even if you don’t have a Google Voice account, they got you.
Google Voice verification is basically a service where you get assigned a virtual phone number, and then you can receive calls. a virtual phone number that gets forwarded to your main number.
Zelle Payment Scam
This one is interesting and this one is interesting because you might not even realize that a lot of banks, possibly even many banks, use Zelle and may have automatically signed you up so you can receive payments or send payments through Zelle, even though you never really made an account for it. And that's what the scammers take advantage of. So how this scam works, is scammers will send out mass text messages to a whole bunch of people and it will say something like, "Fraud detected, if you did not make this charge for that amount of dollars. And no matter what you respond, if you do respond at all they will then call you from a spoofed number to look like the bank and pretend to be the bank's fraud department. Then they will say something like, “We need to verify your identity" and they will ask for your bank username, not your password, which some people might be thrown off by. And the reason for this is what they are going to try and do is go through the password reset process with you on the phone, but you don't realize that's what's happening.
So they basically go onto the bank's website, put in the username you just gave them and, say they forgot their password, which will then, with Zelle at least, apparently trigger a text message to be sent to the phone number associated with it. Which again, is your number, but you might not realize that it is. And what they will say is, "I am going to be sending you an SMS message with a verification code, and you will have to read that back to me to can get make sure you are legit" or whatever. And unbeknownst to you, that's not a verification text code, it's a code to reset your password. Anyway, so once they get this number, they basically can get a bank account and potentially even change your password. And because Zelle is tied to your bank account, usually, they can use this to send money out of it.
Cloud access job scam
This one is another interesting one because it doesn't always scam the person directly, but rather uses them sort of like the Google Voice scam to scam other people. Although sometimes, depending on the situation, you can be scammed directly.
So how this scam works is the scammers will post a fake job listing online, which people will respond to, and they may even do a mock interview where they don't really show their face. But maybe it's a text interview or over chat or something like that. And then they will offer you the job. And then afterward they will say something like, "Well we do have some requirements for you to actually be getting into this job and we have to have you sign this tax form". And first of all, with the tax form, that's not even the main part of the scam, but they might be kind of double-dipping by when you do fill that information out, like with your Social Security number, they might take that and use that later against you But the main part of the scam is actually this other document, and say things like, "To get this job, you need to confirm that you are wing to go through our setup process within 24 hours or else you won't get the job". And this process basically involves you signing up for a cloud computing account. Whether that's AWS, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, something that.
And the payoff
for the scammers is they will ask you, all right, after you set it up, give
us the username and password and we can complete our setup process. And then
once you do, they can use that Google Cloud or AWS account for nefarious
purposes. A lot of times these accounts will have a starting bonus credit or something
like a trial credit, and those users now used the information
that you are now associated with for fraud, which obviously is not
good. Or sometimes I believe they may even get you to add your credit card
number to the account and then say, we will reimburse you and we will
give you a bonus if you do this". And then, they can not only
just charge the trial credit but then start using your
credit card information for fraudulent purposes by running, or
whatever they want to use these computing resources from this
account on other people.
Post-disaster scams
Post disaster scams are in general category. And these are becoming more common simply because more things are happening. For example, in 2021, there is that huge "Tornado outbreak", it's being called were a whole bunch of homes across the United States was destroyed, and then scammers of course lined up to take advantage of this.
For example,
you may see an advertisement or receive a text or phone call,
whatever, and say, "You are eligible for FEMA relief funds. You
can get some money and you just have to pay this fee, and then we will get you
the funds". And obviously, fees for FEMA relief are not a
thing. It's a scam to just take your money.
Some scammers
may also pretend to be government officials as part of the relief effort
and say, " To help you out or get you whatever resource,
we need to first get your personal information and your banking information", or maybe even transfer money directly. It is the same idea, that they might use it to steal your
identity, something like that. So just be very suspicious and only sign up for
any kind of resources through official government websites. Just remember even if you go through a disaster. Still try and take the
time to vet some of these people that are claiming to be who they are,
they might not be.
Geek Squad subscription scam
This is not saying that Geek Squad is the scam, but rather scammers using that name as part of the scam. Now, this scam is actually really similar to other scams, but usually, the scammers use something like Amazon. So I have never seen it used before with Geek Squad, so I figured I will bring it up. And how the, one works are they will send you a text message or probably an email, that will be a fake subscription renewal confirmation. And then they will say, "To contact for information about this order, contact this phone number", which is going to contact the scammer.
And then from there, it is the usual. They ask you,
"What is your credit card info? So we can confirm the order", or
something like that. They just use that to steal and take your money. And
the way to defend against these scams is to simply call the office phone number on the actual retailer's website. So in this case,
you go on Best Buy's actual website, check their actual phone number,
don't rely on the one there in the email if you really want to check
for it, or just kind of be able to recognize that it is a scam. And also
just be aware that these types of scams are not just happening for Apple,
iTunes, and Amazon anymore, it's more obscure services.
Omicron PCR testing scam.
Apparently, this one is happening mostly in the United Kingdom but really could happen anywhere. And basically, how it works is you will get a text message or an email, something like that claims to be a way to get a free COVID Omicron test. And in the United Kingdom, at least the one that's mostly going around sends you to a website that looks like National Health Service. And basically, you have to fill out all your personal information, potentially even credit card information, and then they will just steal whatever you put in. And then you don't get the test.
I remember actually talking about this scam I
think last year, where it was obviously not Omicron, but it was the same
story, scammers pretending to be a government agency. And in that one,
they did ask for your credit card number for a fee. So just be aware, to
always only go to the official website and make sure you check that URL.
Child tax credit scams
Now, last year in the United States, the federal government did send out payments in the form of tax credits, depending on if you had children and stuff like that. But theoretically, this could happen anywhere in the world for any government program that is involving sending money to people. And what scammers have been doing is at the time these payments were going out and still to this day continuing, saying that, "You qualify for this tax credit", or maybe by this point they will say, "You are qualifying to get another tax credit".
And
how this one works is not really a new story. They contact you via text
message or voicemail or whatever email, and they will say, "You
qualify for this tax credit. You can get this amount of money, but you
have to do x y z first". And really the sky is the limit after you
contact them and believe it, they could ask for personal information,
banking information a fee, or something for the bank transfer. Whatever
they say, they are probably going to try and get as much as they can out
of you.
Emergency Broadband Program impersonators
This one is actually a really run-of-the-mill scam in terms of the technique, but I wanted to point this one out because the real program not the scam one, is actually something I think most people should at least know about, so I wanted to mention it. It's just another federal program in the USA. But basically, if you qualify, the government apparently will give you a refund of, or a kind of a rebate of, 50 bucks a month for internet service So that might be worth checking if you are struggling to pay for your internet bill, especially in these times of remote work. You might want to look into that, just on the official government website. Don't believe any of these scammers.
The main notable thing I noticed about this game when I
was reading is that apparently, scammers are using social media
advertising to spread it, not just spam texts and stuff like that. And
a lot of people may fall for it because they may expect to get spam
on their text message or email, but maybe not see scams in social media advertising like on Facebook. And then what happens, is you click on this
advertisement or click on the link, maybe they do send an email. And
then it is the usual "Take sign up for this. We need your identity
information. We need you to pay this fee". So just remember if you do
see advertisements for some government program, even if it is a real
thing, definitely look it up yourself on the actual government website.
Google the actual website, don't necessarily take an advertisement at face value. So by now, you should be at least more aware of some of the more popular scams, though don't think that these are the only ones going around. But if you are aware of the general patterns of these scams, at the end of the day, they are kind of similar so you can start to recognize them, even if it's not exactly the same.