Avoid Imposter Scams
At Tech Time, protecting your assets is our first focus. We’re telling you about a recent rise in impostor frauds, how they happen, and how to avoid them.
Avoid Being Victimized:
Many types of imposter frauds exist:
- Romance – a criminal creates a fake internet identity to earn a victim’s trust then manipulates and steals from them.
- Government – Criminal impersonating government agencies like IRS, Medicare, and FBI. If you don’t pay or give them your personal information, they suggest something horrible will happen or you’ll lose a government benefit.
- Relative/Friend – The scammer pretends to be a family member or friend in need of money.
- Charity scammers construct bogus nonprofits to steal money or personal information from unsuspecting victims.
- Trusted Companies—an imposter from your bank or energy company.
- Technical help—criminals mislead people by purporting to provide customer, security, or technical help.
Warning signals and impersonation fraud examples:
- Unexpected calls or emails threatening arrest or account freezing if you don’t pay a business, utility company, or government.
- A caller claims you’ve won a prize or grant but requires a deposit.
- A tech business or internet service provider claims to have found a virus or malware on your machine or that your subscription is about to renew.
- You receive a call or text from a relative or close acquaintance for emergency funds.
Protect Yourself:
- Verify a business, utility, or government agency’s attempt to reach you. Use customer service numbers and email addresses on invoices, account statements, and reputable company and government websites.
- Hang up on unsolicited computer repair calls. Apple and Microsoft will not seek for personal information or contact you for tech support unless you request it.
- Inform the impersonated company or institution about imposter schemes.
- Unless you know the person, don’t give out critical information like credit card numbers or Social Security numbers over the phone.
- Don’t give money to someone you don’t know, suspect you know, or met online.
- Don’t use caller ID to verify calls. Scammers utilize technologies to impersonate government or commercial numbers.