With another two new scams appearing, we’re back to inform you with yet another edition of scams to watch out for. Save yourself the viruses and money. Know ahead of time what to expect with these scams.
You’ve been hacked
This is the name of the first scam. Your family or friends may get an email from you, asking for information about them or about you or asking for money on your behalf. This should be a red flag that your system has probably been compromised and that you should then do some remedial work here.
First, check to see if your anti-malware and antiviral system is up to date. If it’s not, update it.
Second, clean your system. Run the necessary checks to clean any malware or viruses on your system, so it’s clean.
Third, you’ll also want to change your password. That is very critical. Make sure your password is not an easy password like your dog’s name, Spot. Make sure it’s a combination of upper-case and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. Make sure it’s unique so that only you know about it.
Fourth, make sure that you contact your carrier or your provider of your email service. See if they can restore your account back to normal. Last but not least, contact all of your family members and friends, and tell them that your system has been compromised. If anyone one gets an email from you asking for information or wanting money – delete it! Do not respond to the email request.
Robocalling
We all have had it happen to us. We get an individual calling us all the time, and at all hours of the day. Sometimes he or she is trying to sell us, services, or asking us for money, or worse, telling us, if we don’t provide them with some type of information, we are going to be in trouble.
First, just hang up on them. Don’t respond to them. Most of us have been taught, in this circumstance, to be polite and to listen and to respond to them. This is what you don’t want to do. If you engage in conversation with these individuals, you are more likely to say something, you will regret later. Just hang up on them.
Second, if they havenot contacted you earlier, through written correspondence, telling you that
they will be contacting you in the future, or you have not given them permission to contact you, you have a right to hang up on them. You are not obligated to speak to them.
Third, in some cases, you may receive a recording, telling you, “if you want to be taken off our no call list, press one.”; Don’t respond! You’re only going to start a chain reaction where they will then be able to start calling you more often, and you don’t know what other things they can do. In most cases, by responding, you confirm that the phone number is active. Surprisingly, most of us do not know what these scammers can really do given how technology is changing. So, my best advice is always hang-up, and that’s it.
If you have any other questions, please contact me at [email protected], or you may contact us at 651-243-3367