Didn’t even know Facebook had a lottery. Apparently it doesn’t, but that doesn’t stop fraudsters from using it to scam people.
According to ID Theft Center, “The Facebook Lottery Scam is certainly nothing new, but what makes this version different is the accompanying image of a certificate of authenticity made out to the recipient. In this version, which typically comes through private messages on Facebook due to lack of email security service, someone contacts you to let you know that you’ve won, and then informs you that you must show up in person to collect your winnings.
Say what you will about hackers, but they do their homework. They don’t just send out phishing emails willy nilly. The send them out and measure their effectiveness, including what day of the week is the most effective to send them on.
According to an article on NationalCybersecurity.com, research “has revealed more malicious emails are delivered on Monday mornings than any other day.” As if Mondays weren’t bad enough already. “More than 30 per cent of all cyber-attack emails sent by opportunistic hackers and scammers go out on the first day of the week, declining steadily with each passing weekday.”
When it comes to getting hit by ransomware, it doesn’t get much worse than the city of Baltimore. When the city got hit by ransomware earlier this year, apparently it had neither anti-phishing software protecting its email accounts nor cyberinsurance in the event that it did. And because the city has refused to pay the ransom ($76,000), it has spent in excess of $18 million restoring systems to date.
Most phishing attacks are pretty straight forward. They try to get the login credentials to your bank account, wipe you out and go on vacation. I’m not really sure about the vacation part, but the rest is pretty typical.
What else is typical is that the way to get your credentials is to send you an email with a link to a bogus website that captures your information and looks convincing enough so that you’ll provide it. Phishing attacks mostly come by email, but not always.
Phishing attempts are up 400% from January to July 2019, according to a new Webroot report. That’s not a shocking statistic. Afterall, phishing is a very profitable business and profitable businesses tend to reinvest in their business. The more successful phishing becomes, the more phishing attacks you’d expect to see.
Are you an accountant looking for an opportunity to work from home? Be careful, you may be a victim of a phishing scam. That according to the South Carolina Association of CPAs. From the association’s website, “A job hiring scam that advertises a fraudulent work from home accountant opportunity tricks jobseekers into laundering money, warns John LaCour, the founder of Charleston-based cybersecurity firm PhishLabs.”
Not if you believe the latest headlines. According to an article in Wired magazine, it’s not just the Russians anymore who are trying to affect the upcoming U.S. elections. Apparently, the Iranians are now trying to get in on the action too.
It’s a dubious honor. Apparently the people inAustralia are really bad when it comes to phishing attacks. How bad? “Over half of office workers have been victims of a phishing attack.” Half!
“Australians are among the most frequently targeted by hackers and cybercriminals, and the numbers back that up. Over 50 per cent of the office workforce have been victims of a hacking attack of some kind, according to recent research on the matter. The global-scale study was performed by online security firm Webroot, a company based in the United States of America.”
This week’s scams exploit people’s greed, desire to go on vacation and desire to be entertained. This first one is greed. If you have an account with Yahoo, and most people do, then you probably received an email from them this week regarding their Security Breach Proposal Settlement. Or did you?
If there’s money to be had, you know the bad guys will jump on it. According to the security training firm KnowBe4, “The bad guys are going to use the ‘urgency’ trick. The settlement is a set amount, meaning there’s only so much cash to go around. If too many people sign up for the cash option, they will have to split the pool. If someone had to spend time or money dealing with identity theft or other problems they believe stemmed from the Yahoo hacks, they can file a claim for up to $25,000 in out-of-pocket losses. All in all, enough bait to trick people.”
Could you spot a phishing email if one made it into your inbox? I’ll bet you think you could. Most people do, but they’re wrong.
According to a Webroot survey, “While a majority (79%) of people say they are able to distinguish a phishing message from a genuine one, nearly half (49%) also admit to having clicked on a link from an unknown sender while at work. Further, nearly half (48%) of respondents said their personal or financial data had been compromised by a phishing message.”
