You may have heard of ransomware, perhaps you’ve been a victim of it. As it is a growing security concern for both businesses and home users, please educate yourself on the dangers and warning signs.
- Read this article & watch the video http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ransomware-cyber-scams-bogus-emails-1.3314221
- Comment on the Library 2.Now! blog about one of the following:
- Your experience with email scams.
- The steps you use to avoid them.
- Warning signs that would tip you off to a scam.
- Any other related topic.
library2pointnow 
The steps I use to avoid email scams include checking the sender and subject lines for any irregularities such as spelling, attachment files with .php or similar, or relevancy before opening any email. If I decide to open the email I check the message – is it written in a manner I would expect, is it something this person would normally send me, or is it something I would expect to receive. I rarely click on links, and never from emails from unknown senders. If in any doubt I delete, then delete from my trash. If it is legit the person will send again.
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My experience with email scams is much the same as what Beth has mentioned above. I will do the same sort of checking before opening an email, at home or especially at work. I once worked at TD Visa, and we had an unbelievable amount of email (and other) fraud complaints from customers there – and that was ten years ago! I’m sure the numbers on this have only increased; as the article mentions, this wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t successful.
Another kind of scam I recently dealt with is the pop-up warning on your computer. This was very sophisticated, and while I knew that it was a scam, I played along a bit to see how far it would go. Last summer, after visiting a site I’d never been on before (for streaming tv shows), I had a pop-up appear on my screen – while I was on a different, known site, and after I’d closed down the browser tab with the new site. The pop-up looked as if it had come from Rogers, my Internet provider. It advised me to contact them immediately for computer assistance as my computer had been compromised by some sort of virus or malware. I called the number and spoke for some time to a young lady – it sounded exactly like talking to someone in a call centre. She had me check all sorts of “functions” on my laptop, showing me where things were “compromised” – and then advised me that she would be happy to fix it from where she was, if I could just send her $200 immediately. At that point I ended the call, but I was and still remain astonished by the attention to detail with which this scam was carried out. If I wasn’t very aware of the types of scams going around – if I was a new computer user, like my grandmother, for example – I’m sure I would have been duped.
Someone in my family also had an unfortunate experience recently that she’s been kicking herself for ever since. I looked into it online to see if there was anything to be done and apparently this is a very common scam. My family member purchased a new television, and went to register it online with Samsung, as instructed in the package insert that came with the TV. She filled out all of the info she was asked for, and as she went to leave the site and close out her session (this is the actual Samsung website, mind you, not a fraudulent site), a pop-up appeared stating that she could claim an offer for a free skin care product sample as a gift from Samsung for her recent purchase. She thought, ok sure, why not, and filled out the info they asked for – which included her credit card number. She received the product as promised, about three weeks later, but her credit card was charged for around $300! She contacted the company and was told that the free sample was in the box along with items she had agreed to be charged for, unless she returned them within two weeks of the purchase date. The box had not even shown up until three weeks after the purchase date! My aunt contacted the bank/credit card company, Samsung, and the company that had shipped the items, and was unable to get her money back. Lesson: never EVER give your credit card number out on the Internet if you’re not actively shopping for yourself on a secure site, and always read the fine print!
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Learning a lot from Library 2.Now from each lesson. I haven’t experienced a lot of scams on computer, occasional a pop up one. More from a phone call, from someone with heavy accent, telling me I have a problem with my computer, and I need to turn it on. I question them to keep them on line for a bit, asking them to tell me what the problem is, etc. etc. but with no intention of turning on my computer, sometimes they hang up on me, before I hang up on them. This lesson was very informative to make me more aware of what to watch for.
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I had an e-mail this week in my junk mail from my son-in-law asking me to click on a link. Immediately I thought this looks a little off and odd for him to be sending me an e-mail. The wording always looks a little strange. If you have any doubts never click on it.
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I have had emails from Paypal and eBay that look very legitimate but I always sign into my account to see if there is a message. Emails from companies you don’t deal can be obvious to pick out but ones from businesses you have accounts with are not always so clear. If in doubt I check my account online and/or make a call.
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I receive emails quite regularly from friends with a suspicious subject line. I never open them and delete right away. Always check the sender and the subject carefully before opening. I find I get more junk and suspicious email to my personal email account than I do legitimate emails.
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I am cautious about links and if in doubt I will ask Chris or Dale if they are available. I am cautious and prefer to err on the side of caution. Scary stuff!!!
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Like others have mentioned, I’m also very cautious when it comes to emails from individuals I don’t know. And like others have also mentioned, some are obviously not from anyone I know (and I delete those immediately) but if I’m unsure, I’ll contact that individual and/or business to see if they have indeed contacted me. Like Helen mentioned, I’ve had a strange phone call which I’m assuming was a scam. However, they didn’t contact me — I was placing a call and it seemed my call was intercepted by an individual who informed me I had won a prize. Since I wasn’t sure if it was legit or not, I was asking questions and eventually the call was terminated.
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I like Jenn’s comment about contacting the individual or business when it seems like the email could? be real. I won a Scandinav gift certificate so an email said…I called Them and asked for the lady and woo hoo…I had won…she mailed my certificate!!!😀
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warning signs that would tip you off to a scam: you don’t know the person sending the email, wrong email signature, poor spelling, an attachment you are not planning on receiving from someone you know.
If you know the person who sent the email and you are unsure, just ask if they sent it
if you don’t know the person that sent the email just delete the email
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I always like to think before I click. When I receive an email I like to rack my memory to see if I’ve given this person or agency my email address. Like the recent Canada Revenue Agency scams, I know for a fact that I’ve never given this organization my email address, so there is no way these emails are legit.
As well, I like to have a main email address for true correspondence and a secondary email address I use for when I’m required to enter one to sign up for an online service or contest. I’m less worried about who has my email address when most of the time I’m giving out a ‘fake’ one to marketers and spammers.
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I agree with the comments that everyone has made, we all have to be very cautious and vigilant about what we use online. So I check sender and subject lines before opening and never open an email without a subject line. The information after @ in someones email address can be a great clue as to whether or not the email is legit.
Like Dale, I have a separate email address for regular correspondence, a “fake” one for marketers and another for loyalty cards, eg. PC Plus.
You can never be too careful…
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All the comments are excellent! I’ve received a few emails recently from different people in my address book. The emails seem legit (subject line, name I Recognize) when received but in the message part they are very impersonal like ” try out this new website I’ve discovered” then a link is provided. I always delete these messages. I also delete anything without a subject line or from an unfamiliar sender. I also have several different emails I use to screen out the junk. – Sharon😀
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Luckily, touch wood, I haven’t had much experience with e-mail scams. I use an antivirus program on my computer and anything that seems unwanted usually goes to my spam folder. Occasionally something will get through. I received an e-mail awhile ago that was from a friend in the U.S. who rarely e-mails me as his wife and I stay in contact on facebook, so an e-mail from him was very unusual. I contacted her on facebook, she asked him if he had e-mailed, he hadn’t, so I deleted it.
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My recent experience is to receive emails about my Paypal account being locked and my Apple products being shipped or my Apple ID being changed. If there are spelling mistakes then it is probably not legit and if I want to double check I always go to the website through googling it, NEVER the link they provide.
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