Digital Scams and Cons
Scammers use social media, email, messaging services, and deceptive websites to steal personal information and money. Understanding how these scams work—and recognizing their warning signs—can help you protect yourself and your family. This article explains several common digital scams and practical steps you can take to avoid them.
Social Media Scams
Using social media safely requires balancing connection with privacy. Information shared in posts, profiles, photos, and messages can help scammers learn about you or the people in your family. They may use those details to impersonate someone, guess security-question answers, or make a fraudulent request seem credible.
Profile Hacking Scams
Social media, professional networking, shopping, and banking accounts can contain valuable personal information. Cybercriminals may copy a real person’s name, photos, and identifying details to create a convincing fake profile. They then use that profile to gain trust and request money from the person they contact or someone in that person’s family, often through a wire transfer, fundraising campaign, or payment application.
Elicitation
Elicitation is the deliberate use of seemingly casual conversation to obtain information without making the other person feel questioned. It can occur through any service with private messaging, including Facebook Messenger or Skype. A scammer may ask harmless-sounding questions and combine the answers to build a profile of you, impersonate you, answer account security questions, or support identity theft or credit card fraud.
Phishing
Phishing remains common because deceptive messages can closely resemble legitimate communication. A scammer may pose as a trusted colleague, business, or contact in an email, social media message, or other digital channel. The message often creates urgency and directs the recipient to open an attachment, follow a link to an unsecured or fraudulent page, or provide login or payment information. Attachments may also contain malware that compromises the recipient’s device.
URL-Shortening Cons
Shortened links can conceal the address of the website they open. A scammer may use one in a message that appears to come from a business you trust, directing you to a lookalike site designed to install malware or steal login credentials and payment information. Because the destination is hidden, the link can be difficult to evaluate before you open it.
Tips to Stay Safe
- Do not share sensitive, personal information about yourself, family or friends online. It is the key hackers need to unlock the door to everything.
- Review the privacy settings on every social media service you use. Limit posts and profile details to people you know and check those settings periodically because platforms may change their privacy options.
- Avoid posting details that could reveal the answers to account security questions, such as a pet’s name, a hometown, a birthday, or a school. When possible, use answers that cannot be discovered from your public profile.
- Use URL extenders to see where the shortened link is going to take you. For example, you can see if the short link really goes to Macy’s or a Macy’s ‘lookalike’ site that wants you to enter your username and password so that they can commit fraud with your account.
- Before typing a URL or opening a website, check the spelling and domain name carefully. Scammers often use addresses that resemble a legitimate company’s website but contain added words, missing letters, or other small changes.
- If a friend sends an unexpected message asking you to send money, share information, click a link, or take another action, verify the request through a separate channel. Call or text the person using contact information you already have rather than replying to the suspicious message.
- Avoid signing in to sensitive accounts on public computers or over unsecured public Wi-Fi. If you must use a public network, wait to access banking, email, and other sensitive services until you are on a trusted connection.
- Do not click a link or open an attachment unless you have independently verified that the sender intended to share it. If the message is unexpected, contact the sender through a known phone number or a separate conversation because scammers may use compromised accounts to distribute malware.
If you believe you have responded to a scam, act quickly. Stop communicating with the sender, change passwords for affected accounts, contact the relevant financial institution or service provider, and monitor your accounts for unauthorized activity. Report the suspicious profile, message, or website through the platform where it appeared.
Source: Information originally provided by Digital Defense, now part of Fortra.
Additional Resources
Stay vigilant and informed by reviewing trusted fraud-prevention resources. Visit UECU’s online Fraud Prevention Center for guidance on protecting your identity, recognizing phishing scams, safeguarding personal information, and more.
