For cybersecurity month awareness I wanted to inform on  a cyber exploit that has been attempted on almost everyone. Almost every week I get a amazon or bank account login text and I also know many people who experience that on a weekly  basis.

In The 21st century people rely on technology every day and with that comes criminals who try to expose the naïve with this technology.  I chose this topic because I’ve experienced this type of cyber crime attempt the most. People everyday experience this scam but the unknowing fall for it resulting in stolen data or money. The scam happens by text, call, or email and for text and email scam you must click a link that installs malware or spyware. Phone Phishing is when scammers claim to be someone or something usually a “bank” that wants you to provide confidential information over the phone by being nice or treating unfortunately making the nieve (older people or kids)  fall for this scam.

 

Real Scam Encounters

This photo [above] is from a fake URL of Netflix that looks almost identical from the real website but it’s a scam.

 

This screenshot [above] is from my most recent Phishing message. The message wants me to click the link to redirect me to a fake UPS website to get my login info.

 

“Through a bit of luck on their part, bad luck on ours unfortunately, they were able to insert themselves into those conversations as they were happening, fairly seamlessly,” MacStay said. The response after a city workers email was compromised by scammers allowing them to take  $2.3 million in taxpayers money.

 

This google safe browsing graph shows how most scam websites over the years are switching to Phishing as the preferred method of scamming.

 

“The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that people lost $57 million to phishing schemes in one year”(FTC- May 2019)

 

Info About Phishing
  • Phishing (if stopped) would save  $57 million a year.
  • Never open a link address from an unknown sender.
  • If it sounds too good to be true over the phone, then it probably is a scam
  • If you do get caught in this scam it would be very hard to get your money back

 

#BeCyberSmart

Everyday people’s lives are ruined by the phishing scam. I personally know people who’s lives have been destroyed from this scam.  It is the most common type of cyber scam, and it has been attempted on almost everyone with a phone. I want to spread awareness about this for cybersecurity awareness month.

 

References

FTC - How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams | FTC Consumer Information(Netflix image, $57 Million)

Ledger Transcript- Monadnock Ledger-Transcript - Peterborough payment scam: Single compromised email account led to $2.3M theft (ledgertranscript.com)- ($2.3 million scam 10/5/21)

Tessian- Phishing Statistics (Updated 2021) - 50+ Important Phishing Stats – Tessian((Phishing statistics 2020, Phishing graph)