It”s the season of giving, and no one knows that better than the holiday con artist.
Columbus Police Lt. Selvain McQueen said snow jobs traditionally spike during the Christmas season when people are feeling the most charitable.
“We see (victims come in) all the time, especially in the holiday season,” McQueen said.
This season, the FBI is warning of two particular scams known as “smishing” and “vishing.”
“Smishing” is a phishing scam — an automated con that asks for your help — that uses text messages. “Vishing” is a phishing scam that uses phone calls.
The messages, which are a “growing threat” in the U.S., usually ask the victim to provide personal or financial information, according to the FBI”s website.
And if people respond to fake messages, that starts an automated reaction to draw in victims, McQueen said.
“The best thing to do is hit the ”delete” button,” he added.
Pickens County, Ala., Sheriff David Abston said scams are being reported almost daily now.
“They”re intensifying as we”re approaching the holidays,” he said. “I can see it picking up the tempo.”
One of the more common shakedowns is the automated phone call from someone masquerading as a banker or phone company representative, Abston said. The con artists will sometimes give a phony story about the victim”s account being overdrawn or that their personal information needs to be updated.
At least one e-mail phishing scam has been reported this year involving a Columbus bank.
Columbus Trustmark Bank President Bart Wise confirmed a con artist was sending out an e-mail that appeared to be from the bank.
But banks will never request sensitive personal information by e-mail, Wise said. If people receive a message, they should report it to their bank immediately.
“As soon as we know about (the e-mails) and can track them, we can usually have it taken down within the day,” he said.
The victims of these kind of flimflam artists are most commonly elderly widows or widowers, Abston said. To be on the safe side, he cautioned people to only deal with people they know personally.
“Don”t be afraid to call the sheriff”s department and check (these people) out,” he urged.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM ONLINE SCAMS
The FBI offers the following tips to protect yourself from cyber scams during the holiday season:
· Don”t respond to text messages or automated voice messages from unknown or blocked numbers on your mobile phone.
· Treat your mobile phone like you would your computer … don”t download anything unless you trust the source.
· When buying online, use a legitimate payment service and always use a credit card because charges can be disputed if you don”t receive what you ordered or find unauthorized charges on your card.
· Check each seller”s rating and feedback along with the dates the feedback was posted. Be wary of a seller with a 100 percent positive feedback score, with a low number of feedback postings, or with all feedback posted around the same date.
· Don”t respond to unsolicited e-mails (or texts or phone calls, for that matter) requesting personal information, and never click on links or attachments contained within unsolicited e-mails. If you want to go to a merchant”s website, type their URL directly into your browser”s address bar.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
