As technology has rapidly changed in recent years, fraud has become more rampant and high-tech. Courtesy of TIAA, learn the three most common approaches scammers use to try to leave people vulnerable to fraud and what you can do to defend yourself.
Phishing – Email Attacks
Did you know that 90 percent of data breaches within organizations in 2020 were a result of phishing attacks? Phishing is when scammers send people a fake email to trick them into clicking a link within the email. If this is successful, the scammer can gain access to your username, passwords, and other sensitive personal and financial information.
Vishing – Phone Call Attacks
Vishing is an attack by phone. The scammers make unsolicited phone calls to individuals to trick them into sharing sensitive information. In the first quarter of 2022, there was a 550 percent increase in reported vishing cases compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Smishing – Text Message Attacks
Another approach is smishing, which is when the scammers send phony text messages with malicious links and attachments to try to steal data. People open 98 percent of text messages- nearly five times more than those who open emails. They respond to texts in 90 seconds, 60 times faster than emails.
Guidelines to defend yourself against these attacks
- Verify the sender’s information. Email addresses used by attackers may be incorrect by one letter. Caller ID should not be trusted since scammers can spoof phone numbers of legitimate companies.
- Don’t click on links and attachments. Do not return unknown phone calls or click on links or attachments. Go to the company’s official website to confirm links and phone numbers.
- Look out for grammatical or spelling mistakes. Pay attention to the details in the subject, the body of the message, as well as the sender’s information.
- Avoid sharing personal information including usernames and passwords in addition to financial information.
- Report, block and delete phishing emails, smishing texts, and vishing calls.
- Consider registering your phone number withdonotcall.gov.
Visit TIAA’s Security Center and Fidelity’s Security Page for more information.
