How to protect yourself from scams / hacks this holiday season

In the digital age in which we live, technological advances have simplified so many aspects of our lives but they have simultaneously increased the ways in which hackers and scammers can illegally gain access to our personal information. I have seen so many scenarios which inspired me to share my experiences and that of my family as a cautionary tale to you all.

One morning, mom woke up to a Facebook Messenger message in from a friend asking for a favor. The sender of the message specifically said (in Haitian Creole) that she was currently unavailable to speak because she was in a meeting. Nothing seemed odd at first until the person asked mom to click a link to make a transfer to someone else on her behalf and that she will reimburse her by the end of the day. Mom made the mistake of clicking on said link but still told the person that the site is asking her to register which she does not want to do. Fast forward to a matter of minutes, mom’s entire friend list received the same message asking for this urgent favor, but this time, with my mom seemingly doing the asking.

Unfortunately, someone in Haiti made the transfer to this person right away because it sounded so urgent and since they’re not used to mom asking for favors, they reacted immediately without asking questions. Thankfully, it wasn’t an insanely large amount, because they were unable to get their money back. Another person in the US attempted to make the transfer as well but I don’t recall the details of how that went.

The hackers temporarily locked mom out of her own account because they changed the recovery phone number to theirs. Thankfully I was able to log in and change her password before posting a status asking everyone to ignore any messages received from her.

Now that the holiday season is around the corner, be alert my friends. Scammers are witty and hackers are relentless. They come up with so many ways to prey on those who aren’t aware of the various internet schemes out there. So be wise. Do not click on any links or email attachments that you weren’t expecting especially if they are coming from an unknown sender.

When it comes to social media scams, I think that if a friend needed you urgently, I would hope that they would call you, not send you a message on the internet. Do not give out any personal information to anyone even if they use scary tactics like telling you that there’s a warrant out for your arrest or that you owe the IRS. That actually happened to a friend of mine and she actually went to the precinct to verify if she was really in trouble after getting one of these scary calls. As a general rule of thumb, government entities would always contact you in writing. They would not call you and then ask you to verify your identity. 

One last bit of advice, be vigilant with your bank statements. Now that banking apps make our banking activity available on all our devices, you must consistently verify the transactions posted on your account because otherwise, fraudulent activities can be going on in any of your accounts for months without you being aware.

I recently was a victim of fraud on my online savings account. This is an account for which I do not even have a debit card. Somehow, hackers were still able to hack it and make a bill payment via ACH. Because I stalk my statements regularly (as you should), I was able to alert the fraud department immediately and they launched an investigation on the matter and issued me a refund right away. 

On the flip side, a relative of mine recently found that someone had been using her credit card number at a gas station in a different state for the same amount for over 6 months. Mind you, the card was still in her possession and never lost or misplaced. Because she usually just makes her payments without checking her statement, the fraudulent activities went on for months unnoticed.

Just because you haven’t lost your wallet doesn’t mean that the chances of your personal information being in the hands of scammers and hackers are reduced. Any of the companies you do business with on a daily basis could be hacked and in a split second, unauthorized users can have access to not just your name and your address but also your phone number, email address, date of birth, credit score, account numbers etc…

I can’t stress enough how imperative it is to remain vigilant when it comes to securing not only your identity but also the coins you worked so hard to earn. Keep in mind that even large companies who have firewalls and all types of protection in place still get hacked so no one is exempt. I work for an IT company who provides security for their client’s networks, and even then we get emails infected with malware. We’ve gotten emails which appear to be from the first and last name of someone who works at the company only to find that the email address is actually not from the company’s domain. Recently, a colleague of mine also received an email saying that they’re issuing a refund to him and that he should “click here” to review the refund status. DO NOT CLICK ON THESE LINKS!

One of my favorite Youtubers, Ms. Naturally Mary, recently got hacked when someone pretended to be a brand trying to partner with her. They asked her to click a link to access the partnership details and in a matter of minutes after she did so, she completely lost access to her 80,000 followers. She explained the details of what happened in this video. Such an unfortunate situation especially for content creators like Mary whose social media platforms are used as a significant stream of income in their online business.

I can’t say that every spam / hack situation is completely avoidable, but being aware reduce your chances of being affected. Experts recommend getting an identity theft protection service to keep an eye on your credit report and bank accounts so you (myself included) may want to add that on list of things to do ASAP. If you found this post helpful, be sure to share it with your friends and family who may need the reminder. Be safe out there, online and in person.

Until next time,