EDITORS DESK
A famous doctor's Facebook account was used by cybercriminals to solicit funds for a supposedly sick relative, a well-known religious leader. The doctor's friends trusted that he messaged them on FB Messenger and sent money without verifying. His account was taken over because he believed in a Facebook-sponsored post about a fake Messenger update.
A lawyer who received a warning that his account would be deactivated if he could not verify his identity within 45 minutes immediately replied with his personal information. Without knowing it, he has become a part of cybercriminals' scheme to collect money from people who believed the messages sent by the scammers that he is in the US and that he lost his wallet with all his credit cards.
A nun who simply asked a question in a forum about a debit card received a private message from someone claiming to be from the debit card company. The criminal then asked "sister" to verify the account by sending the phone number and the registered name. She was then instructed to immediately send a message with the six-digit code to verify her identity. The clueless nun who, by default, trusts people did all of these. Then the person she was talking to vanished, together with her congregation's money.
I have been sharing about fighting fake news, securing social media accounts, and avoiding online scams. I noticed that cybercriminals have become more sophisticated in the way they approached potential victims. Aside from using Facebook's technology to target users who are more likely to engage with their scam posts, scammers have improved their style and technique to make users click and engage with them.
Millions of phishing emails, scam text messages, and fraudulent Facebook posts are sent out to users every day. All these have one common purpose, to trick you into believing that they are from a legitimate organization so that you would give them your personal information that they could use to steal money from you, your friends, and your family.
If you received an email, a text message, a private message via Messenger apps, phone calls, or even Facebook sponsored posts asking you to send personal information, it's a definite red flag. Don't engage! Just delete and ignore the message.
Remember this, banks, government agencies, and even Facebook would not ask for your login names and passwords by calling or sending messages. Also, these institutions would not ask for your birthday to verify your age. Yes, you may be asked to verify your identity if you call the bank, but banks would not contact you to ask for confidential information.
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Scammers manipulate users by playing on their greed. One of the most successful scams is the Advance Fee scam, where the victim is asked to pay upfront or in advance with a promise of getting something of greater value. So, if you are asked for money to earn money, stay away from that offer. It's a scam. This includes emails, text, and direct messages on social media saying that you've won something, but you need to pay upfront for taxes and other fees before you could claim the prize. Once you transfer the money, you won't hear from that person again.
But there's another scam that looks legit. Circulated (again) via Facebook, this kind of scam promises you to earn as long as you join in webinars or online meetings and download and read special reports that would teach you how to sell anything without leaving your home. This scam is peddled by self-proclaimed coaches who will ask you to subscribe and follow their pages. Netflix's limited series "Money Explained" calls this scam Coaching scheme. The show explains that this is similar to an advance fee scam, but instead of paying money for the promise of more money, in this scam, you pay money for knowledge that they promise will make you earn cash. Words like "gold rush" and "earn a minimum of 100,000 a month easily" are often used by these so-called coaches.
You would be promised to learn how to make a fortune in real estate without needing any money, or you could make a fortune without any product. Except the promises are false, the money-making programs largely don't deliver, and you're often lured into paying for progressively more expensive classes because of the promise that would never materialize.
Always remember that nothing in this world is free. Even the security warnings that I am giving are not free. Come to think of it, you're paying me with your screen time and engagement. So if you want more of these kinds of posts, please share and ask your friends on social media to follow me.
(Art Samaniego, Jr. is the head of Manila Bulletin IT Department and is the editor of Technews.)