▲ Scammers, Cheats, and Thieves – a Resource Page
Online theft is all around us. You know it from all of those unwanted offers that come through the mail, voice calls, text messages and emails that you’ve been receiving forever. How do you deal with this? When does it become a problem that affects, or has affected you personally?
This resource page highlights some of the areas that we covered in our seminar – and is a valuable source for anyone seeking information about online scams and fraud, with links to excellent information to help protect yourself.
▲ Overview of Worldwide Scamming
The 2024 State of Scams Report by the Feedzai group is sobering.
Some highlights from the global scam report include:
- Almost half of the world encounters a scam at least once a week.
- 1 in 2 survey respondents said they had been exposed to more scams in the past 12 months.
- Shopping scams are the most frequently encountered around the world.
- Nearly half of scams are over within 24 hours of contact.
- Globally, only 4% of victims got their money back.
- 36% of victims reported severe emotional impact after a scam.
- 70% did not report the scam to law enforcement.
Read a free summarization of the report by GASA, the Global anti-spam Alliance which you can access here:
▲ A disaster strikes
Your inbox, social, texts are flooded with requests for help
Given the horrific scene still unfolding in Los Angeles, PALS is placing crucial information here.
Articles: LA Times
▲ Texting Scams
You get a text message about a package, your Social Security, your bank account, etc. asking you to ‘just click this link’. It’s a ‘smishing’ attempt!
What is ‘Smishing?’
Smishing is a type of phishing attack that uses text messages to trick people into sharing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links. Scammers may impersonate trusted organizations, such as the post office, a bank, or the Social Security Administration, to gain the victim's trust.
Excerpts From the LA Times, 12/17/24
Karen Garcia
The week before Christmas is crucial if you are sending packages or getting last-minute deliveries through the U.S. Postal Service. But be careful, because scammers are trying to use text messages to take advantage of you.
As of Tuesday, the USPS has delivered more than 7.4 million pieces of mail and packages this holiday season, according to its online tracker.
Consumers anxiously waiting for a package could be fooled by an unsolicited text message posing as a delivery update or request for account information from the post office. This type of text message could contain a web link and/or a phone number requesting a response.
How to report a mail related smishing scam
Report a mail-related smishing scam to the USPS Inspection Service by emailing [email protected]. In the email, include your name and the following information:
- Copy and paste the suspicious text message into the email.
- Include a screenshot of the text message showing the phone number of the sender and the date sent.
- Include any details such as whether you clicked on the link, whether you responded to the message with any personal information and whether any personal information or bank information was affected because of the scam.
Once your email is sent, the inspection service will contact you if more information is needed.
If you get a smishing text purporting to be from another government agency or retailer, you can report it to the FCC online — or for Spanish, by calling (888) 225-5322 — or to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
▲ Phone Scams
Scenario One: Your phone rings. When you answer, its your Nephew saying that he's had an emergency and is in the Hospital but can't pay the bill, or some other calamity. It sounds like him, but is it?
Scenario Two: Your friend's phone rings. Its YOU on the other end saying you've been kidnapped. But is it really you?
Voice Cloning
Excerpts from the Detroit Free Press, 12/19/24
Susan Tompor
Scammers now can use voice-cloning via AI to impersonate us or others and steal money.
Here are some suggested steps to combat this.
Just as you're ready to mingle and jingle, it's time for a warning about how a holiday-themed TikTok or Facebook reel that you post now could end up being used by scammers with AI-cloning tools to steal money from Grandma.
Even more scary, the same could be said about that friendly message you're leaving on your voicemail. Yep, we're now being told that it's wise to ditch the “Hi this is Sally, can't come to the phone right now” custom message and go with the boring, pre-recorded default greeting offered on your cell phone that uses a voice that isn't yours.
It's not exactly the cheery kind of stuff we want to hear as the calendar moves closer into 2025. But it's not exactly the kind of message we can afford to ignore, either.
Those operating sophisticated fraud rings only need roughly three seconds of your voice to duplicate who you are — replicating the pitch of your voice, your tone, the pace at which you speak — when the crooks use some readily available, low-cost AI tools, according to Greg Bohl, chief data officer for Transaction Network Services.
Article Link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/12/19/call-scammers-using-ai/77075605007/
▲ E-mail, Social Media Scams
Common E-mail Scam
You receive a frightening e-mail which might look something like this example (excerpted):
Subject: Security Breach Alert
From:John Quinn (bogus email address removed)
Jan 14, 2025, 12:28 PM (2 days ago)
to me
Good day.
Your system has been hacked with a Trojan virus.
It has penetrated your device through adult portals which you sometimes visit.
Some spicy videos contain malicious code that activates after being turned on. Your entire information has already been copied to my servers.
The organization that sent this email warned that they had used the victim's computer camera to record the victim having sex, and that they were going to distribute the video to the internet unless the victim clicked a very long link purportedly to a BitCoin Wallet. If the victim had clicked the link, the computer certainly would have been taken over and held for a significant ransom.
Action steps: Don't panic and click links in these kinds of e-mails!
Online misinformation and disinformation
When you read articles on the Internet, or promotional e-mails sent to you, are there ways to verify what you're reading or seeing? The answer is YES!
Excerpts from the full article, 11/17/24
Jennifer Jolly
USA Today
Learn to spot fake videos, misinformation
Use online resources already available to separate fact, fiction
Reliable sites to verify online content
- Politifact is dedicated to researching, confirming, and debunking any political news story that catches traction.
- FactCheck.org conducts deep-dives into murky news stories that live somewhere between fact and fiction.
- Washington Post Fact Checker provides further analysis of volatile news stories with thorough research and truthfulness ratings.
- Snopes is one of the most trusted sites for debunking fake news, not specifically dedicated to politics, but features many political news stories.
Detecting fake Video
AI-generated video gets better daily, but some red flags and dead giveaways remain. According to the MIT Media Lab, the most obvious telltale signs include:
- Blinking and lip movements: Examine them closer to see if they follow natural rhythms or seem out of sync.
- Reflections in eyes and glasses: Are they mismatched? Is there a reflection? Do they make visual sense?
- Look closely at faces: Does the age of the skin match that of the eyes and hair? In addition, hands are often still 'off' in most AI videos. There are too many – or too few – fingers and other oddities. Usually, writing on billboards, street signs or even store names appear upside down, backward or misspelled.
- Use a ready-made AI tool to spot fakes: There are some great new tools for spotting AI-created text, photos and voice manipulation, but I haven’t found a solid fake-video vetting tool yet. Several are in the works, including Deepware Scanner and Free Deepfake Detector by Resemble. Still, I couldn’t get either to recognize the bogus videos I mentioned at the top of this story.
Detecting fake text and Images
The good news is that some text- and image-scanning apps do a decent job identifying AI creations.
- Copy the text from any article and plug it into Copyleaks AI Detector. It tells you the likelihood that a human wrote it versus an AI author. It constantly trains on new AI models, so it’s hard to beat. Paste the same article text into another AI checker like QuillBot or GPTZero for an added layer of lie-busting.
- Images are getting easier to verify, too. Use SightEngine as your first line of defense. It detects images created by the most popular AI image generators like MidJourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and more. Then, if you want to see where else the image was used, upload it to TinEye. If it is published on reputable news sites and presented as fact, you can feel more comfortable believing what you see.
▲ Other Resources
The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
Protect Yourself from Fraud – Resources to Help You Achieve Financial Security
An excellent 72 page PDF publication
Feel free to save a copy of this publication to your computer.
Scam Prevention Tips and Action Steps from Major Banks