History has referenced fraud in some form or another since Zenosthemis and Hegestratos attempted to commit insurance fraud on an ancient Greek sailing vessel. Some 2,323 years later, technological advances have enabled fraudsters to seek their fortunes by scamming people across the globe.
Whether it be through phone calls, emails, texts, or social media, the average modern consumer is bombarded with multiple messages each day in which they have to decipher whether it is real or fake. Sometimes it is difficult to tell.
The most recent one to run across our feed this week is a grant scam featuring a picture of a high-ranking government official with the name U.S (sic) Small Business Center. At face value, a business owner may mistakingly click on the offer and give up information that scammers may use for nefarious purposes.
Here at AHMdigital we have a few rules for vetting the dozens of phishing, vishing, and smishing attempts we field each day.
1. Google it. “Is xyz legit?”
2. If it is an excellent offer that sounds good, it probably isn’t. Do some research.
3. Do Not Click on Anything Before Researching It.
Even in our internal communications, if an employee sends an attachment on an email we are unsure of, we will contact them via another channel to make sure it is something they sent. A few seconds of prevention can save companies a fortune in mitigating the damage from terrible things such as ransomware.
Comments