Why Scams Live and 10 Ways to Protect Yourself

It does not matter if you are participating in the Do Not Call Registry, receiving multiple scam and telemarketing calls is a daily annoyance. In fact, my phone roared to life with a telemarketing call even as I wrote this post. 

So, why do scams live?

A scam, by definition, is a “confidence game, or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; to cheat or defraud; swindle.” Typically, scams are perpetrated by a group of people with a common cause: to gain information that will lead to a financial reward. There is a certain mob-mentality to dishonesty. The more people involved, the less likely a participant's conscience against doing harm will kick in. In fact, it is sociopathic behavior among a group of participants in that there is no conscience involved.

Scams take shape via all forms of media – mail, email, telephone,

internet and in person. 

A scammer will reach you by any means available to them In its truest sense, a scam is deceiving an unsuspecting person out of something of value. General scams throw a wide net over the populace, such as the Nigerian Prince, the friend in the Philippines that needs money, the court that has a warrant out for your arrest, or Microsoft calling about a virus on your computer. As a whole, most scams are of the general type and receive a lot of media attention informing the public not to succumb to the scam; and yet, the scammers are still "fed" by innocent victims.

The more dangerous scams, such as IRS scams, not only do the most damage, they come armed with the most personal information.

Identity theft is on the rise with more than 1,579 breaches this past year and exposing almost 179 million personal information records. The Equifax breach was not the only significant breach in 2017. Javelin Strategy & Research states that in 2017, 16.7 million individuals were affected by identity theft, resulting in $16.8 billion dollars stolen.

It takes time, energy and patience to sort out identity theft, but to not do so bears a greater impact. Last year alone, three of my credit cards were charged fraudulently.

Scams are a societal issue.

While readying this blog to post, CBS This Morning did an informative fact-filled segment on Sweepstakes Scams. It is as if they read this blog before it ever posted. The segment really hit home just how deep scams run and how they are a financial and emotional pain point in our modern society.

Who are the victims? Anyone.

There is little to no effort involved in becoming a victim. In the case of identity theft, a breach in a financial institution leaves us all vulnerable. I have written extensively about information and scams in the past, as well as the Equifax breach, but let's take this one step further.

Scams live because they are being fed.

Scammers are not honest people. They are unethical people who do not care about the damage they leave behind. They do not care if they rob an elderly citizen out of their savings. They do not care about you, period. What they do care about is being successful in their end game. And, to some, that's exactly what it is to them – a game.

When a scammer views the scam as a game, the objective is to be as convincing as possible, using all means of deception to cause the unsuspecting victim to part with the valuables. Their goal is to create an emotional response that will compel you to take action. It is emotional manipulation for financial gain. They display no ethics, nor compassion, and when they are successful, once you are a victim, you become a future target.

How do you defeat their plan?

1. Never give any personal information to anyone, be it over the phone, email, or Facebook. Take extra care not to share credit card information, social security number, and/or birthdate.
2. Never send any money for anything to anyone. That "amazing offer" to pay only for the fees/taxes/shipping costs of an item does not exist. If it sounds too good to be true, it is NOT true. We want to believe that this major influx of financial opportunity is great karma. It sounds compelling, after all. Don't be fooled; it is a scam. You should not have to pay money to work at home. You have not “won” a prize if you have to send money or provide credit card information. If you inherit money, they do not need your bank account information. Do not let financial relief or greed ever be a guide for your decisions. Life simply does not work that way.
3. Secure your personal information. Lock down your credit with the credit bureaus. I talked about this in the Equifax post. Make it happen sooner, rather than later. Do not wait until a crisis to remedy what made you vulnerable in the first place. The cost of time, energy and money take a greater toll once the damage is done. 
4. Review your credit card transactions. Do not ignore that one line item you do not remember purchasing for $9.49. Call the credit card company to check the sale. Review your calendar – did you make the purchase? If not, it could be a scam test transaction, waiting for bigger opportunities to strike. Review your transactions at least every two weeks.
5. Ensure your credit card has chip technology. I received a call earlier this year regarding one of my chip cards. I was in possession of my card, but the card number was being swiped at various retail locations, not read with the chip card reader. That alerted the credit card company to issue a fraud alert. The magnetic strip of a credit card can be reproduced for fraudulent cards, but the chip is almost impossible to recreate.
6. Be mindful of how you answer the phone. If I do not recognize the phone number, or there is no caller ID, I typically will not even answer the call. If I do, I do not say hello. I wait to hear if it is a robocall or a call room with lots of background noise. If that is the case, I hang up without saying anything.
7. Register all phone numbers with the Do Not Call Registry. The registry allows the opportunity to report scam call phone numbers. I have even registered my 800 number, as I receive consistent solicitation phone calls. Once registered, the phone number stays until the registration is canceled. That being said, the Federal Trade Commission is not releasing cell phone numbers, as a recent Facebook scam post would have you believe.
8. Bring up the conversation with your aging loved ones. The reason general scams still exist is because of our vulnerable population – the aging and the innocent minded. Dementia alters the ability to reason. Please protect them by all means possible. Share this blog post with them to start your conversation. 
9. Verify and validate all information. I do not ever contribute to any organization that calls. Ever. Be that a police association, cancer research, or blood donation, the risk is greater than the reward. I ask to have information sent via snail mail so that I may validate the organization before offering any of my data. If you honestly believe a loved one is in stuck in the Philippines, call and check on them PRIOR to giving any personal information. The caller will be persuasive and urgent, making desperate, urgent pleas. Ignore the emotion and panic - call to verify.
10. Beware of social media. If you think you are already friends with someone on Facebook, do not accept a second friend request. Be mindful of the personal information you are posting, and if you are suspicious of someone having been spoofed or hacked, message them and let them know so they can take care of it. 

Remember, we are human. We want to trust others, but we can be deceived. It is a strange hunting ground on which we are all prey. Be diligent to take care of the details you have control over and be mindful of everything else.

DATA MINING, BREACHES, PRIVACY – OH NO!

Three Silicon Valley CEOs have finally stated the obvious that millions have yet to grasp.

In a news clip on CBS This Morning, three Silicon Valley CEOs agreed that data was the most valuable resource on the planet.

In the clip, the speakers talk about surveillance capitalism: gathering as much information as possible of every user on the internet, which is “being used to not only watch people, but influence them, predict what they are going to do, and change what they are going to do.”

The CEO’s go on to state, “by 2025, the number of interactions we may have with connected devices could jump from a few hundred today to 4,800.”

Our privacy is at stake. Data mining is invariably the cause of large-scale breaches happening at alarming rates.

Where did data mining begin?
Let’s blame it on ancient civilizations. From the Romans and Grecians to the Chinese and Israeli, governments have been carrying out censuses to keep a record of how many males and females lived in a household and how many of those males were of fighting age. Tax collecting also enabled for determining data to create taxes on foreigners, oil, wartime expenses, imports & exports, sales, etc.

Data mining is nothing new, but the accessibility of information has never been more widespread. Let’s take Facebook, for example, since it is a hot topic.

Did you know data is gathered from the commercial, paid advertisements you like or share, as well as the articles and videos you click?

While all those clicks count for a lot, the biggest data mining pull is from the “let’s get to know each other” posts that pop up all over Facebook. These seemingly harmless, fun entertainment posts between “friends” are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Don’t trust them. The companies that host these tell-all’s gather and store every last response. Some of those answers can even be matched with information sold on the dark web in the financial breaches.

Do I sound paranoid? Fine, then I sound paranoid. But I am simply amazed at how willing some are to hand over their private information that will inevitably be used to their detriment.

I particularly loved one post on Facebook this morning: “How old will you be by 2060?” By choosing a random future year, the one posting could then determine the birth year of the responder. I found this to be exceptionally creepy that a date closer to the average Facebook user’s age was not chosen. Think about it. If you are 25, then you were born in 1993. The age of the 25-year-old would be in 2060 is 67. A 15-year-old would be 57. Who is this post targeting?

If your Facebook Privacy Settings are not strong, everyone is able to see your birth month, day and year. So, what was the end-game of the above post? To gain information and thousands complied by responding.

Here are my own personal Facebook rules:

1. Screen Friend Requests. The meaning of friend is “a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection.” I get many friend requests, but if I don’t know you, have not shared a meal with you or even had a conversation with you, we really are not friends. I truly use my Facebook to keep up with my friends in the midst of a busy life.

2. Limit face time. I self-impose the amount of time I waste on Facebook. It can suck me in if I don’t. The NY Times posted an article two years ago that said the average user spends almost an hour every day on Facebook. I think it may be more now.

3. Hit Unfollow. I have Unfollowed many Facebook friends. The ones who post pictures of themselves every day, the ones that only repost or share other posts (aka no original content), the ones who rant politically, the ones that use their personal Facebook page for business, the list goes on. I do not, however, unfriend them completely. While I may not want to see their posts in my newsfeed every day, they are still my friends; and I will go to their Facebook page to check in on them. I “subscribed” to Facebook to hear their hearts and see how they are doing. Period.

4. Avoid Ads. Subsequently, I actively will NOT like, view or share commercial posts shared by friends. Zephora Digital Marketing had some very compelling statistics. Number 5 states, “On average, the Like and Share Buttons are viewed across almost 10 million websites daily.” I choose to be one less viewed.

5. No Sharing. In fact, I will be the fact checker of anything anyone reposts. Snopes.com is a great resource for those entirely mindless, missing or too-stupid-to-believe articles that get shared.

I mentioned the article from Zephoria above but it had some amazing
statistics: The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics. A few really stood out initially and after I typed rule 5 above, so I did a little deeper reading.

I loved number 12, stating there are a whopping 83 million fake profiles. Some of those are from people who do not implement their security controls and post they have been “hacked.” No, they were not hacked they were spoofed. It has nothing to do with passwords and everything to do with the fact their personal security has not been implemented.

Zephoria also states the average time spent per Facebook visit is 20 minutes, but I disagreed so strongly that I did some fact-checking. The Infodocket article it is quoting from is 2014 – that’s data from four years ago – and everyone is still quoting it.

Hmm. Then I went back and checked the 83 million fake profile source. Guess what? That data was from CNN in 2012 and the source actually stated it they were either fake or a duplicate accounts. Well, it appears that the information is not always accurate – but it’s on the internet, so it must be true, right?

Curious now, I went back to the source of number five on Zephoria’s list. This one was from Facebook, but also from 2014.

Now, back to my original storyline. I am old enough to remember that “big brother” is watching and listening. Compare now to the 70’s? The 70s was just a line used by some over hyper, completely paranoid hippies. But now? Guess I am willing to say the spy net has grown incrementally pass it being only big brother watching and listening. However, there is much we do on a daily basis that could prevent our personal information being shared over a compromised network.

On any online fill in the blank, I only answer the required fields, usually marked with an asterisk. Typically, my response to anything online now is, “Do I have to?” For instance, if you are responding to a “free” site, how is it that it remains free? Someone is getting something, somewhere. And that something is most likely you.

In regards to Facebook:

Want to know if your Facebook info was shared with Cambridge Analytica?

Want to know if you have liked or followed a Facebook page created by the Internet Research Agency?

Want to know about your Facebook Ad preferences?

Nothing in your Facebooks profile should be public unless, of course, that is the point of your Facebook page. Check to see which applications have access to what data. These options are all under your Facebook Profile Settings.

Be smart. Think before clicking. Tighten your security controls. Now more than ever, there is no excuse to remain ignorant and this is an area for which you do not want to remain complacent.