Tip 17: Phishing, Smishing and Cramming
It’s Saturday, the Badger game is over (go Bucky!), and you have a spare couple of seconds to read and learn, right? Here are three terms related to cybercrime that you need to know:
Phishing – Pronounced like “fishing” and similar to fishing, digging or gathering. Internet scammers are often phishing for your personally identifiable information such as your Social Security number and date of birth, or your bank account information and credit card number. If you receive an unsolicited email from someone claiming to represent a legitimate organization and they ask for sensitive information – be careful. This is most likely a scammer trying to deceive you. In addition to compromising your financial information, phishing can also lead to identity theft.
Smishing – This is a newer spinoff of phishing. Scammers use SMS (short message service) text messaging to try and convince consumers to give out personally identifiable information. Smishing poses the same risks as phishing, but tends to target younger consumers who make their cell phone numbers public through online social sites like Facebook or Twitter. Parents should talk to their children about the dangers of sharing personal information with strangers.
Cramming – This is the term used to describe unauthorized charges to your telephone bill. Examples of unauthorized charges could include voice mail, call waiting or a personal 800 number. Malicious smartphone apps, text messages and email scams could set you up for these fees. Consumers need to closely monitor their monthly bills. You can contest charges for services you did not request. However, unless you look for them, you could unknowingly be paying for extras.
Tip 18: Keep personal info personal
This is a great tip throughout the year and it shows up in nearly all of our scam warnings: Never give out personal or banking information on an unsolicited call or in response to an unsolicited email or text message. Period. It’s that simple.
By acquiring just a small amount of information, identity thieves can destroy a person’s financial reputation and cause endless stress on a person and their family. Identity theft costs consumers millions of dollars in fraudulent charges each year, and can take years and cost thousands of dollars to recover from. Please guard your personal information and keep it to yourself.
If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact DATCP’s Office of Privacy Protection at 608-224-5163 or by visiting privacy.wi.gov.
Tip 19: Use two-factor authentication when available
Two-factor authentication is a security process in which you provide two means of identification in order to log into a system – something you have and something you know. Something you have is typically a physical token, such as a fob, fingerprint or a code sent to your smartphone. Something you know is something memorized, such as a personal identification number (PIN) or a password.
When you use your credit card at the gas pump, you already do this. You swipe your card (something you have) and enter your ZIP code (something you know). So if one of your favorite websites strengthens its security features and offers to send you an additional passcode for logging in, take them up on it.