Larry Magid: Scammers get trickier in pursuit of your money

Criminals looking to separate you from your money continue to become more tricky

In the past few days I have received two separate text messages that appeared to come from both Amazon and Venmo, telling me that my account was locked because of “multiple failed login attempts to your account.” Each had a link to a webpage where I could “recover my account,” but in both cases, they were scams. Had I clicked on those links and provided my log-in information, the thieves would have had access to my accounts.

I’m immediately suspicious of any messages I get telling me about a lock-out or security issue because they are very often scams. In these cases, I knew for sure, because the weblinks didn’t end in “amazon.com” or “venmo.com” so it was obvious to me that they were sending me to a scam site. But it was only obvious because I inspected the links carefully.  In some cases, the link may include the name of the legitimate organization but end with something else. There are ways that they can still trick you by spoofing a web address or just putting in the name of the site without the actual address, so when you see something that could possibly be suspicious, your best bet is to log into the site manually as you normally would. For example, if you get a message that your Amazon account has been locked, log-in at www.amazon.com and see what happens. Chances are it’s not locked and the message was a scam. If it is locked, you’ll see a message when you try to log in, and as long as you’re 100% sure you’re at the right site (check the URL to be sure), it’s OK to go through the recovery process.

Phone scams

You don’t even need a computer or smartphone to get scammed.  I also get phone calls that claim to be from Costco, Marriot, Hilton or other reputable companies, typically offering a “free vacation” or some other temptation. These days I just hang up, but I’ve at times questioned the person calling about their actual relationship to the company, and although they try to make me think they’re working for that company, I can usually figure out that they’re not. In these cases, they’re typically trying to sell you something that is probably worth little or nothing. You may also get a call telling you that your car warranty is about to expire but, of course, they have no idea if you even own a car. Legitimate extended warranty companies are unlikely to engage in any telemarketing and certainly not going to claim that they know when your warranty has expired. If you’re interested in an extended warranty, research the legitimate companies and contact them on your own.

Also be weary of any calls that claim to be from the IRS, Social Security, Medicare, Microsoft, Apple or any other seemingly legitimate entity. I’ve gotten several claiming to be from the IRS saying they’re about to put a lean on my bank account or my house. The IRS never calls. If they think you owe them money, they’ll send you a letter. Those “Microsoft” calls often tell you that your computer is infected with a virus and, if you engage with them, they may ask permission to install software on your machine to “fix” that problem. They may also ask you for money. Whether or not you pay them, the mere act of letting them access your device puts you at risk.

Fake Microsoft calls aren’t the only computer virus scams. Just this month a 70-year-old man in Rochester, Minnesota, was scammed out of $18,000. According to a report from KTTC TV, he got a pop-up message on his computer that “alerted the man of a virus and displayed a phone number to call for help.” He called the number and was instructed to send $15,000 to an address in New York and was later told to send $3,000 worth of gift cards to an address in California.

Be weary of support search results

Also be careful about companies you find on a web search. Years ago, I had a paper jam on an HP printer, so I Googled HP support, found a convincing looking web page and made the mistake of not looking carefully at the web address to see if it ended in HP.com.  I called the number and was told to click on a link so that they could install software to analyze the problem. I got suspicious and checked the URL on the page I landed on only to then notice it wasn’t HP. A friend of mine recently had a similar experience with “Apple” only she did allow them to install software on her computer that wound be accessing her credit card account and charging hundreds of dollars.  It worked out OK in the end. She disputed the charges with the credit card company, got a new card number and removed the remote access program from her PC.

In my friend’s case, the scammer also tried to get her to buy and provide them with the numbers on Apple gift cards, which is another very common scam technique.  Even some IRS scams ask for gift cards, which seems absurd to me, but apparently some people fall for it.

There are support organizations that legitimately will ask you to install software so they can remotely diagnose and sometimes fix a problem, but never do this unless you are 100% sure they are legitimate.

Online ads and shoddy Amazon merchants

One would hope that Facebook and other social media companies would carefully screen their advertisers but sleazy ones do get through. I know someone who fell for a Facebook ad for “Bombas” socks at a very good price, but it was, literally, too good to be true. Anyone who responded to that ad would get cheap counterfeit socks, if anything.

There are even merchants that sell through Amazon that can scam you. TechRadar has a story about  terabyte microSD memory cards sold on Amazon for far below the price of legitimate cards. Some people don’t realize that Amazon is not just an e-tailer but a platform for third party merchants from around the world. When ordering something — especially if it’s at a very attractive price — it’s a good idea to read the reviews and to make sure you try it out well before the 30-day return window has closed so you can send it back if it doesn’t work as advertised. Amazon will waive return shipping charges for items for defects or if there is “an inaccurate website description.”

Charging for something you can get for free

I recently needed to establish an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS, so I Googled “Get an EIN number.” The first few hits — all sponsored links — pointed to commercial operations. One even had IRS as part of its web address. But when I scrolled down I found ending in IRS.gov which, of course, is the real IRS site. It took me about three minutes to apply for an EIN on the IRS site, and I got the new number immediately. I’m not saying these commercial sites are criminal operations — they may in fact help you get your EIN number. But there’s no way they could be any easier than the free official government site. Any time you come across a site that claims to help you fill out forms, get a loan, a license or anything else from the government, first check out the government site itself. Not only will it save you money, it reduces the risk of becoming a victim of fraud or identify theft.

Many other types of scams

The FBI has a page listing other types of Common Scams and Crimes including adoption fraud, business investment scams, charity and disaster fraud and many more. Also be weary of scams that try to take advantage of major events like the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. I haven’t heard of any specific ones so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see scammers try to take advantage of nervous account holders and investors.

Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist.