Avoid Online Scams

What is phishing?

• scams through websites
• scams through emails
• scams through phone calls
• scams through text messages

Sara finds a message on her phone that she thinks might be a scam.  She should:

• Forward the message to her friends to see if they think it's a scam too.
• Reply and ask the sender not to send more mail.
• Delete the message.

When people send you phony emails, pop-up messages, social media messages, texts, calls, or links to fake websites in order to hook you into giving out your personal and financial information.

• Plagiarizing
• Skimming
• Phishing
• Identity Theft

Select the Phishing Schemes that apply to the following email:
From:  [e-mail]
Subject:  Account Status
Attention US Bank Customer,
Due to a recent security check on your account, we require you to confirm your details.  Failure to do so within 24 hours will lead to account suspension.  Sorry for the inconveenince.
Click here to confirm your account

Regards,
US Bank Online Customer Service
This email has been sent by US Bank.
                                                         

• Generic greeting & Link to email
• Sense of urgency & Spelling errors
• Need to verify account info
• ALL of the previous choices are in the email.

Teens are some of the most frequent targets of identity theft and other scams. Why?

• Identity thieves look for “clean” Social Security numbers that haven’t yet been used to get credit.
• Thieves want to help teens get student loans for college
• It will help teens do better in school
• Identity thieves are just testing teens to see if they will fall for their scams

To prevent identity theft use one of these on credit card, bank and cell phone accounts.

• Combination lock
• Password
• A piece of tape to cover up the number
• A fake name

What is a phishing scam?

• Someone trying to log your keys
• YOU SPELLED FISHING WRONG SIR!
• Someone sending you a virus
• Someone pretending to be a legitimate business

How can you detect a phishing scam?

• The companies logo is on the email
• The email asks for information the company should already know
• The email is sent directly to you
• The email ends with @paypal.co.uk

Which is NOT a phishing feature?

• sense of urgency
• addressed to you
• link to website
• generic greeting

The best way to avoid phishing is to

• be skeptical about any online requests for personal information.
• stay off social media.
• not share your email address.
• use the same password for all accounts.