How To Avoid Getting Scammed!

An anonymous hacker without a face uses a mobile phone to hack the system. Stealing personal data and money from Bank accounts. The concept of cyber crime and hacking electronic devices

By Sheriff Javier Salazar,

Bexar County, Texas

 

Most people think it could never happen to them. In my 30th year of law enforcement, I have seen and heard it all when it comes to scams and scammers. Suffice it to say, scammers are alive and well.  They are also persistent, resourceful, well organized, and single-minded in purpose—to separate us from our hard earned money. Fear not, however, as the best way of thwarting them is to simply NOT engage. Unsolicited phone calls, emails, even text messages, should ALL be suspect.

In fact, if you didn’t initiate a communication, the best approach is to NOT answer the phone, NOT reply to the text, and NEVER click on a link you didn’t ask for.

Unfortunately, scam operations are extremely adept at mimicking logos of well known tech companies and actual top financial institutions. They rake in money by the millions just by sending out “phishing” emails and texts, just to see who takes the bait—hence the word “phishing.” The scammers use the actual real name of the most popular banks.

For the purpose of the following example, I’m going to use the name, “ABC Bank.”

Here’s how one modern scam works:

1,000 people receive a text that says:

“ABC Bank Alert: Your loan is past due!”

To make a payment, sign in to ABCLoanPay.org. in order to pay without late fees.

Of the 1,000 people who get this text, some of the recipients DON’T bank with ABC Bank.

They figure it’s a mistake and disregard it.

However, some of the 1,000 people WILL bank with that bank but will know they are up to date on all loans and will also disregard it.

Unfortunately, several innocent people of those 1,000 are STRICTLY BY CHANCE, actual ABC Bank customers. They WILL assume that they must have gotten busy and missed a payment or figure their spouse, who keeps up with the bills, must have forgotten one.

They’ll click on the convenient link provided by the nice people (scammers) at “ABC Bank,”give a bit of personal information, and BAM, all bills paid.

ONE PROBLEM…… The text WASN’T from their bank at all, but a relatively simple operation for sophisticated scammers who created a SHAM website, links, and phone lists to send a “bait text.”

Instead of paying their bills conveniently, victims are drained of money.

By the time it’s caught, the money is gone.

Maybe the actual bank will make the victim whole, but maybe not. Maybe it’s reported to law enforcement, but perhaps not, as the victim who is made whole figures,

“I’ll chalk it up to experience, but at least I got my money back. No harm, no foul. No need to involve the police.”

Maybe the victim is too embarrassed to report it because they were so easily duped and know they should know better. Again, law enforcement is not alerted.

Either of these scenarios is what scammers are counting on. Off they go to scam again.

Email scams work roughly the same way. Links are sent from official looking financial institutions or tech companies purporting to help you with everything from missed payments to errors in personal information that one “has to log into and correct immediately.”

Again, a convenient link is clicked, one goes to a very convincing and real-looking website where victims enter personal information in hopes of correcting what they were told is an error.

Scammed once again!

Suffice it to say, if you did NOT initiate the email or text, IGNORE IT! I repeat, IGNORE IT!!!

-Don’t click on links and DON’T reply.

-NEVER give personal information to anyone you did not initiate communications with.

-Never call a number supplied by these communications as there are entire phone centers set up to take incoming calls from victims who have taken the bait. The fake phone center operators are even trained to answer, “Thank you for calling ABC Bank, how may I help you?”

If you do get one of these communications, and don’t reply, but still need some reassurance that there are no issues with your bank; look up the number to your real bank on your own and call to speak to an actual employee.

I’ve heard similar stories of “ XYZ Computer Tech Support” calling to offer to fix your “infected computer.”

The victim calls the number, clicks on a link, allows “tech support” to remotely control the victim’s computer, and you know the rest.

When you get that call, hang up!

No need for pleasantries. Just hang up.

Speaking of phone calls, here’s several I’m hearing with more frequency:

1-“Hello. This is Captain Jones with the Your County Sheriff’s Office. You’ve missed jury duty, and now have a warrant. Just give us a credit card number by phone to pay the warrant and avoid being arrested.”

Scammers go WAY out of their way to make this scam realistic. For starters, phone numbers can be “spoofed” or faked. In other words, thanks to technology, these entities can mask their own number and make it look as though a real law enforcement agency is calling you. If the number to your local law enforcement is 210-555-5555, that number will actually appear on your caller ID. Second, they will usually give the number to a real law enforcement official. Chances are, if they identify themselves as “Captain Jones with the Your County Sheriff’s Office, chances are the scammers found the name of a real person on the real agency’s website and are using it to lend credence to their scam. Here’s how to thwart these scams.

Hang up! It’s that simple.

First, the vast majority of law enforcement agencies don’t solicit money or payment by phone, for this very reason.

Second, IF you end up having any warrants for jury duty, tickets, etc, we WON’T call you to tell you.

We will actually arrest you.

Hang up on that fake captain and rest assured it’s as fake as a 2023 Super Bowl ticket to see the Dallas Cowboys! (I’m a Cowboys fan, so I can make that joke.)

2-The next scam I’m seeing quite often is the “stranded or arrested relative.” The static-filled scam phone call will come in the dead of night. A frantic young voice will say, “Grandma/Grandpa, is that you? It’s ME!” The scammers are hoping for several things. They hope the victim will be an actual grandparent who is disoriented from having been awoken from a dead sleep and that they will answer the frantic young caller’s “it’s ME!” With a name, “Jimmy? I can hardly hear you! What’s wrong?” Once you’ve filled in the blank with a name, the fake “Jimmy” will tell you he’s only got 1 minute to talk as he’s in jail in Mexico after going across the border with friends and being wrongfully arrested. But if you just give the nice police officer your credit card information over the phone, they’ll let him go. The phone will be yanked away from young “Jimmy” as a fairly official yet scary “police officer” assumes the communications to hopefully take the credit card number from the frantic victim who desperately wants their grandchild safely back on US soil.

Once the card info is given, the scam is done.

If you do indeed have a grandson named Jimmy, chances are he was never really in Mexico and was never really in danger. The scammers’ gamble paid off and they caught you vulnerable. They played on your emotions and panic and you took the bait. Hang up the phone on the fake “Jimmy.”

If you feel this could ever be a real possibility for you or your family, consider creating a PASSWORD only family members would know to give you on demand in the event the unlikely situation presents itself. If he doesn’t know the password, hang up.

Although the “fake” Jimmy might plead with you on the phone NOT to call his parents so he doesn’t get in more trouble …..For extra peace of mind, call the real Jimmy or your children. They should understand the middle of the night call and you can go back to sleep reassured.

3-The last of these similar calls I’ve seen with more frequency recently is probably the most disturbing. It’s what is frequently known as the “virtual kidnapping.” There are several variations of this, but here is the one I’ve personally dealt with in my official capacity.

The intended victim gets a call in the middle of the day or night from someone with a foreign accent, claiming to be from the cartel. The claim is made that “we have your husband/wife” and we are demanding money to release them without harm. If you notify the police or anyone else, they will be tortured/killed!” To add to the confusion, disturbing screams of a fake kidnap/torture victim will be heard in the background. Again, the caller will count on the victim being frantic and panicked and will “fill in the blank” with a loved one’s name. I’ve seen where the caller will demand a credit card number or even demand a cash drop at a local business. As troubling as this might be, CALL THE AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY!

Check in with your loved ones as soon as practical for added peace of mind. Chances are they are OK.

Any of these scenarios are likely, but these certainly aren’t the only ways scammers can get us. Some scams like the “Nigerian Prince,”the “Pigeon Drop” and others have been around for decades. Others have only emerged with and have been made possible by new technologies. The thing we can be sure of is, as new technologies will continue to emerge, so will new scams.

The constant advice I keep giving is still the same.

“Hang up on scammers!”

Sheriff Javier Salazar is a career law enforcement officer, husband, father, and son.