What a wonderful time of year. Sadly along with the holiday spirit that we look forward to all year, comes a huge spike in online scams.
‘I never fall for this, ‘ I downloaded a security app’ are common refrains but online scams remind me of Whack-A-Mole: Just when we think we fixed it, a whole new scam pops up.
WHAT IS IT, WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE, AND HOW TO AVOID BEING HOOKED:
- Vishing: Phishing over the phone
- Phishing: Phishing via email
- Smishing: Phishing via Text
- Spear-phishing: Targeting a specific person or group and often will include information known to be of interest to the target, such as current events or financial documents.
- Whaling: Highly targeted phishing attack – aimed at senior executives – masquerading as a legitimate email.