{"id":30802,"date":"2022-11-04T08:41:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itworldcanada.com?p=511642"},"modified":"2022-11-04T10:21:54","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T14:21:54","slug":"cyber-security-today-nov-4-2022-beware-of-this-phone-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/cyber-security-today-nov-4-2022-beware-of-this-phone-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyber Security Today, Nov. 4, 2022 \u2013 Beware of this phone scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-ar-index=\"0\">Beware of this telephone scam.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"1\">Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It\u2019s Friday, November 4th, 2022. I\u2019m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"2\"><iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Libsyn Player\" src=\"https:\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/24898785\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/000000\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/ITWC-Cyber-Security-Today\/dp\/B07BRNG89P\/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-skills&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1522688435\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-396718 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i.itworldcanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/sub-alexa-200.png\" alt=\"Cyb er Security Today on Amazon Alexa\" width=\"200\" height=\"74\" border=\"none\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2N5YmVyc2VjdXJpdHl0b2RheS5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw%3D%3D\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"thumbnail aligncenter wp-image-408712 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i.itworldcanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/sub-gp-200.png\" alt=\"Cyber Security Today on Google Podcasts\" width=\"200\" height=\"74\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/ca\/podcast\/cyber-security-today\/id1363182054\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-396720 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i.itworldcanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/sub-itunes-200.png\" alt=\"Subscribe to Cyber Security Today on Apple Podcasts\" width=\"200\" height=\"74\" border=\"none\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p data-ar-index=\"3\">\n<p data-ar-index=\"4\">On this show I want to talk about telephone scams. Not merely someone pretending to be from Amazon, or the tax department or Microsoft. These are calls you ought to know to hang up on. I\u2019m talking today about sophisticated scams.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"5\">A person I know in Toronto, I\u2019ll call him \u2018Vern Greenshoes\u2019, got a phone call this week from someone claiming to be from the \u201cFederal Government Fraud Investigation Bureau.\u201d First, there\u2019s no such agency in Canada or the U.S. But bear with me.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"6\">The caller said a crook using \u2018Vern\u2019s\u2019 credit card had been arrested at a big Toronto shopping mall trying to make large purchases. The arrested man said his name was \u2018Jules Greenshoes.\u2019 He claimed the credit card belonged to his cousin \u2018Vern\u2019. No, said \u2018Vern,\u2019 I don\u2019t have a cousin. The so-called investigator then told \u2018Vern\u2019 to phone 911 and report the incident to a specific police inspector. So \u2018Vern\u2019 hung up the phone, called 911 and was transferred to a supposed police inspector. Then he got another phone call from the fraud investigator saying his bank account had been compromised so he should cash in his retirement fund and move the money to a particular bank. Not only that, the investigator told \u2018Vern,\u2019 he shouldn\u2019t tell the bank why he was doing this because the bank might be involved in fraud. \u2018Vern\u2019 quickly realized this was a scam and hung up.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"7\">Let me go back a minute. Remember the 911 call? One of the ways this scam is convincing is the 911 call. How can you fake a call to police? Actually, it\u2019s easy, and I\u2019ve reported on this before. Crooks use technology to seize your phone line after you answer a call. So when you hang up you haven\u2019t disconnected. Then the crook can do things like play a fake dial tone when you pick up the receiver. You think you\u2019re dialing out. All the crook and their partners have to do is wait a minute, and then answer whatever they want: In this case they pretended to be a 911 operator, who passed the call to the fake police inspector.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"8\">In another version of this scam, someone calls claiming to be from your bank or credit card company about your stolen credit card. \u201cI know you\u2019re worried this could be a scam,\u201d the crook says, \u201cso look on the back of your card for the bank company phone number. Hang up and dial that.\u201d It\u2019s the same thing: Victims worried about losing money quickly hang up and dial the 1-800 number. But they\u2019re not dialing out. The crook\u2019s partner answers the call pretending to be from the bank.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"9\">Here\u2019s what to do if you get a call like this: Hang up and wait 15 minutes or more before you call out. Or, if you\u2019re really worried, go to your nearest bank branch and speak to a bank employee in person. Can\u2019t do that because it\u2019s a weekend? Wait until Monday. Banks are insured against fraud and theft. If it\u2019s a real call about the theft of your credit or debit card, you won\u2019t be asked for your password or to do anything. If you confirm you didn\u2019t make a purchase a real bank will cancel your card, or just remove that transaction.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"10\">Remember, the way this scam works is to get you to panic. In fact, most scams work the same way: They want you to act without thinking. So do many email scams: You get an email message from your boss saying the company has to move fast to close a deal, so please wire company funds to this account. Or the head of the company suddenly needs a list of employees, their birth dates and social insurance numbers for tax purposes.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"11\">Interestingly, victims often get these emails on a Friday or a Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"12\">If you get an email like this check with your supervisor. Don\u2019t phone a number in the email. Don\u2019t email your boss asking for confirmation.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"13\">One other thing: Telling potential victims not to trust their bank, their relatives or their friends is another tip-off this is a scam. In one recent case a Toronto woman was tricked into spending thousands of dollars on gift cards to supposedly help police capture bank employees in a fraud. She was told not to trust the employees at her bank. The victim did as she was told and bought particular pre-paid gift cards at stores. She gave the numbers on the cards to the scammer, who cashed them in. The victim lost everything she spent because she trusted a stranger on the phone. No one from the police or a bank will ask you to use your money to help them catch a thief.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"14\">One other thing: Both people in the scams I mentioned were over 65. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a coincidence. Crooks target older people. I know of two cases where older women were targeted with phone calls from someone sobbing and claiming to be their granddaughter.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"15\">On Monday\u2019s podcast I\u2019ll have more about how crooks trick employees into buying pre-paid gift cards for seemingly innocent reasons like Christmas, birthdays or other excuses.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"16\">Thanks for listening this morning. Remember later today the Week in Review edition will be available. David Shipley of Beauceron Security and I will discuss words of wisdom security experts leave on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"17\">You can follow Cyber Security Today on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or add us to your Flash Briefing on your smart speaker. Catch you later. I\u2019m Howard Solomon<\/p>\n<p data-ar-index=\"18\">The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itworldcanada.com\/article\/cyber-security-today-nov-4-2022-beware-of-this-phone-scam\/511642\">Cyber Security Today, Nov. 4, 2022 \u2013 Beware of this phone scam<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itworldcanada.com\/\">IT World Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about complex telephone phone scam and how to avoid bein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[360,16],"tags":[389],"class_list":["post-30802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcasts","category-security","tag-cyber-security-today"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30802"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30805,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30802\/revisions\/30805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewsday.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}