Phishing
Phishing is fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information by impersonating a trustworthy entity in electronic communication.
MORTGAGE FRAUD and Phishing
Let me give you an example… A sweet lady lost her husband of 50 years and wanted to downsize her big house into something that was more manageable. She sold her house and found a new, smaller home to purchase. As the big Closing Day was approaching she received an email from her mortgage lender that read “…in order for the closing to happen, (you) need to send a cashier’s check TODAY” to the address provided in the email. So, unknowingly, she went to the bank and tried to withdraw the funds. Thankfully, the teller was trained to spot the Red Flags of “scams” and together they called the mortgage lender, only to learn this was Email fraud!
With the normal duplicated lender’s logo, email address, and familiar email format that the sweet lady was so used to seeing in her inbox, she did not realize it fake! The fraudsters had obviously learned from her previous emails and browsing habits (or some other intrusive way) that she was in the process of purchasing a new home. However, since the bank teller understood Red Flags to look for with “scams,” together they identified the email was fraud (a spear phishing campaign).
Hackers are sneaking little blood-sucking vampires! Unfortunately, there are THOUSANDS of stories like this, of normal people, living their normal lives, and are taken advantage of by BAD ACTORS.
Do you know how important it is to use an encrypted email service? These services have FREE options for consumers and paid options for businesses. Two services that offer encrypted emails are PROTON MAIL and ZOHO MAIL. There are others, but these are the top two most popular options.
The good news is that you can learn to look for the Red Flags yourself, and question whether or not to believe a fake email.
Join us for a FREE Online Safety Workshop and learn how to protect yourself from scams and hackers.
