Staying safe online and keeping yourself and your personal information private has never been harder. Stay safe online by getting to know the most common scams and what you can do to defend yourself:
Order Confirmation Scams. These are unexpected calls/texts/emails that often refer to an unauthorized purchase and ask you to act urgently to confirm or cancel the purchase. These scammers try to convince you to provide payment or bank account information, install software to your computer/device, or purchase gift cards. Remember, if you received any correspondence regarding an interaction you did not have or authorize, connect with the customer service department of the company the scammer says they are from. Often these scammers will have a website or phone number very close to the original but the real site/number will connect you directly with a verified expert to help you determine how to proceed.
Tech Support Scams. Mentioned above, scammers create fake websites claiming to provide tech support for your devices and/or services. Customers who land on these pages are lured to contact the scammer and fall prey to their schemes.
Remember, go directly to the help section of the actual website and connect with customer service for assistance.
Tech Support scammers will often use a link that looks very familiar to the real link. They may have “appple.com" or “appIe.com" (capital i instead of the L in Apple). These sites look very similar and often have great success for the scammers at luring people to the fake site. So, is this a scam or a legitimate email?
Remember, if the site prompts you to sign in in any way, type in the real site URL and compare the two. If you were prompted to sign in on a suspicious Amazon link, go to the real Amazon site and compare things like the process of logging in, the look and feel of the site (colors, home page layout, accessibility, etc), and anything else you may be suspicious of.
Here are some important tips so that you can identify scams and keep your account and information safe:
Trust company-owned channels. Always go through the real company’s mobile app or website when seeking customer service, tech support, or when looking to make changes to your account.
Be wary of false urgency. Scammers may try to create a sense of urgency to persuade you to do what they're asking. Be wary any time someone tries to convince you that you must act now.
Never pay over the phone. Rarely will any company ask you to provide payment information, including gift cards (or “verification cards”, as some scammers call them) for products or services over the phone. Often if certain companies need payment over the phone you as a consumer will be expecting the phone payment as the method of check out.
If you ever have any doubts about whether or not to click a link or follow the directions of a suspicious email, the number one thing we at MacMan can recommend is don’t click or download anything if you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the link/program. Use these tips we’ve described above to help determine the safety of your device online and feel free to call or stop into our store with any questions or concerns.
