Cybercrime is on the rise. Gone are the days of pickpockets and con artists. Learning a subtle art to trick you out of money is no longer viable or scalable. In our modern millennial-world, you and your business are more likely to become the target of a cybercrime.
Tech scammers and cybercriminals of all kinds are looking for new ways to steal your money and scam you out of business. You need to be aware of what they do to avoid losing money, customers, and credibility.
Here are 3 commonly used scams you need to know about now.
1. Phishing Emails
One of the most dangerous types of scams for your business. The term phishing here means exactly what it sounds like. Scammers will attempt to “Phish” information from you and your employees to use it in their favor. These emails look like they are from credible sources such as companies, service providers, social websites and even banks!
These emails ask for information like usernames, passwords and other account details to rob you blind. Sometimes, the email will link to a website that looks reputable and then ask for information. Once they have this information, you or your employee may not even realize you are missing money or data until it is too late.
Teach your employees to always keep an eye out for misspelled URL links in emails and remember that banks will never ask for your credentials over email. Scammers are smart and know that many people catch on to these scams, which is why they use new and different techniques for phishing.
2. Fake Viruses
A fake virus scam, or “Scareware” as they are appropriately named, is when a warning shows up on your computer screen claiming that there is a virus in your computer and you must download this anti-virus or anti-malware to protect your data. Obviously, these are fake virus prompts that encourage you to download software that will give scammers access to your data.
Scareware may show up on your screen in the form of a tray notification, a cleverly disguised web advertisement or a simple pop-up. A dead giveaway to recognizing fake virus scams is if the prompt asks you for payment straight away, or the written English has grammatical or spelling errors. Another way is to research the product name of the software in question.
3. Email Forwarders
Email forwarding is a legitimate service that helps forward emails automatically from one email address to another or several others. However, a hacker can hack into your business account and use this service to forward all incoming emails to their account. This allows them to collect enough information to steal money from your business.
Avoiding email forwarders is tricky and the best option for you and your employees is to prevent getting hacked in the first place. Hackers are using increasingly clever strategies and it is sometimes difficult to know when you are at risk.
Now more than ever, it is important to partner with an IT support company that can help protect you and your business from hackers and scammers. There are many other scams you need to know about to protect your business.
To increase the security of your business and prevent yourself from becoming the target of cyber-crime or to simply learn more, contact rocketwise today
