Have you ever received a message on social media from one of your friends; asking for immediate help, A screenshot showing the large sums of money they just received from their “mentor” or a random link? If you have experienced a similar situation; you have either once fallen for this trick, or have avoided messaging the imposter attempting to be your friend. Maybe you have not experienced this before. Either way, this article is here to help you avoid the pitfalls of these social media scams, show you what they look like, and how to avoid getting tangled up in this mess altogether.
Similar to app updates these social media scams rely on social engineering which evolves and go through many iterations perfecting the way they interact with the person on the other side of the phone by figuring out writing styles and different nuances of the person they are attempting to impersonate. Now you may think “oh I will never fall for such a silly trick” this is the exact sentence that those who fell for this trick said then all of a sudden when they thought they were having a conversation with a friend they all of a sudden get logged out of their account unable to access it. Once this happens, you have a couple of options, either pay the perpetrator to get their account back and hope the perpetrator doesn’t find a message where you’ve sent or had been sent sensitive information such as passwords, credit card information, or sensitive data. Because if the hackers get a hold of these, they could extort you for more money or simply leak your information to the highest bidder.
What Do These Scams Look like?
These social media scams could take on a variety of forms as stated above. Below are a couple of examples of what these could potentially look like.
These messages could look potentially unharmful, and since it is coming from a trusted source “your friend” you are more likely to click on the message and attempt to figure out how they made such an exorbitant amount of money in such a short amount of time. In reality non of what is mentioned above is true and once you are conversing with the person and they gain more trust in your eyes they then strike and steal from you right under your nose. The rates of the scams have been increasing and more than 95,000 people reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms in 2021. It is important you stay vigilant and beware of things that seem too good to be true.
How You Can Protect Yourself
Pay attention to the type of message you are receiving
If someone is asking for your help to log back into “their” account.
If someone is asking for your help to log back into “their” account.
Make sure your password is not “password” or easy to guess like your dog’s name.
If someone is telling you to talk to their “mentor” on Social Media
Have strong passwords
Make sure your password is 14 Characters
Make sure your password includes numbers, letters, and symbols
Make sure your password is not “password” or easy to guess like your dog’s name.
Never keep sensitive information on social media
Do not send bank information, passwords, credit cards, or business-related information on social media but instead proper channels that your IT had dedicated to your organization.
Double-check
This step is very important because most people fall for scams because they do not double-check.
If you received a suspicious message, make sure you double-check with the person directly as this will confirm whether or not they were the ones who sent the information.
Conclusion
No one is exempt from falling prey to these scams. We must be staying updated with the latest security scams as our world is evolving so quickly, that we must pay attention to our surroundings and what is going on. These scams will continue to grow more cunning and complex as the world grows more connected thanks to globalization and we are here to decipher these and keep you updated!
Sincerely,
Plenum Team