Beware of business email gift card scams, and a new gang of crooks is impersonating lawyers.
Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It’s Monday, November 7th, 2022. I’m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com.
Contents
Table of contents
- It’s a scam: AT&T is not trying to get the word out about eBay gift cards
- eBay: “It’s always a scam if someone asks you to use gift cards to pay your TV bill.”
- Is there a way to get my money back from this thief?
- No, eBay will not ask you to buy gift cards to protect you against hackers
- A prolonged and pricey gift card scam
- “This band of imposters stole $1,525 from me!”
- Avoiding gift card scams is easy if you keep these tips in mind
Judi Shelton contacted our team after someone claiming to represent AT&T called her home, offering a great opportunity.
A scammer drains your gift card balance
Scammers and hackers are often much more sophisticated than their victims expect. Sometimes, hackers use bots to streamline their thievery. Bots are automated software applications that can perform online tasks. While many of them are helpful and even fun to interact with, such as the chatbots you’ve probably spoken to on retail websites, some are far more nefarious.
Step 2: Contact the Company that Issued the Gift Card
After you have filed a police report, contact the company that issued the gift card. Be sure to hang on to the gift card and your receipt. You may need to provide this information to the card issuer. There is a possibility that if the money is still on the card, the company may be able to put a freeze on the gift card.
Below is a list of contact information for common gift card issuers. However, this is not an exhaustive list. If you don’t see the company’s contact information here, look for their contact information on the card itself or search for their contact information online.
What To Do?
Hackers know their only weapon is social engineering. Once you’re aware of this, you can watch for impersonation attacks, romance scams, and computer and network breach events. Never use gift cards as a payment option for non-personal matters. Following this advice will protect you from the various Gift Card scams out there.
There are other actions you should take to protect your business from other attacks and harm including: