COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS- Beware of Scammers

Scammers try to take advantage of current disasters and events in the news to get your identity or your money. They may play on your sympathy to give a donation to a charity (which is a fake set up by the scammer). Or they may take advantage of the potential of a worldwide virus to play on your fear.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about scammers trying to take advantage of the steady stream of news about the coronavirus and the potential fear that the news might generate. The FTC warns that scammers are setting up websites to sell bogus products that claim to cure or prevent the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The FTC expects that scammers will use emails, texts, and social media to promote their fake cures and web sites. The emails, texts, and posts may use the guise of promoting awareness and prevention tips and may provide fake information about cases in your neighborhood. The emails may also ask for donations, offer advice, or contain malicious email attachments.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that there is currently no vaccine for the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Scientists worldwide are working on a vaccine, but the current outbreak will probably run its course before drug companies can get it into common usage.

The FTC recommends that you take the following measures to prevent yourself from being scammed,

·         Do not click on links from sources that you are not familiar with.

·         Watch out for emails claiming to be from the CDC or that claim to be from “experts” who have vital information about the virus.

·         Ignore online offers for vaccines or ads promoting prevention, treatment, or cure claims. These ads may claim a “medical breakthrough” that is being exclusively offered to you. Before taking up an offer, check with the CDC or the World Health Organization (WHO) about latest developments on a vaccine.

·         If considering donating to a charity related to the coronavirus find out if the charity is registered with the Washington State Secretary of State. Do not consider a donation if someone wants only cash, gift cards or wiring of money.

·         Be skeptical of “investment opportunities” related to the coronavirus. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is warning consumers about scammers who are claiming that products or services of publicly traded companies can prevent, detect, or cure coronavirus and that the stocks of these companies will increase in value as a result.

Federal Trade Commission:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/02/coronavirus-scammers-follow-headlines

Here is a reminder on how to avoid phishing scams from the FTC:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams



CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2Fabout%2Fprevention.html



WHO:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019



To look find out if a charity is registered with the State of Washington go to,

Washington State Secretary of State:

https://www.sos.wa.gov/charities/



SEC:

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/ia_coronavirus

PICKING POCKETS- Something We Don’t Think About

Pickpocketing in the Puget Sound region does not receive a lot of attention. We often hear talk about car prowls, burglaries, and scams. However, according to the NBC affiliate, KGW, in Portland, OR, there are theft rings, largely based out of Chile, that have been targeting Panera restaurants since at least 2012. Often working in two’s and threes, the thieves will reach into purses, pull out the wallets in them, then take out the bank cards, and leave the restaurants. The thieves go to a nearby big box store, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, etc., to take out thousands of dollars’ worth of gift cards or merchandise.

Why Panera seems a mystery. After all this crime could occur at many fast food restaurants such as Chipotle, MOD Pizza, Starbucks, etc. Police theorize that three elements may make Panera attractive:

Location- Aaron Snell of the Everett Police Department points out that Panera restaurants are often located in shopping areas where a pickpocket can make a quick purchase.

Layout- Panera restaurants have an open seating layout allowing customers to move freely and choose where to sit. The thieves can easily and quickly survey the room then sit at a table directly behind their target. At lunch Panera’s tend to be crowded making it easier to blend into the crowd. Check out the videos at the link below to see some of these pickpockets in action.

Customers- Panera customers tend to be more affluent making them attractive targets.

Catching the pickpockets is difficult for police. The teams of thieves will work an area for a short time, then move on. That includes starting out at one end of the U.S. then migrating to other parts of the country. And if they are from out of country, local police will not have them in a database to identify who they are when they look at security video.

Restaurants are not the only locations for pickpockets. Grocery stores are fertile fields with purses left unattended in grocery carts.

What to do? Before you vow not to go into a Panera again, there are things police say that you can do to protect your wallet and your credit cards:

·         Keep your purse visible, such as around the center of the table.

·         Close your purse or wallet. If they have zippers, close them.

·         Do not hang your purse over a chair.

·         Setup fraud alerts and notifications on your credit cards.

KGW TV:

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/investigations/international-multi-state-theft-rings-target-lunch-crowd-at-panera-bread-restaurants-pickpocket-purses-steal-credit-cards-and-buy-gift-cards/283-55dfeecd-6a7d-4e57-a54f-2b2e6a8c54d0

SOCIAL SECURITY SCAM- It Can Happen to Anyone

The proliferation of scams has received a lot of publicity in recent years, so much so that most of us are familiar with the routine. Someone calls your number and threatens you with arrest because you “missed jury duty,” or you owe income tax, interest and penalties. To get out of trouble you need to pay immediately by going to your local store to purchase gift cards and then give the scammer their numbers. In the latest scam, fraudsters impersonate personnel from the Social Security Administration claiming that your Social Security Number has been used in some sort of criminal activity and that to clear things up you need to send them some money.

With the knowledge that scammers are doing this to people, you would think that it would be easy to hang up the phone and avoid becoming victimized. However, the link below from CBS News demonstrates that anyone can be victimized.  

Scammers want to scare you enough that you do not think rationally and become amenable to being manipulated. Take a look at the video or read the transcript of this news item,

CBS News:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-scam-calls-department-of-justice-cracking-down-on-robocalls/



Here is a recent press release from the Social Security Administration about the latest twist in the Social Security scam,



Social Security Administration:

https://oig.ssa.gov/newsroom/news-releases/january8-advisory



If you are victimized in the Social Security scam, the Social Security Administration says don’t be embarrassed, report the incident to,

https://oig.ssa.gov/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

SNOHOMISH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE- Sextortion

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of a 22-year-old Everett man for child pornography, cyberstalking and bomb threats. According to a Sheriff’s Office press release, “The suspect used the social media app, Snapchat, to communicate with young children locally and in the state of Iowa. He groomed and manipulated multiple child victims to send him sexually explicit photos and videos.”

This is sextortion, where an adult contacts a child online to convince them to send sexual pictures.

For more information about the recent arrest go to,

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Archive.aspx?ADID=6323



For more information about sextortion and how to prevent it go to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office’s latest issue of its crime prevention newsletter,

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/6325

SNOHOMISH COUNTY- Scammers Target Small Business Employees

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and the Granit Falls Police Department have issued a Scam Alert about scammers calling a local fast food restaurant to steal money.

The Sheriff’s Office is investigating an incident that occurred on Wednesday, January 22. A Subway employee took a phone call from a man who said that he was Daniel Summers and claimed to be a corporate investigator for the company, who asked to talk to the manager. He said that he believed the owners were stealing money and that he was working with federal investigators. “Mr. Summers” directed the employee to count the cash in the store into piles of $250, then leave the store, while staying on the phone, and then purchase money packs in amounts of $250 each. If the employee did not cooperate with the payments to the “cooperate office” Summers would shut the store down and all the store employees would lose their jobs.

The employee did as the scammer demanded, drove to several stores, purchased money packs with the cash, scratched off the account numbers, then read them over the phone to the scammer. The scammer even had the employee tear up the cards along with the receipts.

The scammer took advantage of the employee by claiming to be in authority, working with law enforcement, and threatening to harm the employee’s job and fellow employee’s jobs if the scammer did not receive cooperation. Another technique to lend legitimacy was masking the phone number that showed up on caller ID to look like it is coming from the company’s corporate office. A classic case to scare the employee into action.

The Sheriff’s Office deputy conducting the investigation discovered that a similar phone scam had occurred at a store in Medford, Oregon in 2018.

If you own a small franchise business tell your employees about this scam.

The Granite Falls Police Chief, Tom Dalton, recommends that any employee who receives a call like this should hang up immediately. He also recommends that the employee call the store manager, 911, or both.



Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/SnoCoSheriff/

INTERNET OF THINGS- Strangers View Families Through Security Cameras

In the past week there have been press reports of strangers breaking into Ring accounts and viewing the insides of homes. In some cases, the hackers talked to a child and to a couple of dogs.

One story has a video of a young girl in her bedroom being talked to by a male voice through the camera in the room. Another story has video of two dogs lounging on a couch and a voice trying to get them to get up off of it.

Ring cameras have been receiving publicity on social media with videos of porch pirates stealing packages from front porches. Some homeowners have purchased Ring and other cameras for use indoors, in children’s bedrooms or front rooms to allow homeowners and parents to monitor what is going on in their homes. Over the past few years, videos have been posted showing burglars inside homes stealing items.

Having cameras inside can help with security to confirm that someone is in your house if the alarm goes off. They also help to monitor small children when they are in their cribs in their rooms. However, all sense of security is lost if someone breaks into your cameras and can observe your possessions and see your family moving around in your house. And talking to your children gets even creepier yet.   

While press reports have used the term hacked or breaking in, Ring, in its blog, points out that the recent incidents were not due to an intrusion or compromise of Ring’s computer systems. Many of the hackers may have obtained the usernames and passwords of Ring accounts outside of the Ring’s servers such as from databases in the dark web.

Ring recommends that its customers do the following:

·       Enable two-factor authentication to access your account.

·       Add shared users to your account instead of simply giving them your login information.

·       Do not use the same password for more than one account.

·       Create strong passwords that have a mix of letters, numbers, and characters. Some cyber security professionals recommend passwords with 12 characters or longer. A password generator can help create strong passwords.

Internet of Things (IoT) such as cameras and thermostats help us have a more secure and convenient life. In the early years of IoT, manufacturers have not designed good security measures into their devices. Both manufacturers and their customers should observe the best and most recent security practices. IoT manufacturers should make security robust and easy for customers and customers should practice good security as they use any IoT device.

The Seattle Times:

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ring-camera-installed-in-a-childrens-room-for-peace-of-mind-is-hacked-8-year-old-daughter-harassed/

KIRO TV:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/stranger-gains-access-familys-ring-camera-tries-talk-familys-dogs/NY2Q7FURH5EYPFNFNWDT632OTA/

Ring:

https://blog.ring.com/2019/12/12/rings-services-have-not-been-compromised-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

GIFT CARDS- A New Technique to Steal

KIRO TV recently reported a new technique used by identity thieves to steal your money at a grocery store. The King County Sheriff’s Office has noted thieves stealing credit cards in parking lots of Kroger stores (QFC or Fred Meyer) then going into the store, picking up some gift cards from the rack and then transferring funds from the stolen credit card to the gift cards at the self-checkout counter.

According to the KIRO report, the thieves have targeted stores with self-checkout counters such as QFC.

The King County Sheriff’s Office is encouraging Kroger to only allow purchase of gift cards at manned checkout counters where an employee can check ID for credit card purchases.

Whether or not Kroger makes this change, you can protect yourself from being victimized by keeping your purse or wallet on your person while in the parking lot, or in the store for that matter. Do not place a purse in a grocery cart then turn away or leave the cart, even for a short distance or a short time. A thief can take your wallet and its contents in a flash.

To view video of this operation in action, checkout this link,



KIRO TV:

https://www.kiro7.com/video/?id=4809297