I can’t stress enough how important it is to stay vigilant over the next few months. Holiday events and social engagements will keep you distracted, and scammers count on that.
If it hasn’t started already, you’ll be bombarded with scam phone calls and emails. Please, do not respond to them. Mark them as spam or phishing, and delete them.
Scam Phone Calls
The latest phone scams are after your Social Security number, Medicaid information and credit card details. The caller usually gives a common, friendly first name like “Robin” or “John.” Hang up immediately.
Fake Invoice Emails
A common email scam looks like someone “replying” to a message and BCC’ing you with a short note like “what’s this?” or “what is this?”, with an invoice below asking for payment. Mark it as spam and delete it.
There are many variations on this theme, but they all want the same thing: your money and your personal information, which they then use to trick other people out of theirs.
Change Your Password Manager Passwords
If you use a password manager like LastPass, I strongly urge you to change all of your passwords and keep them in a different password manager, or in a notebook stored somewhere safe in your home.
Hacking is serious business, with serious consequences for anyone who isn’t careful. It’s up to every one of us to keep our organization safe.