Cyber Security
For this lesson, we’ll focus on Cyber Security text scams. Cyber Security is intended to protect your personal information.
Cybersecurity
Personal information includes
1. Credit number
2. Bank account details
3. Drivers license
4. Social Security Number
Cybersecurity
When someone is trying to steal your personal information by email or text they use two common tactics.
1. They create a legitimate sounding email or text
2. They try to create a sense of urgency
Avoiding Text Scams
Some of the most common scams are sent via text message.
Let's go over some signs of a scam and rules to protect yourself.
Avoiding Text Scams
Rule #1
Always be sure of what you are clicking on.
Again:
Most scams will try to cause a sense of urgency to scare you.
Example Scam text
In this example, we are being told that our package is “on the way” and are prompted with a blue hyperlink to track our package.
A hyper-link will take you to a website and in this case, it could be a dangerous one, so let’s avoid tapping on it
Example Scam text
Also make a note of any packages you might have ordered. If we haven’t ordered anything we can safely ignore/delete this message.
If you are unsure, there are a few ways to check if this text message is legitimate.
Example Scam text
Rule #2
Check where the message came from.
As we can see, it is a normal looking phone number. This is not a good sign.
Example Legitimate text
Typically, a company will use a randomly generated 5-digit phone number to send you any text messages.
Above, is an example of a legitimate text message from a company.
Avoiding scam text
Rule #3
Check for any inconsistencies or spelling errors.
As we can see above, there are many grammatical and spelling mistakes. This is definitely a scam
Cybersecurity
If you are NOT 1000% sure you ordered a package or the person or company is REALLY who they say they are NEVER click on a link.
