My mom won’t thank me for writing that she once fell prey to someone ‘calling from Microsoft’ to help her out with a computer problem she didn’t know she had.
Another phone scam has now popped up that hopes to exploit people’s fears about their email being hacked, purporting to be from the very real, but entirely unrelated, Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN).
According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alert, the caller will tell you your email has been hacked and that it’s sending fraudulent messages. They’ll try to convince you to hand over your details by saying they can take legal action if you don’t.
They might even give you real phone numbers of FTC staff in order to make you think they’re the real deal, as well as sending you to the GPEN website.
The head of the UK police force recently suggested that banks should stop compensating people who fall victim to hacks like this as it rewards people for bad behavior.
So pretty soon, your loved ones may not even be able to get help once their account has been compromised.
While it might seem like common sense, I told my mom and I’ll tell you: no one ever calls out of the blue to help you. Hang up.
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