Also covered by a segment with WBTV, Protecting Your Cyberturf
It happens to everyone, you get busy on vacation or with your life and you forget to pay that credit card bill on time. We have lots of handy reminders from the credit card companies to keep us from becoming too delinquent. But what if the late notice is not the real deal? How would you know?
When you get that helpful reminder from the credit card company in email and decide to go online and quickly pay it you may click on links and open attachments. Everyone wants to a good credit score right? So its important to quickly pay that bill. But stop before you click that link because cybercreeps are hiding behind bogus emails. WBTV’s cyber expert, Theresa Payton, explains the dupe!
This trick has been around for a while but there is a new outfit circulating somewhat convincing emails that tell you to act quickly to avoid service charges and sends you an attachment which they say is a statement. It’s a statement alright, from the cybercreeps and it’s laden with malware!
TWO EASY WAYS TO DETECT THE SCAM:
1. Credit card companies will not email you your credit card statement
2. Zip files are a common type of file that cybercreeps like to use so that should raise a red flag
Theresa said always be on alert for this scam. If you get a late notice via email like this:
1. Log into your credit card website or call the service center to validate and pay your bill.
2. If you find out the notice was bogus, report it to your credit card company, you may save someone from the scam.
3. Be especially alert for credit card emails with a zip file called Report#113.zip – do not open it. Report the email as spam and delete the email immediately from your inbasket and trash.
For example, you may hear your kids say, “Oh no, he bricked the WII!” meaning the WII console will no longer work and cannot be repaired.
Web Resources:
If you see a scam email or you are a victim, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at www.FTC.gov and the FBI’s Internet Crime Center at www.IC3.gov
Consumer Fraud Reporting’s website tracks the latest in email scams at: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org
Some credit card scam emails might reference shipments via Federal Express or UPS. Keep up with UPS on the latest issues in Fraud at their website at: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/fraud.html and Federal Express at: http://fedex.com/us/security/prevent-fraud/index.html
To see one of the recent email scams go to Sophos which details the scam with a screen shot: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/07/26/credit-card-one-week-overdue-malware-spam-attack/
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