10/12/2021
Back Brace (medical) Scam (Social engineering)
Details:
1. District Attorney Tony Matulewicz warns the public that his office was made aware of scam related to medical back braces. An eighty (80) year old Shamokin woman was contacted by a scammer, who engaged her in a discussion about medical back braces. The scammer possessed some valid information about the woman, and by using that, was able to acquire her full social security number.
2. This is called "Social Engineering" and is a tactic commonly used by scammers, Matulewicz said. The scammer gleans a small amount of information about you from social media accounts or p***c record sources, and uses that information to legitimize contact with you in order to gather additional personal information.
Information to Protect your Accounts and Identity
3. County Detective Detective Degg Stark says it is best not to trust the source of any phone call or electronic communication. Phone calls can be "spoofed" which allows the scammer to display any name and phone number he/she chooses in your caller ID. Confirm everything directly with the person or business entity using published contact information.
4. E-mail accounts are frequently compromised, allowing the scammer to send an e-mail to you which appears to come from one of your contacts. When this occurs, clicking on links in those e-mails, or opening e-mail attachments, could subject you to malware or a ransomware attack, Stark said.
5. Ransomware will generally encrypt all of your files and folders making them inaccessible to you. The attacker will then display a ransom note on your desktop demanding payment in bitcoin (a hard to trace virtual currency), before decrypting you files. If you decide to pay the ransom, there is no guarantee your files will be decrypted, Stark said.
6. Using the website "Virus Total," or other similar and reputable websites, you can check the safety of a file or URL. Virus Total uses a large number of anti-virus programs to examine the file or URL, to determine the presence of malware or malicious content.
7. Websites like "Haveibeenpwned" or other reputable online services, can be used to determine if your current e-mail address has been compromised and will display any findings, Stark said. If you find that your e-mail has been compromised, change your account passwords immediately. Use a long, strong password with a mix of upper case and lower case letters, along with numerals and symbols. Also, check your SENT folder to see if any unauthorized e-mails were sent to others, in your name.
8. If your identity has been compromised or stolen, you can download a guide book called "Identity Theft -A Recovery Plan, from the Federal Trade Commission website at \.vww.ftc.gov - Click on the Free Resources tab - Identity Theft tab -Scroll down to the guide. Then, follow the steps in that guide, Stark said.
9. If you use a social media platform such as Facebook, be sure to check your privacy settings. These options can generally be found in "Settings" under the Privacy and Security tabs and will
give you more control over the information you are releasing to others.
10. Lastly, use Two Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication on all accounts that offer this service. This adds another layer of security to your accounts by sending a numerical code to your cell phone ( or an e-mail account you designate), which must be entered ( or approved by you) before access is granted, Stark said.
Tony Matulewicz
District Attorney
