Ask this question of 4 words to protect you from crooks, the FBI says in a new warning
Taking a second to take a break and asking you it could save you time and money.
The scams unfortunately become part of daily life. You probably receive a robocall of "potential spam", an email with a mysterious link, or something by post saying that you have won a price regularly. Now we are all well known in tacticsward off the crooks, including not click on these summary links and never provide personal information to the people you do not know. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) now suggests a new tactic that you can use to avoid being scammed. Read the rest to discover the four -words question they say you should ask to protect yourself from crooks.
Read this then:If you receive a call from these numbers, "do not believe your calling identifier," said the FBI in a new warning.
This is the most wonderful period of the year - until this is not the case.
The holiday season is getting closer every day - some of us have already started playing Christmas music and making plans forBlack Friday purchases. Depending on the holidays you celebrate, you probably have a lot of gifts to buy, but thieves are also aware of it.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
The criminals want to capitalize on the money you are ready to spend on your friends and your loved ones, and according to a press release from the FBI, toThis time of year, "Thousands of people become victims of vacation scams."
Thieves do it in two ways: they take your money but never deliver the articles or services for which you pay, known as a non -delivery crime - Payment crime. In 2021 only, scams using these tactics cost Americans$ 337 million, According to the Internet Crime Report Plainly Center (IC3) 2021 - and that does not include the additional $ 173 million lost against credit card fraud.
Fortunately, there is a crucial question that you can ask to avoid putting money in the crooks of the crooks, says the FBI.
Take a minute to take a break and ask yourself this.
In a tweet of November 2, the FBI field office in Pittsburgh noted that "the first holidaysbusiness started: "But urged people to be cautious." When buying online, make sure that a website is secure and renowned before providing your credit card number and personal information, "said the tweet.
The next day, an interim special agentDoug Olson from the Pittsburgh office spoke with KDKA affiliated to CBS to provide additional information on howTarget of crooks Holiday buyers.
"The crooks are always after us for our money and our personal information, but especially during the holidays," said Olson at the point of sale. So, before making a payment or accepting to sell something online for the holidays, Olson stresses that you should take a break and ask yourself a question of four words: "Who set your hand first?"
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It could simply help you avoid being scammed.
According to Olson, this question is intended to have you arrested and to think about the person with whom you are dealing, giving you time to determine if they are renowned.
"In other words, if someone contacts you and you have not started commitment, you are very bad to provide personal information, in particular personal banking information," said Olson.
According to the official press release from the FBI, you must always "check the legitimacy of a buyer or a seller before going ahead with a purchase", and you can check their feedback note if you buy on An online market or an auction site. Also check that the URL is legitimate and secure, and do not do business with the sellers "who act as authorized dealers or representatives of popular articles in countries where there are no such transactions" .
To protect yourself, you must also "practice good cybersecurity hygiene" and look for other delicate scams such as auction fraud, where the items for sale are "distorted" online and fraud of gift cards, where a seller You ask to pay by a seller to pay with a prepaid card, the FBI says.
Do not be embarrassed if it happens to you, but act.
Despite the warnings, many people end up falling in love with these stratagems. During the first months of the year, in particular, the FBI saw an increase in complaints, "suggesting a correlation with shopping scams of the holiday season". Olson told Kdka that the victims should not feel embarrassed if they are sold during this busy shopping season and recommended them to file a complaint.
"What we can do through the IC3 is that we can see if there are actors who target hundreds of different victims, then we can pursue these greatest offenders," he said .
You can submit a report directly on the FBI website .
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