Financial scams are on the rise, with US consumers facing a record number of incidents in 2023. Cybersecurity specialist Jeremiah Baker shares tips on identifying red flags, emphasizing the importance of verifying requests for personal information and trusting your instincts.
Financial scams have exploded in recent years, and it’s not just banks and corporations getting screwed out of big bucks. U.S. consumersto fraud in 2023 — more than any previous year, and a 14% increase from 2022 — and all signs point toJeremiah Baker
Baker told us the biggest red flag that we might be getting scammed is someone asking for personal information, especially if they’re doing so with a heightened level of emotion or urgency. “Most everyone I speak to said, ‘Yeah, I didn’t really feel like I should be doing it, but I did it because they had all this other information on me ― like, they knew my address, they knew my name, birth date, they knew my Social Security number,’” Baker said. “All that information — with all these huge data breaches that we’ve seen over the last several years, bad guys get ahold of that information. So they use it to set trust and context, and then they get us to do something.
“The best medicine there is to hang up the phone, look on the back of your credit card, your bank card, or wherever they’re pretending to be from, and call them directly,” he said. “Or go visit them, if there’s a local branch.”
Financial Scams Cybersecurity Fraud Data Breaches Impersonation Scams
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