WASHINGTON — Maybe you鈥檙e hunkered down, anticipating the snowstorm that鈥檚 been predicted.聽 While you鈥檙e busy stocking up on de-icer and聽toilet paper and charging your electronics, cyber crooks are busy too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 never too cold for cyber criminals to go phishing,鈥� says Eric Friedman, director of Montgomery County鈥檚 Office of Consumer Protection. Friedman says phishing schemes crop-up over and over again, sometimes with a variation on a theme. In the latest, a fraudster poses as the Apple corporation, telling customers their AppleID has been disabled — complete with exclamation points in the subject line of the email.
Friedman says such emails ask for sensitive information: passwords and credit card numbers.聽They nearly always contain links. But never聽click on the link, says Freidman.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to get hooked. Like any fish, once you鈥檙e hooked, it鈥檚 really tough to get off of that line.鈥�
Friedman says, if you didn鈥檛 initiate the contact, that should give you pause. Likewise, if the email contains typos or odd grammatical structure, assume that someone鈥檚 phishing. If the email came from someone you do business with, like your bank or Internet service provider, contact them and let them know. Businesses suffer when scammers pose as the real thing, and you may help the spread of someone鈥檚 cyber scheme.
Friedman says聽cyber crooks should be reported to the 听辞谤 .
Tax season is a prime time for phishers. The IRS has
Anyone who thinks they’re experience phishing related to Apple .
Individual banks may聽also have a specific page and information on phishing and will likely notify you if they find their customers have been subject to phishing activity.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
