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Breathe and read.

The first step is to not panic. That may sound counter-intuitive, but the best thing you can do is take a deep breath and thoroughly read the letter. The letter will explain what information is at risk, how the data breach occurred, and how you can get more information. When you’ve finished reading it over, keep it in a safe place in case you ever need to prove that your data was exposed.

Let your bank, mortgage lender, and other financial organizations know that your data has been compromised. This way, they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Monitor billing and financial statements.

You must be on the lookout for fraudulent activity, too. Your bank or credit card provider may have text or email alerts to help you monitor your account, but be sure to check your statements regularly. And don’t just look for big withdrawals. Small purchases could be criminals seeing what they can get away with.

Check your credit report.

You can get a free credit report once per year. So after about 30 days, request your copy and check for anything suspicious. If you would like some extra protection, you may want to sign up for a credit monitoring service. While this typically comes at a cost, the business that exposed your data may offer these services for free in response to the breach.

Change your passwords.

In case the cybercriminals are in your online accounts or got a hold of the information that could give them access, change your passwords. Plus, it’s a good practice to update your passwords every 90 days. Be sure to include numbers, symbols, and uppercase and lowercase letters in your new passwords.

Grange Insurance offers an Identity Theft coverage endorsement that can be added to a Grange Personal Auto or Homeowners insurance policy. For full details on coverage and discounts, contact your Shield Insurance Agent. This article is for information purposes only. For specific coverage details, always refer to your policy.

How To Treat These 3 Cyber Tricks

Posted on October 29, 2019August 30, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Shield Insurance Blog | Cyber Tricks | Contact our office today!

It’s All A Scam! 3 Cyber Tricks

Halloween is a few short days away, and under the cover of the dark web, cybercriminals are refining their sinister methods. And they’re only getting more sneaky and destructive.

Here are three of their most common tricks and how you can avoid getting fooled.

1) You get a dreadful call that your computer is infected

You receive a call from someone disguised as a technician who claims your computer has a virus, and for $300 they can fix your problem by accessing your machine.

You provide your payment information and login credentials, and it appears that the tech is “fixing” your computer. In fact, they are either doing absolutely nothing or downloading malware to transmit your personal and financial information. Scary, right?

How do you prevent this menacing scam?

Document the phone number of the caller and their name
Hang up
Block their number from calling again
Submit your number to the National Do Not Call Registry
Report the matter to the (IC3), which collects and follows up on this information

No reputable computer security company or software firm calls to inform anyone that they have a computer virus. Normally, your firewall will prompt a message prior to accessing a bad file or site, and your anti-virus software will scan and fix your files automatically.

2) You receive a shocking email

An email pops into your inbox with a subject line that says, “Your payment of $4,890 to PayPal has been approved,” or, “I am NOT paying this invoice.”

You can’t resist the urge to open it; it might seem like you’re on the hook for a lot of money or being accused of something you didn’t do.

Emails with subject lines like these are remarkably successful in luring their victims into opening them. The real danger lies in the links. Clicking on these could open the door to malicious software, with ransomware being the usual suspect.

How to prevent this sinister scam of cyber tricks?

Beware of signs that an email is malicious or fraudulent
Delete the email
If this happens at work, alert the appropriate person or department, so other employees can be warned and protected

3) You are tricked into transferring funds by an imposter

A Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam usually starts off with an email that makes a pressing demand. It appears to come from an executive or trusted vendor who is unavailable to confirm the demand.

The sender demands that you transfer funds immediately to facilitate a deal or to pay an invoice. The receiver may be deceived by the sender’s inside information, such as details of a pending deal or specific relationship.

How to prevent this nefarious scam?

Watch for emails that demand you make a funds transfer, change vendor information, or supply personal or financial information
Before taking action, confirm the request verbally, either by phone call to a known number or in person
Alert the appropriate internal contact so that preventive actions can be taken, such as blocking the scammers and raising co-workers’ awareness
Report the attempt to the IC3 on their website.