b'SMART OPERATIONSThe Latest Scams: Be Alert, Dont Get Hurt Learn to detect and comfortably ignore the lions share of these scams by usingPeteran effective spam blocker on your email accounts. When a few slip past the filtersPellandand appear in your inbox, take a close look. Learn to hover and not to click.Sometimes I think that the Inter- [email protected] also be pretending to representnumber in case you wish to stop this net was invented by P.T. Barnum,(and included an option for paymentWalmart, Costco, Target or any othertransaction or stop auto-renewal. the circus promoter and showmanthrough Square), with a 160-charac- well-known brand with an extensiveIn the first two of these three in-from New Haven, Conn. A centuryter cryptic reply-to address; and thecustomer base.) I have received sev- stances, the toll-free numbers (which and a half after his heyday, modern- thirdcamefromeral of these emails recently. One listsI called from a randomized phone day hucksters seem intent on capi- dayague[email protected] an Order ID, Product Code, andnumber) were already disabled. The talizing upon the phrase theres aAlthough it is easy to attach anyrenewal fee of $417 that is ready to beperpetrators hope that recipients will sucker born every minute that iscorporate logo to an email in an ef- charged to my account, telling mepanicandcallthemimmediately commonly attributed to the greatfort to make the message appear tothat YOUR SERVICE HAS BEEN RE- while their temporary phone num-Barnum. beauthentic,wouldthatfamiliarNEWED.Theemail(whichcon- bers are still enabled. The third num-So-called phishing scams arrivingcompany really send out a messagesisted of a JPEG image) also reads,ber was busy with other callers and via email are becoming more preva- withspellingmistakesandsloppyAccording to our contact with you.asked me to leave a return phone lent than ever. Phishing is an attemptformatting? Just because a messageYourplanwillbeautorenewednumber. Of course, they will then ask to steal personal information or hackimpliesthatyourbankaccount,within24hoursandyouwillbeforacreditcardorotheraccount online accounts through the use ofcreditcardorPayPalaccounthascharged $417. Of course, they arenumber in order to process the al-deception.Someareeasytospot,been charged for a product or servicehoping that I will call the Customerleged refund. while others are more sophisticatedthatyouneverordereddoesNOTSupportTeamusingthetoll-freeFight Back! inappearanceandsubsequentlymean that the sender actually has ac- number included.First of all, pay close attention to more difficult to detect. The peoplecess to your account. What they areAnother alleged Geek Squad Sub- unsafecontentwarningsinyour behind these schemes prey upon ourgenerally hoping is that you will fallscription Renewal was convincinglyemail software. Then never respond fears and try to convey a sense of ur- for their scheme, want that allegedprofessional in its appearance, in- to requests for your private informa-gency to their bogus messages. Mychargetobereversedandunwit- cluding a PDF invoice for a Geektion, beware of messages that convey mainwordsofadvicearetosteptinglyprovidethemwithyourac- Squad Advanced ProtectionAn- a sense of urgency and never click on back, take a deep breath and avoidcountinformationinordertonualPlanrenewalat$229.99.Itunknown links. If you are one of the the urge to panic. confirm the refund. By doing so,claimed that my account had justmillions of people who use Gmail as Learn to detect and comfortablyyouwillhavethenprovidedthebeen charged and included a toll- your email service provider, you can ignore the lions share of these scamsscammer with the means to run upfree number to call if you want toreportaphishingemailthatmay by using an effective spam blockerfraudulent charges on your accountcancel the Renewal and claim the re- have made its way to the inbox on on your email accounts. When a fewfar in excess of the bogus charge thatfund. The telltale signs on this in- your computer by opening the mes-slippastthefiltersandappearincaught your attention.voice were the salutation of Dearsage, clicking on the three vertical your inbox, take a close look. LearnThe perpetrators behind the BestDear, my name listed as Dear Cus- dotsnexttothe Replyiconand to hover and not to click. Is the actualBuy/Geek Squad Service Renewaltomer, and a random return addressthen clicking on Report phishing. If sending address what it appears toscams could possibly have access tothat is a residential home in Missis- a phishing email asks you to make a be? One of the latest phishing scamsBest Buy customer emails harvestedsippi according to Google Maps. Apayment via PayPal, forward the en-to be making the rounds is the Bestduring a 2017 data breach that ex- third email followed the same modustire email to [email protected] Buy/Geek Squad Service Renewalploited a vulnerability in the com- operandi, had my name as ExistingYoumayalsoforwardphishing invoice. I will refer to three specificpanys online chat software; however,User, a random return address in aemails to the Anti-Phishing Working emails below, all alleging to be sentit is more likely that the senders useresidential neighborhood of Brook- Group at [email protected] from Geek Squad (or in one instancerandom email accounts under thelynandanallegedrenewalfeeofThisorganizationincludesISPs, Geeks Squad Inc.). The first camepresumption that a significant per- $299.87 for three years and up to fivebanks,onlinesecuritycompanies from [email protected]; the sec- centage of recipients will be recent ordevices(thebestdealyet.)It,ofand law enforcement agencies. You ond indicated that it came from mes- pastBestBuycustomers.(Theycourse,includedatoll-freephonecan also report phishing attempts to theFederalTradeCommissionat https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.Inthe event that you have actually been a victim of a phishing scam, first con-tact your bank or credit card com-pany, where you will probably want to change passwords and cancel your credit card. Then file a report with the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at https://www.ic3.gov/. In most instances, you may also file a complaint with the office of your state attorney general. Nobodylikesbeingavictimof what is essentially online crime, but it is good to know how to protect yourself and how to take responsive measures when necessary. PeterPellandistheCEOof Pelland Advertising, a company that he founded in 1980 that has been serving the family camping industry for over 40 years. His company spe-cializes in building fully responsive websites,alongwithproducinga full range of four-color process print advertising, for clients from coast to coast. Learn more about Pelland Ad-vertising at https://pelland.com or see their ad in this issue. WCM10 February 2023Woodalls Campground Magazine'