Free Geek class on common holiday scams

1. Holiday Scams
Ho Ho Ho, I got your dough!

2. 2017 Statistics (so far)
• Already Trending
upwards towards
the end of the
season (Black
Friday/Christmas

3. What Types of Scams

4. How they are perpetrated

7. Telemarketing/charity scams
Social Media
Catfishing/Romance Scams
Products
Phishing
Nigerian Prince Scams
Travel Scams
eBay/amazon scams
Scams that tend to increase during the
Holidays

8. PHONE SCAMS
Your small donation will go so far to help this holiday season…

9. Christmas: A Time of Giving
-- Charity Scams
• Designed to tug at your heart strings
• Often pop up during times of crisis, natural
disaster and Holidays
• Signs of a charity Scam:
– Refuses to provide detailed information about its
identity, mission, costs, and how the donation will be
used.
– Won't provide proof that a contribution is tax
deductible.
– Uses a name that closely resembles that of a better-
known, reputable organization.
– Thanks you for a pledge you don’t remember making.
– Uses high-pressure tactics like trying to get you to
donate immediately, without giving you time to think
about it and do your research.
– Asks for donations in cash or asks you to wire money.
– Offers to send a courier or overnight delivery service
to collect the donation immediately.
– Guarantees sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a
contribution. By law, you never have to give a
donation to be eligible to win a sweepstakes.

10. Christmas: A Time of Giving
-- Charity Scams
• What can you do:
– Donate to charities you know and trust.
– Be alert for charities that seem to have
sprung up overnight.
– Do not give out personal or financial
information including your credit card or
bank account number unless you know
the charity is reputable.
– Never send cash by mail or wire.
– Be suspicious of random calls requesting
a donation.
– Be cautious about clicking on links in
emails requesting a donation.
– Check the charity out:
• Are they registered as 501( c) with the IRS?
• Charitynavigator.org
• Inspect their URL and website very closely
for anything fake or off.
– Ask them to send you literature.
– Many establish organizations DO NOT
COLD CALL. Check their website by
typing their web address in directly or
googling the organization

11. You’re in luck!!
-- Telemarketing/Phone
Scams
• What does it look like:
– You've been specially selected (for this
offer).
– You'll get a free bonus if you buy our
product.
– You've won one of five valuable prizes.
– You've won big money in a foreign lottery.
– You have to make up your mind right away.
– You don't need to check our company with
anyone.
– We'll just put the shipping and handling
charges on your credit card.
• Often require money up front:
– This initial offer will save you so much
money.
– This is exclusive to (mailing list they got
your contact information from)
– Free trial offer, I can sign you up with just a
credit card number

12. JOB AND INVESTMENT SCAMS
Cause Christmas sure ain’t free….

14. How do I pay for
Christmas??
-- Investment Scams
• Investment Scams:
– Similar high pressure
– Once in a lifetime opportunity
– Only a little up front guarantees…
– You give me money, and then you
find people to put underneath you..
(ponzi/pyramid)
– “Pump and Dump” investments
– Beware of offers to “help”
you recover money you have
already lost. Callers that say they
are law enforcement officers who
will help you get your money back
“for a fee” are scammers.

15. How do I pay for
Christmas??
-- Job Posting Scams
• Warning Signs:
– You didn’t contact them, they
contacted you.
– You get the job right away
– No interview required
– Vague job description or requirements
– Unprofessional emails
– Online interviews via Instant
Messenger
– No contact information or weird search
results
– You have to buy something or pay for
something in order to get the job.
• Avoiding these Scams:
– Do your own background check. Always
research who’s employing you.
– Never give out PII until a position
legitimacy is verified.

16. How do I pay for Christmas??
-- Buying and selling online
• Also avoid buying super hard to
find gifts from resellers; especially
online
– Could be stolen
– Fake product
• Some eBay purchases aren't
covered under their guarantee
• Selling of empty boxes
• Offering to buy your listing for over
cost if you’ll accept a check
• Buyer wants to settle outside of
eBay
• Look at buyer/seller history
– Broken item scam
– Item not received (>$750 requires
both shipping and receiving
signatures)

18. TRAVEL SCAMS
Are we there yet??

19. Over the river and through
the Woods!
-- Travel Scams
• AirBnB/Flipkey
– Fake owners
– Maybe no property at all
• Too good to be true travel
packages
• Free plane tickets/ travel
voucher
• Someone selling you points
• Unauthorized ticket sites/
Free attraction tickets.
• False “confirmation” emails
or SMS
– Usually malicious

20. Over the river and through
the Woods!
-- Travel Scams
• Avoid these scams:
– Use a credit card to book
reservations. NOT A DEBIT
CARD.
– Check reviews. Be wary of
accommodations with few
or no reviews
– If your being offered
anything for free, contact
actual company
– Look for sites with money
back guarantees

21. ROMANCE SCAMS
Hey gurl, wuts ur name…

23. The holidays can be lonely
-- Romance Scams
• Scammers use dating site to
build relationship with victim
• Will go to great lengths to gain
victims trust
– May subtly ask for gifts
– May ask for money to come visit
the victim
– May ask for revealing photos
– May send you a check, ask you to
deposit it, then send it someone
else.
• Hint, this is money laundering
– DO NOT TRUST ANYTHING THAT
INVOLVES WESTERN UNION OR
MONEY TRANSFERS.
• Buy the plane ticket instead

24. The holidays can be lonely
-- Romance Scams
• Identifying these scammers:
– You meet someone online and after just a few
contacts they profess strong feelings for you, and ask
to chat with you privately. If you met on an dating site
they will try and move you away from the site and
communicate via chat or email.
– Their profile on the internet dating website or their
Facebook page is not consistent with what they tell
you. For example, their profile picture looks different
to their description of themselves, or they say they
are university educated but their English is poor.
– After gaining your trust – often waiting weeks,
months or even years – they tell you an elaborate
story and ask for money, gifts or your bank
account/credit card details.
– Their messages are often poorly written, vague and
may even address you by the wrong name.
– If you don’t send money straight away, their messages
and calls become more desperate, persistent or
direct. If you do send money, they continue to ask
you to send more.
– They don’t keep their promises and always have an
excuse for why they can't travel to meet you and why
they always need more money.
• Do a reverse image search
• Be communicative with family and friends
• Be careful about how much information you
share

25. Romance Scam
-- Catfish
Catfishing is a type of deceptive activity
where a person creates a sock puppet social
networking presence, or fake identity on a
social network account, for nefarious
purposes.
Can be part of a romance scam
http://www.mtv.com/shows/catfish-the-tv-
show

26. SOCIAL MEDIA
Let me take a selfie…

27. Things to Avoid
-- Scams
• All of the previous scam
have been moving to social
media platforms.
• Many scammers CAN USE
YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA to
craft their scams.
– Trusted imposter

28. Protect yourself
-- Scams
• Don’t post travel information
until after you complete your
travels.
– Stranded friend scam
– Burglaries
• Avoid buying directly from a
social media site, especially
things like airline tickets.
• Don’t post pictures of tickets
with barcodes online
– Scammers use these pictures
to create fake tickets and sell
them
• Lock down your social media
accounts

30. HAVE I BEEN SCAMMED?
Have I been hypnotized, mesmorized?

31. If you think you have:
• Report it
– https://www.usa.gov/stop-
scams-frauds
• Contact the police to see if
they will file a report.
• Insurance?
• Credit card charge back
• Contact your bank
• Monitor your credit
– Consider a freeze?

32. If you think you have:
• Hacks that resulted in free credit monitoring
– Home Depot
– Target
– Experian
– Equifax
– Anthem
– Many others…
– Many banks have begun to offer free credit
monitoring
– Watch out for credit scams!
• Keep an eye on your credit report — By law,
you’re entitled to a free report every year from
each of the three bureaus, so you might as well
order a different one every four months. Scan it
for abnormal activity, such as accounts or credit
cards you didn’t open. You can order the report
through each agency, or
• annualcreditreport.com.
– Don’t fall for the add-ons; you just want the score.
• https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/
– Free monitoring for a year

33. FINAL THOUGHTS
So much to do, so little time

34. Scammers Suck
• Never, never, ever transfer
money via wire transfer.
– Little traceability. Once its
gone, its gone.
• Secure your social media
sites
• Use a credit card
• Use a VPN while on public
Wi-Fi

35. THANK YOU FOR COMING TODAY!
Check out the other FreeGeek classes!!