The government won’t get in touch out of the blue about grants.They are required to notify you in writing and offer some sort of repayment plan. And in the case of the utility payment scam, no legitimate company will text you that your services are about to be shut off. In each of these situations, the scammer is reaching out to you, which should immediately make you suspicious. The scammers then send you a text-sometimes including your utility company’s logo- with a QR code and tell you to scan it at a Bitcoin ATM to make a payment or your service will be disconnected.” The caller or text says you owe money (which is a lie). you get a call or text from someone pretending to be your utility company. Or they know of a high-paying job that’s yours as soon as you pay a fee or give them your personal information. Or they have an investment that’s guaranteed to deliver quick and high returns. “They might say they’re from the government and giving away grant money for home repairs or unpaid bills. These scams are showing up in emails, calls, and texts. Government grants for home repairs or unpaid bills.As they point out, “Across the country, people are worried about high prices impacting their budgets. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently issued consumer alerts about a variety of rising cost issues. If you ask yourself these questions, and the answers are ‘yes,’ then ask yourself the last question before taking any action such as clicking a link, opening a pdf, etc.Īnd if that answer is yes, too, then report the message to us. There is urgency to perform the action ‘now.’.You’re being asked to do something out of the ordinary from that sender.

The first 3 boxes in this diagram from KnowBe4 show these red flags: And while many are evolving and sometimes even creative, there are often 3 factors in common that you can use to identify a suspicious email, text, or phone call.

In this line of work, we see so many scams.

Avast evernote hack