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SALT LAKE CITY — A new phishing scam could threaten you and your wallet. The good news is that no one at KSL fell for it. But we've been inundated with emails from what appears to be Verizon Wireless telling us our bill's ready.
Tens of thousands of phishing scams exist: There's the Chase scam, the US Airways one, and don't forget Bank of America, Paypal or eBay. Name a company and there's likely a phishing scam that uses its name.
This time, it's Verizon Wireless. It's a tricky one because will tell the victim they owe $46.62 - a reasonable amount that could convince many to take it seriously. Customer service at Verizon said it was a hoax. There's a similar scam that uses the AT&T wireless name.
When shown a copy of the fake bill, most Salt Lake residents spotted it right away.
"I'd look at who it's from and also the type of email address," said Cameron Hancock. "I don't know anybody that would say ‘account notify'. That looks suspicious to me."
- Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
- Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you are suspicious
- Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
- Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
- Regularly log into your online accounts
According to antiphishing.org, a watch dog group that tracks online crime, there were nearly 33,000 phishing scams trolling around the Internet last December when the group released its latest numbers.
That represented a jump from November, but as the numbers go up, it seems so too does the consumers awareness.
"Don't open any attachments. If you think it's questionable just delete it. If they need to get ahold of you, they're going to contact you one way or another," said Salt lake Resident Mike Gulbraa. "You can usually Google them or you can call the company. And say, ‘hey is this legit?'"
