SCAM WATCH
SCAM WATCH: Scammers are targeting prospective partygoers
An sa国际传媒官网网页入口 woman thought she was being asked to attend a fun occasion when she received an electronic invitation that listed a friend as the hostess.
Immediately after she opened it, her husband separately received a similar invitation that listed his wife as the hostess.
No, the woman was not in the middle of a busy social season; she instead was the target of busy scammers who have been hitting prospective partygoers with fake invitations across the country.
These unexpected texts and emails appear to come from invitation platforms like Evite or Paperless Post, but they are actually phishing scams. If you open one, the bad guys can go through your list of contacts and compound the headaches by hitting up your friends and family.
Some of the scam messages require you to enter your email user name and password before giving access to details of the supposed invitation, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Others instruct you to list a phone number and share a special code to RSVP. 鈥淭his is just a scammer trying to steal (or reset) your account information,鈥� the FTC says. 鈥淚f they get in, they might take over your email account and send the same scam to your contacts.鈥�
The sa国际传媒官网网页入口 woman says she did change her email account password, as well as access to a separate account that had the same password.
Still, she says, some people she used to know received the faked invitations listing her as hostess 鈥� even though she had purged them from her contact list long ago.
The best thing to do is to check with the supposed host to verify the invite.
The FTC recommends acting quickly and change your password if you think someone has your email account information. Also helpful is keeping security software updated 鈥渟o it will deal with any new security threats,鈥� the FTC says.
Phishing emails can be forwarded to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a nonprofit global coalition that battles identity theft and other fraud, at apwg.org/reportphishing. Bad texts can be forwarded to 7726, which alerts the cellular provider to open an investigation.
Impersonators are 鈥榬eservation hijacking鈥� bookings
It鈥檚 called 鈥渞eservation hijacking,鈥� and it鈥檚 become more popular among hackers since a data breach struck Booking.com in April.
The Amsterdam-based booking behemoth notified customers on April 13 that the information stolen included booking details, names, email addresses, physical addresses and phone numbers.
Although credit card numbers apparently were not breached, enough customer information was hacked to allow scammers to better impersonate hotels and airlines.
The impersonators in a 鈥渞eservation hijacking鈥� try to get your money by imposing some kind of fake charge associated with your booking, says Fraud.org, of the National Consumers League. Or they might request money to hold your spot.
鈥淥ften, they try to pressure their targets, demanding quick action to secure the reservation or to resolve an issue in the payment process,鈥� Fraud.org says.
Avoid this by reaching out directly to the company rather than responding to unsolicited emails, phone calls or texts.
Contact Ellen Marks at emarks@abqjournal.com if you are aware of what sounds like a scam. To report a scam to law enforcement, contact the New Mexico Consumer Protection Division at 505-490-4060. Complaints can be filed electronically at nmag.gov/contact-us/file-a-complaint/.
