HARTFORD, Conn. — As a global IT outage affects industries across the world on Friday, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection advises residents to be aware of scams that may take advantage of the hype around it.
In a release, DCP Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said that scammers follow the news just waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of situations such as the software difficulties many people are experiencing on Friday.
“Scammers know many people are waiting for direction and assistance from their Information Technology teams today, creating a prime opportunity to send phishing links, impersonate IT teams and gain access to sensitive information. It is important to remain vigilant and be wary of anything that seems suspicious in order to prevent this outage from causing even more problems,” Cafferelli said, in the release.
Phishing occurs when cyber criminals use scam emails, texts or phone calls to deceive people into browsing a website that may download a virus onto their computers or steal bank details or other information, the release said.
Residents might receive unexpected messages via email or text that appear to be from someone they are expecting to hear from. Cybercriminals could pretend to be an IT team or customer support representatives from CrowdStrike or Microsoft.
DCP lists several common signs that a message might be a scam.
Be on alert if the email address a message comes from isn’t correct or looks suspicious; it may have a different suffix, or extra numbers or letters added.
If an email is generic, contains typos or language that doesn’t make sense, it may be suspicious. DCP encourages residents to watch out for messages that don’t sound like the ones normally sent out from an IT department.
An email might be fraudulent if it contains links to unknown websites; hover over any links with your mouse prior to clicking on them, and don’t click if you don’t recognize the web address.
Additionally, if the message instructs you to provide a password, or other personal or financial information, it is suspicious. DCP said it is unlikely that your IT department will seek that information.
“If you’re not sure, call or send an email to the contact information you know is correct to ask if the email is legitimate,” the release said.
If residents receive a phishing email or text message, they can help others avoid the scam by reporting it to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you get a phishing text message, DCP encourages you to forward it to SPAM (7726).
Every scam reported makes it safer for the next potential target.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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