How the Latest Mail Scams and E-mail Breaches Could Impact You
Beware the fraud lurking in your financial house. State agencies have released a flurry of warnings over the past few days that could negatively impact some Coloradans if precautions aren't heeded. The most potentially damaging is a security breach—"possibly one of the biggest" in U.S. history—that's compromised the e-mail addresses of customers with accounts at various household names, including Citigroup, Best Buy, King Soopers, Hilton, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, and many others (Associated Press). Local customers should refrain from providing any information via e-mails portending to be from the affected companies (Denver Business Journal).
And if your business (that includes freelancers and other sole proprietors) or nonprofit has received an official-looking letter from Corporate Controllers Unit LLC asking you for $225 to address delinquencies and penalties, contact the Colorado secretary of state (Loveland Reporter-Herald). The threatening document, innocuously titled "Periodic Report," contains other details that can help you identify its illegitimacy (Denver Post).
Fraudsters have a lot of
Fraudsters have a lot of tactics to attack consumers. Thus, customers have to be careful. As reported by the online security giant, McAfee, spam emails containing the term "Valentine" in the topic heading increased enormously last year. Scammers are fond of using terms like "Romance" and "Love" to entice victims all year long. The regularity of fraudsters playing on your soft side increases dramatically this time of year. The proof is here: Avoid Valentine Day scams in search for love.