Author: Michael Sundberg

There’s certainly been an uptick in the number of scam e-mails circulating in cyberspace this year. Amid all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s important to be on the lookout for cyber grinches hoping to steal your or your clients’ personal information.

Holiday scams 101
Your best defense against these threats is to be aware of what they may look like and whom they may come from.

Phony requests resulting from hacked personal e-mail accounts. Hackers who gain access to clients’ personal e-mail accounts may contact their victims’ financial advisors to solicit wire transfers or obtain other sensitive information. The scammers often make up stories like “I’m attending my brother’s funeral and need a wire transfer immediately,” hoping that the advisor will disregard protocol and transfer the money without hesitation.

How to stay safe: Fraudulent messages from hacked client e-mail accounts often come laced with spelling and grammar mistakes and may seem suspiciously urgent. You can thwart these types of scams simply by phoning your client to verify that the request is indeed legitimate.

Phishing e-mails. These attacks come disguised as something of relevance to you, such as a discount offer to a store like Best Buy or Wal-Mart, or perhaps a link to UPS tracking information. When you click on links in phishing messages, a virus downloads to your computer, allowing the scammer to access personal information in your e-mail, as well as passwords to your online accounts.

How to stay safe: To protect yourself from phishing scams, take these precautions:

• Be suspicious of any commercial e-mails, especially those asking for personal information. It’s better to look at every e-mail as a potential phishing attack than to assume any of them are legitimate.
• Watch for grammatical errors and typos. Often, phishing e-mails don’t look fake. But, upon closer inspection, you may notice typos or grammatical mistakes—a surefire sign that the e-mail is fraudulent.
• Keep your computer up to date with the latest antivirus software. Antivirus protection will help quarantine any bugs that manage to sneak into your system.

“Free” gift card offers. Playing off the holiday spirit of giving, some scammers attempt to dupe consumers into exchanging personal information for free gift cards. While these offers may be made online through phishing e-mails, others come via phone calls.

How to stay safe: Never provide personal information online or over the phone unless you’re certain whom you’re dealing with. To check if a phone conversation regarding a free gift card is legitimate, simply ask for a number to call back. Scammers will almost always give themselves away by acting aggravated or resisting this request.

Be merry—and wary
As you prepare for this year’s holiday festivities, don’t forget to be diligent in defending your and your clients’ assets. Cyber crooks are constantly devising new ways to trick their victims into turning over personal information, so be sure to verify that any requests you receive are legitimate. Protecting yourself and your clients from scam attempts can go a long way toward a happy holiday season.

Michael Sundberg is the director of information security. He is available at msundberg@commonwealth.com.