Consumer Watch: Beware of ‘phishing’ scams - Military Money, Navy Money, navy pay, pay charts - Navy Times

Consumer Watch: Beware of ‘phishing’ scams

“Take this quick survey for a free gift card … click here.”

“Your ACH transaction was canceled … click here for details.”

“Come to this important conference. Your airfare will be paid … click here to register.”

These ever-changing emails aiming to “phish” our personal information and clean out our bank accounts are just some of the ways crooks try to commit Internet fraud.

But Internet fraud is more widespread than people think, and those in the military community are targeted more, said retired Air Force Col. Gary McAlum, chief security officer for USAA, which has about 8.5 million members.

“There’s a lot more going on in the background than most people realize,” McAlum said.

On a typical day, USAA’s team of about 300 people blocks more than 33,000 inbound system attacks and sends out fraud alerts to 10,385 members.

“It’s unfortunate that criminals take advantage of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines,” McAlum said. “They realize they are deployed, and they and family members are susceptible to some of the scams.”

For example, deployed troops may not be checking their banking and other financial statements. “We’ve seen people monitor the movement of troops deployed and target their families back home,” McAlum said.

Criminals often use publicly available information to try to pass themselves off as someone else to get access to service members’ accounts. For that reason, McAlum said, people need to be careful of what they say on social media.

“There are some things you don’t want the general public to know,” he said. Know the security and privacy tools of the sites you’re using, and check your settings.

Six tips from McAlum and www.onguardonline.gov:

1. Vigilantly check your banking, credit card and other financial information — on paper and online. “Initially, cyber criminals may try a few transactions to see if you’ll check,” McAlum said.

It even happened to him recently, when he spotted some items on his statement for flowers ordered in South America. USAA has a new alert program that sends a text to a customer’s phone each time a credit card purchase is made, allowing customers to block a fraudulent purchase.

2. Don’t reply to an email, text or pop-up message asking for personal information, and don’t click on their embedded links. No legitimate financial institution will ever ask for personal information.

3. Protect your home computer. Run anti-virus software that updates automatically. Check your computer’s settings, and make sure the firewall is on. Set your operating system and Web browser to download and install security patches automatically.

4. Concoct strong passwords, and keep them secure. They should have at least eight characters and include numbers or symbols. Use different passwords for your financial institutions. If your password gets compromised on a social media site, for example, the criminals will try it elsewhere to get into your personal accounts.

5. Before downloading a mobile app, think about what information it may gather from your device and who gets it. For more information on things to consider, visit www.onguardonline.gov/topics/mobile-apps.aspx. Hackers have created apps that can infect phones and mobile devices with malicious software.

6. Tell your financial institution if it appears a criminal is trying to impersonate it.