From crimbite at mit.edu Tue Dec 6 16:20:51 2016 From: crimbite at mit.edu (Cheryl N Vossmer) Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2016 21:20:51 +0000 Subject: [Cp-bulletin] Phishing and Extortion Scams References: <38D8AB67F8048D408FC5C08F21971EDE0160603BA4@OC11EXPO33.exchange.mit.edu> Message-ID: <6EA01E017DFCC44F830602E876603BDAE6732185@OC11EXPO30.exchange.mit.edu> Crime Alert Bulletin Phishing and Online Extortion Scams 12/06/2016 Summary: A number of people in the MIT community have been victims of two types of online scams in recent weeks. SCAM 1: PHISHING: A phishing scam is when someone pretends to be assisting the victim. The caller may say he/she is calling from some customer support entity, such as a cable/internet provider or bank/credit card company. The victims in the MIT community thought they were speaking with representatives from Microsoft and the IRS. The caller will ask for personal information such as a date of birth, social security number, account number, or username and passwords. The caller will then either access account information or open new accounts in the victim's name. The caller will ask for personal information assuring the victim he/she is trying to protect them from a security breach. SCAM 2: EXTORTION: A scam that has been gaining attention recently involves the offender posing as a woman on a chat site, like Skype. The offender convinces the victim to undress for the camera, records video of the interaction, and then threatens to post the video on YouTube and the Facebook pages of the victim's family members. The offender demands $500 or more to refrain from posting video footage. The offender is often in another country beyond the reach of American law enforcement. Suggestions: In order to protect yourself and your belongings from online theft or extortion schemes the MIT Police encourage you to follow these tips: * NEVER give out personal information online or over the phone unless you are positive you are speaking to the company or entity you are expecting or you initiated the call * If you are talking to strangers online, they may not be who they say they are * If someone threatens you on the phone or online, hang up or end your session and contact the MIT Police at 617-253-1212 * The MIT Police are investigating these crimes and request the assistance from the MIT community * Immediately notify the MIT Police at 617-253-1212 or 100 from any campus phone if you believe a crime is occurring, has occurred, or is about to occur * If you wish to leave an anonymous tip please call 617-258-TIPS (8-8477) Issued by: Sgt. Andrew Turco 617-253-1212 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/cp-bulletin/attachments/20161206/343d5d50/attachment.html