Social Engineering - Tech Scammers

You're surfing the internet and checking your emails, and suddenly, you receive a message claiming to be from your bank, requesting your login details to 'verify your account.' You might think it's legitimate, but be smart!

Scammers like to fake a trusted company. This is an example of phishing, where they trick you into giving up personal information such as passwords or credit card numbers.

Another fake tactic is pretexting. Scammers pose as friendly tech support agents or bank representatives, spinning a convincing lie to get you to reveal your identity.

Physically, a scammer might leave a USB drive labelled 'important information' lying around, hoping you'll plug it in, unknowingly self-loading malware onto your device – that's baiting.

And if someone seems a little too friendly, asking for access to secure areas or sensitive information, they could be a social engineer in disguise, tailgating their way into restricted spaces or manipulating you with promises of freebies.

Scammers often offer goodies in exchange for your secrets – that's quid pro quo.

Pharming, where cyber scammers redirect website traffic to fake sites, tricking you into entering your credentials.

Stay sharp, stay vigilant, and remember, awareness is your best defence against these scamming tactics.

Many more creative tech scams will become much more pronounced with the use of Ai.

An interesting future ahead.