Scam of the Week

In this week’s scam, you receive an unexpected appointment confirmation email from the National Bank of Canada. Since the email is sent from the bank’s official email address, it appears to be completely safe. The email also alerts you to unusual activity in your account and provides a phone number for you to call to resolve the issue.

In this week’s scam, you receive an unexpected text message from an unknown number. The text seems harmless at first, with a message like “Hey, how are you?” or “Are you coming to the BBQ later?” If you reply to the message, the sender will start a friendly conversation.

This week’s scam involves a business email compromise, or BEC, attack, where cybercriminals access a real business email address and use it to send malicious emails. You receive an email that looks like a simple file-sharing notification, with an attachment that seems to be a PDF document. The email even comes from a legitimate business email address. Because it looks like the email is from a trusted source, you might be tempted to open it.

In this week’s scam, cybercriminals are using a clever trick that makes their phishing emails seem more real than ever. You receive an email from a real PayPal email address. The email contains an invoice for a large purchase you did not make, and a phone number for you to call if you want to dispute the charge. Even though the email comes from a real PayPal email address, this is actually a scam.

Cybercriminals are targeting taxpayers in the state of California by sending text messages that look like they’re from the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), a state tax agency. The message claims your tax refund has been approved and instructs you to select a link to enter your payment information. There is a very strict deadline, and the instructions state that you will lose your tax refund if you do not enter your payment information quickly.

In this week’s scam, you get an email that looks like it’s from a trusted brand, such as Costco or AAA. The email promises a free gift if you fill out a short survey and pay a small shipping fee so that the gift can be delivered to you. The email may create a sense of urgency by claiming that only a few free gifts are left. All you have to do is click a link in the email, which takes you to a website with the survey.