These tips will help foil impostors’ scam attempts | #socialmedia | #education | #technology | #infosec

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An impostor is a person who pretends to be someone else. They may pretend to be someone you know, such as a family member, a friend or a person you feel like you know but have not met in person. They may pretend to be working for the government or from a company you trust, or a company with which you do business on a regular basis, such as a computer software company.

Impostors are dishonest people who want to steal your money or personal information and will try to do this through a phone call, text message or email. The phone calls may appear to be a local number, text messages appear to be from real companies, or emails include entirely believable government logos or a familiar business on them.

Impersonation is a very common tactic used by scammers, according to the BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report. Impostor scams come in all shapes and sizes with the same intent — to trick you out of your money and/or personal information.

Here are some impostor scams and how they work:

Power/utility scam

Utility company impostors typically reach out via a telephone call or knock on your door claiming to be a representative from the local water, electric, or gas company. In the most common scenario, the fraudster will say a payment is overdue and the utility will be shut off if you don’t pay up immediately.

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