Don't fall for this scam - Fake warning "someone using your Internet address has been caught viewing child pornography" - Message claims to have been sent from Microsoft Support, and says the recipient’s Windows license will be suspended unless they call an “MS Support” number to reinstate the license, the goal is to trick callers into giving fraudsters direct access to their PCs.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/05/tech-support-scam-uses-child-porn-warning/

Must Watch - (Sad and touching,) How a 13 year old girl is cheated by a scammer from a Fake Call Center in India.

https://youtu.be/kFwt-_svg_0

Beware of "WhatsApp Gold" scam - this hoax involves sending WhatsApp messages to users regarding downloading an update for WhatsApp. However, in reality, it isn’t an update but malware.

WhatsApp has confirmed that it is a new hoax that’s being spread by scammers to trap users by convincing them that by clicking on the link they will be able to receive an updated version of the messaging app.

Preview of the Scam Message Below:

https://www.hackread.com/whatsapp-gold-scam-with-malware-payload

Here is a SCAM that anyone (in USA) could become the next victim. If you happen to go to emergency in an hospital , you can be charged with a “trauma fees”.Charges ranged from $1,112.00 at a hospital in Missouri to $50,659.00 at a hospital in California.

At San Francisco General Hospital, the $30,206 higher-level trauma response fee, which increased by about $2,000 last year, was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Example:
The hospital charged Sulvetta a $15,666 trauma response fee, a hefty chunk of her $113,336 bill. Her insurance decided that the hospital fees for the one-day stay were too high, and — after negotiations — agreed to pay only a charge it deemed reasonable. The hospital then went after Sulvetta for $31,250.

Trauma centers argue that these fees are necessary to train and maintain a full roster of trauma doctors, from surgeons to anesthesiologists, keeping them on-call and able to respond to medical emergencies at all times.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital spokesperson Brent Andrew defended the hospital’s fee of over $15,000, even though Jeong-whan didn’t require those services.
“We are the trauma center for a very large, very densely populated area. We deal with so many traumas in this city — car accidents, mass shootings, multiple vehicle collisions,” Andrew said. “It’s expensive to prepare for that.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/28/17506232/emergency-room-bill-fees-health-insurance-baby

Interesting dual purpose SCAM - Steal and also use the victim to create fake testimonies on YouTube.

Remote-access scammers trick their victims into handing over big money — as well as control of their computers — in return for fake fixes for technical problems that never existed.

The scammers then post the videos to their YouTube page, using them as testimonials to convince future targets that their services are legitimate.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-03/australian-web-cams-hacked-to-make-secret-recordings-online/9807960

In a third of all marriages, one or both partners admit to cheating. Good for random blackmails (for bitcoins).

 "When you look at numbers as to how many people cheat… If they send out 10 letters, maybe there are two or three people who are in fact cheating, and they think they can get them to make a payment,”

Like so many other scams, this one preys on fear by utilizing the U.S Postal Service.

The FBI says the details in the extortion letters are just specific enough to make them believable. The agency is now investigating the origin of the letters.


http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/04/05/scammers-blackmailing-spouses-over-alleged-extramarital-affairs/

Netflix users beware - This is not something that is happening to others. I, had also received this hoax email (a few days back)

According to security firm Mailguard, if recipients click the link in the email, they are directed to a fake Netflix page asking them to login and provide their personal information, including credit card details.


Mailguard offers these tips to help users detect the real source and purpose of an email:

• Always hover your mouse over links within emails and check the domain they're pointing to. If they look suspicious or unfamiliar don't open them
• Cybersecurity threats take many different forms from simple spyware downloads to sophisticated ransomware attacks. Your business can be exposed to a wide variety of different vectors: through peripherals; USB devices; networks; attachments; etc. Security best practice recommends a layered defence strategy to protect users against web threats and malware
• 9 out of 10 cyber-attacks are delivered via email, so it's essential to have the best email filtering in place to protect your systems
• Keep up to date on the latest scams.

For More:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hackers-launch-identity-theft-attack-151546094.html

Whatsapp scam message - Watch out

WhatsApp users are receiving scam messages from trusted sources, offering free Netflix access for a year if they pass on a link to 10 of their contacts.

Of course this shortened link is malicious, and the web page it leads to is actually "stealing information from users' mobile phones for different types of subscriptions, or opening the system's messaging application in order to send an SMS to a premium number with a certain text, or even encouraging users to download applications from unofficial sites,"

For more details:
https://www.scmagazine.com/whatsapp-scam-offers-free-netflix-but-steals-info-and-commits-sms-fraud/article/661195/

Simple way to detect Tax Season SCAM

IRS Spokesperson Mark S. Green stated:

“The IRS DOES NOT initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text, social media or electronic communications to request personal or financial information."

So, anything other than Postal Mail is a scam

How do these SCAMs looks
https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/research/tax-season-scams

"homograph “spoofing" - ???

Techniques in which the attackers purchase domains and create emails that are similar to the victim and their correspondent. In some cases, the emails may differ by only one letter.


This article is about how Nigerian Scammers work?
Interesting to find out how thorough their planning and executions are.
It is not easy

From the article


To select their victims, the group of fraudsters peruses sites such as Alibaba in an effort to identify potential victims who reside in countries in which they already have existing bank accounts

he scammers also tend to target users who have registered accounts with free email providers, such as Yahoo!, Google and Hotmail.

Once a victim has been chosen, the fraudsters must figure out a way to deliver to them remote access tools (RATs) and other exploits.



For more details:
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-data-protection/cyber-security/the-four-cs-of-a-nigerian-payment-diversion-scam/