HUNTLEY – In light of a recent string of scams targeting the older population, Huntley police and members of the Sun City Computer Club are urging residents to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior and want to remind those targeted how to stay safe.
Though the art of scamming has been around forever and targets no specific age group, advances in technology make these potential acts harder to identify as “scams” due to their sophistication in detail and potential personal connections with the target.
One recent scam, according to Sgt. Mike Hewitt of the Huntley Police Department, caused a Huntley resident to lose thousands of dollars. The scam notifies the victim that a relative was arrested or had been involved in an accident in Canada and advises the victim to wire money.
“We’ve also seen a number of cases where residents are advised that they won some sort of lottery and are asked to send along money to cover the taxes before the ‘winnings’ are sent back. There are a couple of residents in Sun City who are into the tens of thousands of dollars with this, who send money over and over repeatedly hoping for their million dollars and Lincoln Continental,” Hewitt said.
It’s difficult to prosecute or investigate these crimes due to the website or phone number’s short shelf life – usually a couple of days at most. Hewitt said once the money is wired, it’s gone forever.
“It seems rather routine that we should be able to protect ourselves, but unfortunately there are those people that keep falling to it – and the scams only get trickier to point out,” Hewitt said, identifying advances in technology as one of the main reasons for the increase in scam attempts.
“We still get these scams that come through the mail, but you don’t see those as often as phone or Internet,” he said. “Just look at the technology, the things you can create with a computer nowadays. The sophistication, the laserjets and those sorts of things, you can make something look so realistic it becomes believable.”
Hewitt has one key message: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
“If you get an e-mail or a message from your bank asking to verify your social security number, passcodes, or account numbers, don’t comply. They have that information; why would they need to verify it? It just takes a minute for someone to be affected by a scam, so you have to be wary. Be extra cautious with the tech out there today; there are so many possibilities to get scammed,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate, but I think no matter what, these scammers will figure out a way to get their message – their plea – to you,” Bob Fischrup of the Sun City Computer Club said. “The biggest mistake we see is people will open up their e-mails or attachments to e-mails that may look suspicious. There will be these things attached to those e-mails that you won’t see that can end up hurting your computer or make you more likely to be a target.”
Fischrup said these attachments – malware, Trojan horses or viruses – can allow individuals to find personal information about the individual, such as passwords or account numbers. He advises those who use computers to run anti-virus programs at least once a week to find and delete these potential threats.
“We just need to become more aware, more studious with the technologies we use. These anti-virus programs do wonders – they’re designed to block,” Fischrup said, adding that the club recently saw a computer affected with more than 1,400 viruses – the record is 2,200.
“Some of these become so infected that you actually have to take the machine and reinstall the operating system. And if you don’t back up the pictures or the music, you lose them forever. There’s nothing you can do,” he said.
“I see a computer like I do my car. You need to treat it as such. Just as you update or change the oil or even rotate the tires on your car to keep it healthy, so should you with your computer,” he added. “I think it’s a matter of due diligence.”
Fischrup will be hosting a class in May, wherein he will teach general maintenance and anti-virus programs for the computer. Specifics have not been hashed out yet, as he is still working on the content for the program itself.
“I want to deliver it in such a way where they [those in attendance] will understand it,” he said.
There are a number of websites designated at helping those identify potential scams, including onguardonline.gov/phishing, which provides information about phishing scams, and consumer.ftc.gov, the Federal Trade Commission’s websites, which outlines current scams that may be targeting specific areas or groups.
If you fall target to a scam, or are contacted by something that seems fishy, contact Sgt. Hewitt. Though investigation may not occur, he said just knowing what’s around can help the department keep an eye on suspicious activity.
