Gloria Arroyo from Lafayette State Bank spoke to the Rotary Club of Gilchrist County about phishing and fraud Monday afternoon.
Arroyo said $59 million are lost to scams in Florida alone, and phishing attacks on seniors are up 65 percent year-over-year.
Arroyo said phishing is digital deception in which cybercriminals impersonate legitimate institutions to steal people’s personal information.
Phishing can be attempted via email, texting and phone calls, Arroyo said.
Arroyo said some red flags to look out for are urgency, grammar errors, suspicious links and data requests.
She said if you feel like you are being rushed to do something, it is likely a scam. She said if someone asks for data or personal information over the phone, such as a username and password, do not give it to them and report it to law enforcement.
She added that banks will not ask for your personal information over the phone.
Arroyo said to always verify that the sender is who they say they are and to make sure that links are correct.
With email, make sure the email address of the sender is correct, because it is easy to fake a screen name.
To check links, hover over the link to expose a possible fake link. Scammers may make minor changes to a link to a recognized website, such as using an uppercase “I” in place of a lowercase “L” to trick you into going to a website that will steal your personal data.
If you are targeted, Arroyo said to stay calm and do not click on any links; report it to law enforcement, the FTC and your bank; protect your accounts by changing passwords and enabling fraud alerts; and monitor your accounts to watch for suspicious activity.
Her top tips were: never click unknown links, verify everything before trusting and use multi-factor authentication.
“The only way to stop this,” Arroyo said, “is for no one to fall for it any more.”