RAPID CITY, S.D. — Amid the pandemic, a lot of people are using the internet to work from home, which also gives scammers more targets.
Before the virus hit, TelNet PC in Rapid City received one to three phone calls a week related to scammers. That’s what they’re now averaging daily.
The reason is due to an increase in users less familiar with online hazards. The professionals at TelNet PC say scammers usually try to make contact via browser pop-ups, E-mails, text messages or phone calls.
Once they make contact, they try to convince their target that something is urgently wrong with their device and begin pressuring for personal information under the guise of fixing the issue.
A couple red flags to be aware of: unprompted messages and the sense of urgency from the scammer.
“This is the tactic where they don’t want you to think about it and when it feels urgent and they lead you to believe that they’re of an official source to make this decision, they’re just going to push you into it,” said Matthew Klinger, the owner of TelNet PC. “It’s estimated that they, the scammers, can make up to $60 billion a year. It’s simply incredible, they’re taking advantage of the older generation.”
Klinger also recommends having a good anti-virus program for any device connected to the internet and to limit online shopping to the more trusted big name sites.
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