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GUEST ESSAY: The Top 5 online privacy and data security threats faced by the elderly

The Last Watchdog

That said, here are what I consider to be the Top 5 online threats seniors face today: •Computer tech support scams. These scams take advantage of seniors’ lack of computer and cybersecurity knowledge. Once they get remote access, fraudsters hack confidential details of older adults and scam them. Identity-theft.

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Tips to Avoid Holiday Job Scams

Identity IQ

Job scams have been a problem for years. Last year, the Better Business Bureau estimated 14 million victims with $2 billion in direct losses related to job scams. The 2020 BBB Employment Scams Report found job scams to be the riskiest of all the scams they tracked in 2018 and 2019.

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You’ve Never Heard of the C-Suite Targeting Scam, but It’s a Killer

Adam Levin

billion in BEC scam-related losses the year before. With the W2 variety, a citizen of the c-suite requests all the W2s from human resources or accounting–thereby collecting a rich file of personally identifiable information that can be used to commit tax-related fraud as well as all stripe of identity theft.

Scams 130
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BEC Still #1, but Investment Fraud passes Romance Scams

Security Boulevard

For several years, the #1 Cybercrime type has been Business Email Compromise followed by the #2 of Romance Scam. The criminals have discovered how many people don't understand investing in cryptocurrency and have turned Investment Scams into a new money factory. . #1 Identity Theft. Investment Scam Examples.

Scams 98
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California Agency Exposed Up to 38 Million SSNs

Adam Levin

The EDD’s practice of mailing documents that include the full Social Security numbers of their intended recipients greatly elevates the risk of identity theft, according to California State Auditor Elaine Howle, who urged a halt to the practice in 2019. The Governor’s office has yet to release an official response to the letter. .

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First American Financial Corp. Leaked Hundreds of Millions of Title Insurance Records

Krebs on Security

billion in 2018. Nevertheless, the information exposed by First American would be a virtual gold mine for phishers and scammers involved in so-called Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, which often impersonate real estate agents, closing agencies, title and escrow firms in a bid to trick property buyers into wiring funds to fraudsters.

Insurance 275
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Spam Kingpin Peter Levashov Gets Time Served

Krebs on Security

Levashov has been in federal custody since his extradition to the United States and guilty plea in 2018, and was facing up to 12 more years in prison. Junk email campaigns touting employment or “money mule” scams cost $300 per million, and phishing emails could be blasted out through Severa’s botnet for the bargain price of $500 per million.

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