The Lee County Sheriff's Office Fraud unit recently sent out a warning about cyber criminals. The Fraud Line has received a lot of calls from people whose social networking site has been hacked ("Facebook"). The criminal then uses the victim's e-mail address book to scam your friends. Here's how it works:
The cyber thief blasts out e-mails pretending to be you. In the e-mail, the crook says that your out of the country and an unfortunate incident occurred. The e-mail goes on to say that "you" need money to get back home to the United States. The e-mails asks for money to be sent via Western Union or Moneygram. The thief often times also disables the victim's actual e-mail making it impossible for you to warn family and friends of the hacking incident.
The Lee Sheriff's office has tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of this scam:
2. Keep your operating system and Web browser up-to-date and learn about their security features.
3. Keep your passwords safe, secure and strong.
4. Back up important files.
5. Protect your personal information.
6. Learn what to do in an "e"-mergency.
To report a fraud or scam or to find out if that phone call, e-mail, letter or the person at
your door is trying to scam you, contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Fraud Line at
239-477-1242.
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