We have all heard stories about different types of “scams” going on around us. Scammers are continuously finding new ways of taking advantage of innocent computer users. There seems to be a new(er) scam in town! Hackers are now targeting association sites (this includes everything from small school PTAs to large industry associations). This is how they are conducting the scam:
- Scammer finds the names of the President and Treasurer of the association on their respective website.
- Scammer sets up a gmail or yahoo account in the Association President’s name.
- Scammer sends email to Association Treasurer from new email account asking him/her to cut a check for a particular individual.
- Scammer requests the Treasurer to overnight the check to that person.
These check requests look authentic since the e-mail appears to be coming from the President of the association with their signature. Don’t be fooled! Do your homework! If you are ever in doubt of a request over email, always contact the individual to confirm whether or not it is real. Unfortunately, in a world of technology, hackers/scammers always looking for a way to “fool” the end user.