MADISON - With scams and fraud schemes proliferating on social media, AARP Wisconsin has teamed with the AARP Fraud Watch Network for a campaign to educate Wisconsinites about social media hazards and provide information about how they can protect themselves.
Scammers have been using email and telephone calls to target unsuspecting victims for years. With today's boom in social media use, according to a news release, con artists are just as likely to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to execute scams to steal people's money and identities. According to the Pew Research Center, about 70 percent of Americans regularly use social media.
The new campaign includes advertising, online videos and a new website, www.aarp.org/SocialScams. The effort warns consumers about specific social media scams, such as the coupon scam and the genealogy scam:
• Fraudsters execute the coupon scam by distributing advertisements featuring too-good-to-be-true deals on popular items. The goal is to charge the victim's credit card for products they never receive or to collect personal information for identity theft.
• The genealogy scam capitalizes on the current popularity of ancestry research. Scammers set up a legitimate-looking website and social media account - often mimicking the name of an authentic genealogy site by altering a character or two of the name. Victims are duped into providing their credit card information, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
There also are reports of contest scams, fake gift card schemes, offers of free live-streamed video and employment scams. The news release said there is a new social media scam almost daily.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Wisconsin residents registered 31,975 fraud complaints during 2016. AARP Fraud Watch network ambassador Frank Abagnale provides the following tips to avoid identity theft via social media:
• Never post personal information, including a Social Security number - not even the last four digits - or birthday, place of birth, home address, phone numbers or personal account information.
• Avoid posting a front-facing full-face picture on social media sites. A con artist can copy the image and use it to create a photo ID that can be used for identity theft.
• Set the privacy options for each social media account to restrict personal information so it can only be viewed by selected people, and check privacy settings regularly.
• Don't log in to social media accounts via a public wireless network. A 2016 survey by the AARP Fraud Watch Network found that more than 70 percent of the respondents have accessed their email, Facebook and other social media accounts via free public Wi-Fi.
Abagnale has been associated with the FBI for more than four decades and has consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world. His story was told in his book, "Catch Me if You Can" and in the 2002 movie of the same name.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network was launched in 2013 as a free resource for people of all ages. A free helpline can be reached at 877-908-3360.
Scammers have been using email and telephone calls to target unsuspecting victims for years. With today's boom in social media use, according to a news release, con artists are just as likely to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to execute scams to steal people's money and identities. According to the Pew Research Center, about 70 percent of Americans regularly use social media.
The new campaign includes advertising, online videos and a new website, www.aarp.org/SocialScams. The effort warns consumers about specific social media scams, such as the coupon scam and the genealogy scam:
• Fraudsters execute the coupon scam by distributing advertisements featuring too-good-to-be-true deals on popular items. The goal is to charge the victim's credit card for products they never receive or to collect personal information for identity theft.
• The genealogy scam capitalizes on the current popularity of ancestry research. Scammers set up a legitimate-looking website and social media account - often mimicking the name of an authentic genealogy site by altering a character or two of the name. Victims are duped into providing their credit card information, Social Security numbers and other personal information.
There also are reports of contest scams, fake gift card schemes, offers of free live-streamed video and employment scams. The news release said there is a new social media scam almost daily.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Wisconsin residents registered 31,975 fraud complaints during 2016. AARP Fraud Watch network ambassador Frank Abagnale provides the following tips to avoid identity theft via social media:
• Never post personal information, including a Social Security number - not even the last four digits - or birthday, place of birth, home address, phone numbers or personal account information.
• Avoid posting a front-facing full-face picture on social media sites. A con artist can copy the image and use it to create a photo ID that can be used for identity theft.
• Set the privacy options for each social media account to restrict personal information so it can only be viewed by selected people, and check privacy settings regularly.
• Don't log in to social media accounts via a public wireless network. A 2016 survey by the AARP Fraud Watch Network found that more than 70 percent of the respondents have accessed their email, Facebook and other social media accounts via free public Wi-Fi.
Abagnale has been associated with the FBI for more than four decades and has consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world. His story was told in his book, "Catch Me if You Can" and in the 2002 movie of the same name.
The AARP Fraud Watch Network was launched in 2013 as a free resource for people of all ages. A free helpline can be reached at 877-908-3360.