How hurricane charity scams target you before storms hit
A hurricane-season scammer can start the day with coffee and a spreadsheet.That spreadsheet may hold names, ages, addresses, phone numbers and family details.
A scammer might buy that information, pull it from people-search sites or piece it together from public sources.That means hurricane charity scams can start before a storm even hits.By the time a hurricane dominates the news, a fraudster may already know who could respond to a donation pitch.September is National Preparedness Month, and this year's theme is "Americans Stand Ready." While FEMA urges you to make an emergency plan and build a kit, scammers are looking for ways to turn a disaster into a payday.NEW! Join our upcoming CyberGuy LIVE class: Get Better Healthcare With AI In this free live online class, Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson will show you five practical ways AI can help you take a more active role in your healthcare.
You’ll learn how to organize your health history, remember important appointment details, understand complicated medical information, research prescriptions and prepare questions for your next doctor’s visit.No technical experience is needed.Register for free now at CyberGuyLive.com19 EMERGENCY ITEMS TO BUY BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY NEED THEM — STARTING AT $7Hurricane damage and flooding can create the kind of urgency scammers exploit with fake disaster-relief appeals.
(Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Charity scammers do not have to wait for a disaster to start looking for targets.Data brokers and marketers have spent years collecting information about where people live, what they buy and how they respond to solicitations.One Justice Department case shows how dangerous that kind of targeting can become.
Epsilon Data Management used transactional data and a database covering 100 million U.S.households to identify "responsive buyers." Prosecutors said two executives, Robert Reger and David Lytle, spent about a decade knowingly selling targeted lists to fraudsters.One client used those lists ...