Hello, fellow squirrels! Today, I will be talking about online scams in a nutshell.
Online scams are annoying for us to see. They are also relentless, like a squirrel guarding its stash of acorns. According to research done by Mark Moran (you can read more in the link below), almost 75% of Americans are getting hit with scams of some kind every single week. This ranges from scam calls, sketchy emails, or suspicious texts. Out of those 75% that get hit with a scam, 21% of them have lost money. Out of that 21%, 30% of those say it hurt their finances significantly. These scams have become part of our digital lives now and can be seen everywhere.
What are the most common scams people see?
So what do we see as the common squirrel when someone is trying to steal our acorns? It’s like a sneaky squirrel trying to raid another’s stash! Going from the most common to the least, here is the list of scams you will see. 48% of scams we see are fake charges on debit or credit cards. 36% of scams are online shopping scams where you pay for a product but the product never shows up. This is a serious inconvenience, but 29% of scams come from account takeovers. This is where hackers get in and lock you out, and it is a type of identity theft. 24% of scams that happen are phishing attacks where you click a link, and then your data is stolen and your money is gone. Second to last, 10% of the scams you get is ransomware where your files get held hostage for money. Last, 7% of scams are investment scams that are “too good to be true” crypto or stock pitches.
What can we do?
What we can do to keep ourselves safe is to stay vigilant, don’t click on random links, and keep all your devices up to date. If you keep up with protective measures, you can stay out of the scammers’ clutches. We can’t get rid of them, but we can minimize their impact on us. It’s like building a fortress around your acorns to keep the sneaky squirrels at bay!
That’s all for today’s cyber-stuffed nutshell! Remember, staying alert is half the battle… and now you’ve got acorn-sized wisdom packed for future defense. Stay safe, my fellow squirrels!!.
Think you are too unimportant to be targeted by scammers?
Pew: Three quarters of Americans targeted weekly in online scams
Online Scams and Attacks in America Today | Pew Research Center
Code Squirrel, Cyber Security in a Nutshell 
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