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It’s the romance scam story that plays out like a segment on a true crime show. It starts with a budding relationship formed on an online dating site. It ends with an ominous note and an abandoned car on a riverside boat ramp hundreds of miles away from the victim’s home. 

The story that follows offers a look at how far romance scams can go. With that, we warn you that this story comes to a grim ending. We share it to show just how high the stakes can get in these scams and how cunning the scammers who run them can be.  

Most importantly, it gives us an opportunity to show how you can spot and avoid romance scams in all their forms. 

Laura’s story

As recently reported across several news outlets, comes the story of Laura, a 57-year-old retired woman from Chicago who joined an online dating service in search of a relationship. She went with a known site, thinking it would be safer than some of the other options online.  

Sure enough, she met “Frank Borg,” who posed as a ruggedly good-looking Swedish businessman. A relationship flourished, and within days the pair professed their love for each other. 

Over time, however, the messages became increasingly transactional. Transcripts show that “Frank” started asking for money, which Laura wired to a bogus company. All to the eventual tune of $1.5 million and a mortgaged home. 

Yet the scam cut yet deeper than that. “Frank” then had her open several phony dating profiles on different online dating sites, set up new bank accounts, and further spin up fake companies. In all, “Frank” appears to not only have scammed Laura, he also weaponized her — turning her into an accomplice as “Frank” sought to scam others.  

As the account goes, Laura grew suspicious about a year into the scam. A gap appears in her correspondence with “Frank,” and it appears that some conversations went offline. Today, Laura’s daughter speculates that her mother knew that what she was doing was illegal and was threatened to keep at it. 

The story ends two years after the romance started, with Laura going missing, only to be found drowned in the Mississippi River. Left behind, a note, found by her daughter while searching Laura’s house. It wrote of living a double life that left her broke because of “Frank.” The note also left instructions for accessing her email, which chronicled the online part of the affair in detail. 

Investigations found no clear evidence of foul play, yet several questions remain. What is known is that “Frank’s” profile picture was a doctor from Chile and that the emails originated in Ghana. 

The cost of romance scams

While Laura’s story falls into a heartbreaking extreme, romance scams of all sorts happen often enough. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 2023 Internet Crime Report, losses to reported cases of romance scams topped more than $650 million.ⁱ  

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cites even higher figures for 2023, at $1.4 billion, for a median loss of $2,000 per reported case.ⁱⁱ That makes romance scams the highest in reported losses for any form of imposter scam according to the FTC. 

Sadly, many romance scams go unreported. The reasons vary. Understandably, some victims feel ashamed. This is particularly the case when it comes to older victims. Many fear their friends and families might take it as a sign that they aren’t able to fully care for themselves anymore. Other victims might feel that the romance was real — that they weren’t scammed at all. They believe that their love interest will come back. 

Practically anyone can fall victim to a romance scam. People of all ages and backgrounds have found themselves entangled in romance scams. With that, there should be no shame. These scammers have shown time and time again how sophisticated their playbooks are. They excel at slow and insidious manipulation over time.  

When the scammer starts asking for money, the victim is locked in. They believe that they’re in love with someone who loves them just the same. They fork over the money without question. And that’s what makes these scams so exceptionally damaging. 

Signs of a romance scam to look out for

Sophisticated as these scammers are, you can spot them.  

Even with the arrival of AI chat tools and deepfake technology, romance scammers still rely on a set of age-old tricks. Ultimately, romance scammers play long and patient mind games to get what they want. In many cases, scammers use scripted playbooks put together by other scammers. They follow a common roadmap, one that we can trace and share so you can avoid falling victim. 

Top signs include … 

It seems too good to be true. 

If the person seems like a perfect match right from the start, be cautious. Scammers often stake out their victims and create profiles designed to appeal to their desires and preferences. In some cases, we’ve seen instances where a scammer uses pictures and profiles similar to the deceased partners of widowers. 

Love comes quickly. Too quickly. 

As the case was with “Frank,” two weeks hadn’t passed before the word “love” appeared in the messages. Take that as a red flag, particularly online when you’ve had no in-person contact with them. A rush into declarations of love might indicate ulterior motives. 

The story doesn’t check out. 

Victims might think they’re talking to a romantic partner, yet they’re talking with a scammer. Sometimes several different scammers. As we’ve shown in our blogs before, large online crime organizations run some romance scams. With several people running the scam, inconsistencies can crop up. Look out for that.  

What’s more, even individual scammers forget details they’ve previously shared or provide conflicting info about their background, job, or family. It’s possible that one romance scammer has several scams going on at once, which can lead to confusion on their part. 

You feel pressured. 

Romance scammers pump their victims for info. With things like addresses, phone numbers, and financial details, scammers use that info to commit further identity theft or scams. If someone online presses you for this info, keep it to yourself. It might be a scam.  

Another mark of a scam — if the person asks all sorts of prying questions and doesn’t give up any such info about themselves. A romance scam is very one way in this regard. 

You’re asked for money in some form or fashion. 

This is the heart of the scam. With the “relationship” established, the scammer starts asking for money. They might ask for bank transfers, cryptocurrency, money orders, or gift cards. In all, they ask for funds that victims have a tough time getting refunded, if at all. Consider requests for money in any form as the reddest of red flags. 

Watch out for AI. 

Scammers now use AI. And that actually gives us one less tell-tale sign of a romance scam. It used to be that romance scammers refused to hop on video calls as they would reveal their true identities. The same for voice chats. (Suddenly, that Swedish businessman doesn’t sound so Swedish.) That’s not the case anymore. With AI audio and video deepfake technology so widely available, scammers can now sound and look the part they’re playing — in real time. AI mirrors every expression they make as they chat on a video call.  

As things stand now, these technologies have limits. The AI can only track faces, not body movements. Scammers who use this technology must sit rather rigidly. Further, many AI tools have a hard time capturing the way light reflects or catches the eye. If something looks off, the person on the other end of the call might be using deepfake technology. 

The important point is this: today’s romance scammers can make themselves appear like practically anyone. Just because you’re chatting with a “real” person on a call or video meeting, that’s no guarantee they are who they say.  

How to make it tougher for a romance scammer to target you

Romance scammers track down their victims in several ways. Some scammers blast out direct messages and texts en masse with the hope they’ll get a few bites. Others profile their potential victims before they contact them. Likewise, they’ll research anyone who indeed gives them a bite with a response to a blast. 

In all cases, locking down your privacy can make it tougher for a scammer to target you. And tougher for them to scam you if they do. Your info is their goldmine, and they use that info against you as they build a “relationship” with you.  

With that in mind, you can take several steps … 

Make your social media more private. Our new McAfee Social Privacy Manager personalizes your privacy based on your preferences. It does the heavy lifting by adjusting more than 100 privacy settings across your social media accounts in only a few clicks. This makes sure that your personal info is only visible to the people you want to share it with. It also keeps it out of search engines where the public can see it. Including scammers. 

Watch what you post on public forums. As with social media, scammers harvest info from online forums dedicated to sports, hobbies, interests, and the like. If possible, use a screen name on these sites so that your profile doesn’t immediately identify you. Likewise, keep your personal details to yourself. When posted on a public forum, it becomes a matter of public record. Anyone, including scammers, can look it up. 

Remove your info from data brokers that sell it. McAfee Personal Data Cleanup helps you remove your personal info from many of the riskiest data broker sites out there. That includes your contact info. Running it regularly can keep your name and info off these sites, even as data brokers collect and post new info. Depending on your plan, it can send requests to remove your data automatically.  

Delete your old accounts. Yet another source of personal info comes from data breaches. Scammers use this info as well to complete a sharper picture of their potential victims. With that, many internet users can have over 350 online accounts, many of which they might not know are still active. McAfee Online Account Cleanup can help you delete them. It runs monthly scans to find your online accounts and shows you their risk level. From there, you can decide which to delete, protecting your personal info from data breaches and your overall privacy as a result. 

Stay extra skeptical of sudden romance online

We’ve always had to keep our guard up to some extent when it comes to online romance. Things today call for even more skepticism. Romance scams have become tremendously more sophisticated, largely thanks to AI tools. 

Even with technology reshaping the tricks scammers can pull, recognizing that their tactics remain the same as ever can protect you from harm.  

Romance scammers flatter, manipulate, and pressure their way into the lives of their victims. They play off emotions and threaten to “leave” if they don’t get what they ask for. Emotionally, none of it feels right. Any kind of emotional extortion like that is a sign to end an online relationship, hard as that might be. 

The trick is that the victim might be in deep at that point. They might not act even if things feel wrong. That’s where family and friends come in. If something doesn’t feel right, share what’s happening with someone you’ve known and trusted for years. That can help clear up any clouded judgment. Sometimes it takes an extra set of eyes to spot a scammer. 

If you or someone you know falls victim to a romance scam, remember that no one is alone in this. Thousands and thousands of others are victims too. It might come as some comfort, particularly as many, many victims are otherwise savvy and centered people. Anyone, anyone, can find themselves a victim. 

Lastly, romance scams are crimes. If one happens to you, report it. In the U.S., you can report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and you can file a complaint with the FTC. Also, report any theft or threats to your local authorities.  

In all, the word on romance online is this — take things slowly. “Love” in two weeks or less hoists a big red flag. Very much so online. Know those signs of a scam when you see them. And if they rear their head, act on them. 

The post How to Avoid Romance Scams  appeared first on McAfee Blog.

You consider yourself a responsible person when it comes to taking care of your physical possessions. You’ve never left your wallet in a taxi or lost an expensive ring down the drain. You never let your smartphone out of your sight, yet one day you notice it’s acting oddly.  

Did you know that your device can fall into cybercriminals’ hands without ever leaving yours? SIM swapping is a method that allows criminals to take control of your smartphone and break into your online accounts. 

Don’t worry: there are a few easy steps you can take to safeguard your smartphone from prying eyes and get back to using your devices confidently. 

What Is a SIM Card? 

First off, what exactly is a SIM card? SIM stands for subscriber identity module, and it is a memory chip that makes your phone truly yours. It stores your phone plan and phone number, as well as all your photos, texts, contacts, and apps. In most cases, you can pop your SIM card out of an old phone and into a new one to transfer your photos, apps, etc. 

What Is SIM Swapping? 

Unlike what the name suggests, SIM swapping doesn’t require a cybercriminal to get access to your physical phone and steal your SIM card. SIM swapping can happen remotely. A hacker, with a few important details about your life in hand, can answer security questions correctly, impersonate you, and convince your mobile carrier to reassign your phone number to a new SIM card. At that point, the criminal can get access to your phone’s data and start changing your account passwords to lock you out of your online banking profile, email, and more. 

SIM swapping was especially relevant right after the AT&T data leak. Cybercriminals stole millions of phone numbers and the users’ associated personal details. They could later use these details to SIM swap, allowing them to receive users’ text or email two-factor authentication codes and gain access to their personal accounts. 

How Can You Tell If You’ve Been SIM Swapped? 

The most glaring sign that your phone number was reassigned to a new SIM card is that your current phone no longer connects to the cell network. That means you won’t be able to make calls, send texts, or surf the internet when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi. Since most people use their smartphones every day, you’ll likely find out quickly that your phone isn’t functioning as it should.  

Additionally, when a SIM card is no longer active, the carrier will often send a notification text. If you receive one of these texts but didn’t deactivate your SIM card, use someone else’s phone or landline to contact your wireless provider. 

How to Prevent SIM Swapping 

Check out these tips to keep your device and personal information safe from SIM swapping.  

1. Set up two-factor authentication using authentication apps. Two-factor authentication is always a great idea; however, in the case of SIM swapping, the most secure way to access authentication codes is through authentication apps, versus emailed or texted codes. It’s also a great idea to add additional security measures to authentication apps, such as protecting them with a PIN code, fingerprint, or face ID. Choose pin codes that are not associated with birthdays, anniversaries, or addresses. Opt for a random assortment of numbers.  
2. Watch out for phishing attempts. Cybercriminals often gain fodder for their identity-thieving attempts through phishing. Phishing is a method cybercriminals use to fish for sensitive personal information that they can use to impersonate you or gain access to your financial accounts. Phishing emails, texts, and phone calls often use fear, excitement, or urgency to trick people into giving up valuable details, such as social security numbers, birthdays, passwords, and PINs. Be wary of messages from people and organizations you don’t know. Even if the sender looks familiar, there could be typos in the sender’s name, logo, and throughout the message that are a good tipoff that you should delete the message immediately. Never click on links in suspicious messages. 
3. Use a password manager. Your internet browser likely asks you if you’d like the sites you visit to remember your password. Always say no! While password best practices can make it difficult to remember all your unique, long, and complex passwords and passphrases, do not set up autofill as a shortcut. Instead, entrust your passwords and phrases to a secure password manager, which is included in McAfee+. A secure password manager makes it so you only have to remember one password. The rest of them are encrypted and protected by two-factor authentication. A password manager makes it very difficult for a cybercriminal to gain entry to your accounts, thus keeping them safe. 

Boost Your Smartphone Confidence 

With just a few simple steps, you can feel better about the security of your smartphone, cellphone number, and online accounts. If you’d like extra peace of mind, consider signing up for an identity theft protection service like McAfee+. McAfee, on average, detects suspicious activity ten months earlier than similar monitoring services. Time is of the essence in cases of SIM swapping and other identity theft schemes. An identity protection partner can restore your confidence in your online activities. 

 

The post How to Protect Your Smartphone from SIM Swapping appeared first on McAfee Blog.

The US Treasury announced sanctions on two companies and four individuals for cyber campaigns conducted on behalf of the Iranian government

The bill that could see TikTok banned in the US has been approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate

North Korean hackers ran a year-long cyber-espionage campaign against South Korean defense companies

One in five UK organizations have had corporate data exposed via generative AI, says RiverSafe

The proximity of organizations’ headquarters, like Asda’s and NHS England’s, prompted BlueVoyant to choose Leeds as the location for its first UK SOC

Netacea research found that 93% of security leaders expect to face daily AI-driven attacks by the end of 2024, with 65% predicting that offensive AI will be the norm for cybercriminals

Law professor Dan Solove has a new article on privacy regulation. In his email to me, he writes: “I’ve been pondering privacy consent for more than a decade, and I think I finally made a breakthrough with this article.” His mini-abstract:

In this Article I argue that most of the time, privacy consent is fictitious. Instead of futile efforts to try to turn privacy consent from fiction to fact, the better approach is to lean into the fictions. The law can’t stop privacy consent from being a fairy tale, but the law can ensure that the story ends well. I argue that privacy consent should confer less legitimacy and power and that it be backstopped by a set of duties on organizations that process personal data based on consent.

Full abstract:

Consent plays a profound role in nearly all privacy laws. As Professor Heidi Hurd aptly said, consent works “moral magic”—it transforms things that would be illegal and immoral into lawful and legitimate activities. As to privacy, consent authorizes and legitimizes a wide range of data collection and processing.

There are generally two approaches to consent in privacy law. In the United States, the notice-and-choice approach predominates; organizations post a notice of their privacy practices and people are deemed to consent if they continue to do business with the organization or fail to opt out. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) uses the express consent approach, where people must voluntarily and affirmatively consent.

Both approaches fail. The evidence of actual consent is non-existent under the notice-and-choice approach. Individuals are often pressured or manipulated, undermining the validity of their consent. The express consent approach also suffers from these problems ­ people are ill-equipped to decide about their privacy, and even experts cannot fully understand what algorithms will do with personal data. Express consent also is highly impractical; it inundates individuals with consent requests from thousands of organizations. Express consent cannot scale.

In this Article, I contend that most of the time, privacy consent is fictitious. Privacy law should take a new approach to consent that I call “murky consent.” Traditionally, consent has been binary—an on/off switch—but murky consent exists in the shadowy middle ground between full consent and no consent. Murky consent embraces the fact that consent in privacy is largely a set of fictions and is at best highly dubious.

Because it conceptualizes consent as mostly fictional, murky consent recognizes its lack of legitimacy. To return to Hurd’s analogy, murky consent is consent without magic. Rather than provide extensive legitimacy and power, murky consent should authorize only a very restricted and weak license to use data. Murky consent should be subject to extensive regulatory oversight with an ever-present risk that it could be deemed invalid. Murky consent should rest on shaky ground. Because the law pretends people are consenting, the law’s goal should be to ensure that what people are consenting to is good. Doing so promotes the integrity of the fictions of consent. I propose four duties to achieve this end: (1) duty to obtain consent appropriately; (2) duty to avoid thwarting reasonable expectations; (3) duty of loyalty; and (4) duty to avoid unreasonable risk. The law can’t make the tale of privacy consent less fictional, but with these duties, the law can ensure the story ends well.

According to reports from the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel database, text message scams swindled $372 million from Americans in 2023 alone. The staggering figure highlights a growing concern for consumers globally, who increasingly interact with brands and service providers via text, email, and even social media. As our reliance on technology continues, it is important for everyone to understand how to spot scam texts amid the real messages they receive.  amid the real messages they receive.

With such frequent communication from brands and organizations, you can be hard-pressed to figure out what is a scam or not. This practical and actionable advice may be able to help you spot the imposters and protect yourself against even the most hard-to-identify scam messages.    

Understand how brands say they’ll contact you  

Most of us probably avoid reading disclaimers and terms of service from brands and organizations. Paying attention to guidelines for how an organization will contact you will help you stay safe from scams. Just take it from entertainment host, Andy Cohen. 

Cohen received an email he thought was from his bank’s fraud department. Later, the scammer texted Cohen claiming to be from the bank, asking for more information. Cohen ended up sending the scammer money because he believed they were a bank representative. These days, many banks and brands have FYIs on their website about how to spot a legitimate text. Like this page from Chase, which goes over what a real Chase text looks like.  

We have a similar disclosure on our site. For example, our customer service teams will never request sensitive information such as social security numbers, PINs, or bank or payment details. As soon as you sign up for a new account, it’s a good idea to check for this sort of disclaimer and familiarize yourself with contact methods and the type of information organizations might request.  

Verify the message’s source 

Scam messages are so successful because scammers make them look real. During the holidays, when shoppers are ready to leap at deals, scam messages can be hard to resist. With an increased volume of scam texts during major shopping seasons, it’s no wonder open rates can be as high as 98%.  

Consumers can protect themselves against realistic-looking scam messages by verifying the source of the message. If an email hits your mobile inbox, click on the sender’s name to expand their full email address. Typical brand emails will have a “do not reply” somewhere in the address or an official “@branddomain.com” email address. Scam email addresses often appear as strings of gibberish.  

If unsure whether a text from a company is real, log into your account directly to see if it reflects the overdue bill or extra store credit that the text message suggests.  

Educate yourself about the latest scam trends 

Knowing about the latest cybersecurity trends is always good practice. Scammers change their tactics constantly. Text scams that were popular one year may be totally out of style the next time you get a scam message.  

Individuals looking for a place to start can check out FTC, FBI, and CISA websites. Those agencies offer valuable insights about fraud trends and recommendations about how people can protect themselves. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has an interactive scam tracking tool, and AARP provides tips for older Americans who may not be as in tune with the latest tech trends and tools.  

Layer protection with cutting-edge software 

Thankfully, the software designed to protect against scams evolves, as well. Consumers can turn to product suites that offer features like finding and removing personal info from sites that sell it, adjusting social media controls, and even providing alerts about suspicious financial transactions. 

For scam texts, AI is here to help. McAfee Scam Protection uses AI to scan SMS text messages and alert you about unsafe links. Users can delete those messages without opening them, reducing the risk of compromise and removing any question about whether the message is fraudulent or for real.  

Take a proactive approach to prevent text scams  

The $372 million figure is a stark reminder of growing fraud. As we continue into the digital age, the threat of fraudulent communications from scammers looms. To safeguard against bad actors, consumers must be proactive. By paying attention to brand communication guidelines, verifying the source of messages, remaining educated, and using modern privacy and identity products, consumers can avoid scams before they start.  

The post How to Tell If Your Text Message Is Real  appeared first on McAfee Blog.