If you’ve watched any of my videos over the last year, you know that I’m a big proponent of using
password managers, two factor authentication, private internet browsers, private search engines,
credit freezes, and so much more. But when you take away all the security software and hardware,
what is the one security habit you and your family could start doing that could mean the
difference between losing tens of thousands of dollar, if not more, or not getting scammed.
It’s simple. It’s obvious. Yet it’s a habit that most people don’t do. Here’s what I mean.
My name is Josh and this is All Things Secured,
a channel dedicated to helping you protect your accounts and your identity online.
Let me start by sharing with you the kind of scam that’s really common right now, and it’s also
completely undetectable by any antivirus, antimalware of VPN software you might have.
These screen shots come from a sports commentator in the UK who shared them on Twitter.
Her mom had received a simple message saying that
she had to get a new phone number and to go ahead delete the old one.
After a bit of chit chat, the person posing as the daughter asks for some help paying an
online banking bill that she’s having trouble with because of this new number.
Perhaps you think you’re smart enough not to fall for this kind of scam. But what
about your parents? And what about those times when you really do need to make an odd request.
For example, last month, there was an American here in Thailand that was selling all his stuff
and returning back to his home in the US. He asked if anybody would be willing to purchase his Thai
baht here and send him a check in US dollars when he landed. I figured I could save a few bucks in
exchange fees and wire fees, so I told him I would buy 100,000 baht, or roughly $2,500 at the time.
Believe it or not, I still have one book of paper checks just for stuff like this,
and I keep it with my mom back in the United States. So I sent her an text asking her to send
a check for $2,500 to a specific name and address, explaining the reason for the random request.
The only real difference between these two stories is that one is a scam request
while mine was a legitimate request.
Another big difference is what happened next between me and my mom. You see,
I’m aware that these kinds of scams target folks my parents age and I
don’t want them to fall prey and lose their money.
So our family has set a policy in place to help protect against these threats.
After I sent my mom that text asking her to write out a check,
I followed up with an email confirming my request and then I called her just for good measure.
It was good to say hi but really I wanted her to
hear my voice to confirm the authenticity of my request.
THIS is the one habit not only do you need to put it into practice, but you need to
teach your parents, your grandparents or your children to put into practice.
It’s simply this: verify elsewhere.
So in the case of the sports commentator’s mom, what do you think that means? If you
guessed a phone call, you’d be partially wrong. Unfortunately, it’s way too easy, particularly for
the older generation, to get fooled by a voice on the phone that sounds kind of like your loved one.
A better option would be a Facetime call or connecting via a different messaging app such
as Facebook Messenger if your family uses that, Signal or some other app.
The important point here is that by building this one habit within your family,
you can avoid some major problems down the road.
Verify elsewhere.
Oh, and by the way, this is true even for businesses. If you recall from,
Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran’s firm almost got scammed out of $400,000 using a
business email compromise scam that could have been avoided by verifying elsewhere.
The scammers were able to hack into the firm’s email system and create an email
address that looked very similar to Barbara’s assistant. They then emailed the bookkeeper
with an invoice that needed to be paid immedialy, which of course, was a fraud.
The best of these kinds of scams are made up of very plausible
stories. They’re also usually harder to spot in the moment than you realize.
Why? Because verifying elsewhere means that you need to ignore any pressure for urgency.
Usually these scams involve some kind of urgent situation or time-based threat that
makes you feel like you don’t have time to verify. But you do. You always do.
So find a way to create this habit among your circle of friends or your loved ones.
Verify elsewhere. It could be an email, another messaging app,
a video call or whatever. Just verify elsewhere.
I’m glad you’ve made it this far. If this was helpful, be sure to subscribe to this channel
for more online security and privacy tips. And since we’re on the subject of scamming,
take a look at this video next where I break down the best method I know to spot scam emails.