Ridgewood NJ, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell has recently received several reports of cryptocurrency-related incidents. Cryptocurrency schemes occur when threat actors gain access to users’ cryptocurrency exchange accounts. Threat actors offer investment tips and guaranteed returns in attempts to lure their victims. As cryptocurrency incidents continue to increase, the NJCCIC recommends users implement multifactor authentication and create strong and unique passwords for their accounts.
by Jennifer Leach
Associate Director, Division of Consumer and Business Education, FTC
Ridgewood NJ, this has been National Adoption Week for pets, and by now, thousands of dogs and cats might have new homes in the hearts of many thousands of people. But as the holidays approach, scammers know that families are hearing about their kids’ NEED for a dog or cat. And scammers are ready to take advantage by offering up that perfect pet — for a fee. You’ll find ads offering litters of puppies, especially, on websites and listservs online. But once you pay, your supposed pet and the “breeder” will vanish, along with your cash. Here are ways to spot those puppy and pet scammers and stop them in their tracks.
Upper Saddle River NJ, the Upper Saddle River Police Department received several reports from residents in regards to a party calling residents and requesting to inspect storm damage from the recent storm. The callback number is not a working number and appears to be a possible scamming attempt. Please report any similar incidents to the Upper Saddle River Police Department.
Wayne NJ, according to Detective Captain Dan Daly the Wayne Police Public Information Officer , following an investigation involving subpoenas for records, the Wayne Police Department has identified and charged a man with defrauding a Wayne resident.
Ridgewood NJ, according to the Ridgewood Police Department ,residents have reported receiving phone calls requesting donations to support the Ridgewood Police Department. The Ridgewood police Department and the New Jersey state Policeman’s Benevolent Association do not solicit funds using telemarketing. Phone calls from organizations claiming they support the local police are often scams.
Ridgewood NJ, Scammers are calling people and using the names of two companies everyone knows, Apple and Amazon, to rip people off. Here’s what you need to know about these calls.
Intern, Division of Consumer & Business Education, FTC
Scammers love to use the same old tricks in new ways. One of their favorites is to pose as a business or government official to pressure you into sending them money or personal information. Now, some scammers are pretending to be popular online shopping websites, phishing for your personal information.
Ridgewood NJ, Scammers are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to steal your money, your personal information, or both. Don’t let them. Protect yourself and do your research before clicking on links purporting to provide information on the virus; donating to a charity online or through social media; contributing to a crowdfunding campaign; purchasing products online; or giving up your personal information in order to receive money or other benefits. The FBI advises you to be on the lookout for the following:
Ridgewood NJ, Public Service Electric & Gas is warning New Jersey residents that scammers have spoofed one of its phone numbers in attempts to obtain personal information. On Thursday, PSE&G started receiving a small number of inquiries, with calls escalating during business hours today. Many of the callers were returning missed calls that appear to have been made from a PSE&G phone number.
“If you receive an unexpected call from PSE&G in the next few days, particularly if you are not a PSE&G customer, we encourage you to hang up as it may be a scammer,” said Fred Daum, PSE&G’s executive director of customer operations. “If you have pending business with us, such as an appointment or collection notice, call us back on the number provided on your bill or call our customer service line, 800-436-PSEG (7734) or contact us on our website through MyAccount.”
Ridgewood NJ, according to Business Insider, scammers have found a new avenue for defrauding unsuspecting victims: Google Maps. The Google-run online map service lets users submit changes and corrections to listings – so would-be fraudsters are changing the contact details listed for banks on the app. Then, when unsuspecting bank customers ring up what they think is their financial institution, the scammers extract their private banking details and use it to empty their accounts.
Trenton NJ, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced today that New Jersey residents who were deceived into sending payments to scammers using Western Union’s wire transfer service can now apply for compensation from a $586 million fund related to a multi-state settlement with Western Union in which New Jersey participated.
According to Porrino, New Jersey residents may be eligible to receive compensation if they were the victim of a fraud-induced money transfer using Western Union services between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017.
New Jerseyans who reported to Western Union, or to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, that they were the victim of such a scam may soon receive a claim form in the mail. The claim form will be sent from the Settlement Administrator of a related federal settlement within the next two weeks.
The form will contain instructions explaining how consumers may file their claim to receive compensation. Consumers who do not receive a claim form in the mail but believe they may have an eligible claim can visit www.westernunionremission.com or call 1-844-319-2124 for more information on how to file a claim.
Filing a claim is free, so consumers should not pay anyone to file a claim on their behalf.
No one associated with the claims process will call to ask for consumers’ bank account or credit card number. All completed claims forms must be mailed back to the Settlement Administrator by February 12, 2018.
“Unfortunately, con artists use all types of ruses and tall tales to convince people to wire them money – and they sometimes succeed. Some of these ‘send money’ scams may appeal to the target’s humanitarianism or love of family, while others may suggest the would-be victim needs to wire money in order to claim a big sweepstakes prize,” Porrino said.
“The position of the states in this matter was that Western Union must be more vigilant going forward,” Porrino said, “but consumers can protect themselves, too, by exercising great caution in the face of overtures asking that they send money. If a person is being told a loved one is in need or in danger, we urge that he or she proceed with deliberation and make every effort to authenticate the story independently. And if a supposed ‘bargain’ or ‘contest prize’ sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We recommend that they not take the bait.”
Announced by Attorney General Porrino in January 2017, a multi-state settlement with Western Union Company resolved an investigation by the participating states focused on fraud-induced money transfers – specifically, the wiring of money by unwitting consumers to third-party con artists using Western Union’s wire transfer service.
Under the settlement, Colorado-based Western Union was required to develop and put into action a comprehensive anti-fraud program designed to help detect and prevent future incidents in which consumers who are the victims of fraud utilize Western Union to wire money to those defrauding them.
New Jersey was a member of the multi-state Executive Committee that spearheaded the Western Union investigation. Deputy Attorney General Cathleen O’Donnell, assigned to the Division of Law’s Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section, and Division of Consumer Affairs Chief Investigator Laurie Goodman, as well as Investigator/Team Leader Aziza Salikov, handled the Western Union matter on behalf of the State.
Maybe you’re booking your awesome Labor Day vacation. Or you finally got a reply to an email you’ve been waiting for, with package tracking information for a gadget you ordered online. You’re cool to send payment to your Airbnb host, or to follow the link in the “shipping info” email… right?
Well, not so fast. Some scams that have cropped up recently actually mean that if you’re not 100% sure you’re actually booking with a legitimate Airbnb host — or responding to a trustworthy email or text — you could be putting your identity and your computer security at risk. Fraudster trickslike fake student loan relief offersor fake tech support scams have been a problem for awhile, but summer is an extra busy time for scammers, with consumer complaints about new tricks on the rise.
That means it’s especially vital for you to be really careful right now — and part of that is knowing of the newest traps that scam artists are setting to get you to give up personal information, cash or worse.
To help you out, here are five of the newest scams that you’ll want to be sure to avoid in 2017 — ranked from kinda sneaky to downright dastardly.
Ridgewood NJ, Apparently, the heist couldn’t have been any simpler if it had been drawn up in the lunch line at an elementary school cafeteria.
In February, Bangladesh’s central bank saw $81 million disappear out a virtual window. Now it’s been revealed that, although the computer hackers used custom-made malware, they probably didn’t need to work up a cyber sweat while pulling off their long-distance theft. The bank had no firewalls to defend against intruders and its computers were linked to global-financial networks through second-hand routers that cost $10.
“It’s stunning that a major institution would leave itself so defenseless in this day and age when everyone should know that cyber criminals are waiting for you to let your guard down,” says Gary S. Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall (www.snoopwall.com), a company that specializes in cyber security.
But he says the episode can serve as a cautionary tale for other banks and any businesses that want to protect themselves against today’s cyber versions of Bonnie and Clyde.
“Most companies have some vulnerability and it doesn’t take a sophisticated attack to cause a security breach,” Miliefsky says. “Often on the hackers’ end of things, it just takes patience.”
For example, he says, a cyber criminal can gain access by sending a company an email with an attachment called a Remote Access Trojan, or RAT, that looks like a normal file. All it takes is for an unsuspecting employee to open that file and, voila, security is compromised.
That’s bad for companies, of course, but it’s also bad for consumers, whose bank account, credit card and other private information is at risk.
Miliefsky says it’s important to go on the offensive. Among his recommendations:
• Employers need to train their staffs. Those employees sitting at their computers each day are a company’s first line of defense. An errant click on the wrong email is like unlocking the front door, so employees should be made aware of the dangers and told what do about suspicious email. • Companies should routinely update their defenses. Outdated technology and outdated security software make a company’s computers vulnerable to attack. It’s important that businesses periodically review their IT operations to make sure what worked last year still provides the needed security. • Consumers must take their own safety measures. It would be nice to expect banks and retailers to protect consumer information, but the average person can’t count on that. Miliefsky suggests consumers take personal security measures such as frequently changing passwords and deleting any phone apps they don’t use. Many apps contain malware that can spy on you.
“Most people log onto the internet every day without much thought about how susceptible they are to being hacked,” Miliefsky says. “It takes vigilance to protect yourself against cyber criminals who are working hard to figure their way around security measures.”
About Gary S. Miliefsky
Gary S. Miliefsky is founder of SnoopWall Inc. (www.snoopwall.com), a cutting edge counter-intelligence technology company offering free consumer-based software to secure personal data on cell-phones and tablets, while generating revenues helping banks and government agencies secure their networks. He has been active in the INFOSEC arena, as the Executive Producer of Cyber Defense Magazine and a regular contributor to Hakin9 Magazine.
McGreevey comes to Paterson to defend controversial prison reentry initiative
JANUARY 6, 2016, 9:57 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016, 10:02 AM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
PATERSON — Former Gov. Jim McGreevey made a surprise appearance at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting in an attempt to defuse criticism aimed at the new prisoner reentry program he is launching in Paterson.
Speaking to the council members, McGreevey said a similar reentry initiative he oversees in Jersey City has achieved low recidivism rates and high employment among its participants by providing them with counseling, job training and other services to ease their transition to life outside prison.
Then the former governor addressed council members’ concerns about Paterson’s use of municipal public works department employees working overtime to complete renovations on the privately-owned Montgomery Street building where some of the post-prison services will be provided.
McGreevey said the “crazed drive to get this done quickly” stemmed from concerns that the city could lose the $180,000 federal grant paying for the work if it were not completed quickly. McGreevey’s explanation matched the one provided by Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres on Monday. The mayor has said the overtime costs would be covered by the federal grant.
In an interview after his presentation to the council, McGreevey said he expected the program to begin operation in the middle of this month with its first group of 11 to 15 participants. He said that it would serve between 175 and 250 released inmates per year. In an effort to dispel some residents’ concerns that parolees would be living at the Montgomery Street building, McGreevey said the site would only be used during business hours to provide services and referrals.
“I believe we’re changing lives through the process of reentry,” said McGreevey, chairman of the board of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, the nonprofit organization working on the project.
For the most part, council members seemed to show deference to the former governor as they complimented his efforts. Not until later in the night, long after McGreevey had left the building, did several council members sharply question administration officials about the project
Ridgewod NJ, Ridgewood Police report that on Tuesday September 8, 2015 a Godwin Avenue resident reported receiving a solicitation via the United States Postal Service from a health care company offering him/her an employment opportunity.
The victim subsequently received bank checks totaling $2,610 with instructions that he/she was asked to deposit said checks into his/her personal bank account. The victim was then asked to wire funds to a client from the account via a money gram. By the time the checks were determined to be fraudulent the victim had already wired funds from his/her personal account.
This type of fraud has been reported with varying schemes frequently targeting the elderly and unemployed but a new spin has been reported recently targeting college students seeking part time employment. Under no circumstance should you use your personal bank account nor should any legitimate company request you do so to process or covert company monies.
So why do they ask you to wire money – through companies like MoneyGram and Western Union – is like sending cash. Once it’s gone, you can’t get it back. That’s one reason scammers often insist that people wire money, especially to addresses overseas. It’s nearly impossible to reverse the transfer, trace the money, or track the recipients.
Anytime someone ask you to deposit a check its a scam . Scammers ask you to deposit a check for them, and then wire money back to them. The scam is that the check is fake. It will bounce, and you’ll owe your bank the money you withdrew. By law, banks must make the funds from deposited checks available within a few days, but it can take weeks to uncover a fake check. It may seem that the check has cleared and that the money is in your account. But if a check later turns out to be a fake, you’ll owe the bank any money you withdrew.
