Phishing spree vs seniors
“That particular message raised a red flag for me as Tita Deedee was a gracious woman who would never ask for money like a scammer.
“Once
the victim logs in his or her credentials, that would provide access to the hackers.
To the senior citizens who are on Facebook, please be careful as you are now being targeted by cybercriminals. It was just last week when I was browsing through the internet that a message popped up on my FB feed from columnist DeeDee Siytangco, the spokesperson of the late President Cory Aquino.
Our conversation went as follows:
DS: Kumusta (How are you?)
Me: Hi Tita! How are you po?
DS: I’m good. Saan Ka?
(Where are you?)
Me: House lang po, Tita (Just in my house)
DS: Do me a favor, please
Me: Ano po yun tita? (What is it Tita?)
DS: May extra money ka ba? Balik ko lang sana bukas kung okay lang. (Do you have extra money? I’ll just return it tomorrow if that’s okay.)
That particular message raised a red flag for me as Tita Deedee was a gracious woman who would never ask for money like a scammer.
I confronted the person who was using the messenger and threatened that I will report it to the National Bureau of Investigation cybercrime unit. Then the account blocked me, and I couldn’t find her in my search box anymore.
That week, there was a viral post going around about another Facebook user who was also senior citizen. The post had screenshots of a conversation with his “tita” who had the same script template as mine.
The guy also had a hunch that the account was hacked so he messaged that the money will just be personally delivered to her.
Whoever was in control of the account refused to meet up and said that it was safer to transfer the money through Globe Gcash. The story ended with the hacker still convincing the nephew to just deposit through Gcash.
It led me to think that a syndicate is now targeting senior citizens on Facebook as their accounts are more vulnerable to hacking or more popularly known as phishing.
Sophisticated phishers would have an email or social media template that would claim that they should secure accounts by entering a link provided in a message. Once the victim logs in his or her credentials, that would provide access to the hackers.
One of the tips I can give is to make sure a website is authentic and not to use the link provided in a message. Instead, manually type in the address of a particular website or service.
I know this will take more time but it’s worth the effort because there are cybercriminals out there who are trying to penetrate Facebook accounts.
One other suggestion is to activate the two-factor authentication system now available on every major email service and social media platform. The tedious process will protect your social media profile and email accounts.